Preserving Family Preserving Culture To the heart of

Preserving Family, Preserving Culture. To the heart of a child safety system that respects and protects families and culture.

What is the purpose of a child protection system? Who do we serve? Uses Drugs and alcohol worries Issues Concerns Poverty Maltreated Homeless Inappropriate Risk

Central Concepts (that usually are hopelessly confused) Safety Risk Open ended, low to high Not prescriptive Great, but needs criteria: Severe, out of control, imminent, vulnerable child, justifiable Maltreatment Backward looking, point in time,

When is a child unsafe? What are dangerous conditions for a child? Conditions? Behaviors, attitudes, circumstances, physical conditions, intentions, attitudes, motivations

Consider a camping event… When a child breaks her arm jumping off a tall rock…. Accident? Risk? Maltreatment? Danger?

What would you want to know about someone if you wanted to know if they were safe around kids? • Maltreatment? Maybe, , , , • Most important: – What are the kids like? – How do parents functions as adult human beings? – How does parenting occur within the culture including discipline?

Once you know these things. . are conditions consistent with danger? • “Danger” means: Consistent with severe effects on a vulnerable child, is justifiable, out of control and foreseeable? Unsafe Child

Unsafe ≠ Removal

Level of intrusion… Agency Managed out of home Family Managed in-home Agency Managed in-home Less More

Safety and Change Two Different Variables

• Safety Services What would you do?

Is child welfare a helpful social work intervention? Are we helpers?

Thank you for your kind attention! Matthew Gebhardt MSW, MA Sr. Director Casey Family Programs mgebhardt@casey. org