The role conflict of the child protective service worker: investigator-helper

Abstract

Role conflict stems from the established authoritarian role assigned to child protective service workers in addition to their helping role. Workers must conduct investigations, make a determination as to whether cases are founded or unfounded, confront the parents with those findings then tell the family they are there to help. Few workers are convinced that parents see this type of intervention as helpful. Overcoming these doubts and conflicts is not easy. High worker turnover and burnout can often be attributed to the workers not having been given the opportunity to deal with these conflicts. This paper presents five options which if utilized could lessen role confusion: (1) separating the functions of intake and ongoing services; (2) strengthen training and supervisory support; (3) formation of multidicipline teams; (4) unit staffing of cases; and (5) using police for investigations.