Building a Model and Framework for Child Welfare Supervision

Element 4
Mandate explicit, manageable standards for caseload size
and for supervisor-supervisee ratios.
When frontline practitioners’ caseloads are too high, they are not only unmanageable for
practitioners. Supervisors also cannot adequately monitor their supervisees’ case activities and
progress and thus the desired quality of services and engagement with children, youth and families
may not be achieved. In order to assure that child welfare supervisors have time to develop and
maintain a professional relationship with their supervisees, work one-on-one in a planful way with
frontline practitioners, and carry out their responsibilities for accountability to the agency and to the
community, a model for child welfare supervision must also provide for explicit manageable
supervisor-supervisee ratios (Jacquet et al. 2007; Juby & Scannapieco 2007; Robison 2006;
Weaver, et al. 2007).
Supervisors cannot be sufficiently familiar with the cases assigned to their unit to adequately
monitor their supervisees’ cases when their supervisees’ caseloads are unreasonably high. And
when supervisors are assigned an unmanageable number of supervisees, they can neither provide
regular, individualized supervisory attention to each supervisee nor adequately monitor their
supervisees’ cases.
Both the Child Welfare League of America (1995, 1999) and the Council on Accreditation (2006)
provide guidelines and standards for child welfare frontline practitioner caseload size and
supervisor-supervisee ratios.
Element 5
Define expectations with regard to the frequency and format
for supervision of frontline practitioners.
To assure individualized, uninterrupted supervisor interaction with each supervisee as well as
regular opportunities for supervisees to learn from their peers and receive and give mutual aid, a
model for child welfare supervision should define expectations regarding the frequency and format
of frontline practitioner supervision. Supervisors should be held accountable to adhere to the
defined expectations of frequency and format for meeting with supervisees and be encouraged to
identify and address obstacles to accomplishing this task.
Both regularly scheduled individual and group
supervision/case reviews should be incorporated in the model
of supervision for frontline practitioners. Peer group
supervision provides efficient, regular access to multiple
perspectives for learning, the development of group cohesion
and a sense of belonging among practitioners, an appreciation
that these are “`our’ problems rather than `my’ problems’”
(Kadushin & Harkness 2002: 391-399), and a decrease in
practitioner burnout (Marks & Hixon 1986).
Mentors can share their
experiences and relate them to
what someone is going through.
It’s helpful to relate to someone
else’s experiences. Mentors can
take their experiences and
knowledge and help others
individualize it. – Supervisor
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