Social Worker’s In-Service Training:

Domestic Violence in Child Welfare

Course Description:
Participants will receive training on the policies and best practices outlined in the “Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence.” Participants will gain knowledge and skills specific to four core areas: universal and periodic screening for domestic violence, conducting a specialized DV assessment, engagement and accountability with DV perpetrators, and case planning in families experiencing DV. Additionally, training will be provided on the process of domestic violence safety planning with adult DV victims. We’ll think critically about how the requirements outlined in the “Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence” might look in practice. We will demonstrate Screening for DV, Conducting Specialized DV assessment interviews with adult victims and DV perpetrators, and case planning that factors in domestic violence that is occurring. Participants will also practice these skills using case scenarios. Finally, we’ll practice applying the information and skills we’ve learned to make safe and supportive case decisions in key areas (assessing child safety, family meetings/shared planning, and visitation/placement considerations).

Developmental Competencies:

  • SW216-01 Ability to identify domestic violence in families, understand the dynamics of domestic violence, and implement safety plans for survivors and their children
  • SW216-02 Ability to screen, assess, plan and coordinate services to children and family members who have been maltreated as a result of domestic violence
  • SW216-03 Ability to collaborate with community partners to remove safety concerns and increase safety for children and non-offending parents
  • SW216-04 Ability to engage, plan, and coordinate services and accountability processes for DV perpetrators
  • SW216-05 Ability to use DSHS tools and resources on behalf of children and adult victims

E-Learning:

An e-learning is available which orients participants to the dynamics of DV and to child welfare’s role in working with these families.

Day 1: DV Screening and theSpecialized DV Assessment


Time: 7 hours

Purpose:

The purpose of this full day workshop is to help you improve your skills at safely identifying DV, gather further information about the dynamics of the DV using the specialized domestic violence assessment protocol, identify factors associated with lethality in domestic violence, identify online resources to identify past and current court orders related to domestic violence, and understand the role of a DV safety plan in supporting adult survivors to be safer.

Materials and Preparation

  • Name tents and markers for tables
  • Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence, brought by participants or accessed via the CA website
  • It’s helpful to have an internet connection and a few participants with a computer but none of the required training elements use these.
  • Optional video “Why Domestic Violence Victim’s Don’t Leave” (TED talk by Leslie Morgan Steiner) This 16 minute video could be used on either day but is particularly helpful in considering why Mrs. Caldwell has stayed, and why she returns at the end of the scenario

Handouts

  • Participant Workbook
  • Caldwell Family Case Example
  • Guide to Identifying DV Related Court Orders
  • Social Worker’s Practice Guide to Domestic Violence (if you have extra copies, can also be accessed electronically)
  • Bikilla Screening Activity
  • Lethality Assessment Scenarios
  • Factors Commonly Associated with Lethality

Session Flow

Section / Delivery Method / Time
1 / Introductions, Information, Resources / Trainer discussion / 24 minutes
2 / Screening for DV / Trainer/ group discussion
Participant Workbook
Demonstration
Role Play Activity / 2 hours 20 minutes
LUNCH
3 / Specialized DV Assessment Demonstration / Trainer/group discussion
Participant Workbook
Demonstration / 1 hour 30 minutes
4 / Lethality Assessment / Activity / 45 minutes
5 / DV Safety Planning / PPT/Trainer led discussion
Activity
Participant Workbook / 45 minutes
6 / Accessing Information from Records / Activity/Demonstration / 30 minutes
7 / Closure and Evaluations/Assessment / 15 minutes

Introductions, Information and Resources

State the session purpose:

The purpose of this full day workshop is to help you improve your skills at safely identifying DV, gather further information about the dynamics of the DV using the specialized domestic violence assessment protocol, identify factors associated with lethality in domestic violence, identify online resources to identify past and current court orders related to domestic violence, and understand the role of a DV safety plan in supporting adult survivors to be safer.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

  1. Describe critical components of safe screening for domestic violence.
  2. Complete a specialized DV assessment interview with an adult victim.
  3. Identify multiple factors that might indicate heightened lethality risk for DV victims and their children.
  4. Describe how to help an adult victim create a safety plan, and where and how to document this process.
  5. Identify two resources to find information about current or past court orders related to adults on your case.

Purpose and learning objectives for both days are located on p. 3 of the Participant Workbook

Have participants introduce themselves.

  • Name
  • Job/role
  • Something they want to feel more confident about related to their practice with cases impacted by DV.

Trainer’s Note: Keep track of what people want to feel more confident about on flip chart paper somewhere in the room.

Orient participants to the three resources they have in front of them

RESOURCE 1: Copies of the SW Practice Guide to Domestic Violence to be used during the training(if applicable)

RESOURCE 2:Participant Workbook.

Please write in this and keep it – you will use it forboth days of this training.

RESOURCE 3:Caldwell Family Case Example

RESOURCE 4: Guide to Identifying DV Related Court Orders

NOW, Let’s get started…

What is domestic violence?

Domestic violence is a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors, including physical, sexual, and psychological attacks, as well as economic coercion, that adults or adolescents use against their intimate partners.

Why is it important to use this definition when we’re applying the ideas and concepts in the Social Worker’s Guide to Domestic Violence (the Guide)?

  • Conflicts between other family members may be serious and unsafe but don’t usually have the same types of dynamics as situations addressed in the behavioral definition
  • It’s important that we’re seeing a pattern – and that it all adds up to one person having much more control and power in the relationship
  • The other tactics besides overt violence are often a really critical part of the experience and many (most) of those aren’t actions that are illegal. But missing them makes it nearly impossible to effectively respond to adult dv victim’s and their children’s needs.

Screening for DV

DV Screening is addressed in Part 3 of the guide

What are the (policy) requirements regarding screening for DV in CA cases?

Universal and periodic screening

  • Every family – regardless of whether DV has yet been identified as an issue
  • Screening should occur at each stage of a case, and periodically. Situations can change and things may become unsafe over time. A victim may wait to decide if you are a safe person to tell or share information with about what is occurring.
  • Screening occurs regardless of family composition – single parent family, two parent family, etc.

Trainer’s Notes:
The following are questions/concerns that may come up in regards to the requirement to screen, and some responses.
What about when the other caregiver or person of concern isn’t a biological/legal parent? I don’t have a “right” to interview that person.
Law and CA policy that supports our ability to screen and serve caregivers who aren’t legal parents.
CA Practices and Procedures Guide 2331 (D) Investigative Standards
  1. Notify the alleged perpetrator of the allegations of CA/N at the earliest point in the investigation that will not jeopardize the safety or protection of the child or the course of the investigation.
  2. Conduct individual and face-to-face interviews with the child's caregiver(s) and all alleged perpetrators if reasonably available. If DV is identified, all persons (e.g., children, caregivers or alleged perpetrators) should be interviewed separately. The social worker may coordinate interviews with local law enforcement agencies in accordance with local community protocols that may authorize interview of the perpetrators by a person other than the social worker.
  1. Seek professional and expert consultation and evaluation of significant issues. Examples include having the housing inspector or other local authority assess building safety or having the county sanitarian assess sewage and septic treatment issues.
  2. Interview, in-person or by telephone, professionals and other persons (physician, nurse, school personnel, child day care, relatives, etc.) who are reported to have or, the social worker believes, may have first-hand knowledge of the incident, the injury, or the family's circumstances.
RCW 13.34.138(2)(b) (May be referred to as Sirita’s Law)(b) Prior to the child returning home, the department or supervising agency must complete the following:
(i) Identify all adults residing in the home and conduct background checks on those persons;
(ii) Identify any persons who may act as a caregiver for the child in addition to the parent with whom the child is being placed and determine whether such persons are in need of any services in order to ensure the safety of the child, regardless of whether such persons are a party to the dependency. The department or supervising agency may recommend to the court and the court may order that placement of the child in the parent's home be contingent on or delayed based on the need for such persons to engage in or complete services to ensure the safety of the child prior to placement. If services are recommended for the caregiver, and the caregiver fails to engage in or follow through with the recommended services, the department or supervising agency must promptly notify the court; and
(iii) Notify the parent with whom the child is being placed that he or she has an ongoing duty to notify the department or supervising agency of all persons who reside in the home or who may act as a caregiver for the child both prior to the placement of the child in the home and subsequent to the placement of the child in the home as long as the court retains jurisdiction of the dependency proceeding or the department is providing or monitoring either remedial services to the parent or services to ensure the safety of the child to any caregivers.
What about in FAR? Aren’t these families are supposed to be met with together, and children interviewed in their parents’ presence?
The fact that a case is designated for FAR does notmean the SW must meet with all family members together all the time. The SW can meet separately with family members. DV screening should be conducted with family members in FAR cases just as in all other cases.
The DV guide says that children should be interviewed after parents, but that’s not how we do it in CPS.
The best practice guidelines in the DV Practice Guide, including the guidelines regarding Safety (Part 2, pg. 22-23) and Talking with Children About DV (Part 4, pg. 52) address the interviewing of children about the domestic violence. Standard CPS interviewing protocols should be followed when interviewing about the abuse and neglect, and about overall safety. When this means gathering information about possible DV, this may occur first. It’s still a good idea, and often preferable, to speak with the child in the presence of or with the overt permission of the adult victim. The child may not feel able to disclose what they know unless it’s expressly made clear to them by the adult victim that it’s safe and ok to do so.

Safety considerations are addressed on page 22/23 of the guide, in Part 2.

Brainstorm with your partner about what strategies you can use to screen safely. You can use p. 22 and 23 in the guide to gather further ideas. Record your ideas on p. 4 of the Participant Workbook.

Which strategies did you come up with? Which strategies do you have questions about with the guide?

Review the seven safety strategies on p. 22/23 and briefly discuss any areas where there are questions or concerns.

Regarding the last strategy: Interview Children Safely (from p. 52/53)
  • Interview children after talking with victims when possible.
  • Talk with children about DV in their household of origin when the child is in care and they may have concerns about the adult victim’s safety.
  • Provide resources for support.

Using Records as part of Screening

We may find important, helpful information in various electronic records systems.

Where do you routinely look for Information about DV?

  • FamLink – including Intake, SDM, Address (if it says address type confidential) and assessments
  • ESA – families who receive assistance may have information noted about DV. This could be something as overt as the client receiving a “good cause exception” because of DV (clients may be excused from participating with child support enforcement or from the requirement to seek work/job training because of a temporary or long term safety threat or other impacts of DV) or something more subtle such as descriptions of violent or coercive behavior that have been witnessed by the assigned worker.
  • Police records (convictions and arrests, incident report narratives)
  • Court Records (look for protection order petitions, dissolutions, and criminal issues) These can now be found on the WA courts website or on the Odyssey Portal. It is VERYimportant that Child Welfare staff know of ANY existing protection orders. We cannot ask our clients to violate these orders.

Trainer’s Notes:
Note the “Guide to Identifying DV Related Court Orders.” This may be helpful to participants who have not used the WA Courts site, though it’s fairly easy to use.
The link for Odyssey is:
Important information on what types of protection orders exist can be found at the back of the Social Worker’s Guide to DV (p. 85-86).

Activity #1: DV Screening Demonstration

Read participants the Intake about the Caldwell family, p. 2.

Violence was identified in the intake. Do we still need to screen for DV and why so or why not?

While there’s a good amount of information in the report about a particular incident. This is different than having information that domestic violence is occurring. Domestic violence is about a pattern of abusive and controlling behavior where violence and other strategies are used to give one person significant power and control over the other. It seems extremely likely that in this situation domestic violence, rather than situational violence, is occurring. Still, it’s important that we begin with basic screening questions to make sure we understand what is happening, and who is the perpetrator and the victim.

  • Select several volunteers to read the part of the social worker. They can stand where they are or in front of the class. Establish what order they will read in so they know who they follow.
  • Participants not reading in the demonstration should make notes on important information they hear that suggest dv is occurring – and who the victim and perpetrator are.
  • Note that It’s unlikely that someone would share this much information with us all at once and very early on. However, it’s hard to do a demonstration that’s very valuable if you use a scenario where the fake client doesn’t talk. We’ll be using the information provided in each demonstration to practice the skills and the assessment, so it’s important that we had a scenario where the person provides significant information.

Activity #1 De-Brief

Do we have a clear idea of whether there is DV going on? What tells you that this is DV?

Appears to be a pattern that’s included violence, threats/intimidation about whether or if one person can leave the relationship, destruction of property, and unequal access to money.

Who is the victim and who is the abuser and how do you know?

Mom is the victim and dad/step-dad is the abuser.

It’s very common that perpetrators AND victims use some of the same behaviors so better understanding why and when they use these behaviors – and what the impact of the behavior is – is very important.

Both parties have used physical force or violence; however, Mrs. Caldwell has had many impacts from the physical force (injuries, isolation). When he destroys property, she cleans it up. She acts to protect the children. She left her job when the baby was born and didn’t go back to work, meaning she now has no way to support herself if she leaves. All of these result in him having a lot more power and control than she does in this relationship.

  • Determining who is the victim and who is the abuser (P. 30 of the guide but further guidance is provided in this training) can be challenging, especially when both parties have used violence or been arrested, or when they both report that the other is abusive. Getting this wrong can have very serious consequences. Gathering information about specific actions and patterns of behavior by each adult, as well as the impacts of these behaviors, allows the situation to be more clearly understood.

What are your thoughts on disentangling this? How might you try to sort it out?

Use page 5 to record the basic questions that can help determine who is the victim and who is the abuser.

  • Whose behavior creates fear in other members of the family?
  • Who is exerting control over the other partner through a variety of abusive and coercive tactics?
  • Who experiences repeated negative consequences as a result of the abuse?
  • Who acts to protect the children?

The social worker uses screening questions that are low key, and normalize family conflict (though not violence). What do you think of this?