WEBVTT
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Hello and welcome to Listen.Up.People., a podcast
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of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social
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Work. I'm Dr. Holly Priebe Sotelo, Associate
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Teaching Professor of Practicum Education. According
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to the December 2025 data report published by
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the Los Angeles County Department of Children
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and Family Services, also known as LA County
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DCFS, there are 18 ,067 children receiving child
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welfare services also referred to as Child Protective
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Services throughout LA County. What are these
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services? Who provides them? Why do people have
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such mixed feelings about them? All this and
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much more is what we aim to tackle in this episode.
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Collectively, my guests bring 40 years of experience
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working with LA County DCFS to our discussion
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today. So I am very excited to have them both
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here and to take a deep dive together into the
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one of the most misunderstood areas of social
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work practice, which also tends to generate the
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most publicity. I'd like to welcome my social
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work colleague and friend, Dr. Debra Waters-Roman,
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Associate Teaching Professor and Clinical Psychologist.
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And Richard Carranza, a USC MSW alum
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and a former student of Debra's who is a supervising
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children's social worker with LA County DCFS.
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Thank you so much for joining me today. So I'd
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like to start today by asking a more personal
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question about why each of you became interested
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in public child welfare or child protective services.
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And moving forward, you'll hear me use that term
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public child welfare and child protective services
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interchangeably. So I'm going to start with Debra.
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Why did you become interested in public child
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welfare? And then Richard. Well, thank you, Holly.
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And thank you so much for having me as a guest.
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I'm honored to be here. So I actually was introduced
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to the field of child protective services when
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I was an MSW student at USC. And I actually completed
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an internship with the Los Angeles County Department
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of Children and Family Services while I was in
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my MSW program. I was actually working from the
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exposition park, the CFS office, which is no
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longer there, but used to sit right across from
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the LA Coliseum. And once I began my internship,
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I immediately fell in love with the work. I had
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the sense that doing child protective services
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work would be a career that would be meaningful
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for me and would contribute not only to my personal
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growth, but also to my professional development
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as a social worker. I so enjoyed and felt privileged
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to have the opportunity to interact with the
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families that I was working with. I was inspired
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by their resiliency and their commitment to providing
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the best homes possible for their children. So
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I just immediately fell in love with the work
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and decided during my internship that it would
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become my career. Thank you, Debra. And Richard?
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Hey, good morning. Thanks for having me. So anytime
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I'm asked this question, I always think back.
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Prior to starting the USC MSW program, I had
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worked in a wraparound program, so a community
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-based mental health organization. I was like
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a brand new to the field. I sat in a meeting.
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At the time, they were called TDNs. So they were
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essentially a decision -making meeting where
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different service providers sat down and, you
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know, talked about a family and ultimately made
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a decision as to like what were the next steps
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for that family right and I noticed then that,
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you know, the DCFS social worker had a lot of
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say in what was going to happen next for families.
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So that intrigued me. I ended up at the USC School
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of Social Work and I had a professor who pushed
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me into the internship program. And then once
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I got there, I think the most important part
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is, you know, why I choose to stay. It's because
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I think that we need people who are invested
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in understanding firstly that families that do
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come across the Child Protective Services system,
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they're in a crisis moment, right? And we need
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people working at DCFS and places like DCFS who
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want to support these families, understand that
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it's a difficult moment for them and things can
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happen in many different directions, but with
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the support of a social worker and a team and
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their own networks, things can start going in
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the right direction. Thank you, Richard.
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So Debra, I'd like to start off
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with a two -part question. And for the benefit
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of our listeners who may not be as familiar with
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public child welfare or child protective services,
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could you please provide us an overview? And
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then also, people confuse the different types
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of social workers. You know, what are the different
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types, say someone at CPS versus someone in a
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school and then in a community based agency?
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Thank you, Holly. Of course. So I think for the
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first to answer the first part of your question,
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I think child protective services, CPS work has
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shifted dramatically since I started 40 years
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ago. Now. I do believe the one consistent is
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the notion of child safety, that child protective
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services agencies are really mandated given the
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mission of ensuring child safety. And that mission
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has remained consistent over the years. I think
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what has changed, though, is how social workers
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attempt to do that. So when I started, public
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child welfare was really focused on parents just
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completing a list of activities and you know,
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if they did, that was wonderful. And if they
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didn't, then maybe their children were not going
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to come home. And it was more of a cut and dried,
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I think, type of work. And I think it shifted
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to the point now where current DCFS, public child
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welfare workers, child protective workers, really
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look more at engaging with the family and look
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at it more of a team process. So rather than
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us going in and telling families what's wrong
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with them, and this is what you need to fix,
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it's a matter of respecting their stories. They're
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the experts on their lives, their journeys, engaging
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with families to recognize what are their needs,
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what are their challenges, and how as a social
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worker can I assist with those. while ensuring
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child safety because that is still always there,
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but also trying to maintain children in their
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own homes, in their own communities, or getting
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them back to those locations as soon as possible.
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So again, I see a real shift into more of a collaborative
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approach now where I believe clients are more
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respected. I think to answer the second part
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of your question, so child protective services
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agencies have the responsibility of investigating
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reports of potential child abuse or neglect.
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So where a school social worker may call in a
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report because they have a concern about a student
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perhaps, it's going to be a DCFS public child
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welfare worker who goes out and investigates
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that report and they go out and meet with the
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family and try to make an assessment in terms
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of what's going on. Again, there are a lot of
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social workers who will report if they have concerns
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about the welfare of a child. And DCFS is the
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agency, Public Child Welfare, is the agency that's
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responsible for investigating those reports and
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determining how best to move forward to ensure
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the safety of the child and also support the
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family. Excellent. Thank you. And Richard, would
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you care to add? Yeah, I think when Deborah was
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speaking, especially partially working with families,
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we were just talking with a group of colleagues
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about dignity and families wanting to feel like
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they have dignity in this process. And I think
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that's one of the things that's most important.
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important to highlight is that there's an emphasis
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on that and, you know, hearing families and making
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sure that they're at the center of, you know,
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making sure that we have a safer plan, you know,
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altogether. And I've actually, you know, enjoyed
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learning and putting a focus on that. And I feel
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like if we are able to connect those those things
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and have a family centered approach, like there's
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just better outcomes. Having worked at DCFS myself,
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maybe. 30 years ago, I know, definitely know
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that there's been a shift and there's still some
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confusion about different types of social work.
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So thank you so much for clarifying this for
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our audience. So I'd like to ask Richard if you
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can, you know, as a supervisor right now at DCFS,
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what are the latest trends that you were noticing
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that are impacting families to become involved
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in CPS? Yeah, in our service area, so what we
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work essentially ends up being South Central
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Los Angeles, a lot of the things that come. across
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our caseloads are either related to us like structural
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issues you know so sometimes neglect leading
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from other complicating factors such as like
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poverty substance use and then one of the big
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ones too is like intimate partner violence which
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also can you know have a lot of other stressors
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tied to it you know on both sides of the parent
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so whether um that's like some underlying mental
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health needs underlying family stressors like
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economic stressors. I also think that we've sometimes,
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because our focus is safety and immediate safety,
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there is some dangerous situations where collaborative
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approach, for example, with law enforcement would
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be best. However, a lot of our social workers
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and law enforcement officers do at times face
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situations where, although it'd be best to collaborate,
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just the timelines don't work out, and the social
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workers are left with a situation where they
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do need to work with the family to make a safe
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plan, which does entail further involvement with
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the dependency court system. Thank you. And you
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know, you mentioned poverty as one kind of factor.
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Can you clarify just a little bit more? Although
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families may be experiencing poverty, it doesn't
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technically always mean that that would require
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CPS interventions. Definitely. I think I meant
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more so if it gets to, you know, an investigation
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phase and those are things that are handled with
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connecting to community -based organizations.
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We've developed great relationships with local
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agencies who respond even within a day and we
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also have thankfully a lot of faith -based organizations,
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a lot of community resources. There's never enough,
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but that's like always our first option, right?
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However, you know, we do have to acknowledge
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that we still get those families at our desk,
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right, or it still hits one of our workers caseloads.
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The way we're reacting to it and the plans that
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we make are definitely more so like preventative
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and also like propping the family up with supports
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rather than, you know, like maybe in the past
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it could have been like a punitive approach or
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something like that. Thank you for that clarity.
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Appreciate that. And so for the both of you,
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this is a question I'm going to ask Deborah first
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is, I know that social work in public child welfare
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is definitely a high stress work. And what in
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your opinion, Deborah, what needs to happen in
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order to address burnout for social workers who
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may be experiencing you know, some high stress
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and or the high turnover among public child welfare
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workers. So I'd love to hear more about, you
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know, what needs to happen to address that, Debra,
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and then maybe Richard, you could also chime
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in on that one. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you,
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Holly. This is another area where I think change
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has been occurring. So again, I remember not
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too long ago, there were really no structure
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in place to address this within public child
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welfare. And so burnout and turnover rates were
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always very high. And it's understandable because
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it's very emotionally, physically taxing work.
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CPS workers are constantly exposed to vicarious
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trauma, secondary trauma, hearing and seeing
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about the effects of child abuse. I think that
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workers themselves, if you're in CPS work, you
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really need to have a good self -care plan in
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place in terms of how are you going to take care
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of yourself when you are exposed to all of these
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difficult dynamics. And as Richard mentioned,
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you're exposed to people in crisis. Sometimes
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they're not happy to see you. and they'll share
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those feelings with you. And so again, how do
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you practice self -care so that doesn't lead
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you to becoming indifferent or burning out? I
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always considered it a responsibility to my clients
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to not let that happen to me because if a social
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worker, CPS worker becomes burnt out or maybe
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negative, then it's ultimately going to hurt
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the clients more than it is anybody else. I also
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really quickly think that agencies too have a
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responsibility to try to foster a work environment
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that pays attention to worker self -care. So
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I know, for example, at Los Angeles County DCFS,
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they started a mentor program. So new workers
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are matched with a mentor. Again, that's to help
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them transition. to the work, get support, and
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I think ideas like that are excellent. So I think
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a combination of, you know, workers prioritizing
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their self -care and then an agency, public child
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welfare agencies, paying attention to that and
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contributing to worker self -care are two important
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things. Excellent. Thank you so much, Debra..
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Richard, do you have any additional thoughts
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on that? Just was going to share. I feel like
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some pragmatic things have happened. Our caseloads
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are lower than when you all did the work. So
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it's a little bit more manageable now. There's
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still a lot of work to do. And when social workers
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do feel that way and the social workers that
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I work with, I just remind them to definitely
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make sure that they practice self -preservation,
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self -care, that they have a system in place,
00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.059
right? That they are able to identify what makes
00:16:22.059 --> 00:16:25.340
them their best selves, so to say. And again,
00:16:25.379 --> 00:16:27.820
I love that Deborah shares that ultimately we
00:16:27.820 --> 00:16:31.019
want to be that for our loved ones and also for
00:16:31.019 --> 00:16:32.899
the people that we work with, right? They want,
00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:36.740
you know, we need workers who are out there feeling
00:16:36.740 --> 00:16:39.720
well about the work that they're doing. And then
00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:45.190
just on a personal level, I think that DCFS is
00:16:45.190 --> 00:16:48.990
a huge organization. So there's a multitude of
00:16:48.990 --> 00:16:50.909
opportunity out there to do different things.
00:16:51.409 --> 00:16:53.870
And in my personal experience, I think it's helped
00:16:53.870 --> 00:16:57.850
me to look out for other opportunities and just
00:16:57.850 --> 00:17:00.889
play different roles, work with different people.
00:17:01.210 --> 00:17:04.089
And it kind of makes you feel a little fresh
00:17:04.089 --> 00:17:08.400
and vibrant, and it keeps you engaged. I love
00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:10.019
that. Thank you, Richard. Thank you, Debra.
00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:13.759
I know this topic, it comes up a lot in class
00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:18.359
where students sometimes express having a difficult
00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:21.980
time kind of getting images out of their head.
00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:24.759
You know, after experience, you know, going out
00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:28.099
on a home visit and seeing children and families
00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:31.259
suffer, you know, it's very hard for the students.
00:17:31.259 --> 00:17:34.720
And so they they need to be mindful that we know
00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:37.019
that they're human, too. And so one, I'm glad
00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:40.910
to hear. that DCFS is taking those extra steps
00:17:40.910 --> 00:17:43.349
to make sure that we take care of our social
00:17:43.349 --> 00:17:45.609
workers as well, because we need them to be healthy.
00:17:45.990 --> 00:17:48.769
I'd like to just kind of talk a little bit about
00:17:48.769 --> 00:17:52.230
some of the myths that social workers steal children
00:17:52.230 --> 00:17:54.990
from families. I mean, usually when I go out
00:17:54.990 --> 00:17:57.210
and I tell people ask, what do you do for a living?
00:17:57.589 --> 00:17:59.509
Oh, I'm a social worker. Oh, you steal children.
00:18:00.049 --> 00:18:02.890
No, you know, Richard, can you share with us
00:18:02.890 --> 00:18:06.519
a little bit about dispelling the myths that
00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:09.460
social workers steal children from families to
00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:12.420
help change the conversation around what DCFS
00:18:12.420 --> 00:18:15.960
actually accomplishes? Yeah, I definitely try.
00:18:16.579 --> 00:18:20.019
I do definitely. take a transparent approach
00:18:20.019 --> 00:18:22.900
to the work we do, right? But I do want to say
00:18:22.900 --> 00:18:25.420
when removals happen, and they do, you know,
00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:27.700
so sometimes, you know, I always want to be sensitive
00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:30.319
to families, and if they have that perspective,
00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:32.240
it may be like a very personal experience that
00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.140
they had, and I always want to respect that,
00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:37.180
right? But I do want to say that I've been pushed
00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:43.000
in my time to DCFS that, you know, to... emphasize
00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:46.440
that removal is the last resort. Social workers,
00:18:46.859 --> 00:18:49.819
like the brunt of the work is trying to avoid
00:18:49.819 --> 00:18:52.680
removal, right? Like those, in my experience,
00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:55.700
like the hardest cases, the most work that we
00:18:55.700 --> 00:18:58.920
do is when we're in a difficult situation where
00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:01.759
it may be unsafe or we just need to be a little
00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:06.200
safer and we're just trying to bring collaborators
00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:10.240
together. For example, other relatives, community
00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:14.049
partners. community -based mental health organizations
00:19:14.049 --> 00:19:17.950
to help keep children in the care of their parents
00:19:17.950 --> 00:19:20.750
right and that does take a lot of work and that's
00:19:20.750 --> 00:19:23.210
why social workers are busy because you know
00:19:23.210 --> 00:19:26.130
the the goal is for every investigation that
00:19:26.130 --> 00:19:28.349
we have that we're doing that because we're trying
00:19:28.349 --> 00:19:33.019
to not have to you know, make the decision to
00:19:33.019 --> 00:19:35.099
introduce the family into dependency court, where
00:19:35.099 --> 00:19:37.099
ultimately, like, those are where the decisions
00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:40.140
are made, right? It's a legal decision in court.
00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:42.859
I think there's also still some work to do, right?
00:19:42.900 --> 00:19:45.359
Because I always do talk to my colleagues about,
00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:48.220
although my experience has been that our goal,
00:19:48.220 --> 00:19:49.880
you know, has, you know, removal of the last
00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:52.700
resort, keeping families together, doing the
00:19:52.700 --> 00:19:55.039
work and, you know, working hard towards it.
00:19:55.339 --> 00:19:57.059
There's still some community members that do
00:19:57.059 --> 00:20:00.329
see the other side of DCFS and that just means
00:20:00.329 --> 00:20:02.369
that we just got to keep working hard to try
00:20:02.369 --> 00:20:05.329
to continue to dispel that myth. Thank you so
00:20:05.329 --> 00:20:09.210
much Richard. Deborah, obviously you know at
00:20:09.210 --> 00:20:13.930
USC we offer incoming graduate students a workforce
00:20:13.930 --> 00:20:16.670
stipend for those interested in pursuing a career
00:20:16.670 --> 00:20:20.150
in public child welfare, specifically at LA County
00:20:20.150 --> 00:20:23.329
DCFS. Can you share with our listeners how is
00:20:23.329 --> 00:20:27.910
the DCFS stipend program preparing our students
00:20:27.910 --> 00:20:31.650
for career and public child welfare? Yeah absolutely
00:20:31.650 --> 00:20:34.470
and so proud that we have Richard here who is
00:20:34.470 --> 00:20:38.150
a graduate of that program and is now paying
00:20:38.150 --> 00:20:43.039
it forward. I believe that the internship program
00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:47.920
that USC has with LA County DCFS is so valuable
00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:51.740
in terms of the training that it provides to
00:20:51.740 --> 00:20:54.940
incoming public child welfare workers. Again
00:20:54.940 --> 00:20:57.259
as we were just talking about this can be very
00:20:57.259 --> 00:21:00.539
difficult work and when students are completing
00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:04.700
their internship at DCFS they receive a lot of
00:21:04.700 --> 00:21:08.259
support not only from their practicum instructor
00:21:08.259 --> 00:21:11.680
and their colleagues at DCFS but but they also
00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:15.279
receive a great deal of support from their professors
00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:20.039
and others at USC. So they're having the opportunity
00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:24.519
to learn what public child welfare work is. Many
00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:27.480
students come in with a somewhat vague idea,
00:21:27.779 --> 00:21:30.039
and some come in and it's like, you know what?
00:21:30.099 --> 00:21:34.319
This isn't quite for me. And that's fine. And
00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:38.220
others come in and it is exactly what they want
00:21:38.220 --> 00:21:42.819
to be doing. I think what is so nice about the
00:21:42.819 --> 00:21:46.539
internship is, again, giving students the opportunity
00:21:46.539 --> 00:21:50.180
to have exposure to what the work is. How does
00:21:50.180 --> 00:21:53.940
it make them feel? They get the opportunity sometimes
00:21:53.940 --> 00:21:57.339
to address difficult ethical questions, you know,
00:21:57.660 --> 00:22:01.720
why was a child removed, not removed, all while
00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:05.819
they're in that learning mode. And so I think
00:22:05.819 --> 00:22:08.700
for students, while they're interning, learning
00:22:08.700 --> 00:22:13.400
about DCFS, they're enhancing their professional
00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:16.339
social work skills, and I think they also grow
00:22:16.339 --> 00:22:19.690
a lot. personally. I think we see students grow
00:22:19.690 --> 00:22:23.210
personally, you know, tremendously over the course
00:22:23.210 --> 00:22:26.130
of the academic year while they're interning
00:22:26.130 --> 00:22:29.190
at DCFS. And then some of the students even find
00:22:29.190 --> 00:22:31.410
a program. They're like, oh, I think emergency
00:22:31.410 --> 00:22:34.309
response, you know, the first responder program
00:22:34.309 --> 00:22:37.230
is more suited for me or something else. But
00:22:37.230 --> 00:22:40.400
I think it just gives them a year. of growth
00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.880
and learning. And even if they don't make public
00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.799
child welfare their lifelong career, they still
00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:50.599
have that knowledge so that whatever area of
00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:53.599
social work they move into, they'll carry that
00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:56.099
knowledge with them. Excellent. Thank you, Debra.
00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:58.599
Richard, would you care to share? I saw you nodding.
00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:01.119
Yeah. A lot of the things that Debra said,
00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:03.509
and just from the student perspective, people
00:23:03.509 --> 00:23:05.230
who are the program right now, it's an excellent
00:23:05.230 --> 00:23:09.589
opportunity to get a peek as to how the work
00:23:09.589 --> 00:23:13.329
is to try things out. I do, you know, train new
00:23:13.329 --> 00:23:17.170
social workers and have had worked with some
00:23:17.170 --> 00:23:19.670
of the USC students. You know, I'm always excited
00:23:19.670 --> 00:23:21.950
because they're at the beginning of their career.
00:23:21.990 --> 00:23:24.210
They're very willing to share their experience.
00:23:24.230 --> 00:23:27.410
I know that they go back to school and have colleagues
00:23:27.410 --> 00:23:29.769
where they learn together, where, you know, one
00:23:29.769 --> 00:23:32.859
person experienced something, felt some certain
00:23:32.859 --> 00:23:35.519
type of way about what they saw in the field.
00:23:36.059 --> 00:23:37.980
And there's a lot of group learning happening.
00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:40.539
And I feel like in my personal experience, like
00:23:40.539 --> 00:23:44.079
it connected the dots, right? To make sure that
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.799
I understand that this is a system, there's multiple
00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:50.460
entities involved. And it gave me the confidence
00:23:50.460 --> 00:23:54.640
and confidence when I started my career at DCFS.
00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:57.440
that it's still a little scary, right? You know,
00:23:57.440 --> 00:23:59.180
you're going out there a little unknown, but
00:23:59.180 --> 00:24:02.039
at least I had a little bit of background and
00:24:02.039 --> 00:24:05.000
some experience. And I always tell the students
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:07.019
that we're working with, make sure that you interview
00:24:07.019 --> 00:24:09.920
people, make sure that you are transparent with
00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:13.259
your field practical instructor, because it's
00:24:13.259 --> 00:24:16.680
a great learning opportunity, which not a lot
00:24:16.680 --> 00:24:19.599
of people get. You know, I get a lot of new social
00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:22.690
workers who... come off doing a different job,
00:24:22.710 --> 00:24:25.990
sometimes related. And it's just a big change
00:24:25.990 --> 00:24:28.650
for them. And I'm really proud of them being
00:24:28.650 --> 00:24:33.289
able to actually embrace the job and learn. However,
00:24:33.390 --> 00:24:35.470
it's a bigger learning curve for someone that
00:24:35.470 --> 00:24:37.990
doesn't do a program like that. Thank you, Richard.
00:24:38.170 --> 00:24:40.130
I know we bring you back every year, right, for
00:24:40.130 --> 00:24:43.750
our summer orientation to share, right? So it's
00:24:43.750 --> 00:24:45.369
so exciting. Yeah, it's always a great experience.
00:24:45.670 --> 00:24:49.609
Yes, the students love you. So I'd like to shift
00:24:49.609 --> 00:24:53.930
our conversation a little bit towards child fatalities.
00:24:54.410 --> 00:24:58.210
We know that child fatalities are rare, but over
00:24:58.210 --> 00:25:01.170
the past few decades, there have been more attention
00:25:01.170 --> 00:25:05.130
on child abuse, especially a few docuseries
00:25:05.130 --> 00:25:07.700
that were made about child child abuse and what
00:25:07.700 --> 00:25:10.960
appears to be the failure of the system to protect
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:13.980
children. So Richard, I'd like to start with
00:25:13.980 --> 00:25:17.279
you if you could share what has changed in the
00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:20.380
field of public child welfare or child protective
00:25:20.380 --> 00:25:23.640
services since then and what assurances are in
00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:26.759
place for families. So, you know, I want to start
00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:29.200
by saying that, you know, When that has happened,
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:32.299
it's a tragedy, right? It impacts, obviously,
00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:35.660
the family and the community, and it has, you
00:25:35.660 --> 00:25:37.819
know, we see that. One of the things that I think
00:25:37.819 --> 00:25:41.019
about when this topic comes up is my first manager
00:25:41.019 --> 00:25:42.859
in one of our early meetings, she acknowledges
00:25:42.859 --> 00:25:46.140
that, you know, although rare. you know, she
00:25:46.140 --> 00:25:49.519
had seen it in her experience. And I really,
00:25:49.579 --> 00:25:51.599
you know, it was a very difficult conversation
00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:55.539
to have with her. But I really appreciated having
00:25:55.539 --> 00:25:58.259
that conversation early on in my career because
00:25:58.259 --> 00:26:01.400
it gave me, like it was just a reminder of the
00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:04.140
weight of the work. I guess it's something that
00:26:04.140 --> 00:26:06.119
doesn't leave you when someone shares that, you
00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:08.180
know, like something that heavy with you. The
00:26:08.180 --> 00:26:10.279
other side of it is, you know, I've been at DCFS
00:26:10.279 --> 00:26:13.700
for 10 years and I've seen a lot of the changes
00:26:13.700 --> 00:26:17.740
that have happened as a result of some of those
00:26:17.740 --> 00:26:20.940
things. So, you know, an example of how DCFS
00:26:20.940 --> 00:26:24.210
has reacted. having a DCFS Academy, you know,
00:26:24.349 --> 00:26:27.650
more extensive training, preparing social workers
00:26:27.650 --> 00:26:31.890
to do the job, to make better assessments, regular.
00:26:33.620 --> 00:26:36.940
practice examples and and data from our risk
00:26:36.940 --> 00:26:39.599
management team reviewing some of these cases
00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:42.779
some of these um rare but severe cases and to
00:26:42.779 --> 00:26:44.440
see like hey what are the trends like what can
00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:46.759
we avoid next time right what can social workers
00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:49.660
here are actual tools here are questions to ask
00:26:49.660 --> 00:26:52.680
this is who to ask and some red flags we can
00:26:52.680 --> 00:26:56.420
identify so then when you are out there investigating
00:26:56.420 --> 00:26:59.099
you can you know point those things out the other
00:26:59.099 --> 00:27:01.000
thing is like the supervision piece right you
00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:04.160
know a social worker should have the support
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:06.680
of their supervisor and the supervisor of the
00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:10.670
manager and we should be We were taught to bring
00:27:10.670 --> 00:27:13.849
in people who also are responsible for the safety
00:27:13.849 --> 00:27:15.869
of the children, for example, relatives, right?
00:27:16.650 --> 00:27:19.430
Because child safety ultimately is not just the
00:27:19.430 --> 00:27:21.130
responsibility of the social worker that goes
00:27:21.130 --> 00:27:22.809
out and meets the family, right? It's a community
00:27:22.809 --> 00:27:25.750
responsibility. So I do appreciate that I've
00:27:25.750 --> 00:27:28.170
had that experience. You know, lessons learned,
00:27:28.329 --> 00:27:31.190
you know, some really hard lessons learned. Initiatives
00:27:31.190 --> 00:27:34.170
to teach social workers to just gather data better.
00:27:34.349 --> 00:27:36.609
For example, a lot of social workers are learning
00:27:36.609 --> 00:27:39.869
motivational interviewing. an exhaustive process
00:27:39.869 --> 00:27:42.670
right now for them. But ultimately, the goal
00:27:42.670 --> 00:27:46.690
is to just team with families better and just
00:27:46.690 --> 00:27:50.690
make safer plans in order to have families going
00:27:50.690 --> 00:27:52.670
in the right direction and keeping them together.
00:27:52.950 --> 00:27:56.690
Excellent. Thank you, Richard. And which is transitioning
00:27:56.690 --> 00:27:59.670
into community, because you said it's not just
00:27:59.670 --> 00:28:02.529
about the social worker. It really is like a
00:28:02.529 --> 00:28:06.349
collaborative response, which I'd love to hear
00:28:06.349 --> 00:28:09.200
from you, Deborah, about how social workers are
00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:11.759
collaborating with other departments and agencies
00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:15.480
to protect children. Yeah, absolutely. So there
00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:20.140
is a lot more collaboration going on now and
00:28:20.140 --> 00:28:23.180
Richard touched with touched base on that. And
00:28:23.180 --> 00:28:27.799
I think the collaboration shows the need for
00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:31.079
social workers to bring in as many partners as
00:28:31.079 --> 00:28:35.220
possible to support families and also giving
00:28:35.220 --> 00:28:39.160
families the agency to identify who their supports
00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:43.500
are. Again, I think collaboration reflects a
00:28:43.500 --> 00:28:47.160
shift in DCFS from moving away from, we're going
00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:49.440
to tell you what's best for you. We're going
00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:52.039
to tell you how to parent. We're going to tell
00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:56.519
you how to manage your life. It's no. We want
00:28:56.519 --> 00:28:59.960
to hear from you what's working, what's not working.
00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:06.369
How can we collaborate in terms of helping you
00:29:06.369 --> 00:29:09.930
reach your goals for your family. And I also
00:29:09.930 --> 00:29:12.690
really appreciated what Richard said about this
00:29:12.690 --> 00:29:16.990
idea of shared responsibility. So I think collaboration
00:29:16.990 --> 00:29:21.569
really requires accountability on the part of
00:29:21.569 --> 00:29:26.170
everyone. Again, we all want to be working hard.
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:29.880
to make sure that children are safe and families
00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:34.059
are able to provide a safe, nurturing home environment.
00:29:34.359 --> 00:29:38.140
So I think we all have a responsibility to do
00:29:38.140 --> 00:29:41.140
that. And I think the ways we do that, which
00:29:41.140 --> 00:29:44.380
now is including the family, hearing their input,
00:29:44.599 --> 00:29:47.539
hearing their thoughts, including community -based
00:29:47.539 --> 00:29:52.599
partners, is so crucial. And I think results
00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:57.210
in families and agencies having more successful
00:29:57.210 --> 00:30:00.490
collaborations. I think when families feel respected,
00:30:00.930 --> 00:30:03.309
when they feel like they have a seat at the table
00:30:03.309 --> 00:30:05.589
and they feel like their voices are being heard,
00:30:05.930 --> 00:30:09.710
children as well, it makes collaboration all
00:30:09.710 --> 00:30:12.650
the more successful. Thank you, Deborah. Gosh,
00:30:12.750 --> 00:30:15.849
thank you. I really appreciate you framing that
00:30:15.849 --> 00:30:20.230
for our listeners that we want to work with families.
00:30:20.470 --> 00:30:24.069
They are the experts with their children. So
00:30:24.069 --> 00:30:27.849
as we begin to wrap up, are there any final thoughts
00:30:27.849 --> 00:30:30.710
that you'd like our listeners to know about?
00:30:31.329 --> 00:30:32.730
Deborah, I'd like to start with you and then
00:30:32.730 --> 00:30:35.019
Richard, any final thoughts? I would just like
00:30:35.019 --> 00:30:38.680
to share that I think the field of child protective
00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:41.700
services, public child welfare, for me, it has
00:30:41.700 --> 00:30:46.339
been an absolutely amazing career. I have learned
00:30:46.339 --> 00:30:49.240
more from the families and children I have worked
00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:53.299
with than from anyone else, including my wonderful
00:30:53.299 --> 00:30:57.980
professors at USC. But the families and children
00:30:57.980 --> 00:31:01.680
have taught me more than anyone else and have
00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:05.569
so richly contributed to my personal and professional
00:31:05.569 --> 00:31:09.109
development. And I'm sure all areas of social
00:31:09.109 --> 00:31:12.049
work do that. But again, I think there's just
00:31:12.049 --> 00:31:14.509
with public child welfare, social work, there
00:31:14.509 --> 00:31:17.910
is such an opportunity to find meaning in your
00:31:17.910 --> 00:31:21.170
work and that you are making a difference. And
00:31:21.170 --> 00:31:23.730
the difference that you're making is protecting
00:31:23.730 --> 00:31:27.549
children and trying to strengthen and keep families
00:31:27.549 --> 00:31:30.690
together. Excellent. Thank you, Debra. Richard,
00:31:30.769 --> 00:31:33.339
any final thoughts? I feel like Debra always
00:31:33.339 --> 00:31:35.640
wraps everything up really well. I just want
00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:38.380
to say, you know, I agree with everything she's
00:31:38.380 --> 00:31:40.299
saying and, you know, we're doing the work. It's
00:31:40.299 --> 00:31:41.940
tough work. I'm really proud of the work that
00:31:41.940 --> 00:31:45.380
we're doing on a daily basis. But I often say,
00:31:45.460 --> 00:31:48.069
like, I think... that the thing that makes me
00:31:48.069 --> 00:31:51.049
just most excited and wanting to still you know
00:31:51.049 --> 00:31:52.509
stay stay and contribute to this organization
00:31:52.509 --> 00:31:54.950
is that we want to get better right it's always
00:31:54.950 --> 00:31:57.910
about getting better because ultimately that
00:31:57.910 --> 00:32:00.910
means that families are you know staying together
00:32:00.910 --> 00:32:04.349
families are safer we're giving family dignity
00:32:04.349 --> 00:32:07.950
to choose you know which direction like their
00:32:07.950 --> 00:32:10.250
family what's best for their family and um you
00:32:10.250 --> 00:32:13.369
know that's been my experience and that's what
00:32:13.369 --> 00:32:16.480
i you know want to make sure that our our listeners
00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:19.359
here and also here that we're just, we're continuing
00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:22.279
to work hard towards that. Excellent. Thank you
00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:25.279
so much, Debra and Richard for joining us for
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:28.119
a great discussion on this very important topic.
00:32:28.259 --> 00:32:30.400
If you would like to learn more about public
00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:34.259
child welfare or our DCFS stipend program, please
00:32:34.259 --> 00:32:39.059
visit our website at dworakpeck.usc.edu. And
00:32:39.059 --> 00:32:41.160
if you would like to network with our guests
00:32:41.160 --> 00:32:44.019
regarding their work or want to support our transformative
00:32:44.019 --> 00:32:48.109
research and program. please email us at
00:32:48.109 --> 00:32:52.450
listenuppeople@usc.edu. We would love to hear from you and
00:32:52.450 --> 00:32:53.210
thanks for listening.
00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:17.079
Hello and welcome to Listen.Up.People., a podcast
00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:19.960
of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social
00:00:19.960 --> 00:00:22.899
Work. I'm Dr. Holly Priebe Sotelo, Associate
00:00:22.899 --> 00:00:26.420
Teaching Professor of Practicum Education. According
00:00:26.420 --> 00:00:30.480
to the December 2025 data report published by
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the Los Angeles County Department of Children
00:00:32.780 --> 00:00:36.079
and Family Services, also known as LA County
00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:41.740
DCFS, there are 18 ,067 children receiving child
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welfare services also referred to as Child Protective
00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:48.979
Services throughout LA County. What are these
00:00:48.979 --> 00:00:52.359
services? Who provides them? Why do people have
00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:55.079
such mixed feelings about them? All this and
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much more is what we aim to tackle in this episode.
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Collectively, my guests bring 40 years of experience
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working with LA County DCFS to our discussion
00:01:06.579 --> 00:01:09.560
today. So I am very excited to have them both
00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:12.900
here and to take a deep dive together into the
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one of the most misunderstood areas of social
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work practice, which also tends to generate the
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most publicity. I'd like to welcome my social
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work colleague and friend, Dr. Debra Waters-Roman,
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Associate Teaching Professor and Clinical Psychologist.
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And Richard Carranza, a USC MSW alum
00:01:33.700 --> 00:01:37.659
and a former student of Debra's who is a supervising
00:01:37.659 --> 00:01:40.920
children's social worker with LA County DCFS.
00:01:41.299 --> 00:01:44.239
Thank you so much for joining me today. So I'd
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like to start today by asking a more personal
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question about why each of you became interested
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in public child welfare or child protective services.
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And moving forward, you'll hear me use that term
00:01:59.069 --> 00:02:02.510
public child welfare and child protective services
00:02:02.510 --> 00:02:05.230
interchangeably. So I'm going to start with Debra.
00:02:06.409 --> 00:02:09.110
Why did you become interested in public child
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welfare? And then Richard. Well, thank you, Holly.
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And thank you so much for having me as a guest.
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I'm honored to be here. So I actually was introduced
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to the field of child protective services when
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I was an MSW student at USC. And I actually completed
00:02:27.419 --> 00:02:30.599
an internship with the Los Angeles County Department
00:02:30.599 --> 00:02:33.280
of Children and Family Services while I was in
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my MSW program. I was actually working from the
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exposition park, the CFS office, which is no
00:02:40.379 --> 00:02:43.240
longer there, but used to sit right across from
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the LA Coliseum. And once I began my internship,
00:02:47.979 --> 00:02:52.199
I immediately fell in love with the work. I had
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the sense that doing child protective services
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work would be a career that would be meaningful
00:02:59.659 --> 00:03:04.020
for me and would contribute not only to my personal
00:03:04.020 --> 00:03:07.719
growth, but also to my professional development
00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:12.550
as a social worker. I so enjoyed and felt privileged
00:03:12.550 --> 00:03:15.969
to have the opportunity to interact with the
00:03:15.969 --> 00:03:19.969
families that I was working with. I was inspired
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by their resiliency and their commitment to providing
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the best homes possible for their children. So
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I just immediately fell in love with the work
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and decided during my internship that it would
00:03:35.629 --> 00:03:38.770
become my career. Thank you, Debra. And Richard?
00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:41.800
Hey, good morning. Thanks for having me. So anytime
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I'm asked this question, I always think back.
00:03:44.699 --> 00:03:49.719
Prior to starting the USC MSW program, I had
00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:51.580
worked in a wraparound program, so a community
00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:53.979
-based mental health organization. I was like
00:03:53.979 --> 00:03:57.419
a brand new to the field. I sat in a meeting.
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At the time, they were called TDNs. So they were
00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:03.180
essentially a decision -making meeting where
00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:06.000
different service providers sat down and, you
00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:09.960
know, talked about a family and ultimately made
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a decision as to like what were the next steps
00:04:12.020 --> 00:04:15.870
for that family right and I noticed then that,
00:04:15.870 --> 00:04:18.529
you know, the DCFS social worker had a lot of
00:04:18.529 --> 00:04:21.649
say in what was going to happen next for families.
00:04:21.670 --> 00:04:25.810
So that intrigued me. I ended up at the USC School
00:04:25.810 --> 00:04:27.649
of Social Work and I had a professor who pushed
00:04:27.649 --> 00:04:31.829
me into the internship program. And then once
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I got there, I think the most important part
00:04:33.769 --> 00:04:36.930
is, you know, why I choose to stay. It's because
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I think that we need people who are invested
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in understanding firstly that families that do
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come across the Child Protective Services system,
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they're in a crisis moment, right? And we need
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people working at DCFS and places like DCFS who
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want to support these families, understand that
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it's a difficult moment for them and things can
00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:03.240
happen in many different directions, but with
00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:06.459
the support of a social worker and a team and
00:05:06.459 --> 00:05:10.079
their own networks, things can start going in
00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:11.860
the right direction. Thank you, Richard.
00:05:11.860 --> 00:05:15.819
So Debra, I'd like to start off
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with a two -part question. And for the benefit
00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:22.959
of our listeners who may not be as familiar with
00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:26.319
public child welfare or child protective services,
00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:29.579
could you please provide us an overview? And
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then also, people confuse the different types
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of social workers. You know, what are the different
00:05:35.550 --> 00:05:39.389
types, say someone at CPS versus someone in a
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school and then in a community based agency?
00:05:42.529 --> 00:05:45.529
Thank you, Holly. Of course. So I think for the
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first to answer the first part of your question,
00:05:48.310 --> 00:05:52.949
I think child protective services, CPS work has
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shifted dramatically since I started 40 years
00:05:57.310 --> 00:06:01.449
ago. Now. I do believe the one consistent is
00:06:01.449 --> 00:06:05.649
the notion of child safety, that child protective
00:06:05.649 --> 00:06:09.930
services agencies are really mandated given the
00:06:09.930 --> 00:06:14.189
mission of ensuring child safety. And that mission
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has remained consistent over the years. I think
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what has changed, though, is how social workers
00:06:20.790 --> 00:06:25.029
attempt to do that. So when I started, public
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child welfare was really focused on parents just
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completing a list of activities and you know,
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if they did, that was wonderful. And if they
00:06:34.620 --> 00:06:36.839
didn't, then maybe their children were not going
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to come home. And it was more of a cut and dried,
00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:44.420
I think, type of work. And I think it shifted
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to the point now where current DCFS, public child
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welfare workers, child protective workers, really
00:06:52.839 --> 00:06:56.139
look more at engaging with the family and look
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at it more of a team process. So rather than
00:07:00.949 --> 00:07:04.050
us going in and telling families what's wrong
00:07:04.050 --> 00:07:06.209
with them, and this is what you need to fix,
00:07:06.709 --> 00:07:09.709
it's a matter of respecting their stories. They're
00:07:09.709 --> 00:07:13.790
the experts on their lives, their journeys, engaging
00:07:13.790 --> 00:07:17.550
with families to recognize what are their needs,
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what are their challenges, and how as a social
00:07:21.269 --> 00:07:25.910
worker can I assist with those. while ensuring
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child safety because that is still always there,
00:07:29.069 --> 00:07:31.970
but also trying to maintain children in their
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own homes, in their own communities, or getting
00:07:35.509 --> 00:07:39.709
them back to those locations as soon as possible.
00:07:40.269 --> 00:07:45.730
So again, I see a real shift into more of a collaborative
00:07:45.730 --> 00:07:49.410
approach now where I believe clients are more
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respected. I think to answer the second part
00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:56.740
of your question, so child protective services
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agencies have the responsibility of investigating
00:08:00.199 --> 00:08:04.259
reports of potential child abuse or neglect.
00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:08.019
So where a school social worker may call in a
00:08:08.019 --> 00:08:10.459
report because they have a concern about a student
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perhaps, it's going to be a DCFS public child
00:08:15.579 --> 00:08:18.339
welfare worker who goes out and investigates
00:08:18.339 --> 00:08:21.800
that report and they go out and meet with the
00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:25.600
family and try to make an assessment in terms
00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:29.160
of what's going on. Again, there are a lot of
00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:33.840
social workers who will report if they have concerns
00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:38.620
about the welfare of a child. And DCFS is the
00:08:38.620 --> 00:08:41.220
agency, Public Child Welfare, is the agency that's
00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:44.799
responsible for investigating those reports and
00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:48.259
determining how best to move forward to ensure
00:08:48.259 --> 00:08:51.080
the safety of the child and also support the
00:08:51.080 --> 00:08:53.600
family. Excellent. Thank you. And Richard, would
00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:55.840
you care to add? Yeah, I think when Deborah was
00:08:55.840 --> 00:08:58.100
speaking, especially partially working with families,
00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:01.440
we were just talking with a group of colleagues
00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:05.539
about dignity and families wanting to feel like
00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:08.120
they have dignity in this process. And I think
00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:09.740
that's one of the things that's most important.
00:09:10.029 --> 00:09:12.870
important to highlight is that there's an emphasis
00:09:12.870 --> 00:09:15.049
on that and, you know, hearing families and making
00:09:15.049 --> 00:09:18.629
sure that they're at the center of, you know,
00:09:18.750 --> 00:09:20.830
making sure that we have a safer plan, you know,
00:09:20.889 --> 00:09:25.090
altogether. And I've actually, you know, enjoyed
00:09:25.090 --> 00:09:28.149
learning and putting a focus on that. And I feel
00:09:28.149 --> 00:09:32.389
like if we are able to connect those those things
00:09:32.389 --> 00:09:34.929
and have a family centered approach, like there's
00:09:34.929 --> 00:09:38.070
just better outcomes. Having worked at DCFS myself,
00:09:38.070 --> 00:09:42.120
maybe. 30 years ago, I know, definitely know
00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:44.799
that there's been a shift and there's still some
00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:47.200
confusion about different types of social work.
00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:49.360
So thank you so much for clarifying this for
00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:52.559
our audience. So I'd like to ask Richard if you
00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.279
can, you know, as a supervisor right now at DCFS,
00:09:56.759 --> 00:09:59.879
what are the latest trends that you were noticing
00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:03.019
that are impacting families to become involved
00:10:03.019 --> 00:10:06.299
in CPS? Yeah, in our service area, so what we
00:10:06.299 --> 00:10:08.620
work essentially ends up being South Central
00:10:08.620 --> 00:10:12.600
Los Angeles, a lot of the things that come. across
00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:16.139
our caseloads are either related to us like structural
00:10:16.139 --> 00:10:19.360
issues you know so sometimes neglect leading
00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:22.659
from other complicating factors such as like
00:10:22.659 --> 00:10:25.620
poverty substance use and then one of the big
00:10:25.620 --> 00:10:27.559
ones too is like intimate partner violence which
00:10:27.559 --> 00:10:31.120
also can you know have a lot of other stressors
00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:34.000
tied to it you know on both sides of the parent
00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:37.419
so whether um that's like some underlying mental
00:10:37.419 --> 00:10:41.139
health needs underlying family stressors like
00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:45.460
economic stressors. I also think that we've sometimes,
00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:50.580
because our focus is safety and immediate safety,
00:10:51.279 --> 00:10:54.240
there is some dangerous situations where collaborative
00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:57.419
approach, for example, with law enforcement would
00:10:57.419 --> 00:11:00.320
be best. However, a lot of our social workers
00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:04.269
and law enforcement officers do at times face
00:11:04.269 --> 00:11:07.450
situations where, although it'd be best to collaborate,
00:11:07.830 --> 00:11:11.389
just the timelines don't work out, and the social
00:11:11.389 --> 00:11:13.809
workers are left with a situation where they
00:11:13.809 --> 00:11:17.149
do need to work with the family to make a safe
00:11:17.149 --> 00:11:21.669
plan, which does entail further involvement with
00:11:21.669 --> 00:11:24.539
the dependency court system. Thank you. And you
00:11:24.539 --> 00:11:28.220
know, you mentioned poverty as one kind of factor.
00:11:28.899 --> 00:11:31.779
Can you clarify just a little bit more? Although
00:11:31.779 --> 00:11:35.620
families may be experiencing poverty, it doesn't
00:11:35.620 --> 00:11:38.899
technically always mean that that would require
00:11:38.899 --> 00:11:43.320
CPS interventions. Definitely. I think I meant
00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:46.100
more so if it gets to, you know, an investigation
00:11:46.100 --> 00:11:49.259
phase and those are things that are handled with
00:11:49.259 --> 00:11:51.120
connecting to community -based organizations.
00:11:51.559 --> 00:11:54.000
We've developed great relationships with local
00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:59.139
agencies who respond even within a day and we
00:11:59.139 --> 00:12:02.960
also have thankfully a lot of faith -based organizations,
00:12:03.100 --> 00:12:06.000
a lot of community resources. There's never enough,
00:12:06.179 --> 00:12:09.960
but that's like always our first option, right?
00:12:10.250 --> 00:12:13.029
However, you know, we do have to acknowledge
00:12:13.029 --> 00:12:17.029
that we still get those families at our desk,
00:12:17.289 --> 00:12:20.370
right, or it still hits one of our workers caseloads.
00:12:20.490 --> 00:12:23.909
The way we're reacting to it and the plans that
00:12:23.909 --> 00:12:28.830
we make are definitely more so like preventative
00:12:28.830 --> 00:12:34.149
and also like propping the family up with supports
00:12:34.149 --> 00:12:37.009
rather than, you know, like maybe in the past
00:12:37.009 --> 00:12:38.690
it could have been like a punitive approach or
00:12:38.690 --> 00:12:41.029
something like that. Thank you for that clarity.
00:12:41.450 --> 00:12:44.490
Appreciate that. And so for the both of you,
00:12:44.549 --> 00:12:46.649
this is a question I'm going to ask Deborah first
00:12:46.649 --> 00:12:51.149
is, I know that social work in public child welfare
00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:56.570
is definitely a high stress work. And what in
00:12:56.570 --> 00:12:59.750
your opinion, Deborah, what needs to happen in
00:12:59.750 --> 00:13:03.929
order to address burnout for social workers who
00:13:03.929 --> 00:13:07.370
may be experiencing you know, some high stress
00:13:07.370 --> 00:13:10.169
and or the high turnover among public child welfare
00:13:10.169 --> 00:13:12.970
workers. So I'd love to hear more about, you
00:13:12.970 --> 00:13:15.429
know, what needs to happen to address that, Debra,
00:13:15.509 --> 00:13:17.690
and then maybe Richard, you could also chime
00:13:17.690 --> 00:13:19.870
in on that one. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you,
00:13:19.889 --> 00:13:23.529
Holly. This is another area where I think change
00:13:23.529 --> 00:13:27.070
has been occurring. So again, I remember not
00:13:27.070 --> 00:13:32.190
too long ago, there were really no structure
00:13:32.190 --> 00:13:36.009
in place to address this within public child
00:13:36.009 --> 00:13:40.169
welfare. And so burnout and turnover rates were
00:13:40.169 --> 00:13:44.299
always very high. And it's understandable because
00:13:44.299 --> 00:13:48.779
it's very emotionally, physically taxing work.
00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:53.220
CPS workers are constantly exposed to vicarious
00:13:53.220 --> 00:13:56.720
trauma, secondary trauma, hearing and seeing
00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:03.259
about the effects of child abuse. I think that
00:14:03.259 --> 00:14:07.500
workers themselves, if you're in CPS work, you
00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:11.159
really need to have a good self -care plan in
00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:15.480
place in terms of how are you going to take care
00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:21.340
of yourself when you are exposed to all of these
00:14:21.340 --> 00:14:23.820
difficult dynamics. And as Richard mentioned,
00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:26.779
you're exposed to people in crisis. Sometimes
00:14:26.779 --> 00:14:30.399
they're not happy to see you. and they'll share
00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:34.460
those feelings with you. And so again, how do
00:14:34.460 --> 00:14:37.759
you practice self -care so that doesn't lead
00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:42.299
you to becoming indifferent or burning out? I
00:14:42.299 --> 00:14:45.659
always considered it a responsibility to my clients
00:14:45.659 --> 00:14:50.080
to not let that happen to me because if a social
00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:54.980
worker, CPS worker becomes burnt out or maybe
00:14:54.980 --> 00:14:58.399
negative, then it's ultimately going to hurt
00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:02.559
the clients more than it is anybody else. I also
00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:05.539
really quickly think that agencies too have a
00:15:05.539 --> 00:15:10.419
responsibility to try to foster a work environment
00:15:10.419 --> 00:15:15.120
that pays attention to worker self -care. So
00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:18.159
I know, for example, at Los Angeles County DCFS,
00:15:18.179 --> 00:15:21.700
they started a mentor program. So new workers
00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:24.740
are matched with a mentor. Again, that's to help
00:15:24.740 --> 00:15:28.100
them transition. to the work, get support, and
00:15:28.100 --> 00:15:32.000
I think ideas like that are excellent. So I think
00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:36.299
a combination of, you know, workers prioritizing
00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:39.919
their self -care and then an agency, public child
00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:42.840
welfare agencies, paying attention to that and
00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:46.100
contributing to worker self -care are two important
00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:48.549
things. Excellent. Thank you so much, Debra..
00:15:48.830 --> 00:15:51.309
Richard, do you have any additional thoughts
00:15:51.309 --> 00:15:54.389
on that? Just was going to share. I feel like
00:15:54.389 --> 00:15:57.450
some pragmatic things have happened. Our caseloads
00:15:57.450 --> 00:16:02.169
are lower than when you all did the work. So
00:16:02.169 --> 00:16:04.289
it's a little bit more manageable now. There's
00:16:04.289 --> 00:16:07.769
still a lot of work to do. And when social workers
00:16:07.769 --> 00:16:09.950
do feel that way and the social workers that
00:16:09.950 --> 00:16:12.809
I work with, I just remind them to definitely
00:16:12.809 --> 00:16:15.919
make sure that they practice self -preservation,
00:16:16.179 --> 00:16:18.840
self -care, that they have a system in place,
00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.059
right? That they are able to identify what makes
00:16:22.059 --> 00:16:25.340
them their best selves, so to say. And again,
00:16:25.379 --> 00:16:27.820
I love that Deborah shares that ultimately we
00:16:27.820 --> 00:16:31.019
want to be that for our loved ones and also for
00:16:31.019 --> 00:16:32.899
the people that we work with, right? They want,
00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:36.740
you know, we need workers who are out there feeling
00:16:36.740 --> 00:16:39.720
well about the work that they're doing. And then
00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:45.190
just on a personal level, I think that DCFS is
00:16:45.190 --> 00:16:48.990
a huge organization. So there's a multitude of
00:16:48.990 --> 00:16:50.909
opportunity out there to do different things.
00:16:51.409 --> 00:16:53.870
And in my personal experience, I think it's helped
00:16:53.870 --> 00:16:57.850
me to look out for other opportunities and just
00:16:57.850 --> 00:17:00.889
play different roles, work with different people.
00:17:01.210 --> 00:17:04.089
And it kind of makes you feel a little fresh
00:17:04.089 --> 00:17:08.400
and vibrant, and it keeps you engaged. I love
00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:10.019
that. Thank you, Richard. Thank you, Debra.
00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:13.759
I know this topic, it comes up a lot in class
00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:18.359
where students sometimes express having a difficult
00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:21.980
time kind of getting images out of their head.
00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:24.759
You know, after experience, you know, going out
00:17:24.759 --> 00:17:28.099
on a home visit and seeing children and families
00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:31.259
suffer, you know, it's very hard for the students.
00:17:31.259 --> 00:17:34.720
And so they they need to be mindful that we know
00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:37.019
that they're human, too. And so one, I'm glad
00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:40.910
to hear. that DCFS is taking those extra steps
00:17:40.910 --> 00:17:43.349
to make sure that we take care of our social
00:17:43.349 --> 00:17:45.609
workers as well, because we need them to be healthy.
00:17:45.990 --> 00:17:48.769
I'd like to just kind of talk a little bit about
00:17:48.769 --> 00:17:52.230
some of the myths that social workers steal children
00:17:52.230 --> 00:17:54.990
from families. I mean, usually when I go out
00:17:54.990 --> 00:17:57.210
and I tell people ask, what do you do for a living?
00:17:57.589 --> 00:17:59.509
Oh, I'm a social worker. Oh, you steal children.
00:18:00.049 --> 00:18:02.890
No, you know, Richard, can you share with us
00:18:02.890 --> 00:18:06.519
a little bit about dispelling the myths that
00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:09.460
social workers steal children from families to
00:18:09.460 --> 00:18:12.420
help change the conversation around what DCFS
00:18:12.420 --> 00:18:15.960
actually accomplishes? Yeah, I definitely try.
00:18:16.579 --> 00:18:20.019
I do definitely. take a transparent approach
00:18:20.019 --> 00:18:22.900
to the work we do, right? But I do want to say
00:18:22.900 --> 00:18:25.420
when removals happen, and they do, you know,
00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:27.700
so sometimes, you know, I always want to be sensitive
00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:30.319
to families, and if they have that perspective,
00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:32.240
it may be like a very personal experience that
00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.140
they had, and I always want to respect that,
00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:37.180
right? But I do want to say that I've been pushed
00:18:37.180 --> 00:18:43.000
in my time to DCFS that, you know, to... emphasize
00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:46.440
that removal is the last resort. Social workers,
00:18:46.859 --> 00:18:49.819
like the brunt of the work is trying to avoid
00:18:49.819 --> 00:18:52.680
removal, right? Like those, in my experience,
00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:55.700
like the hardest cases, the most work that we
00:18:55.700 --> 00:18:58.920
do is when we're in a difficult situation where
00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:01.759
it may be unsafe or we just need to be a little
00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:06.200
safer and we're just trying to bring collaborators
00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:10.240
together. For example, other relatives, community
00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:14.049
partners. community -based mental health organizations
00:19:14.049 --> 00:19:17.950
to help keep children in the care of their parents
00:19:17.950 --> 00:19:20.750
right and that does take a lot of work and that's
00:19:20.750 --> 00:19:23.210
why social workers are busy because you know
00:19:23.210 --> 00:19:26.130
the the goal is for every investigation that
00:19:26.130 --> 00:19:28.349
we have that we're doing that because we're trying
00:19:28.349 --> 00:19:33.019
to not have to you know, make the decision to
00:19:33.019 --> 00:19:35.099
introduce the family into dependency court, where
00:19:35.099 --> 00:19:37.099
ultimately, like, those are where the decisions
00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:40.140
are made, right? It's a legal decision in court.
00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:42.859
I think there's also still some work to do, right?
00:19:42.900 --> 00:19:45.359
Because I always do talk to my colleagues about,
00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:48.220
although my experience has been that our goal,
00:19:48.220 --> 00:19:49.880
you know, has, you know, removal of the last
00:19:49.880 --> 00:19:52.700
resort, keeping families together, doing the
00:19:52.700 --> 00:19:55.039
work and, you know, working hard towards it.
00:19:55.339 --> 00:19:57.059
There's still some community members that do
00:19:57.059 --> 00:20:00.329
see the other side of DCFS and that just means
00:20:00.329 --> 00:20:02.369
that we just got to keep working hard to try
00:20:02.369 --> 00:20:05.329
to continue to dispel that myth. Thank you so
00:20:05.329 --> 00:20:09.210
much Richard. Deborah, obviously you know at
00:20:09.210 --> 00:20:13.930
USC we offer incoming graduate students a workforce
00:20:13.930 --> 00:20:16.670
stipend for those interested in pursuing a career
00:20:16.670 --> 00:20:20.150
in public child welfare, specifically at LA County
00:20:20.150 --> 00:20:23.329
DCFS. Can you share with our listeners how is
00:20:23.329 --> 00:20:27.910
the DCFS stipend program preparing our students
00:20:27.910 --> 00:20:31.650
for career and public child welfare? Yeah absolutely
00:20:31.650 --> 00:20:34.470
and so proud that we have Richard here who is
00:20:34.470 --> 00:20:38.150
a graduate of that program and is now paying
00:20:38.150 --> 00:20:43.039
it forward. I believe that the internship program
00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:47.920
that USC has with LA County DCFS is so valuable
00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:51.740
in terms of the training that it provides to
00:20:51.740 --> 00:20:54.940
incoming public child welfare workers. Again
00:20:54.940 --> 00:20:57.259
as we were just talking about this can be very
00:20:57.259 --> 00:21:00.539
difficult work and when students are completing
00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:04.700
their internship at DCFS they receive a lot of
00:21:04.700 --> 00:21:08.259
support not only from their practicum instructor
00:21:08.259 --> 00:21:11.680
and their colleagues at DCFS but but they also
00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:15.279
receive a great deal of support from their professors
00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:20.039
and others at USC. So they're having the opportunity
00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:24.519
to learn what public child welfare work is. Many
00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:27.480
students come in with a somewhat vague idea,
00:21:27.779 --> 00:21:30.039
and some come in and it's like, you know what?
00:21:30.099 --> 00:21:34.319
This isn't quite for me. And that's fine. And
00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:38.220
others come in and it is exactly what they want
00:21:38.220 --> 00:21:42.819
to be doing. I think what is so nice about the
00:21:42.819 --> 00:21:46.539
internship is, again, giving students the opportunity
00:21:46.539 --> 00:21:50.180
to have exposure to what the work is. How does
00:21:50.180 --> 00:21:53.940
it make them feel? They get the opportunity sometimes
00:21:53.940 --> 00:21:57.339
to address difficult ethical questions, you know,
00:21:57.660 --> 00:22:01.720
why was a child removed, not removed, all while
00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:05.819
they're in that learning mode. And so I think
00:22:05.819 --> 00:22:08.700
for students, while they're interning, learning
00:22:08.700 --> 00:22:13.400
about DCFS, they're enhancing their professional
00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:16.339
social work skills, and I think they also grow
00:22:16.339 --> 00:22:19.690
a lot. personally. I think we see students grow
00:22:19.690 --> 00:22:23.210
personally, you know, tremendously over the course
00:22:23.210 --> 00:22:26.130
of the academic year while they're interning
00:22:26.130 --> 00:22:29.190
at DCFS. And then some of the students even find
00:22:29.190 --> 00:22:31.410
a program. They're like, oh, I think emergency
00:22:31.410 --> 00:22:34.309
response, you know, the first responder program
00:22:34.309 --> 00:22:37.230
is more suited for me or something else. But
00:22:37.230 --> 00:22:40.400
I think it just gives them a year. of growth
00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.880
and learning. And even if they don't make public
00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.799
child welfare their lifelong career, they still
00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:50.599
have that knowledge so that whatever area of
00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:53.599
social work they move into, they'll carry that
00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:56.099
knowledge with them. Excellent. Thank you, Debra.
00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:58.599
Richard, would you care to share? I saw you nodding.
00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:01.119
Yeah. A lot of the things that Debra said,
00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:03.509
and just from the student perspective, people
00:23:03.509 --> 00:23:05.230
who are the program right now, it's an excellent
00:23:05.230 --> 00:23:09.589
opportunity to get a peek as to how the work
00:23:09.589 --> 00:23:13.329
is to try things out. I do, you know, train new
00:23:13.329 --> 00:23:17.170
social workers and have had worked with some
00:23:17.170 --> 00:23:19.670
of the USC students. You know, I'm always excited
00:23:19.670 --> 00:23:21.950
because they're at the beginning of their career.
00:23:21.990 --> 00:23:24.210
They're very willing to share their experience.
00:23:24.230 --> 00:23:27.410
I know that they go back to school and have colleagues
00:23:27.410 --> 00:23:29.769
where they learn together, where, you know, one
00:23:29.769 --> 00:23:32.859
person experienced something, felt some certain
00:23:32.859 --> 00:23:35.519
type of way about what they saw in the field.
00:23:36.059 --> 00:23:37.980
And there's a lot of group learning happening.
00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:40.539
And I feel like in my personal experience, like
00:23:40.539 --> 00:23:44.079
it connected the dots, right? To make sure that
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.799
I understand that this is a system, there's multiple
00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:50.460
entities involved. And it gave me the confidence
00:23:50.460 --> 00:23:54.640
and confidence when I started my career at DCFS.
00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:57.440
that it's still a little scary, right? You know,
00:23:57.440 --> 00:23:59.180
you're going out there a little unknown, but
00:23:59.180 --> 00:24:02.039
at least I had a little bit of background and
00:24:02.039 --> 00:24:05.000
some experience. And I always tell the students
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:07.019
that we're working with, make sure that you interview
00:24:07.019 --> 00:24:09.920
people, make sure that you are transparent with
00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:13.259
your field practical instructor, because it's
00:24:13.259 --> 00:24:16.680
a great learning opportunity, which not a lot
00:24:16.680 --> 00:24:19.599
of people get. You know, I get a lot of new social
00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:22.690
workers who... come off doing a different job,
00:24:22.710 --> 00:24:25.990
sometimes related. And it's just a big change
00:24:25.990 --> 00:24:28.650
for them. And I'm really proud of them being
00:24:28.650 --> 00:24:33.289
able to actually embrace the job and learn. However,
00:24:33.390 --> 00:24:35.470
it's a bigger learning curve for someone that
00:24:35.470 --> 00:24:37.990
doesn't do a program like that. Thank you, Richard.
00:24:38.170 --> 00:24:40.130
I know we bring you back every year, right, for
00:24:40.130 --> 00:24:43.750
our summer orientation to share, right? So it's
00:24:43.750 --> 00:24:45.369
so exciting. Yeah, it's always a great experience.
00:24:45.670 --> 00:24:49.609
Yes, the students love you. So I'd like to shift
00:24:49.609 --> 00:24:53.930
our conversation a little bit towards child fatalities.
00:24:54.410 --> 00:24:58.210
We know that child fatalities are rare, but over
00:24:58.210 --> 00:25:01.170
the past few decades, there have been more attention
00:25:01.170 --> 00:25:05.130
on child abuse, especially a few docuseries
00:25:05.130 --> 00:25:07.700
that were made about child child abuse and what
00:25:07.700 --> 00:25:10.960
appears to be the failure of the system to protect
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:13.980
children. So Richard, I'd like to start with
00:25:13.980 --> 00:25:17.279
you if you could share what has changed in the
00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:20.380
field of public child welfare or child protective
00:25:20.380 --> 00:25:23.640
services since then and what assurances are in
00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:26.759
place for families. So, you know, I want to start
00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:29.200
by saying that, you know, When that has happened,
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:32.299
it's a tragedy, right? It impacts, obviously,
00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:35.660
the family and the community, and it has, you
00:25:35.660 --> 00:25:37.819
know, we see that. One of the things that I think
00:25:37.819 --> 00:25:41.019
about when this topic comes up is my first manager
00:25:41.019 --> 00:25:42.859
in one of our early meetings, she acknowledges
00:25:42.859 --> 00:25:46.140
that, you know, although rare. you know, she
00:25:46.140 --> 00:25:49.519
had seen it in her experience. And I really,
00:25:49.579 --> 00:25:51.599
you know, it was a very difficult conversation
00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:55.539
to have with her. But I really appreciated having
00:25:55.539 --> 00:25:58.259
that conversation early on in my career because
00:25:58.259 --> 00:26:01.400
it gave me, like it was just a reminder of the
00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:04.140
weight of the work. I guess it's something that
00:26:04.140 --> 00:26:06.119
doesn't leave you when someone shares that, you
00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:08.180
know, like something that heavy with you. The
00:26:08.180 --> 00:26:10.279
other side of it is, you know, I've been at DCFS
00:26:10.279 --> 00:26:13.700
for 10 years and I've seen a lot of the changes
00:26:13.700 --> 00:26:17.740
that have happened as a result of some of those
00:26:17.740 --> 00:26:20.940
things. So, you know, an example of how DCFS
00:26:20.940 --> 00:26:24.210
has reacted. having a DCFS Academy, you know,
00:26:24.349 --> 00:26:27.650
more extensive training, preparing social workers
00:26:27.650 --> 00:26:31.890
to do the job, to make better assessments, regular.
00:26:33.620 --> 00:26:36.940
practice examples and and data from our risk
00:26:36.940 --> 00:26:39.599
management team reviewing some of these cases
00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:42.779
some of these um rare but severe cases and to
00:26:42.779 --> 00:26:44.440
see like hey what are the trends like what can
00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:46.759
we avoid next time right what can social workers
00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:49.660
here are actual tools here are questions to ask
00:26:49.660 --> 00:26:52.680
this is who to ask and some red flags we can
00:26:52.680 --> 00:26:56.420
identify so then when you are out there investigating
00:26:56.420 --> 00:26:59.099
you can you know point those things out the other
00:26:59.099 --> 00:27:01.000
thing is like the supervision piece right you
00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:04.160
know a social worker should have the support
00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:06.680
of their supervisor and the supervisor of the
00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:10.670
manager and we should be We were taught to bring
00:27:10.670 --> 00:27:13.849
in people who also are responsible for the safety
00:27:13.849 --> 00:27:15.869
of the children, for example, relatives, right?
00:27:16.650 --> 00:27:19.430
Because child safety ultimately is not just the
00:27:19.430 --> 00:27:21.130
responsibility of the social worker that goes
00:27:21.130 --> 00:27:22.809
out and meets the family, right? It's a community
00:27:22.809 --> 00:27:25.750
responsibility. So I do appreciate that I've
00:27:25.750 --> 00:27:28.170
had that experience. You know, lessons learned,
00:27:28.329 --> 00:27:31.190
you know, some really hard lessons learned. Initiatives
00:27:31.190 --> 00:27:34.170
to teach social workers to just gather data better.
00:27:34.349 --> 00:27:36.609
For example, a lot of social workers are learning
00:27:36.609 --> 00:27:39.869
motivational interviewing. an exhaustive process
00:27:39.869 --> 00:27:42.670
right now for them. But ultimately, the goal
00:27:42.670 --> 00:27:46.690
is to just team with families better and just
00:27:46.690 --> 00:27:50.690
make safer plans in order to have families going
00:27:50.690 --> 00:27:52.670
in the right direction and keeping them together.
00:27:52.950 --> 00:27:56.690
Excellent. Thank you, Richard. And which is transitioning
00:27:56.690 --> 00:27:59.670
into community, because you said it's not just
00:27:59.670 --> 00:28:02.529
about the social worker. It really is like a
00:28:02.529 --> 00:28:06.349
collaborative response, which I'd love to hear
00:28:06.349 --> 00:28:09.200
from you, Deborah, about how social workers are
00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:11.759
collaborating with other departments and agencies
00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:15.480
to protect children. Yeah, absolutely. So there
00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:20.140
is a lot more collaboration going on now and
00:28:20.140 --> 00:28:23.180
Richard touched with touched base on that. And
00:28:23.180 --> 00:28:27.799
I think the collaboration shows the need for
00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:31.079
social workers to bring in as many partners as
00:28:31.079 --> 00:28:35.220
possible to support families and also giving
00:28:35.220 --> 00:28:39.160
families the agency to identify who their supports
00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:43.500
are. Again, I think collaboration reflects a
00:28:43.500 --> 00:28:47.160
shift in DCFS from moving away from, we're going
00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:49.440
to tell you what's best for you. We're going
00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:52.039
to tell you how to parent. We're going to tell
00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:56.519
you how to manage your life. It's no. We want
00:28:56.519 --> 00:28:59.960
to hear from you what's working, what's not working.
00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:06.369
How can we collaborate in terms of helping you
00:29:06.369 --> 00:29:09.930
reach your goals for your family. And I also
00:29:09.930 --> 00:29:12.690
really appreciated what Richard said about this
00:29:12.690 --> 00:29:16.990
idea of shared responsibility. So I think collaboration
00:29:16.990 --> 00:29:21.569
really requires accountability on the part of
00:29:21.569 --> 00:29:26.170
everyone. Again, we all want to be working hard.
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:29.880
to make sure that children are safe and families
00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:34.059
are able to provide a safe, nurturing home environment.
00:29:34.359 --> 00:29:38.140
So I think we all have a responsibility to do
00:29:38.140 --> 00:29:41.140
that. And I think the ways we do that, which
00:29:41.140 --> 00:29:44.380
now is including the family, hearing their input,
00:29:44.599 --> 00:29:47.539
hearing their thoughts, including community -based
00:29:47.539 --> 00:29:52.599
partners, is so crucial. And I think results
00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:57.210
in families and agencies having more successful
00:29:57.210 --> 00:30:00.490
collaborations. I think when families feel respected,
00:30:00.930 --> 00:30:03.309
when they feel like they have a seat at the table
00:30:03.309 --> 00:30:05.589
and they feel like their voices are being heard,
00:30:05.930 --> 00:30:09.710
children as well, it makes collaboration all
00:30:09.710 --> 00:30:12.650
the more successful. Thank you, Deborah. Gosh,
00:30:12.750 --> 00:30:15.849
thank you. I really appreciate you framing that
00:30:15.849 --> 00:30:20.230
for our listeners that we want to work with families.
00:30:20.470 --> 00:30:24.069
They are the experts with their children. So
00:30:24.069 --> 00:30:27.849
as we begin to wrap up, are there any final thoughts
00:30:27.849 --> 00:30:30.710
that you'd like our listeners to know about?
00:30:31.329 --> 00:30:32.730
Deborah, I'd like to start with you and then
00:30:32.730 --> 00:30:35.019
Richard, any final thoughts? I would just like
00:30:35.019 --> 00:30:38.680
to share that I think the field of child protective
00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:41.700
services, public child welfare, for me, it has
00:30:41.700 --> 00:30:46.339
been an absolutely amazing career. I have learned
00:30:46.339 --> 00:30:49.240
more from the families and children I have worked
00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:53.299
with than from anyone else, including my wonderful
00:30:53.299 --> 00:30:57.980
professors at USC. But the families and children
00:30:57.980 --> 00:31:01.680
have taught me more than anyone else and have
00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:05.569
so richly contributed to my personal and professional
00:31:05.569 --> 00:31:09.109
development. And I'm sure all areas of social
00:31:09.109 --> 00:31:12.049
work do that. But again, I think there's just
00:31:12.049 --> 00:31:14.509
with public child welfare, social work, there
00:31:14.509 --> 00:31:17.910
is such an opportunity to find meaning in your
00:31:17.910 --> 00:31:21.170
work and that you are making a difference. And
00:31:21.170 --> 00:31:23.730
the difference that you're making is protecting
00:31:23.730 --> 00:31:27.549
children and trying to strengthen and keep families
00:31:27.549 --> 00:31:30.690
together. Excellent. Thank you, Debra. Richard,
00:31:30.769 --> 00:31:33.339
any final thoughts? I feel like Debra always
00:31:33.339 --> 00:31:35.640
wraps everything up really well. I just want
00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:38.380
to say, you know, I agree with everything she's
00:31:38.380 --> 00:31:40.299
saying and, you know, we're doing the work. It's
00:31:40.299 --> 00:31:41.940
tough work. I'm really proud of the work that
00:31:41.940 --> 00:31:45.380
we're doing on a daily basis. But I often say,
00:31:45.460 --> 00:31:48.069
like, I think... that the thing that makes me
00:31:48.069 --> 00:31:51.049
just most excited and wanting to still you know
00:31:51.049 --> 00:31:52.509
stay stay and contribute to this organization
00:31:52.509 --> 00:31:54.950
is that we want to get better right it's always
00:31:54.950 --> 00:31:57.910
about getting better because ultimately that
00:31:57.910 --> 00:32:00.910
means that families are you know staying together
00:32:00.910 --> 00:32:04.349
families are safer we're giving family dignity
00:32:04.349 --> 00:32:07.950
to choose you know which direction like their
00:32:07.950 --> 00:32:10.250
family what's best for their family and um you
00:32:10.250 --> 00:32:13.369
know that's been my experience and that's what
00:32:13.369 --> 00:32:16.480
i you know want to make sure that our our listeners
00:32:16.480 --> 00:32:19.359
here and also here that we're just, we're continuing
00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:22.279
to work hard towards that. Excellent. Thank you
00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:25.279
so much, Debra and Richard for joining us for
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:28.119
a great discussion on this very important topic.
00:32:28.259 --> 00:32:30.400
If you would like to learn more about public
00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:34.259
child welfare or our DCFS stipend program, please
00:32:34.259 --> 00:32:39.059
visit our website at dworakpeck.usc.edu. And
00:32:39.059 --> 00:32:41.160
if you would like to network with our guests
00:32:41.160 --> 00:32:44.019
regarding their work or want to support our transformative
00:32:44.019 --> 00:32:48.109
research and program. please email us at
00:32:48.109 --> 00:32:52.450
listenuppeople@usc.edu. We would love to hear from you and
00:32:52.450 --> 00:32:53.210
thanks for listening.
