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Rebeca Garcia

Tranishia James, MSW, LCSW

231J: Advanced Social Work Practice: Child Welfare

15 March 2024

Final Paper

The Martinez Family

According to the SCAR, the reporting party (RP) informed DCFS of allegations

regarding sexual abuse. Per RP, the father reported speaking to Female (17), also known as his

daughter Jannette. The child reported that MGF is currently still molesting her and Autistic

brother Male (14). She disclosed being afraid to report the information as MGF threatened to

harm them. MGF said he has weapons. Additionally, MGF goes over to the house and molests

the children when Mother leaves. As per the RP, the father is currently incarcerated and under

mental observation at PDC North Facility.

Upon completion of the risk assessment we determined the risk level was high with

unresolved safety threats due to the condition of it being a sexual abuse case and the perpetrator

likely having access to the children. The recommended decision was to promote this case to

family maintenance. During the CFT, CSW reviewed the court mandated case plan. The case

plan service objectives include developing positive support systems, appropriately expressing her

anger, and meeting her children’s physical, emotional, medical, and educational needs. Jeanette

will receive age appropriate services, will work closely with the social worker to develop support

systems, and will progress relationship with mother.

For the parent’s progress, mother attended individual counseling weekly and was able to

name various skills learned and used during her therapy session. Additionally, mother made

progress in family engagement efforts by planning weekly activities with all children and better

her rocky relationship with Jeanette. Lastly, she participated in independent living services, and

ultimately reached her goal of obtaining a new place of employment. After the completion of the

safety assessment, it was determined that the children were safe in the home and the Department

can close the Martinez’s family case. The safety threats were mitigated as the mother denied

access to the children. In addition, the mother made the children and herself available to the

Department throughout the case and made substantial progress and followed the case plan

activities.

Lessons Learned

The opportunity to practice conducting interviews and evaluating my progress has

supported my social work skills. I had the opportunity to learn of various interventions when

working with children and families. In the course of the video analysis, I was able to consider

implementing an intervention that highlights the family’s support systems. Specifically, the

intervention I grew in was exception seeking. It identifies support systems and opportunities that

the client has in their life for overcoming a problem. Skills that I strengthened during the quarter

was the development and growth of facilitation & organization. Through practicing mock

interviews I was able to implement active listening, questioning, and conflict resolution.

Additionally, I was able to schedule home visits, keep track of forms, and gather provider

information. While collaborating with my partner I learned of the importance in asking follow up
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questions. This helps obtain details and gather relevant information when families may be giving

short answers

Personal Progress in Child Welfare

At the start of my journey in the graduate program, I always knew I had a passion for

working with children, youth, and families in any regard and capacity. Coming in to the program,

I had some knowledge and experience of working with diverse populations, especially those

marginalized, yet I hadn’t had any direct experience in any child welfare agency or case

management related skills. As the time got closer for my internship with DCFS, I was eager and

nervous to start this opportunity, because I knew that I would be working with real life families

and handling real life cases. Further, during the start of the second year of the program being in

the courses for Kwick and DCFS stipend recipients I feel was a big part of why I have been able

to develop myself in the child well for sector, and why I have been able to have a transition into

the expectations of working in that realm. Now I can say that leaving this program, I feel ready

to work on the field, and I also feel prepared that I have a network that I’ve establish in DCFS

that will help me transition from an intern to an official employee. Throughout this whole

process, I have learned that, despite child welfare being a large system, as an individual I can

personally impact the children and families lives that I’m going to be serving in a positive way.

Additionally, in regards to skills as a social worker, I’ve developed myself immensely in the

areas of engaging families, interviewing children and families, and also learning how to

collaborate with my colleagues and other service providers. Those were some skills that I hadn’t

had a chance to develop until I started putting them to practice here in this program during my

second year internship. Another big aspect of my development has been this course. It granted
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me the opportunity to practice the skills, and to also process any feelings or situations that arose,

which I believe, was really important because I could get insight from not only the Professor but

also from my peers. Furthermore, in terms of my development, I was also made aware of the

various opportunities that I can pursue in child welfare departments, and I think that has push me

to continue giving my best and my effort in the work I’m going to be doing so that I can grow

not only personally but professionally.

In the same vein, there are several things that I will take away in my professional

development in the child welfare sector. One of the things would be that I will always treat the

family with respect, and if I engage with a family in a genuine and transparent way, I will be able

to get across and collaborate better with them. Another point is that there will be times where we

will have to remove a child, yet is important to work through any preconceived ideas and

thoroughly assess for child safety, so that family separation can be avoided, and I don’t fall into

the patterns that other workers practice due to the fact that they “don’t want to be the next social

worker on the news.” One last piece of information that I will carry is that in this work it is

important to take care of myself and have a support system of myself so that I can continue to do

this work in a manner that is not of a disservice to the families I’m going to be working with. I

hope to continue growling and learning while working for DCFS. My desire is to not forget the

reasons why I chose to pursue PCW, and to remember that people make mistakes because they

are human. Further, I hope to set my feelings aside when working with these families and put

their best interests at hand before my own opinions. The support of colleagues and the

relationship I build with my supervisor may support this growth and any processing necessary to
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get through difficult cases. More importantly, my family and friends outside of work will give

me motivation and confidence to continue the work I’m already doing.