What is Required to Withstand Legal Scrutiny: The CWS Guide to the Courts 3 hour

Level: Core/Advanced Practice – (Lineworker, Supervisor, Manager)

Credits: 3

Intended Audience: This course is intended for Child Welfare staff including, Lineworkers, Supervisors, and Managers

Description of Course: In addition to their role as case manager and agency employee, child welfare workers who handle cases that come before the Juvenile Court are also expected to write written reports that document nearly every facet of their work and, when necessary, testify before the court. This training is designed to prepare workers for these experiences.

Intended Objectives:

• List reasons why county social service agencies are sued
• Write reports that provide facts and supporting evidence for recommendation and conclusions drawn in reports
• Describe why certain recommendations are made
• Describe process for determining what information should be included in reports
• Demonstrate better writing skills in all areas of documentation

Topics Include:

• How to identify what is important to document and what is not
• How to paint a fair and balanced picture of each individual case
• Meeting court standards of documentation
• Identifying bias in reports
• Paying close attention to the terminology and tone used in reports
• Using engagement tools to obtain information
• Back-end reporting challenges, such as:
  • focusing on issues related to the original removal
  • including information relevant to case plan
  • addressing current safety
• Articulating though process through written work as well as verbally