Visitation: The Challenge and the Opportunity

 

One day training (6 hours)

As a caseworker, maximizing the quality of your visitations with children and their families is often paramount when caseloads are high and time is limited. This training will explore the relationship between the visitation by caseworkers and the well being of the children they are protecting. Visits are a critical component for ensuring the safety of children and the well-being of families. At each stage of intervention, caseworkers, determine the type of supports that children and their families need to ensure that the children are safe, are in or moving toward permanent homes, and have stable living arrangements that promote their well-being. Research linking meaningful caseworker visitation with the child to more positive outcomes presents us with an opportunity and a challenge. After completing this training you will be better able to:

• Define the three areas of assessment; safety, well being and permanency for worker/parent and child visits
• Recognize the importance of using developmentally appropriate questions to assess safety and child well being
• Document child well being in behavioral and objective terms
• Recognize the importance of visits with family in order to achieve placement stability and permanency
• Identify three ways to maximize the time spent during a visitation

 

For more information contact Beverly Crockett at 813-974-9007, or via e-mail at imPACT@fmhi.usf.edu.