Building a Model and Framework for Child Welfare Supervision

Promote practitioners' self-reflection, critical thinking and case decision-making. Schon (1983)and others (e.g., Deal 2004; Webb 1996) have encouraged professionals to continually reflect on theirpatterns of action, the situations in which they practice, and on the case practice knowledge implicit intheir practice activities. For child welfare staff, the ongoing development of skills in reflecting onone’s own practice individually, with a supervisor, and with peers, and in applying critical thinking todecisions regarding one’s practice is critical. Supervisors facilitate and reinforce these important skillsas practitioners confront unique and uncertain practice situations.Demonstrate culturally competent supervision and develop and monitor practitioners’ culturalcompetence. Effectively serving and supporting families and children requires the knowledge andskills to work with those from diverse backgrounds and varied social cultures. Supervisors mustdemonstrate a value for and skills in cultural competence as well as facilitate practitioners’development of cultural competence as an essential aspect of their practice.Facilitate ongoing professional development for frontline practitioners. Professional developmentincludes continually acquiring and applying professional knowledge and skills as well as planning forone’s professional career. Supervisors shouldcreate a professional development plan We can encourage staff to do better and to stay ifspecific to and with the involvement of each we are interested in their career and their skills.supervisee, and encourage and facilitateopportunities that support their supervisees’– Supervisorprofessional goals.Promote evidence-informed practice. Supervisors must reinforce frontline practitioners’ use ofevidence-informed practice models. Evidence-informed practice “draws on rigorous reviews ofpractice-related claims, . . . attends to ethical issues . . . and helps both professionals and clients gainaccess to practice- and/or policy-related research findings and critically appraise what they find”(Shlonsky & Gambrill 2005:311).Help frontline practitioners apply new knowledge from training, workshops, and othereducational programs in their day-to-day practice. Integrating new learning into practice requiresthat practitioners regularly and self-consciously apply new knowledge and skills in specific situationsin their caseloads. Supervisors play a primary role in facilitating this ongoing process. To perform thistask, the supervisor must stay open to their own and others’ continuous growth and development.Monitor and, when needed, provide educational resources to support supervisees’ ability tounderstand and apply current knowledge regarding child development, including theory andempirically-based knowledge regarding attachment, separation, and loss. Frontline practitionersmust be well grounded in this knowledge to comprehend the rationales that undergird the desiredservice outcomes of child safety, well-being, and permanency. Moreover, it is essential thatsupervisees have a working understanding of the complex ways in which this knowledge must beapplied daily in child welfare practice decision-making, such as in selecting appropriate out-of-homeplacements for children and planning family visits for children in custody.17