Promoting Client and Worker Competence in Child Welfare

In the field of child welfare there is general agreement about the inadequacies and questionable effectiveness of the service delivery system. Study after study suggests that there is a wide gap between the promise of child welfare services and their performance. For instance, while the goal of a permanent home for each child has become accepted at the philosophical level, it is still far from being realized in practice, for many children are drifting in temporary, inappropriate placements.

Various solutions to these problems are usually offered, including more staff, more and better training, improved practice technology, and social action or social reform. While all these remedies are important, none would deal adequately with a recurring problem, namely, the failure of the service delivery system to promote the competence of clients and social workers in carrying out their roles and coping with life challenges. Much could be accomplished if we reconceptualized and changed practice so that it might be more conducive to the effective functioning of clients as well as social workers.