Session: Parent Engagement in Child Welfare Services: Parent and Social Worker Perspectives (Society for Social Work and Research 14th Annual Conference: Social Work Research: A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES)

In child welfare, barriers to engaging birth parents in services range from the very complex needs of most child welfare-involved families to the realities and constraints that accompany child protection mandates. Given these challenges, it is perhaps not surprising that many parents are poorly or unevenly connected to child welfare resources (Alpert, 2005; Dawson & Berry, 2002). Overwhelmingly, families who become involved with child welfare services have experienced (and continue to experience) multiple, chronic stressors, generational experiences of poverty and marginality, co-occurring family problems (notably domestic violence, substance abuse, parental mental health issues, and developmental delays), housing instability, incarceration, and social isolation (Dore, 1993). The same issues that make families vulnerable to child welfare involvement may also threaten their engagement in services (Littell & Tajima, 2000). Indeed, those parents most difficult to engage may be at greatest risk for losing rights to their children.

Based on a comprehensive review of the theoretical and empirical literature of factors that shape efforts to engage parents in child welfare, Kemp et al. (2009) developed the following typology describing six core dimensions of engagement and related intervention strategies.

Preconditions

Separation/Loss

Poverty-related stress

Addictions/mental health

Family stressors

Social isolation

Client status: stigma, marginality

Cultural barriers

Negative service experiences

Engagement Strategies

Early/structured outreach

Practical help

Knowledge, skill building, empowerment

Supportive relationships

Consultation and inclusion

Inclusive family-centered, organization cultural factors

Bridging Services

1:1 casework

Instrumental help

Parent/child visitation

Peer to peer programs

Foster/birth parent mentoring

Conferencing

Home-based services

Treatment Services

Mental Health (adult and child)

Substance Abuse

Parent Training

Interpersonal Violence

Focusing on preconditions and engagement strategies, in this symposium we present findings from worker and parent surveys designed to examine the relationship between these two dimensions of the typology. Data for these analyses were drawn from a baseline survey of child welfare workers (n=971) and parents (n=810) participating in an evaluation of a western State's implementation of a parent engagement practice model. The first paper reports the predictors of workers' use of engagement strategies and the second paper reports the predictors of parents' perceptions of the degree to which the worker employed engagement strategies. In the third paper we compare the level of agreement regarding engagement between workers and parents. Through these three linked presentations we aim to explore the factors that influence workers' engagement approaches and parents' experiences of engagement in child welfare.