Introduction

Abstract

Abstract This Book Endeavor Began Ten Years Ago When A Social Work Educator in one state and a child welfare director of training in another, unaware at the time of each other’s existence, recognized that both child welfare social work masters students in a part-time program and child welfare professionals working in the field were experiencing problems associated with their work. While an abundance of literature suggested that burnout is a problem for the child welfare professional, it seemed to both of these independent observers that the problem might be more than burnout, or perhaps something entirely different. Burnout is most often associated with high stress coupled with heavy demands and low personal and professional reward in the workplace. These are conditions inherent in child welfare work. Burnout is a phenomenon that occurs gradually. It takes time to burn out, and some of the students and child welfare workers with whom the authors were working were relatively new to the field of child protection. However, they still seemed to be experiencing problems associated with the work. When Charles Figley’s Compas- sion Fatigue (1995), which addressed secondary traumatic stress (STS), was published, the question was raised whether or not these child welfare students and workers were experiencing STS.