The Impact of Social Work on Assuring Safety and Services

Selina Higgins, LCSW, Coordinator for Family Team Conferences and the Child Evaluation and Family Assessment Programs, Administration for Children’s Services (ACS)

Two programs within the ACS Children’s Services’ Division of Child Protection illustrate the positive impact of social work values and skills in helping families address and plan for their safety and service needs. Both programs require a MSW as the primary criterion for hiring. They also provide regularly scheduled training on clinically focused topics and workgroup participation in a variety of practice areas.

Child Evaluation Specialist Program

The Child Evaluation Specialist (CES) Program provides high quality facilitation for Family Team Conferences (FTC), a strength-based continuum of safety and service planning forums. FTCs commence when a child is identified as “at-risk” (72-Hour Elevated Risk Child Safety Conference) or is determined to be in imminent danger (Placement Decision Making Conference) or enters out-of-home care (72-Hour Post Removal Child Safety Conference).

The service plans developed at these initial conferences are followed up at a 30-Day Family Permanency Conference to ensure that the plan is working appropriately, or to adjust the plan as needed. From July 1998 through June 2005, CES provided 49,125 conferences to families. These planning meetings helped families develop the best possible safety plan to permit children to remain at home, as well as service, visiting, education and permanency plans for families with children in out-of-home care. CES are also responsible for interviewing all children entering foster care, and determining the most appropriate level of care and type of placement for a child.

Family Assessment Program

The Family Assessment Program (FAP) is the front-door evaluation and referral process for families seeking Persons In Need of Supervision (PINS) petitions. Located in or near the Family Courts, FAP provides information and assistance to families to make well-informed decisions and creates an opportunity to resolve problems and concerns without placing children in out-of-home care.

Family Assessment Specialists (FAS) work with families on adolescent/family issues using a strength-based perspective, encouraging parents and children to share their feelings and experiences, and helping them to identify and explore options. From December 2002 through December 2004, FAP has helped 13,285 families and 13,902 youth. A recent study by the Vera Institute of Justice illuminates the success of FAP’s front-door social work, finding that between 2002 and 2003 PINS filings with Probation decreased by 79%, and PINS remands (of those families who accessed court) decreased by 29%.

Join NASW