The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS) released a new report, Contradictions in care: Labour conditions, conflicting values, and crisis in child protection social work in Nova Scotia.
Lead author Dr. Catherine Bryan, Associate Professor in the Dalhousie School of Social Work, had this to say about the report, “This report draws on voices and experiences of child protection social workers in Nova Scotia to describe how they understand and manage the conditions of child protection work in Nova Scotia. More precisely, it details a growing set of concerns about the conditions of child welfare work in the province and, in turn, about the ability of child protection social workers to effectively, compassionately, and justly meet the needs of children and families.”
This report is an effort to uncover the key concerns and daily struggles of those tasked with “protecting” children, while also making both short-term and long-term recommendations for changes to address those challenges, from improving training, mentoring, and professional recognition to reducing poverty.
“Our role at the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers is to uphold the safe and ethical practice of social work, yet it is clear from this report that child protection social workers are facing immense and unsustainable challenges,” states Alec Stratford, Executive Director/Registrar of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers.
Further, he says, “Overwhelming caseloads, chronic understaffing, inadequate training, and a lack of meaningful support have created a workforce in crisis. These are not the failings of individual practitioners but deep systemic flaws that fundamentally undervalue the provision of professional care, ultimately compromising the quality of support that families and children so desperately need.”
Jackie Barkley, spokesperson for the Child Welfare Advocacy Coalition, remarked: “For the past eight years, the Child Welfare Advocacy Coalition has watched as the conditions of Frontline Child Protection Workers have continued to deteriorate dramatically with huge turnover and overwhelming caseloads. This is all despite the Department of Community Services’ continued public insistence that child protection workers’ circumstances have improved. The conditions of exhausted and overwhelmed Child Protection workers have a direct negative impact on the children and families the Department serves. We enthusiastically support this report as it adds to the body of research needed to create fundamental change.”
