Resources Database

This report reviews the current capacity and gaps, training and demand for child protection services in times of emergencies as well as makes recommendations for bettering preparing the workforce who provides these services.

This report is a review of the literature on social transfer programs, including their cost effectiveness of administering through community-based approaches involving the social service workforce and others working in child protection.

This framework is intended to increase understanding and use of promising and best practices for developing the workforce and contributing to the work environment.

This report reviews the project results and key interventions from the SUNRISE project, which includes strengthening of the social service workforce at government and community levels.

This report reviews Uganda's progress toward its national response for OVC and makes recommendations for actions to increase progress.

The report includes a review of the health impact of partnerships between health care and social services.

The Health Plan for Catalonia 2011–2015 outlines measures for integrating care provided by health and social service workers for a new integrated care model to achieve better health outcomes. The article outlines an ‘integrated care’ vision within the health sector, but also includes initial collaborative work with social services.

A key strategy to address racially disparate outcomes in child welfare services is training, workforce development and capacity-building actions that deepen an understanding among staff at multiple levels of an organization of how race and racism impact the lives of children, families and communities, as well as the institutions that are charged with supporting them.

The 2nd Annual Global Social Service Workforce Alliance Symposium was held on June 10, 2015. A total of 365 people from 20 countries participated by joining the event. The Symposium provided a forum for experts from around the world to discuss efforts to strengthen the social service workforce and advance systems and services for children and families. Presentations focused on ways in which planning, developing and supporting the social service workforce can lead to more effective services to children and families and stronger systems of care.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) supported a sub-regional workshop held in Kigali March 23-26, 2015 to provide structured opportunities for technical exchange on care reform, approaches, methods, and tools. During workshop sessions in Kigali, participants engaged in facilitated exploration of ten priority topics related to care, including the role of the social workforce in conducting case management and leading deinstitutionalization in an integrated child protection system.

Efforts to strengthen national child protection systems have frequently taken a top-down approach of imposing formal, government-managed services. Such expert-driven approaches are often characterized by low use of formal services and the misalignment of the nonformal and formal aspects of the child protection system. This article examines an alternative approach of community-driven, bottom-up work that enables nonformal–formal collaboration and alignment, greater use of formal services, internally driven social change, and high levels of community ownership.

This study examines the relationship between economic resources, psychosocial well-being, and educational preferences of 1,410 AIDS-orphaned children in southern Uganda. These findings suggest that the focus for care and support of orphaned children should not be limited to addressing their psychosocial needs. Addressing the economic needs of the households in which orphaned children live is equally important. Both are important areas of work for the social service workforce.

This report aims to gain an understanding of the interactions between social protection programs and quality of care, including the role social service workers play in linking children to social services following the loss of parental care, family separation, reunification and care choices (primarily foster and kinship care).

New indicators and tools developed by MEASURE Evaluation enable program designers and administrators to standardize data collection through answering questions fundamental to the planning and evaluation of OVC programs worldwide. Materials have been packaged into a toolkit. Materials are also available in French.

Community-based strategies that foster frequent contact between caregivers of children under five and provide credible sources of health information are essential to improve child survival. Care Groups are a community-based implementation strategy for the delivery of social and behavior change interventions. This study assessed if supervision of Care Group activities by Ministry of Health (MOH) personnel could achieve the same child health outcomes as supervision provided by specialized non-governmental organization (NGO) staff. (from Abstract)

This report identifies and makes recommendations on how the skills, qualifications and training of staff working within the early learning and childcare and out of school care sectors, from birth to age 14, can contribute to improved outcomes for children, help to reduce social inequality and close the attainment gap, based on the evidence gathered in the course of the Review and wider research evidence.

This paper introduces a newly developed social work group intervention model in workforce development by addressing: 1) how this program can be best implemented for positive employment process and outcomes; 2) how it can be evaluated with sound measures; and 3) how it can be replicated in other settings for greater impact.

This Practice Parameter presents principles for the mental health assessment and management of youth involved with the child welfare system. Important definitions, background, history, epidemiology, mental health care use, and functional outcomes are described. Practical  guidance  regarding  child  welfare-related considerations  for  evaluation  and  management  are discussed.

This study collected data to determine the impact of the social services provided by the Mobile Team on behavior change and attitude shifts of parents of children with disabilities.

This report is an executive summary of the State of the Social Service Workforce 2015 Report, which is a review of the workforce in 15 countries. The full report can be found here.