1. CW: Child Abuse, Child Neglect
Recently I accepted a job as a child welfare caseworker in Garfield County, Colorado. During this time I've come to
develop a slight understanding and perception of the system I will be working in. As my skills develop, insights
grow, and I become more experienced as a caseworker my perception may change or evolve. My interest in child
welfare stems from the fact that children are one of the most vulnerable populations in the world, and the future
generations to come. This writing is just a mere reflection of my thoughts, the things I've learned, and a way to
raise awareness of one persons understanding of the child welfare system. The state's (Colorado's) vision is to
give children and youth the opportunity to thrive in safe, nurturing, and stable families within their communities. We
work to engage and partner with families, collaborate with other service providers/entities, provide individualized
services that strengthen children, youth and families, remove barriers, and develop a competent, professional,
transparent, responsive, and accountable staff. In this job child and youth safety is our main priority. We work with
the families to assess risk, mitigate safety concerns, engage families in services, and teach life skills, which allows
the child/children to remain in the home with their biological family. Child welfare advocates, practitioners,
policymakers, researchers, nonprofit leaders, and former youth who have aged out of the foster care system
recognize the importance of keeping children with their biological parents whenever possible. These individuals
have most likely experienced a great deal of trauma, and once they age out of the foster care system they are at
risk of losing many if not all of their supports; financial, educational, social, and other supports they count on, they
may feel vulnerable, and feel like nobody cares about them or their well-being. They are at an increased risk of
becoming homeless, or involved in the justice system. Children aging out of foster care are also facing higher rates
of unemployment, criminal conviction, public assistance, and future involvement in the child welfare system as
parents.
As mentioned earlier it is the vision of Colorado to give children and youth the opportunity to thrive in safe,
nurturing, and stable families within their communities. When a child is experiencing abuse or neglect, many
people believe the easy answer is to remove the child from the home, however we have learned that can
potentially cause more trauma and additional problems for the child. The effects of abuse affect each child
differently. Research has found that a child who is exposed to violence or abuse, if left unaddressed or ignored, are
at an increased risk for emotional and behavioral problems in the future. Some possible effects of abuse and
neglect on a child's mental health include: anxiety, depression, dissociation, academic problems, flashbacks, and
increased hypervigilance. They may experience physical effects such as bruises, welts, burns, lacerations, lack of
adequate supervision/shelter, poor hygiene, lacerations, and abrasions. Possible behavioral and emotional effects
of abuse/neglect include: eating disorders, drug use, risky sexual decision-making, self-harm, as well as difficulty
identifying, expressing, and managing emotions (self-regulation). Although an abusive family would clearly be
harmful to children, removing a child from his or her family can be just as traumatic. Placement instability in foster
care can have an impact on a child's development. Disrupted attachment with their biological parents or
placement, as well as the need to adjust to a new environment may lead to feelings of loss and/or rejection for
children trying to understand the separation from their biological families. It can also lead to feelings of mistrust,
instability, loss of control, and/or feelings of fear that they may be removed at any time without explanation.
Children may also worry about how they will be seen by their peers at school when they find out that they are in
foster care.
Child welfare caseworkers often find themselves in a lose-lose situation. Caseworkers make challenging decisions
on a daily basis in order to keep children safe, these decisions are almost always going to met with some criticism.
Often times they are forced to make difficult decisions in situations that have a lot of gray areas. Every family,
every individual is different, and because of that not every case has a perfect solution or model of how you should
respond. Many people believe that child welfare caseworkers are too quick to act, and that they violate the rights
and privacy of parents. Others believe that we did not do enough, and because of that, the caseworker is to blame
for the child abuse or neglect. A lot goes into the daily decisions caseworkers make, and most of them are making

2. these decisions with what they believe are in the best interest of the child/children. I want you to know that I'm
trying my best to create positive change within this system, and partner with families to help them help themselves.
We can't give up on someone just because they made a mistake, no matter how big or small, this is one reason
why problems continue to occur. We can empathize with these families by understanding that we don't know what
it is like to be in their situation, grow up and experience whatever they experienced and we don't know what is
going on in everyones head. As someone who values others opinions, insights, thoughts, I would appreciate and
welcome any feedback so we can all continue to grow and work together to improve the systems that operate in
the current world we are living in. Thanks for reading.
Derek