The ‘line of duty’ in social work

When foster child Marcus Feisel was killed in August, there was great outrage that the state of Ohio hadn't taken better care of him. Why, it was asked, weren't social workers from Butler County or the contract agency, Lifeway for Youth, more aggressive in investigating the 3-year-old child's foster parents and living conditions?

Another side of such a story played out in Henderson, Ky., over the weekend. Boni Frederick, 67, a social worker with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, had taken a child for a supervised visit with his non-custodial parent Friday. Frederick was found dead in the parent's home Monday afternoon. The child, his mother and the mother's boyfriend were missing, believed to have fled in Frederick's car.

"Ms. Frederick worked as a public servant for 15 years looking out for the best interest of Kentucky's children and families," Gov. Ernie Fletcher eulogized. She died, he said, "in the line of duty."

It's a line of duty we don't always appreciate very much. Children's services social workers are sent to intervene with people who often are in states of high emotional crisis. They deal with people accused of neglecting or abusing their children, with people who know the social worker's report can result in the loss of their children.

Ask any police officer and you will hear stories about the volatility and potential danger of domestic calls. Social workers have to enter those same arenas, and they do it without guns, uniforms or the power to arrest, and often without any backup.

Children's services workers in most jurisdictions have too many cases and too little funding. When they make mistakes because of a misjudgment, or because they are overworked or undermotivated, or because they just can't face up to the scenes that often confront them, the results can be tragic and the blame unforgiving.

One of Boni Fredrick's cases was 10-month-old Saige Terrell. We don't know why the state had custody of the child, but on Friday Frederick was taking the baby to visit his mother, Renee Terrell. That was the last time she was seen alive. Police have issued an Amber Alert for the child and filed a kidnapping charge against the mother, who is believed to have taken Saige and fled with her boyfriend, Christopher Luttrell. They remained at large Tuesday.

Frederick's death will have an impact on every child welfare worker who hears about it. They all have had difficult cases. Most who have been in the field for any length of time have been threatened by clients.

There is nothing unique to Kentucky about this case.

"I think it's pretty clear that child welfare is pretty under-resourced everywhere in the United States," Dr. James J. Clark, social work professor at the University of Kentucky, told the Louisville Courier Journal. "It's just not a priority area for a lot of state governments."

We have to start making it a priority. The extremes of Marcus Feisel and Boni Frederick cannot be our only choices.

Editorial
18 October 2006

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061018/EDIT01/610180313/1090

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