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Size Matters:Achieving Optimal Caseloads for Child Welfare Workers
Pamela Day, DirectorCWLA Office of Child Welfare Standards
CWLA’s Best Practice Standards
First volume published in 1938
12 volumes, including Governance and Management
Purpose:
to ensure that children and families everywhere have the benefit of good services.
· CWLA Best Practice Standards Describe: Definition and goals of child welfare
services and each discrete service Best professional and administrative
practice, i.e., how staff and board must perform in carrying out the program
Basic assumptions that underlie each service (the values, principles, and knowledge on which it is based)
The Standards also describe: Core elements or components of the
service How the service should be connected with
other services Key worker tasks and activities The resources, staffing, and organizational
supports that must be in place to ensure service quality.
Caseload Standards=
The recommended # of cases (children or families) assigned to an individual worker
Why caseload standards are important: They make a difference for children and
families Child welfare is a labor-intensive, hands-on
service Workers must be able to spend time with children
and families in order to achieve positive outcomes The importance of engaging families and children
and worker contact with children in care (CFSR findings)
Relationship=Change
They make a difference for workersValerie Williams, NASW Illinois chapter:
“Until we as a profession can begin to talk the bottom-line language of the world we live in, I’m afraid the caseloads will continue to topple some of the best in our profession.”
Stephen Karp, NASW Connecticut chapter:
“For the workers who hang in there, they always feel the pressure of not being able to get out and see the families as much as they want to on the level they want to. There’s always a worry that something will happen on their shift, even if it isn’t their fault. It’s definitely an emotional strain, and it does create burnout.”
How caseload standards are developed Time studies
Consensus processes
How Caseload Standards Are Used
Agency administrators, planners, and managers use the standards in:Planning, organizing, and administering
servicesDeveloping and revising agency policiesOrienting staff and board members Interpreting services to citizens, clients,
legislators, and organizations, and inAdvocating for appropriate staffing and
funding levels and to shape policy discussions and initiatives.
County, state, and local public officials, legislators, budget officers, and service planning entities in allocating funds for services
Advocates in their efforts to improve caseloads and services
Attorneys, court monitors, judges, and agency administrators in litigation
Unions representing workers in contract negotiations
How can we institutionalize caseload and practice standards?
Legislation Accreditation Litigation Negotiation
Legislation Arizona—Protective Services Caseload Standards
Advisory Committee California—Assembly Bill 364 (2002) Work group to
recommend minimum caseload standards Delaware—State law requires CWLA caseload ratios +2.
Funding tied to increases in caseloads greater than 10 %. Florida—Legislation prohibits caseloads from exceeding
CWLA standards by more than 2 cases Indiana—Statewide caseload standards established
through legislation. Maryland—Maryland-specific caseload ratios based on
CWLA consultation. Washington—Caseload Forecast Council
Accreditation
States and counties that have been accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Services for Families and Children (COA) are required to meet, or come close to meeting, COA’s caseload standards, which are similar to CWLA’s.
Accredited states include Illinois, Kentucky, and Oklahoma.
Litigation
Alabama-Ruling in federal lawsuit in 1998 required DHS to comply with standards established in a 1991 consent decree.
Connecticut—Court Order Regulating Caseloads (1999) (Negotiated through AFSCME).
Colorado—Settlement Agreement with Colorado Lawyers’ Committee (1994).
Kansas—Settlement agreement (1992-93).
Negotiation
Unions representing child welfare workers have played an important role in negotiating caseload ratios that meet, or come close to meeting CWLA standards. Often, unions advocate for ratios that are already in place through legislation, consent decrees, or court settlements, but are not being implemented due to funding limitations or competing priorities.
For Further Information:
Contact:Pamela [email protected]
Or, visit: www.cwla.org/programs/standards
