Quote From: socworkeradvocI can relate to both the parent treated unjustly by the system and the social worker in PA.
I have been a social worker in the child welfare field in Iowa for many years. I have seen devoted social workers work tirelessly to protect children both in their families and in the foster care system as well as work hard to reunite families with their children when the children could be well-cared for.
I have also seen social work management systems and social workers set up parents to fail, not try to help them but punish parents at every turn, children returned to homes where they faced terrible risks of reabuse or death, and place children in foster/adoptive homes that were known to be abusive. I have seen children caught up in the residential systems for 2-6 years and only get worse and worse often being put on strong doses of adult psychotropic drugs. The good workers often get pushed out of the system and the ones who care little or play the game remain. Thursday's show was heartbreaking both for the mother who was unjustly imprisoned, and the son who went through so many crummy foster care homes.
I wish them well as they seek to put the pieces of their lives back together.
I couldn't agree with you more. I've worked in the system on multidisciplinary teams for 30 yrs. and seen what you described over and over again. Some good workers stick with it and others move on to greener pastures or just "burn out". I've also been a member of numerous "task forces for change in the system" We meet and greet but, change never happens although some things just get shifted around you are still dealing with some long timers that needed to be fired a long time ago. We still have some caring Social Worker out there that work long hours with case overloads, they work their hearts out and thank God for them.
