Child Welfare System Article
BSHS/302
October 8, 2012
Joe Spalding

Child Welfare System Article

This article examines the characteristics of child welfare caseworkers, their views of the child welfare system, their clients, their agency of employment, and child welfare policies, and whether these views vary according to caseworkers' characteristics. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze in-depth interviews conducted with caseworkers in New York and Chicago. The major themes that emerged from the analysis indicate caseworkers believed that the child welfare system does not meet the needs of the children in care, lacks the resources to appropriately serve clients, and often establishes goals that cannot be attained by the biological parents. Caseworkers held negative views of the biological parents and, although most described their organization as well equipped, almost as many reported that their organization lacked technical, administrative, and personnel resources. Caseworkers' views of child welfare policies emphasized the need for reforming the system and reevaluating funding priorities.( Zell, M. C. (2006). Child welfare workers: Who they are and how they view the child welfare system. Child Welfare, 85(1), 83-103.)
Response
This article shows results among two cities Chicago and New York on the child welfare system. The results for the article show the interest of the case workers and how they can affect the individual they serve as clients.
Article Two The education, recruitment, training, and retention of a quality child welfare workforce is critical to the successful implementation of public policy and programs for the nation's most vulnerable children. Yet, national information about child welfare workers has never been collected. The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being is a study of children who are investigated for child maltreatment that also offers information about the child welfare workers (unweighted N = 1,729) who serve them in 36 states and 92 counties. These cases represent the national population of child welfare workers, estimated at more than 50,000, serving children approximately 12 months after a case was opened. Child welfare workers having any graduate or social work degree in a nonurban setting were more satisfied than their peers. Regression results indicate that worker satisfaction is associated with quality of supervision and urban setting but does not have a clearly independent relationship with having a degree in social work. Practice implications are discussed. The work that child welfare workers do is undeniably important, and there is significant demand for it. According to the Children's Bureau, using 2003 data, child welfare agencies receive nearly 500,000 calls a month concerning child maltreatment, 50,000 reports of maltreatment are accepted by child welfare services for evaluation each week (almost 3 million a year), and about 1 million cases are opened for child welfare intervention annually (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). These numbers are over and above the roughly 550,000 children who have ongoing involvement in foster care each year, and a larger number formerly in foster care and now adopted or in guardianships.
Response
The article focuses on the education of the case worker and how that effects the treatment of the children in the welfare system. Based on this study, the case worker with a Bachelor’s degree may have more knowledge or access to programs, than a case worker with an Associate’s degree. Caseworkers at times can be overwhelmed with the amount of calls they get each week pertaining to children being mistreated. In my opinion, the system needs an overhaul on employing more caseworkers to provide a significant coverage for the public.
Article Three For the changes under welfare reform to positively affect children, the gains that mothers make from employment must lead to improvements in children's daily settings at home, in child care, at school, or in the community. This article focuses on the role child care can play in promoting the development of, and life opportunities for, low-income children. Key observations include: *Total federal and state finding for child care for welfare and working poor families has increased dramatically since welfare reform, from $2.8 billion in 1995 to $8.0 billion in 2000. *The majority of welfare mothers tend to rely on informal child care arrangements when first participating in welfare-to-work programs, but as they move off welfare and into more stable jobs, they are more likely to choose a center or a family child care home. *Although children from poor households stand to benefit the most from high-quality care, they are less likely to be enrolled in high-- quality programs than are children from affluent families, partly due to uneven access to high-quality options in their neighborhoods. (Fuller, B., Kagan, S. L., Caspary, G. L., & Gauthier, C. A. (2002). Welfare reform and child care options for low-income families. The Future of Children, 12(1), 96-119)
Response
Statistics show that children from low income households do not have the opportunity to education compared to their upper income counterparts. A substantial amount of mothers on welfare come into the system as a last resort. Majority of those mothers find stability within a year or two and no longer depend on the system. Along with this system in place the children of the welfare system have to opportunity to education and programs. As a result, the children within the welfare system have an opportunity to achieve goals and make something of themselves.

References
Zell, M. C. (2006). Child welfare workers: Who they are and how they view the child welfare system. Child Welfare, 85(1), 83-103. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/213808700?accountid=35812; http://linksource.ebsco.com/linking.aspx?genre=article&issn=00094021&volume=85&issue=1&date=2006-01-01&spage=83&title=Child+Welfare&atitle=Child+Welfare+Workers%3A+Who+They+Are+and+How+They+View+the+Child+Welfare+System&au=Zell%2C+Maristela+C&isbn=&jtitle=Child+Welfare&btitle= Fuller, B., Kagan, S. L., Caspary, G. L., & Gauthier, C. A. (2002). Welfare reform and child care options for low-income families. The Future of Children, 12(1), 96-119. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/220180351?accountid=35812; http://linksource.ebsco.com/linking.aspx?genre=article&issn=10548289&volume=12&issue=1&date=2002-01-01&spage=96&title=The+Future+of+Children&atitle=Welfare+reform+and+child+care+options+for+low-income+families&au=Fuller%2C+Bruce%3BKagan%2C+Sharon+L%3BCaspary%2C+Gretchen+L%3BGauthier%2C+Christiane+A&isbn=&jtitle=The+Future+of+Children&btitle=
Barth, R. P., Lloyd, E. C., Christ, S. L., Chapman, M. V., & Dickinson, N. S. (2008). Child welfare worker characteristics and job satisfaction: A national study. Social Work, 53(3), 199-209.