Let’s Stop Playing Monopoly With the Child Welfare Workforce

Abstract

Although the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) is a specific focus of Stoesz’s article, a more expansive and thought-provoking critique is made of the NCWWI within the context of a purported overreliance and dependency on the Children’s Bureau, concerns regarding the quality of social work education, and the development of a “professional cartel in child welfare …” in the social work profession. Stoesz’s assertions are examined and some of his observations are reinforced within a broader exploration and discussion of how the events he describes (which are paralleled by events in Florida) may be a by-product of sociological influences shaping social work’s efforts to receive social sanction as a profession. It is argued that the profession need not attempt to monopolize or engage in behaviors meant to gain legislative or social sanction at the expense of advancing knowledge and better informing practice trends and policy actions. Toward this end, professional cartels should be confronted and multi- and interdisciplinary professional practice can and should take place within child welfare systems.