Why abusing a social worker is the same as abusing a child

Another tragedy of a failing foster care system in D.C. – a 4-month old baby died as his 15 year old mother rolled over in her sleep and smothered him. This is the third time in recent years that a child death has sent Child Services (CFSA in D.C.) into a panic about accountability.

The Washington Post today explained the beginning shift in how these tragedies are handled as a function of a failing system. The old approach was to “hold someone accountable” by firing whoever was involved in the child’s social work case. Other cases then got piled on to remaining social workers, increasing the likelihood of more cases falling through the cracks. People get discouraged and don’t show up for work – they’re being held accountable for an impossible job. The social worker who was assigned to the 4-month old was interviewed:

She said morale is so low that people often do not show up for work, and she often took cases because she was the only one in that day. “It’s the luck of the draw,” she said. “It does not mean that they are bad or slow. It means they came to work that day.” The Washington Post

This is what it was like teaching in a failing public school. Teachers wouldn’t show up, and we couldn’t get substitutes, so the kids would get placed in other classrooms. Once you had an extra ten children (of a different grade level) in your classroom for a couple days you started to think you could use a day off too. Then test scores came back without improvement and everybody got reprimanded, including the children.

I’m generally skeptical of government running or requiring things. The two areas where I’m not skeptical is in child services and public education. Children can’t protect or provide for themselves, and the economy (and country) will only get stronger if children are given a chance to rise above what their parents have provided for them. An inquisitive spirit won’t teach itself to read if there are no books and it has nothing to eat. That being said, these two areas of government, child services and public schools, need to somehow incentivize excellence in their employees so that they will have enough staff to fill the jobs. This means building morale and understanding when it is the SYSTEM that needs to be held accountable, not the individuals. Otherwise we are living in 1984 where the truth is labeled nonsense and problems are renamed as their opposites. Luckily CFSA appears to be throwing more man power at the problem of backlogged neglect and abuse cases rather than just firing people. The problem is that this “man power” is coming from within their already thinly spread ranks. Until it becomes attractive and lucrative to be a good social worker or a good teacher these problems will exist. But how can that be done (besides higher salaries)? I think about it all time. Anyone have any ideas?

Photo credit: freeparking