Case Management through the Lenses of Child Welfare Social Workers

his paper presents the results of a qualitative study that aims to explore the experiences of social workers who work in case management services in the child protection system, with special focus on their duties, the work tools they use in their work with the beneficiaries and the challenges encountered in providing case management services. The paper also reflects the suggestions made by social workers to increase the performance of their activities in providing case management. The data were obtained through individual interviews with 10 social workers from case management services in a public child protection institution in Western Romania, data that were analysed thematically. The results of the study show that the main duties of social workers are based on the activity of monitoring children in foster care with professional foster careers and within centres for children temporarily or permanently separated from their parents – family-type homes. The main work tools used in case management services are the monitoring sheet, the individualized protection plan, the quarterly evaluation report, the protection measure re-evaluation report, the quarterly monitoring report, and the specific intervention plan. Among the main recommendations regarding the increase in the efficiency of social workers’ activity, the addition of specialized staff, as well as the introduction of supervised activities is mentioned. The present study draws the attention of social workers from the Romanian child protection system on their practices.


Keywords: case management, social services, social workers, child protection system, quality standards, Romania