ABOUT CHILDREN'S

What is Solution Based Casework?

Solution Based Casework (SBC) is a family-centered practice that builds on a family's strengths. Social workers are taught engagement skills, interviewing techniques, family life cycle development frameworks and relapse prevention techniques. In their work with families, social workers:

• Quickly build a consensus with the family and service providers on what needs to happen to reduce risk and protect children and set to set achievable goals. Ongoing stresses and problems are identified and addressed.
• Help the family identify cycles of maltreatment and utilize relapse prevention techniques to prevent further maltreatment.
• Document and offer encouragement for even the smallest improvements, and note when improvements haven't been made.
• Focus on every day challenges the family faces.
• Work with the family to document where specific risk factors and safety threats have or have not been managed.

Three Basic Goals of SBC

• Respectful Partnership: Assessment and case planning is most successful when conducted in a relationship of respectful partnership, based on the belief that change has occurred and is possible.
• Focus on Pragmatic Everyday Family Life Tasks: Casework focuses on identifying the family's specific everyday life events that are not going well. Social workers assist family members in normalizing their struggles, while addressing the risk and safety behaviors to help families have a more reasonable perspective on what challenges they face.
• Case Plans Are Specific to Risk and Safety Concerns: Through relapse prevention concepts, case plan objectives and tasks are formulated to build skills necessary to prevent reoccurrence of presenting problems. Progress toward objectives is measured through demonstration of acquired skills in everyday life.

SBC fits well with Family Team Decision Meetings and the evidence-based programs we have identified. Motivational interviewing in the areas of substance abuse and mental health also is a good fit with SBC.

Although the concepts appear obvious in a classroom setting, on-going case consultation, coaching and mentoring of social workers and staff is needed to truly integrate these skills into their daily work.