Transformative lessons learned from COVID-19 to reimagine child welfare work

IF 1.2 4区社会学 Q3 SOCIAL WORK

Journal of Public Child Welfare Pub Date : 2022-07-21 DOI:10.1080/15548732.2022.2101175

Amy S. He, J. Cederbaum, R. Leake

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and because of the critical and essential nature of child welfare work, this workforce moved out of agency settings to remote work. Drawing from the theory of large systems change, this study explored child welfare caseworkers’ perspectives on how organizational changes due to the pandemic affected them as workers and their recommendations for sustained organizational change in child welfare. This narrative analysis explored secondary data collected in May 2020 about workforce needs related to the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 783). Regarding the impact of COVID-19, three themes emerged: (a) job impact (no change, limited change or positive outcome); (b) challenges (engaging with clients, conducting assessments, meeting with families, and using technology); and (c) impact on worker well-being (safety concerns, job stress, anxiety about the future). Three themes also emerged for recommendations for permanent workplace changes: (a) workplace flexibility (work from home, hybrid schedule); (b) better use of technology (virtual meetings and supporting remote access), and (c) worker well-being (support for worker safety and work–life balance and integration). The pandemic demonstrated that when responding to a natural disaster, pivotal change can happen quickly and effectively, even for large, complex systems like child welfare.

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从新冠肺炎中汲取变革性经验教训，重新构想儿童福利工作

摘要由于新冠肺炎大流行以及儿童福利工作的关键性和本质性，这些工作人员从机构环境转移到远程工作。本研究借鉴大系统变革理论，探讨了儿童福利个案工作者对疫情导致的组织变革如何影响他们作为工作者的观点，以及他们对儿童福利持续组织变革的建议。该叙述性分析探讨了2020年5月收集的与新冠肺炎大流行相关的劳动力需求的二次数据（N=783）。关于新冠肺炎的影响，出现了三个主题：（a）工作影响（无变化、变化有限或积极结果）；（b）挑战（与客户接触、进行评估、与家人会面和使用技术）；以及（c）对工人幸福感的影响（安全问题、工作压力、对未来的焦虑）。关于永久性工作场所改革的建议还出现了三个主题：（a）工作场所的灵活性（在家工作、混合时间表）；（b）更好地利用技术（虚拟会议和支持远程访问），以及（c）工人福祉（支持工人安全和工作与生活的平衡与整合）。这场疫情表明，在应对自然灾害时，关键的变化可以迅速有效地发生，即使是对儿童福利等大型复杂系统来说也是如此。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Public Child Welfare SOCIAL WORK-

CiteScore

3.10

自引率

12.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： Decisions made in the practice of child welfare have lifelong effects on children and their entire families which in turn affects every facet of society. To effectively practice in this vital field, social workers, psychologists, counselors, juvenile court judges, attorneys, and other child welfare professionals need to stay informed about the latest findings and important issues in public child welfare. To answer this crucial need, the Journal of Public Child Welfare provides a broad forum for theory-based and applied research in child welfare. Rather than limit itself to primarily private agencies, this essential journal provides the quality research and comprehensive information that child welfare professionals and public agencies need most.