Monday, March 28, 2011

One kid-one worker model?

My jurisdiction has (I think!) a one family-one worker model for child welfare, so a kid's parents have the same worker as the kid. But the kid might cycle through workers: one when first removed from the home, then another for her first bit of time in care, then maybe another when her goal changes to adoption (I'm just guessing, as I've not had a kid in that situation) or she ages into teenager-hood... not to mention all of the times her worker might leave the agency or get promoted. And then there are all the extra people at the agency that the kid has to deal with--the educational specialist who helps with her FAFSA and college applications, and others. Now, I understand why it helps to have workers who have specialized knowledge of different stages of the process. But it doesn't seem good for the kid. Do any of you know if there are jurisdictions that keep one worker with one kid/sibling group throughout the kid's time in care?

1 comment:

  1. I know that is the way my first agency did things - but the agency I work at now splits workers into either "Reunification" or "Permanency". So, kids only switch if they move towards adoption or guardianship. If it is Independance or Group Home or whatever, they stay with the "reunification" worker.

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