As a social worker who has dealt with large caseloads, but who works for one of the higher paid counties in this state, the process involves many things. You cannot be a good social worker unless 1. You have your masters degree in psych or SW and therefore have a clinical mindset, than a BS/BA who only has a basic understanding. 2. You have to have good insight and trust your instincts. 3. You have to have a passion for social work/psychology and a sincere interest in probing through your documentation (caring about kids isn’t enough in this business) and critically examining the story you get from the parents and family. 4. If you are not organized and efficient at utilizing your time – get another job. 5. If you have not had any psychotherapy in your life and have not worked on your own issues – start. This is a key to dealing with transference/counter-transference issues. 6. Take good notes and write down all your observations (review whenever you hear about a behavior). 7. Learn how to work the court room and how to be a team player – I mean this in the sense that you write good thorough reports and have respect of Judges and Attorneys. If they don’t like you and you are known as a poor social worker it works against the case. 8. BEfore becomming a social worker it is best to have a lot of experience as an undergrad working in shelters, group homes, or other non-profit as a case manager so that you are prepared for what you will experience on the job in CPS.

These are the main necessities that make a good social worker that I can think of at the moment. The problem in the system is that social workers are overworked and many don’t do anything about it. If you look at the dress code where I work, people look like they just got out of bed. Very unprofessional but this means they are not taking care of them selves. I also find it difficult to engage in very serious clinicial discussions with colleagues because this is stepping outside of the box. The court reports I have read of many colleagues (when I take over a case) are horrendous. There is no effort in filling in the bio-psycho-social, they sweep important issues under the rug in sweet talk and sometimes leave out important pieces. I know supervisors who want you to be “nice” on court reports. “They don’t need to know all that,” one told me. I am in trouble all the time for being too honest. Some of the people that are promoted are not the best social workers. They are the ones who play nice and do what they are told. This breeds more social workers who spend time kissing up rather than playing hard ball and risking standing up for something they think is not right with the system and the case.

I write under a pseudonym because I am being very outspoken. I like this blog and I suspect the people who read it are in the field already. We know what the problems are in the system. Government workers, mentality, and this mindset is supported by the higher-ups. As I mentioned recently with a Guardian article about social workers in a horrible crime of boys on boys in Britain, the issue is not one persons fault, when it comes to mistakes that are made it is a whole agency mindset. What is allowed and supported. Who they make as their scapegoat. Social Services as a whole needs to set standards that they adhere to. They need better communication, that is globally distributed. I’ve seen administrative changes that are managed in secret and then the social worker finds out through word of mouth. Since management is often the ones who kiss up rather than being good at investigation and reporting, the higher they go, the further they are detached. They need to have more respect of the people in the field so that they understand what is going on when they make changes.

The only people who will blast me on this are the ones who know they aren’t up to par. The social workers who read this and are as good as I am will know exactly what I am talking about. These kids lives are tough enough. If they can handle the inner cities, foster homes, multiple placements, changes, etc… I can handle the workload. It is hard, emotionally, physically, psychologically and even spiritually but what is the toughest part of the job is management NOT the kids and not the parents. Most people should understand I am not really blaming the social worker but the agency who brings in people who aren’t right for the job.

In this murder case, you don’t know all the facts, you never will (unless the social worker is your best friend or you are thier hired professional). There is more than one person on a case, i.e., attorneys, judge, social worker, CASA, etc… and while the social worker is the manager, final decisions are made by the judge not the worker. That is why I cover my ass and write one hell of a court report and take dubious notes. Mistakes that are made, in my cases are generally people who didn’t listen.