Helping in Child Protective Services: A Competency-Based Casework Handbook

This second edition of Helping in Child Protective Services: A Competency-Based Casework Handbook is a comprehensive desk reference that serves as both a daily guide for workers and a training tool for supervisors and administrators. This invaluable resource provides CPS workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to assist vulnerable families, covering such key issues as assessment, decision making, intervention, child development, medical evaluation, accountability, and the legal framework of culturally responsive practice.

This handbook equips CPS professionals and students to follow the casework process from intake through case closure with step-by-step instructions and examples. Chapters cover child development, key developmental milestones, and the importance of intervention; medical evaluation of child abuse and neglect; how to structure interviews and phrase questions to obtain information from families and guide the casework process; and the importance of accountable practice to families, their agencies, and the public.

This latest edition of Helping in Child Protective Services compiles the most up-to-date research and practice information to help professionals provide the highest quality and most innovative services to children and families.

Charmaine R. Brittain, M.S.W., Ph.D., is Manager of Education & Professional Development, American Humane, Englewood, Colorado. Dr. Brittain is an expert on child protective services, having been involved in CPS systems as a practitioner and as a consultant helping child welfare organizations improve their child protection systems through better training and program analysis. She manages training programs, writes curricula, and assesses program compliance against standard performance criteria. Deborah Esquibel Hunt, Ph.D. has a background in clinical social work, social work education, and Indian child welfare. She has provided leadership to a statewide task force in Colorado that culminated in a state Indian Child Welfare law. Dr. Hunt has presented locally and nationally and published on the Indian Child Welfare Act and culturally responsive services with American Indian families.