Child Welfare in Action Q&A Interview with Jennifer Evans, NH DHHS, DCYF Child Protective Service Worker III Naomi Caban, Univesity of New Hampshire

Stop Child Abuse

What services are available to help protect children in N.H.? How long have you been working in child welfare and why did you choose it? I have been working in child protection for three years. I started this job straight out of college. I became interested in working with child abuse and neglect following an internship in a residential treatment center for boys during college. I found that most of the boys that were being treated for behavioral problems had a history of child abuse and neglect and I became interested in working with children and families around their home environment. What services are available to help protect children in N.H.? The NH Division for Children, Youth and Families is the state agency responsible for investigating reports of child abuse and neglect. There are many services in the community that are not associated with DCYF that work towards prevention of child abuse and neglect. When protection issues do arise, the Division is responsible for looking into concerns in order to assess safety of children and take any necessary steps to protect children in NH.

What are the signs of abuse and neglect? There are many signs of child abuse and neglect, although sometimes there are no signs that a child is being abused or neglected. In some physical abuse cases, physical injury is present that may be suspicious due to the nature of the injury or the child or family’s explanation of how the injury occurred (suspicious that the story does not line up with the injury). In neglect cases, children can appear to be unhealthy, unclean, or not cared for properly. Signs of child sexual abuse can include children acting out sexually with other children, bedwetting, changes in behavior, etc. How can we help protect children in our communities? The community has a big role in protecting children. In NH, everyone is a mandated reporter of child abuse and neglect. Most states mandate only professionals such as teachers, doctors, counselors, etc. to report concerns of child abuse and neglect. NH law requires any person with reason to suspect that a child under the age of 18 has been neglected or abused must immediately report to DCYF (proof of the abuse or neglect is not required).

What federal and national organizations partner to promote prevention? DCYF has working relationships with many community agencies that work towards prevention of child abuse and neglect in the community through parent education, parent support, assistance with difficult behaviors of children, etc. DCYF has a Child Development Bureau, which is responsible for providing assistance to early child care and education programs. This Bureau is one way in which DCYF partners with the community to work on prevention programs. Many local non-profit agencies and other community partners such as schools, doctors, and mental health agencies work with the Division as well to promote prevention Where can we access state laws on reporting and responding to abuse and neglect? The Department of Health and Human Services’ website contains helpful information in regards to reporting and can be found at: http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/DHHS/BCP/report-abuse.htm

How does the agency support and preserve families? Believe it or not, the agency’s main goal is keeping families together. When most people think of DCFY, typically their first thought is that we remove children and break up families. While we do have to remove children from their home sometimes, most of our work is around keeping families together and, if children have to be removed, working on reuniting them. During the investigation phase of DCYF’s work with families, we frequently do more than just investigating reported concerns. Social workers connect families with community services to preserve and strengthen families. If children are removed from a home, DCYF is mandated by law to put in services to work towards reunifying families. How many children are in foster care in N.H.? According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ website, there are approximately 1,400 children in the foster care system in a given year.

How long do they stay there? How do folks become foster parents? Children can stay in foster care anywhere from one day to years. The Division has recently begun a large initiative towards permanency for children, meaning either returning to their home as soon as possible or finding a permanent home if they are not able to safely return home. This initiative has cut back on the number of children that spend years in foster care. How do folks become foster parents? Each DCYF district office has a resource worker that works with current and prospective foster families. Prospective foster parents must complete an application, which consists of information about all members of the foster family that live in the home. A background check is performed for all household members that are 17 and older. This check includes a criminal records check, a check of the NH Central Registry of Child Abusers. Foster families also have fire and health inspections of their home as well as a thorough home study (done by DCYF). Foster parents must go through a 21-hour training program prior to having any foster children in their care.

What’s a typical day like for you? I am an assessment worker, which means that I do the initial investigations of reports of abuse and neglect, as opposed to family service workers that do ongoing work with families that the Division has open cases with, once it has been determined that abuse or neglect is occurring. There is no such thing as a “typical” day in my job, my day to day schedule varies greatly and often times I may not know what I’m doing during the day due to the unpredictable nature of this position. On most days, I have at least one home visit, either scheduled or unannounced, to visit with a family to discuss the report of concern. When I am not meeting with families, I can be in the office making phone calls and typing documentation, or at court or in community meetings. The way that your daily schedule can vary so much is one of the most exciting and fun parts of this job! How often are children actually removed from their homes? Children are not removed from their home as often as people may think. Removal is avoided if at all possible, while still ensuring the safety of children. There are, however, times when a child cannot be maintained safely in their home. In my 3 years with the Division, I have removed children from about 8 families. Many of these children were placed with relatives and only a few were placed in licensed foster homes.

Can you extinguish any myths about child protective services? One huge myth is that DCYF frequently removes children from homes and will show up at a family’s home and just take the children. The Division does not remove children without reasonable cause and must obtain a court order first. Many times, the family is well aware that children will be removed prior to removal. There are, however, times in which a child or children are removed quickly and without parental knowledge due to safety concerns. It takes a lot for a child to be removed from a home and the Division works hard to work with families to correct any safety concerns to prevent removal. Can you validate any beliefs? As previously stated, there are times when DCYF lives up to public fear and myth and does have to remove children quickly, without parental knowledge. These instances are far and few between and typically happen due to serious, immediate safety concerns for a child or children.

How is your performance evaluated? Every Child Protective Service Worker receives a formal annual evaluation by their supervisor. Workers meet with their supervisors at least weekly for guidance on current cases. If supervisors feel that workers require guidance or correction in any area of their job performance, these weekly meetings can be a good time to review the work done in a certain situation. Due to the fact that we work in such a sensitive area and affect the lives of so many children and families, it is important that workers be able to accept constructive advice about working with families and be constantly evaluating their own techniques for engaging and working with families. How do you deal with stress/burnout? Worker stress and burnout is a hot topic in this field. The difficult nature of what we deal with on a day-to-day basis can be very hard to handle at times. Supervisors and administrators throughout the agency acknowledge this and work very hard to ensure that workers are properly supported to prevent burnout. While it can be impossible at times to prevent stress as a result of this job, supervisors and peers are always available to assist workers with difficult decisions or with processing difficult situations. In my office, workers and supervisors work hard to ensure that we take time to focus on the positives in our jobs. My office has many ongoing activities such as a peer support group and small coffee breaks and lunches to ensure that workers take time to relax and de-stress.

What is the most difficult part of your job? The most difficult part of this job varies between different workers. What some consider difficult, others have no problem with. For me, the most difficult part is keeping up with the vast amount of documentation that is required, and not falling behind. Another difficult part of this job is sometimes coming face to face with some sad cases of child abuse and neglect. Supervisors and peers are always available to help each other process these instances and support the worker in ensuring the safety of children on their caseload. What is the best part? The best part of this job, for me, is meeting with families. This job gives you the unique opportunity to meet a variety of interesting and sometimes inspiring children and families. I enjoy meeting families, hearing their stories and working to help families with any needs they may have. How has technology impacted your work? Technology comes into play in this job in the form of documentation. Computers make for faster documentation than writing out long notes of interactions with families. Technology also makes it easier to contact community agencies and providers to stay connected about families.

Summary Let’s Discuss Risks I recently met Jennifer when I shadowed for a day at her office. There were several more questions that I had for her though she was unable to finish as she’s very busy. Let’s Discuss Risks The childhood risks that a CPSW deals with are numerous. Factors that contribute to maltreatment can be categorized into the following: Parent/Family/Caregiver; Child; Social/Environmental, Cultural.

Risk Factors (not exhaustive) DV Mental Health Substance Abuse Single Parents Teen Parents Family Structure Poverty History of Abuse Stress Disabilities Birth to Age 3 Isolation Education Social Support Community Violence

Resiliency There are several factors that have been shown to lower the incidence of abuse/neglect. Nurturing/Attachment Social Connections Knowledge of child development and parenting Parental Resilience Concrete Supports for Family

Resiliency & Challenges DCYF offers prevention and family support services. Some of these are in the form of contracts with and may fund home visits, child care information, child development education, parent education and support, family literacy, higher education services, family mentoring and advocacy, life skills training, short term child placement, and early care and learning programs. Family service workers who work with families having substantiated findings offer direct support and tailored treatment and safety plans. CPSW’s can face challenges in dealing with the legal system and hostile/resistant clients. Professionals can protect themselves by building resiliency. It’s important to use peer and supervisor support. They may need to use the employee assistance program, take a mental health day or just de-stress.