We Really Should Get on With It: An Argument for Not Assuming Social Workers Make Better Child Welfare Workers Than Non–Social Workers

Abstract

Being in full support of asking the question, “Do social workers make better child welfare workers?” we must be open to what we might find. It may bring us closer to what practices work and what practices do not work for children and families. By framing the issue in this way, we remove the debate about social worker usefulness in child welfare and move toward advancing the field of child welfare. Perhaps child welfare is child welfare and not social work; perhaps social workers do child welfare better than those with different educational backgrounds. We do not now. Grappling with this question should push all social workers (administrators, researchers, clinicians, practitioners, community organizers, and case managers) to advocate for necessary system change so that more focused studies can be done to improve practice to better help the children and families.