RE: CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L digest 1353

["PFONNER, LINDA" <14D691@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As a trainer of CPS workers in CA, I see the issue somewhat differently. I
find an incredible resistance to look at the research. Social workers as a
group want to make clinical judgments, very often based in myth and clinical
lore rather than guided by research. Workers have told us, " we don't want
to hear the statistics, or the citations, just tell us how to do it." When
confronted with bias in decision making, rather than look at their decision
making process, they frequently become defensive. When research does not
support current practice, they do not want to engage in a process of
challenging "the way it has always been done" but complain about supervisors
not letting them, administration not letting them, public pressure not
letting them - anything but taking personal responsibility for change. Last
year  NASW published an article in a newsletter stating that social work as
a profession was becoming marginalized because we are not allowing research
to guide our practice. Stress and burnout is an issue, but personal
responsibility is too. I remember a class in which social workers went on
and on about how impotent they felt - (they sounded like battered women -
except they had far more choices) Whenever anyone in the class suggested a
course of action that would involve some personal courage, or commitment to
do anything other than whine about it, they were met with such statements as
" Oh, but my supervisor would become very angry if I did that." Social
worker attitudes do impact how they treat clients, but if they are unwilling
to take risks, to implement change, to show courage in the face of community
pressure, how can they expect their clients to make the massive changes we
demand with far fewer resources than we have.

 Niki Delson at Delson-Kokish Associates, P.O. Box 476, Trinidad, CA 95570

I have to point out that most of us (in the USA, at least) work for county
or state governments as civil servants; we have absolutely no right to alter
policy or law.  At the worker level we are impotent to make change in
policy; all we can do is deal with the structure we have as best as we can,
and that knocking our heads against that stone wall is the usual cause of
worker burnout and resignation.  Yes, we can attempt to lobby our superiors
and the legislature...but when would we sleep?  Yes, we feel helpless.
Local, state and federal law rarely make good social work practice.  And
regardless of how altruistic the profession is, as a whole, as individuals
we have legitimate and significant interests in job security and continued
employment so we can care for our own families, too.  Not too many of us are
going to buck the system very hard if it means risking our careers.  The
changes we ask our clients to make are demonstrably for their own benefit;
in the most dramatic cases, the carrot is that they will get their children
back.  To learn how to not be a battered spouse, how not to maltreat your
children...these are not actions that offend community standards.  When we
make unilateral changes in our practice, violating policy, we risk losing
our jobs.  The comparison at the end of your post does not hold.

As far as workers not wanting to deal with the studies and statistics...I'm
college educated, although not in social work.  I have a BA.  You can
publish all the statistics and articles you want; I can't implement them
alone.  There are far too many articles published in a year for anyone to
have read them all; how do I decide, by myself, which ones I should read,
and, of those, which ones I should use?  And what good does it do our
community if I do it, but the other 80 CPS investigative workers and the
dozens of workers in Children's Services don't?  These decisions need to be
made at the administrative levels.

Linda R. Pfonner
Child Protective Services
478 Main Street, Suite 321
Buffalo NY  14202-4103
716-858-8803
14D691@dfa.state.ny.us

Those who would give up essential Liberty,
to purchase a little temporary Safety, 
deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
       ---Benjamin Franklin
                 The Papers of Ben Franklin, ed. L. W. Labaree


> ----------
> From: 	Child Maltreatment
> Researchers[SMTP:CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu]
> Sent: 	Saturday, March 17, 2001 12:01 AM
> To: 	Child Maltreatment Researchers
> Subject: 	CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L digest 1353
> 
> <<Message: Microsoft Exchange Message>>
> 
> 			    CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L Digest 1353
> 
> Topics covered in this issue include:
> 
>   1) Re: measuring stress levels child welfare workers (who cares!)
> 	by "vernon brooks carter" <vbrooks@nh.ultranet.com>
>   2) Re: Domestic violence effects on parenting
> 	by "Anna Hagemeister" <AHAGEMEI@che.umn.edu>
>   3) RE: Who cares?
> 	by "J. Randall Webber" <rwebber@chestnut.org>
>   4) Re: measuring stress levels child welfare workers (who cares!)
> 	by revoredux <praxis1@home.com>
>   5) FW: Instruments to measure stress
> 	by "Hill, Sean" <shill@co.greene.oh.us>
>   6) RE: CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L digest 1352
> 	by "PFONNER, LINDA" <14D691@dfa.state.ny.us>
>   7) In Critical Demand: Social work in Canada 
> 	by revoredux <praxis1@home.com>
>   8) chat with Dr. Bruce Perry
> 	by "Niki Delson" <niki@delko.net>
>   9) RE: measuring stress levels child welfare workers (who cares!)
> 	by "Niki Delson" <niki@delko.net>
>  10) Re: measuring stress levels child welfare workers (who cares!)
> 	by MariaR1947@aol.com
>