Supervisors Core

Days 9-10 A Very Special Case: Putting it all Together

A Very Special Case: Putting it all Together: Providing Case Specific Supervision, Final Application, Community Engagement, Teaming Strategies, Managing Changing Organizational Dynamics and Relationships

Level: Core, Supervisor

Credits: 12 (6 hours per day)

Intended Audience: New Supervisors 0-2 years

Intended Objectives:

• Identify tools to access current information on laws and policies that affect child
  welfare casework.
• Identify professional boundaries applicable to casework supervision in child welfare.
• Identify the role of experiences and beliefs in helping staff to recognize sociocultural
  assumptions and potential biases to promote fairness and equity.
• Identify different types of case conferencing for different purposes.
• In a case scenario or role play, can describe coaching skills applicable to casework
  supervision.
• Recognize the levels of authority you may flexibly use in working with your
  manager.
• Using a case consultation scenario or role play, can structure casework supervisory
  conferences (individual and group) to elicit specific information about:
  • child and family safety;
  • family’s progress towards case goals;
  • cultural relevance of services provided to families;
  • potential socio-cultural assumptions and biases;
  • progress toward child welfare outcomes.
• Using a case consultation scenario or role play, can engage supervisees in discussions about critical assessment information (safety, risk, protective capacity,domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health issues) that lead to casework decisions.
• Demonstrate a monitoring strategy to promote fair and equitable treatment of children and families at key decision points throughout the life of a case.
• Develop a specific action plan for transfer/application of learning and means for
  follow up training, coaching, mentoring, networking and support.
• Given a case scenario, can demonstrate the application of situational leadership
  styles to complementary levels of readiness in staff.
• Value monitoring and discussing child welfare outcomes as part of ongoing supervision.
• Value teamwork and collaboration as effective strategies to produce positive outcomes for children and families.
• Value fair and equitable treatment of all supervisees including timely and appropriate access to supervision according to supervisees’ individual needs.

Topics Include:

• Rationale for Casework Supervision
• Supervision and Social Worker Development
• Developmental Supervision- Training Needs
• Fairness and Equity Review
• Templates
• Authority Scale
• Situational Leadership Review
• Genograms
• Defining Practice Issues
• Individual Case Conferencing
• Embedded Evaluation of Casework Supervision
• Alternative Individual Case Conferencing Styles
• Group Case Conferencing
• Maintaining Molecular Stability

Competencies Addressed:

AS2. Develops awareness of one’s own attitudes, needs, and behavior and their
effect on relationships within the agency. They may be similar or different than
the organization’s.

AS3. Applies organizational and management approaches and philosophies to self
and the agency for maximum management effectiveness.

AS6. Has an awareness of and utilizes strategies that can facilitate introduction and
management of changes in the workplace.

AS7. Applies a system for ensuring accountability to stakeholders for agency
performance.

AS8. Appropriately uses data for decision-making and planning to ensure the proper
focus on outcomes.

AS9. Participates in the recruitment, selection, and transition process.

AS11. Able to effectively manage the unit.

AS12. Utilizes leadership skills to effect employee performance.

ES1. Understands and values diversity and different styles of perceiving, learning, communicating, and operating.

ES2. Understands the value of a developmental approach to supervision and can adapt supervision style to worker’s stage of development.

ES3. Knows how to improve the transfer of learning from the classroom to the field.

ES4. Understands the value and components of a mentoring program.

ES5. Knows, can model, and teach necessary elements of statutes, rules, policies,assessment, decision making, case planning, and case process to staff to facilitate the best possible case outcomes.

ES6. Able to provide constructive feedback.

ES7. Able to apply coaching techniques to supervision situations.

ES8. Knows and can recognize when a worker’s emotional responses and/or
judgment interfere with the casework process and can empower the worker to
identify and examine these issues.

ES9. Knows the value and components of proactive, structured supervision.

SS1. Knows the value of Supportive Supervision.

SS2. Knows how to motivate staff.

SS3. Able to recognize secondary trauma in self and others and implement
strategies to address it.

SS5. Able to assess and improve team functioning.