Bridging Focus: Fostering Cooperation between Social Workers and Parents to Support Wrap-around Services

• In Event: 153 - Section on Children and Youth Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Social Work and Children's Welfare

Abstract

Education is lauded as the primary institution of mobility through which those living in poverty can escape it. However, it is also well known that the web of factors associated with poverty have a compounding negative effect on children’s development and school readiness. This negative impact of poverty increases throughout school years, widening the gap between poverty and prosperity in terms of educational attainment and life outcomes. This study analyzes interviews with Children and Youth Services caseworkers, therapeutic family coaches, and Early Head Start parents, regarding wrap-around services that encompassed multiple interventions to mitigate the web of negative factors associated with poverty. Participants understood the importance of interventions in early childhood, and expressed desire for current programs to become cooperative, wraparound services. However, parents prioritized short-term goals and self-efficacy, while caseworkers prioritized long-term child development goals. This data has important implementations; before expanding policy practices, the priorities of parents and caseworkers must align. This paper suggests that therapeutic family coaches are closest to bridging the relationship between parents and caseworkers to create the most impactful wrap-around services.

Authors

• Heather Beth Johnson, Lehigh University

• Kristen Schmidt, Lehigh University