A Guide to Writing in the Social Work Profession

Introduction
The Social Work Profession is a very complex field and there are many options for employment for Social Workers. Social workers work in hospitals, schools, the military, mental health clinics, and private practices. There are two main types of social workers; direct service social workers help people cope and solve problems in their everyday lives, clinical social workers diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional issues. This writing guide will be focused on social workers who are employed by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. I will focus on the different roles in this agency and how they shape the writing that is produced. This guide also includes specialized language social workers use to communicate effectively in their profession. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) was established in 2000 when the Department of Human Services and the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services combined. This agency was established to help Ohios families find solutions to their temporary problems. Their mission is to improve the well-being of Ohios workforce and families by promoting economic self- sufficiency and ensuring the safety of Ohios most vulnerable citizens. I had the opportunity to interview Kelli Clark who is a social services supervisor at the Noble County Department of Job and Family Services. This guide reflects the information I collected during the interview, as well as information I gathered from a field guide I obtained from the agency.

Services Provided
Unemployment Compensation Health Care Cash Assistance Food Assistance Child Care Child Support Employment and Training Assistance

Goals and Values

Accountability Innovation Teamwork Integrity Compassion Increase the percentage of safe and healthy children. Decrease the percentage of children living in poverty. Increase the percentage of children ready for school. Increase the access and availability of services contributing to the well-being of children

Roles within Agency

The Department of Job and Family Services is a quadruple combined agency. The agency consists of four departments: Income Maintenance, Child support Enforcement Agency, Family and Children Services, and Workforce Development. This writing guide is focused on the Family and Children Services unit. Their main role is to investigate reports of abuse and/or neglect of children as well as to provide supportive services to families to help them maintain their children in their own home. This department also provides protective services to adults 60 and over, licenses foster and adoptive homes and provides adoption services. The roles that comprise the Department of Job and Family services are caseworkers, family workers, the supervisor, and the director of the department. These roles shape the writing that each social worker produces. For example, case workers complete safety and family assessments along with activity logs on ease case that the agency accepts as a referral. Kellis role within the agency is the supervisor which requires her to spend much of her time reviewing documentation her staff has completed. In addition she is also responsible for completing documentation that case workers normally complete because she maintains contact with clients and will take cases at times if the caseworkers have an overwhelming workload. Therefore, there are times when the supervisor of the agency is required to complete safety and family assessments as well as case plans and case reviews. A supervisor is also responsible for writing court complaints for cases that require legal attention. Kelli also serves as the foster/adoption specialist for her agency in which she is required to complete homestudies for foster/adoption families. There are also state requirements that the supervisor has to complete. These include adoption/foster care policies, MultiEthnic Placement Act (MEPA) policy and Quality Improvement plans for the department to improve their work and help the workers identify areas of strengths and needs.

Functions of Writing in ODJFS

The purpose of writing in the social work setting is shaped by professional values. There are many values that social workers share. These include human dignity and worth, social justice, as well as the values and goals mentioned above. It is important when writing to consider if your work reflects these values and goals. For example, human dignity should be reflected in your work by representing clients individual voices. Your commitment to social justice should lead you to scrutinize your work and determine if it is equitable and inclusive of all services needed by the client. Accountability is a major aspect to consider when writing within this setting because if something were to happen to an individual you are working with you will be held accountable through your notes, case plan, and observations. The social work professions main goal is child safety while upholding the value of the family unit. The profession also identifies that family members know their family best so the writing social workers do focuses on how the agency can help families build on their strengths to resolve the areas of weakness and stay intact. Writing in the community would speak in terms of behaviors that may contradict personal values, but doesnt necessarily constitute child abuse. Kelli comments on the function of writing in her agency, Documentation is key with my job and position. With our cases, all contacts must be documented as well as completing safety and family assessments, case plans, case reviews, court complaints, referrals to service providers, etc. Thus, writing is probably 60 % of the job that I and my caseworkers do.

Genres:

Safety Assessment: serve to identify safety concerns for children and the strengths and
weaknesses of families in order to determine if ongoing services are needed/wanted to resolve the areas of concern.

Activity Report: an ongoing document that details all activity between client and social worker
during case.

Case Plan: identifies the safety concern and the activities that the family members, agency,
and service providers need to complete to resolve the safety concerns

Case Review: are formal documents that capture progress or lack of progress of the family
toward achieving their case plan goals.

Reunification Assessment: a detailed account that occurs when a child is reunified with
parents.

Home studies: serve as tools to capture significant information about families to guide
agencies in approving or denying families for purposes of fostering children and/or adopting children.

Court Complaints: serve as legal motions to initiate court action with the family and are
prepared when safety concerns cannot be resolved with cooperative efforts with the family A case begins when a referral is made to the agency; it is then screened in as a case for investigation/ assessment. Within four days of the screening decision, the worker assigned must complete the safety assessment document. Depending on the safety decision made on the safety assessment, additional documents may be completed, including a safety plan. Within 30 days of the screening decision, the family assessment must be completed. If the case is transferred for ongoing services then the worker will need to complete the case plan within another 30 days. Then a case review is completed every 90 days from the date the case plan is completed. Every six months from the case plan completion date, the semiannual review is completed. Every contact with the family members and other principals of the case is documented in an activity log in the SACWIS database. Additional documents that may be completed throughout the life of case would include court complaints, reunification assessments, letters to clients, ongoing case assessments, specialized care assessments, independent living plans for children 16 years and over who are in agency custody, visitation plans, and justification wavers.

Writing Tasks
As a social services supervisor, Kelli, told me that her daily writing consists of documenting any contacts that she has had with clients or service providers. Also she is expected to add documentation in safety and family assessments as well as home studies. Working in a social work agency there is written documents that are required monthly that differ from daily writing. As a supervisor Kelli is expected to document minutes from a Creative Options meeting

where various agencies come together to discuss needs of families and steps to help families meet those needs. She also is responsible for completing a Signs of Safety Assessment and Planning form. This is documentation of worries the worker has for the families they are dealing with, as well as complicating factors that are present. Future worries, what is working well, what the agency wants to happen, what the family wants to happen, and what the next steps will be are also included.

Writing in Office vs. Writing in Field

Within a social work agency, for example Kelli, the supervisor in the Children Services Department, is required to write in the office and in the field. The field refers to when a worker is required to visit a clients home to access safety or for a child-family visitation. Writing in the field usually consists of quickly jotted notes to use as a reference for completing documentation later. Also, the agency that Kelli is employed for recently purchased I-pads for use in the field. The I-pads are used to complete case plans, family service plans, and case reviews as these are activities that need to be completed with the family. Writing in the office setting differs because documentation may be completed without the family present. For example this could be how the worker plans to help the family, or what services she thinks they could benefit from. Children Services agencies also use a statewide computer program: State Automated Child Welfare System SACWIS. This program is a state wide information system that documents all case activities in a database that is accessible to all children services agencies in the state of Ohio. This program is internet based. This allows them to also access the internet to utilize dictionaries or a thesaurus to aid in the writing process. Field guides that help with completion of specific documents needed for each case can be accessed through this system as well.

Communication
Social workers communicate in a variety of ways and with a variety of people. For example, Kelli, the supervising social worker at the Noble County Department of Job and Family Services, communicates on a daily basis with her case workers and also with her director. Other communication may occur between law enforcement personnel, other social work agencies, and court professionals. The methods of communication that social workers use are e-mail, phone, and face to face communication. Face to face communication is the preferred method of communication that Kelli uses. She comments that this helps her keep her staff informed about clients and cases. Communication in a social work setting can be seen both formally and informally. Formal communication would be directly communicating with co-workers, supervisors, and clients. Communicating with law enforcement personnel, as well as court professional also fall into this category. Written documents function to facilitate informal communication. For example, when writing a case report it is important to take into account that clients may need services in the future. Therefore, your written work should facilitate easy

understanding of their current situation and how you plan to help them. A thorough case report can help later workers build an accurate picture of the clients circumstances and use this information to understand the risks and strengths the individual or family possess. Communicative relationships are important in a social work setting. Supervisors communicate with their director through e-mails, phone calls, and face to face meetings. Supervisors communicate with their staff through e-mails, phone calls, and face to face meetings. Communication with clients is very similar in regards to meeting face to face and phone calls. Written communication is very important because there are certain letters that workers are required to send clients. These letters notify the clients about the agencys case decision at the end of an assessment period. This letter would also identify strengths of the family, inform the client if their case is closing or being transferred for ongoing services and would also identify any recommendations the agency has for the family. Workers are also required to notify clients about a case plan meeting and case review meeting that will be held.

Specialized Language
When working in sensitive situations with children and families it is important that your vocabulary accurately expresses what is happening. A list of terms that you should be familiar with follows. Safety: identifies serious harm that is occurring immediately Risk: identifies the likelihood of an degree of harm that may occur at some point in the future. Danger: the likelihood of serious harm to a child precipitated by one or more currently active safety threats arising from insufficient protective capacities. Protective capacities: family strengths or resources that reduce, control, or prevent threats of serious harm form arising or having an unsafe impact on the child. Vulnerability: the degree to which a child can avoid or modify the impact of safety threats or risk concerns. Credible Information: information worthy of belief. Serious harm: is life threatening, retards the childs mental health or development, produces significant physical suffering.

Writing Conventions
To be taken seriously in the social work field it is important that documentation includes proper grammar, structure, spelling and punctuation. Kelli comments A significant percent of my time is spent correct ing my workers' documentations regarding these areas. This documentation is read by other agencies, attorneys and Judges so it needs to sound professional. Field guides are used in this profession. This helps workers

identify risk contributors for families and also provides examples of the kinds of observations and questions that should be asked to gain the right information. One important aspect to consider when you are writing as a social worker is who your audience is. Your audience may include co-workers in your agency as well as clients, law enforcement, and court professionals Therefore, the context of written communications functions to influence both internal and external decision making. It is very important to be knowledge about how norms and values of the community. You should also always monitor how you represent yourself in your work. Your writing should reflect thoughtfulness and the information presented should be comprehensive, truthful, and fair. It is also important to make your work easy to follow, this can be accomplished by sharing information and reasoning that informs the reader about the views you express in your writing. Some phrases that can be used to help the readers understand your thought process include: This matter needs to be explored further this shows that you know what is needed and that you have plans to explore it in more detail. As we consider this matter a question arises about.. this shows that you are someone who considers and thinks about questions that arise and how you will handle them. while this idea seems to solve the problem ofit presents another difficulty which will have to be dealt with this shows that you recognize that apparent solutions are not always the complete answer, and that you deal with difficulties rather than ignoring them and will do both. (Healy & Mulholland, 2012) Social workers work with vulnerable populations and for that reason it is important to mention ethical consideration that guide the writing process. One of the key things to keep in mind when writing in this field is the safety of the child. It is important to not make judgments about clients based on personal values. Ethics can also constrain the writing that takes place in this profession. To make sure ethical writing is produced social workers are required to document observable behaviors and measure things while being careful to not to include personal opinions, thoughts, or values. This does make documentation difficult to complete at times. During my interview with Kelli I asked her what advice she would give to new employees entering this profession in regards to the writing process. She answered, I would encourage new employees to pay attention to the basic tenets of English as far as using proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. I would also recommend that they utilize the field guide initially when completing documentation until they become proficient at writing their notes in the specific language of this profession.

References
Healy. , & Mulholland, (2012). Writing skills for social workers. (3rd ed.). London, California,New Delhi, Singapore: Sage Publications. Ohios Child Protective Services Worker Manual CAPMIS Field Guides Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Office for Children and Families.

Appendix
Kelli Clark, Social Services Supervisor, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.