Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 1) | Page 57

Juveniles

Dear Students of Social Work,
Caring for Juveniles
When professionals appear before the juvenile court judge, their
recommendations assuring that the children would be well taken care of are
often accepted. This is done as there is trust that the “system” is doing right
by the children it cared for. The question remains however as to how the
system is maintained to provide that assurance as we know that it is hard work
to get an inter-disciplinary system to be indomitably child-centric.
The focus of our juvenile system in the last couple of decades has treaded the
balance of safety of the child through removal and intervention onsite within
the household situation. The key challenge in some situations is the meaning
of “best interests” when deciding whether to send children home after being
in the system. The key is sue that keeps us all awake at night is the breaking
of the inter-generational cycle of the appearance of children in the juvenile
system.
If removal was indeed solving the problem or if interventions were targeted,
we would not see a generational carry over. This is not unique to us. Many
around the world are kept awake trying to find the elusive solution. Upon
reflection, we continue to ask ourselves how we have healed the children
and families of origin that become involved in the juvenile system. While
removal may well interrupt a pattern of abuse or neglect, it is not sufficient to
ensure that the children have an opportunity to grow up in healthy families,
which everyone agrees is best for children. Moving children from foster home
to foster home or into institutional care does not provide them with the
necessary modeling and long-term connections to launch them on positive
trajectories. So we know that safety is not a sufficient standard and social work
help is critical in the service delivery plan.
We know too that despite the challenges, studies have shown that good social
work has helped some children to survive the very worst sexual or physical
abuse and come out seemingly whole.
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