A Case Manager's Perspective

A while ago, I inherited a combined ongoing child protective services and foster care case. The case had been opened for more than six years prior to my involvement. The two children who had been living with their mother had recently joined a third sibling in foster care. All three children had different fathers. The mother refused to tell me anything about the children's fathers. One of the children, "Marissa" had no mention of her father or paternal family in the case narrative, but when reviewing Marissa's file, I found a man's name on the case information sheet. I contacted child support regarding this and was told that paternity had not only been established, but the father had been paying child support for several years. I located the father immediately and without difficulty. He was extremely upset that his child had entered foster care and that he had not been informed prior to the dispositional hearing. He came into my office that day with his wife and two youngest children and filed a petition for custody. We planned a visit for him and Marissa for that afternoon. We also made arrangements for him to meet the child's therapist and begin sessions. He was very interested in Marissa's schoolwork so we scheduled a meeting for him to talk with Marissa's school's principal, her teacher, and her school guidance counselor. I explained to him the agency's case planning process, which requires all interested parties (family members and service providers) to attend. He expressed his desire to attend these meetings, but said he could not miss any more work. Together we decided that we would meet once a month at 8:00 p.m. to accommodate his work schedule. Not only did the father and his wife attend each of these meetings, but so did the therapist, school counselor, and foster parent. After conducting a comprehensive family assessment and home study, Marissa was returned to her father. The father's home provided a safe and stable living environment, which her mother's could not. The child's basic needs were met within the father's home. The father continued the child's therapy sessions by arranging his own payment plan with the therapist, he met regularly with the school, and he maintained contact with me even after his case had been closed. The father also arranged for the three siblings to continue having contact after he was awarded custody of his child.

How did I engage this father? First, I reassured him of my desire to help him strengthen his relationship with his child. I allowed him to express his anger about not being informed earlier about Marissa's entry into foster care and was able to validate those feelings. I accommodated his work schedule, which showed him my respect, understanding, and commitment to his involvement in the case planning process.

Best practices in social work tells us that our work with families should be based on a holistic approach, which requires engagement of all family members and individuals that play a role in the family. Yet, when I think about families with whom I have worked, I realize how few fathers were involved with case planning and more importantly how few were involved with their children. While I am proud of the outcome in Marissa's case, her case is, unfortunately, atypical. Why have my successes with fathers been so limited?

Although I have experienced success in engaging fathers in some cases, I see many barriers to engaging fathers in most child welfare cases. I find it much easier to work with mothers. To begin with, you clearly know that they are a biological parent of the child. Most of my cases require DNA testing to establish paternity, which can be a long process depending on the current relationship between mother and father. If the mother and father are no longer involved in a relationship, the father's role in the child's life decreases. Many mothers provide false information or request that the father have no contact with the child. Therefore, it is difficult to know the truth about either parent and to balance the mother's wishes versus the best interest of the child.

Interestingly, agency "culture" is often more supportive of mothers. Most posters, brochures, flyers, and public service announcements focus on the needs of mothers and their children. The limited print media that is geared toward fathers is usually punitive and frequently related to child support enforcement. While I understand and accept the child support regulations, the obligation to report fathers to child support undermines engaging them in the child welfare processes. Many of the alleged and legal fathers in my caseload refused to be involved or keep in contact with the agency to avoid child support obligations. Furthermore, many of the fathers in these cases were unemployed or were low wage earners barely making ends meet.

There are few resources specifically for fathers. The parenting classes and support groups in my community are all designed for mothers. While we do have in-home providers who work with both or either parent, the service providers in the community are focused on the relationships between mothers and their children. It takes a very special father to be the only man attending a parenting class or nutrition program. Also, many fathers in my caseload worked long hours and need services to be provided during nontraditional work hours.

Another barrier in the engagement process is related to caseload size. Federal, state, and local policies have added to the paper work load of case managers, which impacts the time available to work with children and their families. I have worked in several different child welfare offices. In one office the focus was the paper work, the numbers, and the data. In another office the focus was the practice with families, and little attention was paid to the paper work or the numbers. I found that when my caseload was high there was no way to do either good case practice or adequate paperwork. Yet when caseloads are manageable, caseworkers can find ways to balance good case practice and meet paperwork requirements. When I was able to balance these two competing obligations, I could devote more time to engaging all family members, including fathers, and I got to really know the children in my caseload. Case managers need to learn and use good time management and organizational skills; supervisors need to learn ways to assist their staff in these areas. Finally, when faced with these barriers and often a high caseload, I realize I put less effort into engaging fathers in the case process. It was just more difficult.

Engaging fathers in child welfare cases is a complex issue. We need to change many things in child welfare policy and how we educate and train workers. High caseloads and competing demands on workers play a significant role in whether or not "real work" is done with fathers. Societal beliefs and agency culture are just as important to working with fathers. To successfully engage fathers, workers need training to dispel many of the myths related to "absent fathers" believed by not only case managers but society as a whole. While it is easy to jump to conclusions about why a father is not involved with a child, we must consider whether we have adequately assessed the father's current situation and his reasons for lack of involvement. Are we using our skills as social workers to earn the respect and trust of the individual? It is our job to create a safe environment for the children as well as the parents. Case managers need adequate training that will give them the skills to build respect and trust between the child welfare system and fathers. Agency staff- from directors to case aides-need to increase the focus on the importance of improving the father-child relationship and the benefits to the child. To better meet the needs of children in child welfare, we must engage fathers and paternal family members early in the case work processes. We need to conduct comprehensive family histories and assessments of all family members-identifying each member's strengths and needs. Fathers and paternal family members need our support and encouragement in case planning and case implementation. Finally, we must provide and create services that address the individualized needs of fathers and other paternal family members.