Moving Child Welfare Forward
Achieving Positive Outcomes for Children, Youth and Families

Class Nine: Advocacy in Child Welfare

Topics

• Role of advocacy in child welfare, including ethical considerations
• Successful advocacy techniques
• Advocacy within the child welfare organization: in casework, in policy development and implementation
• External advocacy at community, state, and national levels

Learning Objectives

When this class is complete the student should be able to:

• Understand the role of advocacy in child welfare
• Use child welfare data to inform advocacy discussions
• Discuss advocacy within the child welfare organization in casework and in policy development and implementation
• Employ some successful advocacy techniques for use in casework
• Develop some successful advocacy techniques for use at the community, state and national levels.

Suggested Assignments

• Attend a meeting of a public body, such as Board of Education, State Court of Appeals, legislative committee, or meet with a legislator or state official. Write a 3-5 page paper on the experience. Discuss any social policy that relates to the current agenda item or court case. How could an individual or group have influence on the process you observed? Which building commitment to change tactics could be useful?
• Go to five web sites belonging to an organization concerned with the welfare of children and families that includes advocacy as part of its mission. Write a one page fact sheet on each of them, including name of organization, position on advocacy, methods suggested, target of efforts.
• Imagine you are a child welfare caseworker. In a 3-5 page paper describe the ways in which you might be required to advocate for the children on your caseload. What are the pros and cons of doing so? What issues should you consider before you undertake the effort, including ethical considerations? What would you do? Are you willing to put your employment in jeopardy?

Suggested In-class Activities

• Guest Speaker: Arrange for a child welfare supervisor or manager, a state legislator, a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) or some other professional involved in advocating for children to come and talk about what they do and how they help bring about successful outcomes for children and families.
• Identify an issue related to child welfare that is under discussion in the state legislature. Prepare to testify on this issue and, if possible, actually deliver the testimony. Plan a campaign to enlist community/state support for this issue and decide in what ways this support could be demonstrated.
• Small group exercise – Child Welfare Today and Tomorrow ( This exercise is designed as a post-test to demonstrate learning; compare to first class results). Ask each group to:
• Review the map of the current child welfare system and other agencies that affect children, youth and families that students put together during the first class and make a new map based on the class’ current understanding of what the child welfare system looks like. Discuss.
• Describe an ideal child welfare system, and compare to the ideal system created during the first class.
• Discuss possible ways to improve the current system to make it look more like the ideal model.

Suggested Readings

• Badeau, S.H., Perez, A.G., Lightbourne, W., Gray, E.S., & Gonzalez, L.P.S. (2004) Five Commentaries: Looking to the Future. Children, Families and Foster Care, 14, 175-188. Thoughtful discussion of future trends in foster care.
• De Vita, C.J. and Mosher-William, R. (Editors) (2001). Who Speaks for America ’s Children? The Role of Child Advocates in Public Policy . Washington , D.C. : Urban Institute Press, pp. 3-39; 105-137. A series of essays on the ways advocacy is conducted and the way it influences policy.
• Herbert, Margot P. and Mould, John W. ( March 1, 1992 ). The Advocacy Role in Public Child Welfare. Child Welfare, v71, n2, pp. 114 – 139. The role of advocacy in the job of front line child welfare workers.
• Pizzigati, K. and Stuck, E., and Ness , N. (2002). A Child Advocacy Primer: Experience and Advice from Service Providers, Board leaders, and Consumers. Washington , D.C. : Child Welfare League of America Inc. An examination of the role of advocacy in service-based organizations.

Supplemental Reference Materials

Readings

• An Advocate’s Guide to the Media . Children’s Defense Fund.
• Hayes, Bill and Degelman, Charles. (1994). Active Citizenship Today Field Guide. A joint project of Constitutional Rights Foundation: Los Angeles , CA and Close Up Foundation: Alexandria , VA.
• Haynes, Karen S. and Mickelson, James S. (2003). Affecting Change: Social Workers in the Political Arena. 5 th Ed. Boston , MA : Allyn and Bacon.
• Hick, Steven and McNutt, John G. (2002). Advocacy, Activism, and the Internet: Community Organization and Social Policy. Chicago , IL : Lyceum, Books, Inc.
• Jansson, Bruce (2003). Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate. Pacific Grove , CA : Brooks/Cole Publishing.
• Litzerfeiner, Pat and Petr, Christopher G. ( Jul 1997). Case Advocacy in Child Welfare. Social Work, Vol. 42, Issue 4, p. 392.
• Pardeck, J.T. (2002). Children’s Rights: Policy and Practice. Binghamton , NY : Haworth Press.
• Simons, Janet and Jablonski, Donna M.(1990). An Advocate’s Guide to Using Data. Children’s Defense Fund: Washington , D.C.
• Thompson, Jo anne J. (July 1994. Social Workers and Politics: Beyond the Hatch Act. Social Work, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 457-465.

On-Line Resources

• www.americanhumane.org The website of the American Humane Association (AHA) an organization dedicated to preventing cruelty, abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children and animals.
• www.aphsa.org The website of the American Public Human Services Assn. (APHSA), an organization that educates members of Congress, the media, and the broader public on what is happening in the states around welfare, child welfare, health care reform, and other issues involving families and the elderly.
• www.cwla.org The website of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), an organization committed to promoting the well-being of children, youth, and their families, and protecting every child from harm.
• /www.naswdc.org provides information about the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

Introduction

Objectives

Class 1 Content

Class 2 Content

Class 3 Content

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Class 9 Content