homework

Chapter 10

Intervention: Reporting, Investigation, and Assessment

Culturally Sensitive Intervention: Cultural Competence Defined • Culture: goes beyond race and ethnicity, including religious

identification, gender identity/expression, & sexual orientation.

• Cultural Competence: “a heightened consciousness of how culturally diverse populations experience their uniqueness and deal with their differences and similarities within a larger social context” (NASW, 2015, p.10)

Culturally Sensitive Intervention: Putting Cultural Competence into Practice

• Determine family’s level of acculturation and the reason for their immigration

• Assess how the family views a social worker’s power

• Understand how the family views itself, and their sense of family cohesion

• Acknowledge varying communication styles

• Learn about culture, but do not over-generalize

• Consult with bilingual and bicultural staff

• Know how one’s (helping professional’s) own values interface with the client’s

Understanding the Intervention Process: Reporting • Mandated reporters: individuals who, in their professional

relationship with the child and family, may encounter child maltreatment.

• State laws specify repointing agency, reportable conditions, responsibility of mandated reporters, and the investigation process

• Although anonymous reports may be accepted, they are not preferred since they do not allow for follow-up questions

Understanding the Intervention Process: Child Protection Teams • Child Protection Teams (CPT): comprised of staff from

different disciplines

• Ex) School-based CPT include an administrator, a guidance counselor, school nurse, and one or two teachers.

• Suspicions of child maltreatment are brought to CPT.

• If CPT agrees with the report, then the child protection agency is notified.

• CPTs are effective in medical facilities & churches.

Understanding the Intervention Process: Investigation & Assessment

• Intake worker meets with the child & his/her family to assess risk, protective factors, and impact of disclosure on stability of the family

• If the report is substantiated, the worker identifies goals and strategies for the family

• If unsubstantiated, the case is referred or closed

• Treatment planning and services begins

• Must evaluate the family’s progress and revise service plan as necessary

Understanding the Intervention Process: Family Reactions & Home Visiting

• The family is in a state of crisis, disequilibrium, when disclosure takes place, experiencing fear: fear of authority, fear of having the child removed, the fear of helplessness.

• Responses (defense mechanisms) to fear: denial, projection, blaming the system, antagonism towards social services, or withdrawal.

• Workers must evaluate the family’s strengths too.

• Home visitation allows assessment, but also requires additional sensitivity and interviewing skills.

Assessing Risk and Protective Factors • Is the child at risk from abuse or neglect, and to what degree?

• What is causing the problem?

• What are the strengths or protective factors that could be built on with services to alleviate the problem?

• Is the home a safe environment or must the child be placed?

• Essential information: parental history and family functioning, parent’s view of child, & environmental factors and supports

Interviewing for Assessment

• Ask questions designed to assess the potential risk of the home situation and the capacity of the parents to cope with child rearing.

• Use non-leading questions; avoid blaming; recognize the client’s feelings

• Interview the child in a nonthreatening setting; adjust to child’s developmental level and language preferences, including names of body parts; allow for stories, metaphors, and drawings

Handling Emergencies

• Emergencies: imminent danger to the child, child abandonment, or if the parents are not cooperating.

• Require an immediate decision on whether to involve the court system, remove the child from home, or both; need assessment to determine who should have custody of the children and the impact that this will have on the children.