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Listen to thisTo most people, the roles of child care workers and social workers are almost indistinguishable. Even clients of one or both of these professionals are often surprised and confused by the explanation of a child care worker or social worker regarding the differences. Our fellow professionals such as teachers, nurses or probation officers often seem hopelessly confused, and we have all become weary of searching for that simple definition that will finally separate our roles, one from another. Having made numerous attempts to define each role over the past decade, I have been amazed at the look of confusion on the faces of those to whom I offer my explanation. Indeed, I have now begun to wonder if those of us in these two helping professions are not perhaps slightly confused ourselves. We know that we play different roles and have varying responsibilities; and I admit there is no need to accentuate our differences just for the sake of doing so, but a clearer view of each other’s profession may build a mutual respect where it has perhaps not existed before.
I began the decade of the 70’s as a child care worker in a centre for distressed and disturbed children. It was exciting and vital work which took every ounce of creativity and stamina I could summon. During these years, my work as a child care worker interfaced with the work of numerous social workers. I admired my fellow professionals, but what I saw of them led me to believe that their work with people was shallow and done primarily through paperwork. The intense day-to-day contact with the children for whom I cared never seemed fully appreciated by my fellow social workers; and their discharge plans for those children at the end of their stay did not always meet my expectations. I wondered at times if they seriously listened to my opinion which I had based on intensive involvement with those children? I wondered if they understood my work?
I ended the decade employed as a social worker who often worked with the very child care agency by which I had earlier been employed. As I took children into care and placed them at this centre, I sometimes questioned the perspective of the child care workers, who seemed so personally involved with the children that they appeared to lose perspective. I wondered why they were so critical of my discharge plans for some children, and why they thought that they were the only ones who understood these children?
I felt I possessed a more balanced overall view of the children we shared. Only recently have I discovered the conflict in my own views, and I believe it represents the gulf that exists between child care and social work professionals. With this often unspoken misunderstanding amongst ourselves, it is not difficult to see why we cannot define our respective roles for outsiders. For this reason I wish to offer in this article some observations that may assist all of us to be clearer about how our two professions differ as well as come together as one. Though there are distinct roles and respective responsibilities to be understood, it is also important to see the similarities and blending of services.
Let me begin by laying down two principles I believe apply to the present discussion. Firstly, I believe there is a “continuum of service” provided to a child and his or her family that is handed off from social worker to child care worker and sometimes back to social worker. Secondly, I have come to see child care workers as specialists and social workers as generalists. These are principles that do not apply to every case, but I believe have some general application to our day-to-day work. The first principle, the continuum of service, is perhaps the most difficult on which to gain perspective. We seldom have time to step back from our work and acknowledge the way in which we weave ourselves into the lives of the children we serve.
The continuum of service
The continuum of service is probably best understood by the child who is
experiencing it. For even the child, however, the distinction between a
child care worker and social worker is not necessarily clear, but the
series of relationships that occur during the time of the service is
very real. For example, a child may come to the attention of a social
worker through a referral made by his or her parents, teacher or public
health nurse. The relationship between the social worker and child
begins most often in an office interview with the family. This may lead
to further interviews and counselling sessions with individuals in the
family with particular emphasis on the child. The social worker may
involve others in this process of counselling such as the family’s doctor, a community psychologist, or the child's school teacher. The
real work will most likely be done by the family within their home, or
perhaps in the school by the teacher while the social worker
orchestrates a plan of action. The relationship that may develop between
the child and social worker during this process can best be described as
somewhat detached but important because it deals with vital issues
within the family and child. This may take place over a period of a few
weeks, months or perhaps a year. At sometime, it may be decided that
more concentrated work must be done and that a child care worker should
be called upon to enter the scene. This child care worker may begin work
either by going into the home and school on a frequent basis
with the child, or perhaps by being a staff member of a centre where the
child may come to reside.
The child care worker embarks on a relationship with the child that develops more rapidly and intensively than that of the social worker, as the child care worker spends many and varied hours with the child. If the child remains in his or her home, the child care worker may be present there for meals, after school for evening activities, and weekend outings. If the child comes to reside in a centre or group home, the child care worker will perhaps be involved with this child for an even greater number of hours and in almost a parental role. The child care worker’s intervention into that child's life may last weeks, months, or perhaps a year or two. Because the child care worker’s involvement is so intense and goal oriented, however, it is almost always time limited. When this work is completed and it is determined by all persons involved that there is no longer a need for this in depth service, the child care worker’s role comes to an end. At this time the child and family most likely return to seeing the social worker on an office counselling basis. The service has thus gone full cycle; and over a period of time the social worker will withdraw from the case as the child and family should be able to cope on their own with any remaining difficulties.
The point that becomes obvious for me in this vignette, is that the social worker and child care worker play complementary but different roles for that family and child. This I believe is usually the case, and in an over simplified way, one can say that the social worker provided an open-ended but less intensive service than the child care worker. The child care worker took on a specific assignment and became deeply involved in the life of that child for a relatively short time. The continuum of service began with the referral to the social worker, and it included a period of interviewing and counselling followed by the intensive involvement of a child care worker, and came to an end by some process of closure provided by the social worker for the family and child. When I lay out the process in this graphic way, it is easy for me to see the different roles played by the mythical social worker and child care worker in this case. It is not always that clear and obvious in the real cases with which we deal. As a child care worker I had even greater difficulty seeing this continuum of service because I seldom understood the previous relationship between the social worker and family before the child was referred to me. I believed that I was the first breath of fresh air for the child, and that my intervention was the only one of value. I felt I had a greater understanding of the inner workings of that child's mind than the social worker, the teacher, and even the child's parents at times. My only frustration was my inability to convey this wisdom to the other people involved with the child and to ensure that they would take direction from me. Some years later when I became a social worker, I gained some perspective on this continuum of service as I was then the one making the referrals to the child care worker. At that time, however, I was dismayed by the arrogance of the child care workers who claimed to know more about that child than myself, as I felt I had known that child for months or perhaps even years before the child care worker had come upon the scene. I can remember being quite jealous of some child care workers who had demonstrated their close relationships to the children I had referred, and who often had a greater insight than I into the reasons for those children's behaviours. I believe that at times I subconsciously ignored recommendations from child care workers because of this jealousy. In both instances, as either a child care worker or a social worker, I did not appreciate the continuum of service and how important it was to the child and his or her family. In any event, being critical of the social worker because I had the greater knowledge of a particular child when I was a child care worker; or later, being put off as a social worker by the more intimate knowledge of a child care worker about a particular child, most certainly prevented me from offering the quality of service truly required by that child.
Specialist vs. generalist
The second principle on which I rest the distinction between child care
workers and social workers, is that of the concept of “generalists and
specialists”. We often shun any comparison between ourselves and our
fellow medical practitioners, but I believe in this case we can borrow
their definitions of general practitioner and specialist. I have often
compared the social worker who works for a public agency to a general
medical practitioner. Such a worker may offer a wide variety of services
including adoption, income assistance, counselling as well as child
welfare. The child care worker in this model is usually a specialist who
offers intensive social services in the relatively narrow band of child
welfare. Social workers seldom have the time or personal expertise
available to provide the depth of child welfare services that is the
specialty of a child care worker. At the same time, child care workers
seldom are able to offer the variety and number of services for which a
social worker is responsible. A family, having gone to a social worker
for assistance, might be referred from time to time to a variety of
specialists perhaps including a debt counsellor, psychologist, lawyer or
child care worker. Each would play a specific role.
Like the continuum of service, the second principle of specialist and generalist does not universally apply in all child welfare cases. There are times in which a social worker offers very specific counselling and guidance, and where child care workers may play a key role in referring a child to particular community professionals. In the main, however, the distinction has proved valid in my experience. When I worked as a child care worker, I was a specialist in assessment and treatment of children that came into our centre. As a social worker, I have been the “arranger” of services for families and often call upon child care workers to provide specific child welfare services. The problem for me has come when I have muddled that definition. It is when I have lost the thread of the continuum for.service, and when I have failed to see the distinction between the roles played by myself and my counterpart. As a child care worker I have at times abdicated my responsibility by being overly concerned about how social workers handle overall planning. When I have taken valuable time away from the child and spent it lobbying the social worker to ensure that he or she had the same vision I did, I failed to do good child care work. Later as a social worker I failed at times to do good planning for a child and his or her family often because I occupied myself in meddling in the day-today workings of the child care resource to which I had referred the child. My almost daily suggestions to child care workers no doubt annoyed them and perhaps even preoccupied them while bringing me no particular satisfaction.
A child who comes to our attention in need of help, may require understanding, protection, treatment or time to grow. Social workers and child care workers are particularly well suited to team up and deal with such needs. Such teamwork, functioning properly, handles the complexities of consistency. Each knows the role to be played and each facilitates the other. In such cases it may not be important for the child or the parents to fully understand the fine distinctions between child care workers and social workers, but it is imperative that these two professionals fully understand the intricacies of their differing roles. Muddling through as I have done in the past, and as I have observed others doing, seldom brings about the consistent professional service of which we are capable. If child care workers and social workers compete for the trust of a family, or the relationship with a child, or the authority to finalize plans; they will then be cheating their own clients of good service. The old theme of mutual respect is vitally important to providing good child welfare case work. Fortunately, most of us learn from our experiences, and this decade has taught me to co-operate. Co-operation, however, must take a definite form as well as be a good intention. For this reason it is important to recognize the practicality of such a principle as the continuum of service and the concept of specialist and generalist.
My working definition of the difference between child care workers and social workers is not a final answer for myself, nor should it be for the reader of this article. My definition is in process of development and the reader may be able to summon forth other principles that equally apply. I offer my current thinking on the matter in order to stimulate further thought and comment. What has helped me may help others in recognizing the roles we play.
This feature: Barrett, R. (1983). Child care commentary. Between a child care worker and social worker: A personal view. Journal of Child Care, 1, 4. pp. 95-99.
