Child welfare workers and the need for information technology

Introduction

In the field of health and human services, information technology has been increasing quickly. Information technology among social welfare organizations can best be defined as social networking. Information technology can go back to the 1960s when closed-circuit video was used as the primary instrument and handwritten notes were used. Using email, chat rooms, PowerPoint, video conferencing, digital documents, and Casebooks has become instruments for child welfare employees. Our team will discuss in this article how information technology can help child welfare employees reduce burnout, caseloads, incorrect and outdated data from prior documents, and cooperation with other organizations.

The Ways to Gather Information Before

In the 60’s, child welfare employees depended on closed-circuit video recordings to learn about programs, procedures, interview processes, and techniques of counseling (Shorkey, C. 2014). These were the instruments the supervisors and executives of child welfare had to rely on for instruction. Playing roles enabled the child welfare employee to acquire some kind of experience when working with customers. Face-to-face interviews have been very prevalent and are practiced to this day, but not as often as before. Face-to-face interviews were used during his / her home visits to evaluate the client. Family evaluations were done as, patient evaluations, environmental assessments to determine the requirements of the client or applicant during these home visits. All relevant programs and services they would need were supplied with data. There really was no fixed timetable or time frame as to when to conduct these kinds of visits. These visits might have taken place on a monthly, weekly, weekly, or even annual basis. The child welfare employee gathered all the data and information leading to numerous documents, backed up documentation and constantly requesting medical documents, criminal records, among other relevant documentation to create a client profile.

How Technologies May Help?

I believe that technology is a systematic shift in which information gathering, data sharing and training could be quicker and more effective, and in exchange it would significantly reduce turnover, boost job satisfaction, reduce trauma to front-line employees and enable more effective and quality adjustments to their workforce’s demographic requirements. Frank Itzin was one of those people who proposed the need for audio recordings with real performers as well as interactive videodiscs to offer a much natural and superior level of training and teaching results (Shorkey, C. 2014).

The technological developments of having access to others in a much quicker manner now benefit child welfare employees. In an internet seminar environment, webinars have become very credible methods of teaching and sharing data. It does not involve child welfare employees to join the seminar physically, but to be able to participate through the internet. Podcasts have become another excellent educational and training instrument. People can download Podcasts for strengthening, expanding and acquiring fresh abilities with instructional units. Schools and many organizations also use this technique extremely because it provides the advantage of being anywhere in the globe and still can engage.

The Problems of Social Workers

Even though new technology has been incorporated into the social welfare agencies child welfare workers still face many challenges. Some of those challenges faced by the child welfare workers are high caseloads, burnout, and the heavy task of putting together out dated information as well as inaccurate. Herbert Freudenberger was a clinical psychologist that was very familiar with stress and the effects it had on staff members. He defined burnout as a “ condition in which workers become worn out or exhausted because excessive demands have been placed on their energy, strength, and resources (Hansen-Turton, T. & Mortell, M., 2014, par. 3, pg. 121).

Although fresh technology has been integrated into child welfare organizations, many difficulties remain. Some of the problems that child welfare workers face are elevated caseloads, burnout, and the heavy task of compiling dated and incorrect data. Herbert Freudenberger was a very familiar clinical psychologist with stress and its impacts on the employees. He described burnout as a’ situation in which employees are worn out or exhausted because they place excessive requirements on their energy, strength and resources (Hansen-Turton, T. & Mortell, M., 2014, par. 3, pg. 121).

The reason for high caseloads based on Feely and Gill is that social welfare agencies in many cases have overwhelming caseloads due to inefficiently allocated resources and the fight between knowing what works and what doesn’t (2011). Sometimes child welfare employees face the harsh reality of making life-changing choices based on bad, incorrect, and outdated data remaining in a handwritten field where most contributors to that file are no longer working for the social welfare organization (Feely, K. 2011).

Despite the difficulties a child welfare employee may face, a fresh instrument has been created to guarantee their job is finished more quickly and efficiently. Casebook’s creation has been an excellent instrument for using social networking. This instrument offers excellent advantages not only to child welfare employees, but also to Kathleen Feely (2013)-based customers, family members, and collaborating parties.

Financing and Training

The financing and training required for such resources is a significant problem that child welfare employees as well as other social welfare organizations can face. There is a Federal Pell Grant in the state of California that includes the advance degrees to gain extra advancement abilities within the organization. Now, if there is no Federal Pell Grant available, it would be feasible for the organization to pursue a partnership in education. What an instructional partnership does is to assist guarantee that at a much-reduced discounted price a degree can be achieved. Child welfare employees need to make their leadership team conscious of them falling behind and being overworked to catch up to guarantee that they can bring this up to top leadership so that they can discover an information technology-related solution such as casebook.

Purposes For Information Technology

Child welfare employees have not had the technology advantage as they do now. Child welfare employees depended on closed-circuit video recording that generated training programs and scenarios to provide them with a sense of what to expect in the field. Child welfare employees with technology can gain from using webinars and podcasts to know and engage with other peers without having to enter a classroom. There are three key purposes for information technology.

The first is that it enables information and client files to be shared with other organizations working together. This guarantees clients receive the greatest possible assistance in as little time as possible. The second is that it reduces many child welfare workers ‘ burnout impact. This guarantees relaxation of the child welfare officer and can keep focusing on their instances. The third is that the backed-up instances are no longer going to be a problem because the data and annotations he / she makes on his / her documents can be made as they work with their customers. In California, the significance and value of using this technology has been seen by many social welfare organizations. Before other states start to catch up and see the importance of such technology, it’s only a matter of time.