Pros And Cons Of The Child Welfare System

Words: 1269
Pages: 6

In the social work system, the most flawed part of it is the child welfare system. With many problems within this system there is a few that stand out the most including Child Protective Services or CPS, the foster care system and finally the workers of the child welfare agency or social workers. The combination of these together can ultimately end up in death of a child and or the maltreatment of the child. In some cases could affect them physically and or mentally for life. In the social work network the most corrupt link is the child welfare system, from the lack of Child Protective Services to the flawed foster care system leading to the over work child welfare social worker.
The foster care system has been around for about seventy-one
…show more content…
The purpose of this agency is to make all kids safe. In Child Protective Services today there is a lack of services and employment in this system. This isn’t to say they don’t have the programs or resources, but points out that they are not well known and projected into the community. These services can help protect children and help parents as well. Some of these services are financial help as well as parenting suggestions and tips. There are many other services along with these but are not well known. There are other programs that are not necessarily though Child Protective Services but are recommended though it. An example of this would be the car seat program where depending on the state, State Patrol Officers offer a class on car seat installment and then they get a car seat. For these families to know about these programs the social workers have to be available. According to BBC’s Cawley and Taylor “Experts say high vacancy levels create a "recipe for disaster" and called for greater efforts to retain staff.” as they refer to the social work position. There is a lack of social workers for many reasons and some of the more well known one are over worked underpaid, high stress, emotional distress, gender stereo typed and finally most social workers get burn out fast. There are many job positions that sit empty while one social take on the caseload of three or four social workers. There …show more content…
Social work is not a very popular job mostly because it is a gender stereo typed job of mostly women. Not only that but the many factors of it as well, including the emotional toll, burnouts and much more. The results of these can be traumatic for children because they will get the backlash of it all. Many people are turned away from the role of a Child Welfare social worker because of the conditions they will face while on the job. One main condition is burnout as stated before. According to Liat Hamama’s Burnout in social workers Treating Children as Related to Demographic Characteristics, Work Environment, and Social Support “Burnout can lead to deterioration in the quality of care or service that the worker provides (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Subsequently, it can affect the solutions offered for children's problems and can impair treatment outcomes.” This proves that burnouts can be very dangerous to many children that are involved with the social worker. Some of the factor that can effect them could be “Due to children's immaturity, naiveté, and vulnerabilities, social workers face constant and unique demands to meet high ethical standards and to work concurrently with a complex mix of related systems, such as parents, family, and colleagues (Lonergan, O'HaUoran, & Crane, 2004).” according to the previously cited source