Crisis Intervention for Child Protective Services Workers

Abstract

Crisis in the field of child welfare is ubiquitous. A qualitative inquiry into the work of child protective services (CPS) workers was conducted to explore their perceptions and experiences of crisis and crisis intervention, along with the emotional effects their work has on them. The results of that inquiry were extensive and have been reported by us in other publications. This paper focuses on the study’s finding that workers in the field perceived crisis as deeply interwoven into the fabric of their everyday CPS work. Yet, in spite of this ever-present nature of crisis, none of the workers reported an awareness of crisis intervention theory and purposeful use of crisis intervention skills. This paper reviews our findings on CPS’s experience of crisis and then presents a model of crisis intervention that can be useful in child protective services work. The model is illustrated through a case application. This crisis intervention framework should have applicability across various international contexts since the nature of assisting abused children and the psychological sequelae of abuse are universal. The use of an application that addresses the issues CPS workers experience may help to mitigate much of the well-documented stress of the work and improve outcomes for the children served.