monthly article for October 2003

Welcome to the CPS Practice Potpourri. Caseworkers, supervisors, and managers will find a new forum for ideas, solutions, and methods in CPS Practice. ACTION staff and invited quest will offer you their insight and observation on CPS practice. We hope CPS Practice Potpourri will meet your demand for practical and experience based observation that will be resource to support and enhance your work with children and families. Send us an email and let us know what you think. Come back and visit CPS Practice Potpourri often.

Home Visits in Child Protective Services:

Going In Through The Back Door

Ever notice how when you were a kid, when you went into a friend's house through the back door, you just felt like you were at home? That the time that you spent at that home felt more comfortable than other homes you went into through the front door? And now as adults, it still feels good when you are expected to visit, that you can just knock and then let yourself in. The informality of going through the back door makes everyone feel more at ease.

Figuratively speaking, why couldn't a caseworker in child protective services think of approaching families like they would if going through the back door of a familiar house? Obviously, it isn't the same thing; however, think of how much better the interaction could be. You would be sitting with folks, interacting in ways that encourage them to tell you real details of their lives, so that you could get as much information as possible to enable you to make a thorough assessment of child safety. That's how resistance breaks down, by being in conversation with them, listening and responding to what they are thinking, rather than laying out the ultimatums and consequences for not behaving in ways that indicate they can be protective of their children. Sometimes it meant making some pretty hard decisions - ones that were difficult and unsettling to parents, but a lot of times, it meant really listening and then helping them come up with ways to improve their behaviors. Imagine how much more satisfying the job of doing this challenging business would be through such a human encounter.

While fully understanding increasing time demands due to workload, it seems like a good time to do an evaluation of whether we are really working smarter. Caseworkers need to use each and every interaction they have with families more wisely, to have meaningful interactions that continually assess for child safety by gathering more and more information about whom the family is as a whole. So, figuratively speaking, instead of going through the front door, with pad and pen in hand, completion of assessment tools in mind, with only 30 minutes to spend, think about going through the back door, mind clear of other issues, going in to really listen to who the family is, what's important in their lives and look clearly at whether there are family conditions that pose a threat to the children's safety.

In April 2003 our monthly feature discussed obtaining information about six distinct areas within a family. We are all used to getting information about maltreatment. We try to learn everything there is to know about the maltreatment so that we can make a final determination of abuse or neglect. But what else do we learn about the family? We sometimes get so engrossed with maltreatment that we forget to experience and understand the family in larger ways and in the context within which they live. And isn't that a better measure of whether children are safe within their own homes? How the family functions in everyday life, rather than the snapshot of what happened when the maltreatment occurred tells you a better story, a more complete story. By going in through the "back door", we put ourselves, and even more importantly, the family at ease, thereby increasing the chance that they will share information with you about their lives. Our approach with the family makes all the difference. It takes thorough information to make good assessments.

It is a very intrusive job we do and if we go in waving our badges, go through a scripted interview, thinking about the list of things we have to get done, how comfortable will families feel about our presence? So, next time you are going out to complete an assessment based on a new report, imagine yourself going in through the back door, sitting down with the family for a visit, really listening to what the family has to say. It will make the job of assessing the children's safety so much easier. And will make you remember why you are doing this business.

Tammy Knoke, MSW has 18 years experience in public child welfare. Before joining ACTION for Child Protection last year, she was the County Manager for CPS in Albuquerque, New Mexico.