Håvard Aaslund
Supervision and Complexity in Child
Welfare Social Work
- The way you describe complexity – all my cases
are like that
Håvard Aaslund (M.A.)
Institute of social work and family therapy
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PRESENTATION TITLE
Outline of the presentation
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Background for the prjoect
Complexity as a theme in child welfare social work
Theoretical framework
Method
Findings
Analysis and feedback
PRESENTATION TITLE
Background
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A post-graduate course in child welfare supervision
Initiated to give newly educated social workers
supervision when entering the field of child welfare
Backgroud in a white paper about competence in child
welfare services of Norway
Child welfare work is seen as one of the most complex
areas of social work and welfare services in general
(Bakken et al 20014)
Still complexity is seldom a theme in literature about
supervision
The conception complex situations in practice
can be described as situations where:
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roles are unclear and/or new
• different professions, disciplines or agencies are cooperating
• forms of understanding and theoretical paradigms collide
• conflict and discord occur
• help is supposed to assist families in conflict
• theoretical knowledge does not suffice
• skills are not learned
• society interferes with assessment of a specific case
• ethical dilemmas and problems are not addressed
(Vråle 2014)
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Increased complexity in the child
welfare service
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From control to welfare
Higher demands on evidence
More individual rights
Higher prevalence of psychological problems
Higher values of user-participation
More resistant attidudes towards intervening in the private sphere
From a principle of biology to a focus on attchment theory
The best for the children (ethics of conviction vs ethics of
responsibility)
Increased complexity in childhood (Vetlesen 2012)
FOREDRAGETS TITTEL
Complicating factors in the
organization
• ‘Native
tongues’, habitus, supervision
• Beuraucratic written communication
• Power balance between agencies and
professions
• Doxa – what is taken for granted
• Individuell tilpasning vs samordning
(Willumsen 2009, Aamodt 2012)
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PRESENTATION TITLE
Supervision in child welfare services
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Lack of supervision can lead to overidentifation in practice or
failure to do appropriate action(Burns 2009, Chiller og Crisp 2012,
Ellet og Millar 2004).
A lot of child welfare workers will experience compassion fatigue or
burnout in their working life. Qualified supervision is found to be
the most important factor for staying in the profession (Burns 2009,
Chiller og Crisp 2012, Cicero-Reese og Black 1998, Ellet m.fl.
2006, Zlotnik m.fl. 2005, McFadden m.fl. 2013).
Still our experience from the students and a resent master thesis
suggest that there is a lack of supervision amongst norwegian
child welfare workers.
PRESENTATION TITLE
Child welfare context (Ellet et al 2007)
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The professional development of the
helper (Rønnestad 1985)
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Development ----------------------------Stagnation (increased anxiety)
5.Integration/realism
4 Exploring hope
3. Confusion/ depression
Pseudo-development
Premature closing/defensitivity
2. Counsciousness of complexity
1.Confirmation and enthusiasm
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FOREDRAGETS TITTEL
Supervising skills in complex cases
• Active
listening
• Containing and withstanding
• Sorting and tidying
• Naming and framing
(Vråle 2014)
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PRESENTATION TITLE
Research method
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A qualitative, fenomenological and hermenutic approach
A cooperation between practice, education and research
Strategical sample of experienced child welfare workers
Two researchers with skills and competencies in supervision,
changing roles of interviewing and transscribing
One researcher interview one student about a prepared case while
the others listened
One researcher interviewed the students about their reflections
Session was used as basis for lecture the next day.
Data was analyzed of both researchers in a three-step hermentetic
process, with joint reflection sessions in-between
Findings were corresponded to participants for validity and
reliability
Findings were structered into 4 thematical headlines
PRESENTATION TITLE
Roles, rules and judgement
case was before ‘Kvello’ This was at the
time we used assessment and judgement»
• «This
[a popular norwegian scholar in psychology who
has provided manuals and checklists for child
welfare social workers].
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PRESENTATION TITLE
Balancing personal engagement
• «The
case workers like her [the client] a lot,
and she has always been all alone. But how
personally engaged are you supposed to be,
without becoming unprofessional»?
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PRESENTATION TITLE
Being in the middle
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«Being a leader, means I’m getting further away from
the clients. I know the top managers perspectives
better than my emploees, and I know my co-worker’s
needs better than my bosses. At the same time I am
responible for assisting the clients needs. And there is
a contractor I have to facilitate for»
PRESENTATION TITLE
The existensial loneliness
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”This is a case that is hard for me. It keeps grinding all
the time”
«I was really worried, but when I met her I was not
emotionally accessible. Just thinking. I thought more
about overtime and stuff like that.»
«I have 10 employees with 30 cases each. We don’t
have time to reflect upon values and attitudes. We just
talk case management, so I guess I blame lack of time
then.»
PRESENTATION TITLE
Feedback afterwords
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«I feel I got sorted the case, even though we didn’t find
any solution. Sorted on an ethical level, not theoretical.
The problem became clearer while I was talking»
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«In this case you had to generate a bigger picture, I
thought a lot about my own viewpoint»
PRESENTATION TITLE
Points for further analysis
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Complexity was not acknowledged as such by the social workers
or organizations
Telling the story unaffected by the listener’s views increases
understanding of one’s role and possibilities of action.
Peer responses (when not advicing or evluating) gave support and
ideas for further reflection.
Too much focus on checklists and manuals in child welfare
services can threaten professional assessement.
The student stopped listening when peers started talking about
what she should have done, or pointed out what she did wrongly.
PRESENTATION TITLE
Points for further analysis (cont.)
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Rigidification – not to overcome but to manage complexity
Stretching polarities rather than sorting in boxes
Different languages on different levels in the organization
In complex situation we might become so determined on doing the
right thing that we don’t do what we could do
Active listening and naming and framing, was more important
skills than sorting.
The word existensial was recurring both in the supervision session
and the group feedback. Is there room for an existensial
perspective in social work practice?
PRESENTATION TITLE
Student feedback
Students enjoyed beeing part of a ‘research project’
• Working with students experiences gave a bottom-up
perspective on knowledge
• Starting with a practical situation made students more
motivated for listening to lectures
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FOREDRAGETS TITTEL
References
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*Vetlesen, Arne Johan (2012). Bedre beskyttelse av barns utvikling. Etiske og filosofiske
vurderinger av praksiser i barnevernet. I: Norges Barnevern nr. 1, 286-94. (8 sider)
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Vråle, Gry Bruland (2014). Veiledning når det røyner på. Kommende bok.