Restoration in Progress: Healing Families and the Child Welfare Workforce

In this episode, we chat with Dr. Jessica Pryce, Research Faculty member at Florida State University College of Social Work, a former Child Protective Services investigator in Florida, and author of Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services—Notes of a Former Caseworker.   Throughout the conversation, we cover her experiences of challenges in child protective services—including worker burnout, power imbalances, racial disparities, and the gap between training and real‑world practice. Through personal stories, research insights, and reflections from her book, she highlights the need for more humane, collaborative, and data‑informed approaches to supporting both families and frontline workers. The conversation also explores evolving case practice in Rhode Island and emphasizes the importance of self‑care, distributive leadership, and elevating the voices of parents with lived and living experience.