Building a Model and Framework for Child Welfare Supervision

Supportive Supervision ResponsibilitiesPrevent and address stress, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout for supervisor. Whileagencies must develop and have available a variety tools and approaches to reduce stress, supervisorsare responsible for monitoring their own stress levels, signs of secondary traumatic stress, and burnout,and indicators that their functioning in thesupervisory role may be becomingWe recently lost a supervisor. Some feel she wasimpaired. They then must immediately useagency and other resources to addressburning out and that’s why she made an error sheemerging problems in these areas.normally would not have made. When you don’t payattention to stress and burnout, workers andsupervisors can make mistakes. It really affects howAnticipate issues related to safety andmanage risk. The potential for anger and they are doing their job, the energy they have, andviolence in many of the families and how they make decisions. – Supervisorneighborhoods served by child welfarepractitioners requires that supervisors be knowledgeable, skillful, and sensitive in anticipating andmanaging risk for clients, frontline practitioners, and themselves. Relevant tasks include ensuring thatcase information is current and risk assessments are updated as new information becomes available orcase situations change. Current information is essential to the ongoing assessment of risk to childrenand to making informed decisions regarding children’s safety. Supervisors and staff should alwayshave each others’ current scheduling and contact information available and be familiar with agencyprotocols for involving law enforcement and using other protective measures. In addition, counselingand support must be readily accessible for frontline practitioners who have been threatened or injured(Salus 2004).Prevent and address stress, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout for frontline practitioners.Child welfare practice is emotional, demanding, and often depleting. Child welfare practitionersdirectly observe others’ distress, feel vulnerable as they make life-altering decisions, and experienceconcerns about their own and their families’ personal safety. Supervisors are responsible for workingdirectly with practitioners andothers in the agency to I was once told that I didn’t do “emotional” supervision andidentify sources of stress,didn’t look at workers’ feelings. That has stuck with me assecondary traumatic stress,and burnout, and to prevent, something I want to change. Looking at what the worker isdecrease, or otherwise experiencing is important. – Supervisoraddress them.Build and maintain morale and enhance frontline practitioners’ job satisfaction. With bothindividual supervisees and the team/unit, supervisors are responsible to provide a supportive and openclimate by acknowledging practitioners’ efforts and effective performance, conveying the value andimportance of their work with families and children, treating them with sensitivity and respect, andhelping them “become masters of their immediate environment” (Hughes, et al. 1991).18