Child Welfare Services

In class we watched and discussed The Shock Doctrine Short Film, a flim by Alfonso Cuaron and Naomi Klein, which was created for/about Naomi Klein’s book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. On her website, Naomi Klein had this to say about how the short film came to be:

 ”When I finished The Shock Doctrine, I sent it to Alfonso Cuarón because I adore

his films and felt that the future he created for Children of Men was very close

to the present I was seeing in disaster zones. I was hoping he would

send me a quote for the book jacket and instead he pulled together

this amazing team of artists — including Jonás Cuarón who directed and

edited — to make The Shock Doctrine short film. It was one of those blessed

projects where everything felt fated.” - Naomi Klein

I thought about the film long after our class, which I’m sure was their intention. After it was over, my classmates and I just sort of sat there silently, wide-eyed. We weren’t really sure what to say except, “Wow.” I showed many of my friends the film, and they all felt the same way.

 The film begins with the history of psychiatry and electro-shock therapy, showing video clips of patients undergoing their ‘treatments,’ many  of them flailing their arms and being jolted from the shock. It also showed clips of patients after their treatments, where patients were ‘reduced to a child-like state’. The CIA funded a series of experiments, and from these, they produced a secret handbook on how to break down prisoners to reduce them to this ‘child-like state’. It then showed parts of the CIA’s 1963 and 1983 interrogation manuals, which included sleep deprivation and keeping prisoners awake for extreme periods of time. These visuals were also disturbing. 

Throughout the film, they use a font that appears to be spray-painted on, which results in a dark sort of feeling. The colors are also primarily red, gray and black, which also adds to this feeling. At one point they show a clip of a plane flying through the air, and at the end it suddenly crashes into one of the World Trade Center towers, which is shocking and unexpected.

They then link the psychiatry and electro-shock therapy history to the ways in which our leaders in the past, and possibly today, take advantage of big events to push their policies all at once while we’re “down” and before we can regain our footing. Massive disasters served to “soften us up”. Milton Friedman called this the “economic shock treatment.” Naomi Klein calls it the “Shock doctrine.” They use the video clip of the woman flailing her arms from electro-shock therapy numerous times, which adds to the disturbing feeling of the film.

 They then flash numerous statistics and facts and visuals from past wars and impoverished countries, as well as natural disasters and various government decisions along the way. They fly at your face and you barely have time to read them all, which I believe was the point. It was almost as if they were saying that all of these events and decisions are flying by and occuring so fast before we even have the chance to say “what happened?” and “why did that happen?” We literally don’t have time to catch up.

 They then slowly show a quote by Milton Friedman: “Only a crisis, actual or perceived, produces real change.” The font then gets bigger and faster and the quote is shown in pieces. They go back and forth from “CHANGE” to “CRISIS”.

The film ends after a man quotes (seemingly from the CIA handbook): ”Isolation, both physical and psychological, must be maintained from the moment of appre. The capacity for resistance is diminished by disorientation. Prisoners should maintain silence at all times. They should never be allowed to speak to each other.”

 Overall, the film creates a wicked feeling of disturbance and darkness, and is actually quite scary. Which, I believe, was the point.  

 I WILL be reading The Shock Doctrine this summer.

That’s the question that many social work students ask themselves as they near graduation and begin to learn about what it means to be a caseworker in child welfare services (if that’s what route they choose to take), both on a personal front and in the eyes of society.

There are pros and cons to any job, this I know. I knew going into this that the pay was going to be (far) below average for a person with a college degree. I’ve also heard (over and over and over again) that many caseworkers feel drained and overworked, especially when you take into consideration the low pay. I knew that the offices that I would be working in wouldn’t be the most modern, or the most aesthetically pleasing, or in the best area.  I also knew that child protective services don’t always get the best rap (we’re all baby stealers), and that being a social worker isn’t necessarily the most glamorous job according to society’s standards.

But, despite all of this, I know that this is what I want to do (awwwwww). I know that I’ll be much, much happier doing something I love and getting paid less, than doing something I’m not so thrilled about and getting paid a lot more. I’ve never been a material person; however, I must admit that the low pay scares me a bit. According to a current job posting on the Allegheny County Department of Human Services website, the starting salary for a caseworker at CYF is $26,698. As my mom has said a million times, “I just want to be able to comfortably pay my bills and take a vacation every once in a while.” And I hope that that’s the situation I will find myself in after I graduate and begin working at CYF, but I know that it will be tight. Especially when you throw paying back college loans into the mix!

In doing some research of my own, I came across the Child Welfare League of America’s 2008 Agenda. In it, they discuss what has been accomplished in 2007, caseload and workload standards and recommendations, and what legislative changes they believe need to be made. At the end, they list “key facts” that justify many students’ fears.

Key Facts

• Between January 1, 2002 and January 1, 2003, the average turnover rate in private agencies was 45% for casework and case management positions, 57% for residential and youth care positions, and 44% for supervisors.

• Between October 2000 and March 2001, the average turnover rate in private agencies was 36% for direct service staff and 38% for supervisors.
• Between October 2000 and March 2001, the average turnover rate in public agencies was 20% for direct service staff and 8% for supervisors. 
• Between October 2000 and March 2001, private nonprofit agencies reported an average supervisory turnover rate of 38%, compared with 8% for public agencies. 
• In a 2003 GAO study, one-third of the 27 states reviewed cited workforce issues as a barrier to caseworkers’ ability to diligently provide services for families to protect children in the home and prevent removal. 
• One-third of the states in the GAO study reported that workforce issues made finalizing adoptions in an appropriate and timely manner difficult for caseworkers. 
• Twelve states in the GAO report indicated they had problems with their caseworkers adequately monitoring safety and well-being through frequent visits with children, focusing on case planning, service delivery, and reaching goals for the family. 
• Social work education, supportive supervision, and job flexibility are associated with better work performance and higher retention rates. 
• Less than one-third of staff employed in public child welfare agencies have a formal social work education. 
• The poor image of child welfare agencies has an adverse effect on morale and retention of qualified employees. 
• The GAO reported in 2006 that state agencies identified three primary challenges that must be addressed to improve outcomes for children under their supervision: providing an adequate level of services for children and families, recruiting and retaining caseworkers, and finding appropriate homes for children. 
• The GAO reported in 2006 that more than half of the states reported dissatisfaction with the average number of cases per worker, administrative responsibilities of caseworkers, and effectiveness of caseworker supervision. 
• Child welfare officials in 35 states interviewed by the GAO reported having trouble recruiting and retaining caseworkers because many caseworkers are overwhelmed by large caseloads. 

Think about the implications of having exhausted caseworkers. With high turnover rates, low pay, and a “stressful” and “draining” work environment, do you really think that caseworkers are always handling cases most efficiently or keeping the best interests and goals of the family at the very forefront of their work? What kind of work do YOU do when you’re tired and overloaded with work and you believe your salary isn’t commensurate with your effort?

How does Gore construct his authority? How does the film construct Gore’s authority?

-Gore: Former VP and not “just another hippie talking about the environment”

-Film: At the beginning, the little montage of his life in politics—everyone cheering; pictures of him in Washington, D.C. in court rooms and in front of buildings

How does Gore use appeals in his presentation? Notice how he appeals to pathos, egos, and logos. How does the wording change in each case? How do we know which he is attempting to appeal to?

-Pathos (emotions): Uses many “before and after” pictures to show how landscapes have changed over time; tells the story about his 6 year old son dying, which made him “re-think his purpose in life”; references Katrina a lot, a topic that grabs everyone’s attention; when showing maps illustrating how water can in time overflow major cities, references the WTC&9/11 and says that the WTC memorial could perhaps be flooded—references to 9/11 ALWAYS grab an audience; goes back to his childhood and growing up on a farm (“aww”—makes him personal) and enjoying the outdoors—gives people something to relate to, nostalgic (fishing with Dad, swimming in a lake with your brothers and sisters on a family vacation, etc.); Says that the scientists purposely tried to present what they found as theory rather than as facts (says, “they’ve done this before”, and shows an old smoking ad that says “Doctors Smoke Camels”); ends with the quote from the lecture with the picture of the earth as small as a dot (“everything has happened here, everyone we love is on here, this is all we have…”)

-Ethos (reasons for believing a claim; the presenter’s credentials): States that he organized the first hearings in Congress about the issues; constantly goes back to his political involvement and influence (talks about the presidential election vs. Bush), shows him “in action”

-Logos (logical reasoning): Links higher ocean temps TO more hurricanes TO Katrina in 2005 (goes back to Pathos…)—uses seemingly “logical” thinking to describe and provide evidence for big events (“here are the simple facts… here are some more simple facts…. BOOM—reason for Katrina”).

How does he use humor? When does he use humor? To what effect? Does humor come at key moments? Does it underscore a point, or does it turn attention towards something else?

-Uses humor to put down those he basically thinks are “idiots” in politics and research (uses the example of his 6 grade teacher who thought a classmate’s idea of Pangea was ridiculous; Gore compares this teacher to a current researcher that he obviously doesn’t like who “probably would still say the same thing today”)

-Uses sarcasm to make fun of people who deny “the facts” and predictions

Pay attention to the sequence of visuals and how they correspond to the “signposts” that correspond to the spans we discussed. Where are the spans in the film or in the presentation?

-Issue: shows a diagram/visual of how the sun heats the earth and how the temperatures and carbon levels have consistently gone up, uses graphs and tables

-Problem: uses many “before and after” pictures to visually show the problem—a lot of “wow” pictures to show the decrease in snow and ice over time; shows how higher water temps essentially lead to Katrina (shows graphs, pictures, video clips, etc.); shows (skewed) graphs on rapid population growth over time; says that scientists have been ridiculed for finding evidence for what Gore calls “an inconvenient truth”; says that the public is unsure because they are receiving bad info; the US (especially compared to other countries, like China, Canada, Australia, etc.) is far behind in finding alternative fuel for cars

-Solution: education (he needs to educate people “city by city, family by family, person by person”); use more efficient electricity appliances; says each of us are the cause of global warming, but we can each do things to change that; find alternative power supplies (solar, wind, etc.) and actually implement them; create legislation (like many states already have)……; at the end, during the credits, has rolling “actions” that we can take as individuals

I think Gore’s use of visuals was effective in communicating his message and the “big” points. The side-by-side, before and after “wow” pictures that showed the decrease in snow and ice over time were extremely effective, and literally showed us how dramatically the landscapes have changed. His explanations of tough scientific concepts were accompanied by pictures and diagrams that were very well-done and allowed “everyday people” to understand those concepts, even if only at the most basic level. He also discussed how major cities could be flooded by water, and illustrated the idea by using a map and showing states and cities disappearing, which I thought was a creative visual. In an attempt to show the audience and the world that he is an “every man,” he used pictures and video of his family and himself as a child, which was a bit overly dramatic, but definitely (at least for a second!) made you say “awwww”—meaning, it worked. He also used pictures and video of himself in courthouses, in Washington, giving speeches at the podium, etc. to show the extent of his political involvement and his personal investment in the issue of global warming—which again, while dramatic and a bit repetitive, got the point across and constructed his authority well.

-“But what can WE do?”—says everyone can contribute a little bit, and all together it would make a huge difference

Where does he “hedge” his bets? When is he more direct? Can we see a correlation between these moments and his anticipation of audience?

Pay close attention to when he uses visual elements (in the slideshow presentation) and when he uses text. How much text does he use? To what effect?

-Uses much more visuals than text

-Primarily uses text for quotes or for quick, but important statistics

-Uses visuals (diagrams, pictures, etc.) to supplement his lecture when trying to teach concepts or prove a point; uses text, but as a visual aid, to throw relevant/important/pathos appeals in your face (for example, the Mark Twain quote)

How does the visual design of his presentation direct or focus your attention?

Why not just show the presentation itself? Why is it positioned within a film/documentary context? How does this effect the message?

-The presentation isn’t sufficient by itself

-The presentation/visuals serve as a back-up/supplement to his lecture, and nor his lecture or his presentation by itself would be sufficient—they are both complimentary and are both important

-His authority plays a huge role, and in order to incorporate his authority throughout the piece, a documentary format/context was very useful

What exactly do you think he plans to accomplish with that scissor-lift stunt? 

(Credit: jessawang from flickr)

In discussing child abuse, I think a picture of a crying baby is appropriate. I would probably use this picture by/for a section about “signs of child abuse and neglect”, because one of the behavioral indicators of abuse or neglect is depression, and a baby crying illustrates this. The biggest potential problem with this picture is that it’s not a “wow” picture—it doesn’t really grab people’s attention or make people want to learn more about what happened or what is going on in the picture. Because I’m thinking about creating an educational/training pamphlet for babysitters and/or ”pressured and informed reporters”, I’m hesitant to add “wow” pictures of children who have been abused. Especially because babysitters are generally young, I think those types of pictures could be really disturbing. Furthermore, FINDING those types of pictures has been very difficult because, for obvious reasons, they are usually not posted on the internet. I think an explicit message that comes from this picture is that the baby is very unhappy, which is appropriate for my topic.

(Credit: May Fair from flickr)

I think this picture is more of an attention grabber and would appeal to pathos. Most people would feel saddened by this picture, and “sad” grabs people. The obvious answer would be to put this picture by a section about “signs of child abuse and neglect”, but really, this picture could be placed anywhere within the publication. I believe this picture automatically says “this girl has been a victim of child abuse”, although another opinion could be that she got into a fight at school or was picked on by a bully. However, I would think that within the context of a child abuse pamphlet/newsletter, the assumption would be child abuse. The picture also shows that the child is sad and withdrawn, which is appropriate.

(Credit: Microsoft Office media)

This picture could be used near the title of the publication if I create a pamphlet for babysitters. While it could also look like a mother and a daughter, again, I would hope that within the context of a babysitter training pamphlet that the assumption would be that the woman was the child’s babysitter. I could also use this picture by a section containing information about babysitters having unique access into families’ homes and the trust that is formed between babysitter and child that could be helpful if the child is being abused and needs someone to confide in. I think the picture illustrates this trust as well as the strong relationship between babysitter and child.

(Credit: jessawang from flickr)

Although hesitant, I decided to post this picture just as an example of a “wow” picture. It no doubt catches people’s attention and would sincerely shock people. However, as I discussed before, I think these types of pictures could be really disturbing, not only for young people, but for adults as well. It would be slightly less disturbing to use pictures of children who are severely skinny, or have burn marks or cuts and scars from being cut, but they’re extremely hard to find. I may have to search for books in the library that have these types of pictures and scan them.

In Chapter 10 of Having Your Say, stating problems using ”A BUT B Statements” are discussed. A BUT B Statements are a way to describe a clash between what you want and what you have, for both personal and public issues. As the book states, “To have a true clash, you have to identify two different aspects of the situation that are directly involved with each other” (261). Below are two A BUT B Statements that address ”clashes” that I see within the child welfare system:

1. (A) Many citizens believe that child abuse and neglect is terrible and they would like for it to stop. BUT (B) Most people don’t want to “meddle” in other people’s business, and/or they don’t have the information they need about the signs of child abuse and the resources available, so many do not report it.

2. (A) If the many factors that lead to child abuse were dealt with early on (poverty issues, substance abuse, having been abused as a child, enormous family stress, etc.), it could decrease the likelihood of them ultimately resulting in child abuse. BUT (B) The programs that are most widely used and receive the most funding are designed from a crisis position that deals with problems after the damage has been done, rather than trying to help people before their problems escalate to abusing children.

In the “West Nile Virus” article, the authors address questions that risk communicators often leave unanswered and unexamined, which seem especially relevant to my topic of child welfare services:

• Who is perceived to be most trustworthy
• Who is best suited to communicate risk messages
• What messages are most effective
• What messages are most respectful of different values and worldviews
• What messages raise moral or ethical issues
• What messages are most respectful of process
• Where, when and how the risk information should be communicated (p. 5) 

Working in social services, you come across many different families with very different values, cultures and backgrounds. As social workers our number one priority is to ensure the “safety” and “welfare” of the children, even though the definition of a “safe child” itself can vary across cultures. Because of this, communicating risk to families, as well as the general public, can be very difficult.

For example, a family of Christian Scientists may believe that praying to God will cure all of their sicknesses and do not believe in modern medicine. Their 11-year-old daughter may have a painful swollen eye that, to most U.S. citizens, “requires immediate medical attention”, yet the parents will not bring her to a doctor because of their religious beliefs. How do you communicate to them the necessity of their daughter getting medical care and the risks that arise if she doesn’t? What is the most effective way to go about it? Is it even okay to communicate and push your own beliefs or the normative beliefs of the U.S.? For social workers in the U.S., the general “rule” is that for most situations, unless a child ages 12-14+ requests to see a doctor, the parents do not have to take them if it goes against their religious beliefs. So if you don’t agree with the “rule” and would like to communicate the risks of this to the general public/other social workers/politicians/etc., how do you go about it while still being “accepting and respectful of various religions”? What is the best way to communicate your concerns? What moral or ethical issues are being raised? These are the questions that become critical when communicating risk in this field.

I decided to do a quick search for news articles concerning child abuse, and nearly every day there is an article written about a child abuse case or child welfare. Below are a few I found, which shows the wide variation in the types of cases and concerns:

• Abused Girl Was Dead for Seven Hours Before 911 Call, Doctor Testifies
• 2 Accused of Keeping Girl, 13, as Prostitute
• Elderly nun gets jail time in sex case
• Schools try to identify child abuse
• Man faces child abuse charges for home circumcision
• Phoenix man locked child in toy box, convicted of child abuse
• Woman gets suspended sentence in death of her 7-week-old son
• Jump in child abuse reports could slow foster system

The Blog-Media Relationship

In “Examining the Blog-Media Relationship”, one of the things that seemed relevant to me and my project was when Tremayne discussed the benefit of links that blogs have (p. xi). He discussed the “blogroll”, which is described as “a list of links provided by a blogger to inform readers of work he or she considers useful or of high quality”, and is something we can utilize in our uniblogs. When I read this paragraph I immediately thought of how effective it would be for my topic of Child Welfare Services to make a huge part of my project creating a list of links of important, informative and resourceful journal articles, websites, books, other blogs, etc. If one of my goals is to make every citizen a mandated reporter, I need to provide them with the information they need to recognize child abuse and be able to do something about it, whether it’s reporting the abuse to a child welfare agency or calling their representatives to create and pass important legislature. Utilizing a blogroll is a great way to reach a lot of people in a short amount of time and with limited resources.

HYS, Chapter 5

Chapter 5 in HYS discusses how to develop a disagreement fairly, which is important to not only gain respect because you can see every side of an argument, but also to show that you know a lot about your topic and can thus command authority. Much of working with my topic will involve developing disagreements because I will be criticizing many policies and practices within the field of child welfare services. This constant criticism is necessary in order to modify these policies and practices to fit the changing needs of people. In particular, the section about making concessions is interesting and helpful. The authors discuss how concessions can “establish shared ground from which opponents can negotiate (p. 94),” which I think is really important. When discussing decades-old policies and practices with people who well, have been working there for decades, it’s important to have some sort of common ground and to acknowledge positive aspects of current practices to not only inform future practices but to establish a respectful and effective relationship between both parties.