Resources Database

The Deinstitutionalization of Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Uganda (DOVCU) project that was funded by USAID, lasted 42 months (July 2014-December 2017). This is a final report of the project's successes. Overall, compared to the baseline, stakeholders in the district government, community structures and also beneficiaries (families) seem to have changed their ideas around child care institutions, their role, and the importance of children growing up in family care. The words “mind-set change” came up many times in interviews and discussions.

This Statement of Ethical Principles is designed to facilitate social workers' aspirations towards the highest possible standards of ethical practice, through processes of constant debate, self-reflection, willingness to deal with ambiguities, and to engage in ethically acceptable processes of decision-making to achieve ethical outcomes. Each of the principles in this Statement must be read in relation to each other and not separately. This Statement makes an explicit commitment to value the people with whom social workers engage.

The purpose of this guide and its companion tools is to offer a sustainable approach that is community-led. Community-led approaches can take many forms, but all of them feature community power, dialogue, and decision-making, including by children. Community-led approaches generate high levels of community ownership, enable stronger prevention and sustainability, and decrease dependency on NGOs and externally-led child protection. Ultimately, child protection requires an appropriate mix of top-down and more grassroots driven, bottom-up approaches.

This framework aims to provide clear and consistent policy and practice to support the engagement of children in making informed decisions about HIV-related prevention, testing, care, social support and treatment.

In many ways, child welfare social workers in Canada mirror the simultaneous and complex relationship between emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction discussed in the literature. The findings also suggest that job satisfaction and perceived support may be key to counter-balancing vicarious trauma, burn out and post-traumatic stress.

This study brief explores the self-care practices of child welfare workers in one southeastern US state. Results reveal that child welfare workers only engage in self-care at moderate levels.

Children involved in the child welfare system may sometimes require clinical care from mental health professionals. The child welfare and mental health professionals working with these children and their families may not always have opportunities to collaborate despite both seeking to improve outcomes.

There is no shortage of anecdotal evidence about the negative impacts that staff turnover can have on children, families, and other staff in agencies that provide Wraparound care coordination. The cost to replace staff is also high. This report highlights findings from a study toward determining strategies to reduce turnover, increase job satisfaction and ultimately improve care.

This issue in Humanitarian Practice Network includes several articles that highlight opportunities for integrating MHPSS programming in humanitarian response, ways to overcome the challenges associated with introducing multi-sectoral interventions into existing systems, research and operational experience, how academics and practitioners can partner effectively to produce actionable evidence in humanitarian settings, and the case for scaling up MHPSS interventions to reach more people at lower cost.

This brief provides specific steps for social workers and social service agencies to take for reintegration and repatriation preparation.

This guide includes several documents that focus on challenges that state child welfare agencies face when working with youth. To address these challenges, the guide presents the Youth Welfare approach, which outlines how agencies can shift from a child-focused system to a youth-focused system by implementing practices that support youth and their needs. Agencies and others working with youth in care can access the complete guide or download the tools, which include a graphic and several exercises to build staff knowledge and skills in youth welfare.

Social services are instrumental in addressing challenges associated with aging. Yet, practitioners report needing expanded gerontological knowledge and better supervision. The Supervisory Leaders in Aging (SLA) program of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) was designed to improve gerontological services by strengthening supervision of the social service workforce. Implications of this model for enhancing supervisory practice are discussed.

This toolkit includes resources that can be used by all cadres of the health and social service workforces and service delivery professionals. It includes a case study and tools for understanding and addressing causes of workforce problems and tips for supportive supervision.

Readers are offered glimpses of what child protection and child care looks like in this region.

This document is part of a Meal4Kids series. The checklist is intended to help child psychosocial support and Child Friendly Space supervisors adhere to quality standards during program implementation.

This paper highlights key drivers for improving integration of mental health, including a qualified workforce delivering quality services.

Evidence suggests that relationships with caregivers and peers play a central role in mediating childhood experiences of adversity. Unfortunately, interventions for children affected by crises are usually too fragmented to maximize the protective effects of healthy relationships. This article stresses the importance of developing multisectoral and relational interventions capable of promoting healthy development across the life course.

This report of the 3rd annual BICON Conference consolidates knowledge and best practices and discusses gaps and challenges, with a focus on issues relating to Alternative Care for Children in South Asia. A common thread across each of the conference themes, and a key requirement for an effective child protection system, are greater numbers of qualified social service workers.

The Amajuba Child Health and Wellbeing Research Project measured the impact of orphaning due to HIV/AIDS on South African households between 2004 and 2007. Research highlights importance of promoting integration of government social welfare services for families and children affected by HIV/AIDS.