Task 3 Annotated Bibliography

Masonbrink, A. R., & Hurley, E. (2020). Advocating for Children During the COVID-19 School Closures. Pediatrics146(3), e20201440. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-1440

Article 1- Advocating for Children During the COVID-19 School Closures

This article talks about how COVID 19 effected children, specifically the ones with special needs and in poverty stricken homes. School is a life line for the children that live in homes without food, water, or power. Many parents cannot afford to feed their children three meals a day plus snacks when they get hungry between meals. Not having access to school meals means the child does not get fed like they should. Since the children are not in school and the teachers cannot witness the behaviors that result from it, teachers are unable to call in their concerns for the child or children. The children are made to suffer through the neglect or abuse that occurs in their home because they do not have access to school. This is relevant to my evaluation in the way of the effectiveness of Child Protective Services in the community.

Wilson, S., Hean, S., Heaslip, V., & Abebe, T. (2020). Children’s experiences with Child Protection Services: A synthesis of qualitative evidence. Children and Youth Services Review, 113, 104974. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104974

Article 2- Children’s experiences with Child Protective Services: A synthesis of qualitive evidence

This article talks about what the actual experience is like for the children when having Child Protective Services intervene in their lives. Studies have found children involved with Child Protective Services have a lower well-being or confidence when compared to the children in the general population that have not been exposed to child services. In other research all aspects of child protective services intervention were addressed like initial contact, placement out of the home, end of interventions, and participation but there has yet to be anything about the overall general experience when in contact with services. This article is about a systematic review of five databases related to social services and social work. There were four main experience points that were addressed with the children, initial Child Protective Services contact, experiences of the intervention or services, their perception of the outcome of the case, and their perception of themselves after the entire experience. This is relevant to my evaluation because it addresses how the children are affected by the intervention of child welfare workers.

Molnar, B. E., Meeker, S. A., Manners, K., Tieszen, L., Kalergis, K., Fine, J. E., Hallinan, S., Wolfe, J. D., & Wells, M. K. (2020). Vicarious traumatization among child welfare and child protection professionals: A systematic review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 104679. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104679

Article 3- Vicarious traumatization among child welfare and child protection professionals: A systematic review

This article is about the vicarious trauma that child welfare, healthcare providers, counselors, law enforcement and many others that work with children experience. On the daily basis these workers are exposed to the trauma of others, and it is just supposed to be “apart of the job”. Secondary trauma can manifest into many different problems for these workers than can affect their social and work life. Many agencies offer their workers counseling but the part in getting them to realize they need it before it is too late is a major barrier in the work place. They did this study to see the impact of the trauma on the workers and hopefully find a way to decrease these risks and negative impacts on their mental health. Routine exposure to the trauma can and most likely will have long term affects on the worker’s daily lives. This is also found to be one of the causes of the high turnover rates in the human services fields. A person can only take so much before they give up or need a break. This is relevant to my evaluation in the ways of the treatment of workers and how it affects their decisions made in the workplace.

Abrams, L. S., & Dettlaff, A. J. (2020). Voices from the Frontlines: Social Workers Confront the COVID-19 Pandemic. Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swaa030

Article 4- Voices from the Frontlines: Social Workers Confront the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article talks about the risks social workers took during the pandemic. Social workers were essential workers during the pandemic and did not face the lay off rates that other professions did. This is because like medical workers, social workers are in constant need to provide services to their communities no matter the risks involved. They were not a part of the lock down, like medical staff, for a majority of the pandemic. Social workers have many different classifications whether it is in medical, child welfare, adult welfare, or benefits they are all needed for the progression of a community. Workers were provided PPE gear during the pandemic and encouraged to receive the vaccine for their and their families protection. The workers faced many risks by not wearing their PPE as many children or individuals with mental disabilities were frightened by the masks and gloves social workers were provided. The duties of these individuals took precedence, and many workers would discard their PPE to provide the best care to their clients. This is relevant to my evaluation by advocating for worker safety and prevention of risks to their lives.

Toros, K., DiNitto, D. M., & Tiko, A. (2018). Family engagement in the child welfare system: A scoping review. Children and Youth Services Review, 88, 598–607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.03.011

Article 5- Family engagement in the child welfare system: A scoping review

This article was written to better understand the perspectives and experiences of the child welfare professionals and the families that were issued services. There is a strong discord between families and workers due to the high priority of the children’s safety. The aim of this paper is to better understand the experiences of workers and families to make improvements to the child welfare systems. Most of the time assessments are pushed and imposed on families instead of in a more collaborative manner. Many believe that if the assessment is dealt with in a more collaborative manner the positive effects will outweigh the negative.  This can be tricky as many clients do not want to be told “how to parent” and continue their behavior even after the initial involvement of Child Protective Services. This is when the assessment is more imposed on the family, cooperation is key in avoiding court interference. This is relevant to my evaluation because I am looking at the effects the agency has on its clients during an assessment.

Isokuortti, N., Aaltio, E., Laajasalo, T., & Barlow, J. (2020). Effectiveness of child protection practice models: a systematic review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 108, 104632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104632

Article 6- Effectiveness of child protection practice models: a systematic review

            This article addresses the training and techniques used in the child welfare system. The effectiveness of these models is needed to better progress workers’ effectiveness in the assessments. The lives of children are the ones most affected by the assessment process. Workers advocate for the children that have allegations of abuse or neglect in their home by their care givers. This will mean the children could be placed outside of the home with family or if severe enough children will be brought into foster care as a last resort. The lives of these children often change overnight, and many do not see the effects it has until later. Children are often put into counseling and therapy for their mental wellbeing while these changes in the home are happening. This is related to my evaluation as it speaks about the affects child protective services involvement has on clients but mostly children.

Damman, J. L., Johnson‐Motoyama, M., Wells, S. J., & Harrington, K. (2020). Factors associated with the decision to investigate child protective services referrals: A systematic review. Child & Family Social Work, 25(4), 785–804. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12755

Article 7- Factors associated with the decision to investigate child protective services referrals: A systematic review

            This article talks about the process in which a child protective services referral is either validated or in-validated. The process usually does not take very long from the initial call. The intake worker receives the referral then it is put into the system to go through the screening process. In this process it is labeled as valid or in valid. Valid cases are then sorted into the categories of Family Assessment or Investigation. Then once it is given its category it is then screened for the response time to be met by the worker. There is a R1 twenty -four hours or as soon as possible, R2 forty-eight hours or as soon as possible, and a R3 which five working business days or as soon as possible. This is normally based on the risk assessment which takes into account the family’s history, child’s age, and severity of the allegations. These can be overridden by the supervisor at anytime and do not always dictate when the worker responds. This relates to my evaluation because the referrals that are not accepted as cases are sent over to the unit I am evaluating.

Molakeng, M. H., Truter, E., & Fouché, A. (2021). Resilience of child protection social workers: a scoping review. European Journal of Social Work, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2021.1901660

Article 8- Resilience of child protection social workers: a scoping review

This article talks about how social workers endure so much at their jobs. Social workers face risks daily to their physical safety, health, and wellbeing. Social workers go into situations completely unarmed with nothing on their person or vehicle but a pen and paper. These threats can take a tole on the mental health of a worker and can cause burnout quite easily. Workers then begin to feel as if they are not themselves from the physical exhaustion and second-hand trauma they experience from their cases.  A social worker’s resilience is important in the human services field as most of the time it is the first thing that is attacked in the job itself. The turnover rates in the human services field are the some of the highest and are up there with the turnover in the medical field. This relates to my evaluation because it talks about the effect the job has on the workers which could affect how workers make their decisions for the clients and community they serve.

Toros, K. (2021b). Children’s Participation in Decision Making From Child Welfare Workers’ Perspectives: A Systematic Review. Research on Social Work Practice, 104973152098484. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731520984844

Article 9- Children’s Participation in Decision Making From Child Welfare Workers’ Perspectives: A systematic Review

            In this article they explore the experiences of child welfare workers experiences when the children participate in the decision making process in the child protective services system. They found that in the past the child’s voice was limited to nonexistent in the decision-making process. This is because children are easily manipulated and immature when making decisions concerning their safety. Teenagers genuinely have more say in who they choose to reside with but not always due to the environment not being safe or comfortable with the children staying in. A child today can express their rights and is not completely ignored in the process. Children’s interviews are the best way to obtain evidence in investigations and family assessments. The children are the ones that are in the home and able to see, even if they do not understand, what is actually going on. This relates to my evaluation because a social worker is also a child’s advocate when they have unsafe conditions in their current home with their current caretaker.

Herbert, J., Ghan, N., Salveron, M., & Walsh, W. (2020). Possible Factors Supporting Cross-Agency Collaboration in Child Abuse Cases: A Scoping Review. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 30(2), 167–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2020.1856994

Article 10- Possible Factors Supporting Cross- Agency Collaboration in Child Abuse Cases: A Scoping Review

This article talks about the collaboration between Child Protective Services and Law Enforcement. Law Enforcement is typically notified for Investigations only. A notification is sent to Law Enforcement and the Commonwealth Attorney when it involves but not limited to sexual abuse, physical abuse, or extreme cases of physical neglect. Another time that another agency is brought into an investigation is Child Fatality cases. Child Protective Services is always notified of child fatalities in their jurisdiction contrary to other beliefs, it is always labeled as an investigation. Collaboration between agencies happens often and lasts longer than most investigations without Law Enforcement input. The reason for this is the barriers of policy differences and most of the time loss in communication. Both agencies are almost always extremely busy so it becomes a challenge to communicate on all the cases in common effectively. This relates to my evaluation due to the timeliness in which clients receive services and how long their cases last past the normal close date due to Law Enforcement involvement.