Modern Challenges Faced by Social Workers in Crisis Systems

On February 14th, 2011, twins Nubia and Victor Barahona fell victim to their abusive father. The children were found locked in their father’s truck in West Palm Beach, Florida. Nubia was dead, and Victor had severe chemical burns all over his tiny body. An anonymous tip was called into the child abuse hotline, but the social worker Andrea Fleary was so backlogged with cases that it took her four days to conduct a welfare check. That was precious time that could have been used to save these innocent children.

This tragic incident highlights a glaring issue: the system failed them. Social workers are underpaid, overloaded with cases, and not provided with adequate mental health resources. These injustices are causing not only the employees to suffer but the children as well. This essay explores the systemic issues within the social work profession, emphasizing the need for reform to ensure the well-being of both social workers and the vulnerable populations they serve.

Social workers in the United States have a vital role. According to Brad Forenza, who conducted a case study on twelve active social workers and documented his findings in "Social Worker Identity: A Profession in Context," social work is often defined as a helping profession. Social workers help individuals, families, and groups restore or enhance their capacity for social functioning and work to create societal conditions that support communities in need. Guided by the NASW Code of Ethics, social workers strive to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of those who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. Historically, social workers have focused and operated their work in the context of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, the importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence (Forenza). However, the noble ideals and objectives of social work are increasingly compromised by systemic challenges that hinder the profession's effectiveness.

Social injustices manifest in many forms in our everyday lives. A social injustice occurs when unfair practices affect society, depriving individuals of basic human rights and causing negative outcomes. While discrimination based on color, race, gender, and religion are commonly discussed, other forms of social injustice, which are equally important, rarely make it to mainstream media. All social injustices harm our country by robbing people of their dignity and eliminating their right to equal opportunity. Social workers operate within an environment riddled with such injustices, making their job even more challenging.

To become a social worker, one must obtain at least a four-year degree from a university, which costs around $30,000 in today’s market. Educational debt is on the rise, and social workers are not paid enough compared to other professionals with similar educational backgrounds. According to a study by Ohio State University, having lower pay than other helping professionals may create a future social work labor shortage. The number of social work job openings is projected to grow by 12 percent over the next decade; this is faster than the average growth rate for all occupations, which is 7 percent. However, individuals burdened by student debt may choose social work professions outside the public sector (e.g., child protective services) to earn a sufficient wage to pay their student loans. The labor shortage results in current social workers seeking other employment to better suit their needs. On the other hand, students with significant debt may take on more cases in a desperate attempt to make more money to pay off loans, creating overworked employees.

Experts caution that there is a lack of evidence supporting the allegation that social workers are underpaid. However, annual wage growth is a meager 0.8 percent, while the state minimum wage continues to rise by at least 1.0 percent yearly. These statistics speak for themselves. Every year, as the state minimum wage rises, the cost of living increases. We pay more for goods and services to offset companies paying their employees higher hourly wages. Yet, social workers, who protect the rights of those without a voice, are not given the same opportunity. These workers are forced to cut back spending to keep up with rising prices because they are not given an equal wage increase.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2018 that the average social worker in California makes $43,100 a year, or $22 an hour. Making a comfortable living with that salary while paying back student loans isn’t particularly inviting to newcomers, given its not-so-promising pay, inflexible hours, challenging caseload, and high burnout rate. It’s a tough job. Society and the government ignore that these professionals enter the field with the willingness to eat dinners from vending machines and be buried in enough paperwork every day to make their heads explode.

Social workers are constantly in the news for negative reasons. When a child, elderly patient, or someone under protective services’ supervision is injured or killed, the immediate blame falls on the caseworker. It takes compassion and understanding to realize that it’s not always the intentional neglect of the social worker but that the social worker was spread too thin with responsibility and unable to provide the necessary care and attention. The Department of Children and Families is open 24/7 and receives around 1,000 calls a day to their tip lines in California alone, all requiring investigations. One social worker may not be able to handle the volume of work in the constricting time frame given. This pressure creates a rushed job, allowing crucial red flags to be missed.

For instance, according to an article published by Fox News in early 2016, a toddler’s body was found decomposing at an apartment in Detroit. His mother was unable to be located for two weeks until she was later found to have checked herself into a mental facility after murdering her son. The tragic case led to charges against two workers from Child Protective Services. The worker explains that their already tough jobs are constantly made more difficult because of the lack of available resources in Wayne County, such as understaffing and well-publicized problems with the state’s child welfare information system called MiSACWIS. “The system goes down, information is lost, information is placed in other cases,” says the CPS worker. “We are critically understaffed,” the worker adds. “They can hire 40 people in one month, and by the time they get out of training school, it’ll be about three people left.” The worker explains that this always leads to a caseworker being overloaded with work. “There are people that leave every day, and we gain their caseload. So, we can have anywhere from 12 to 25. It depends.” According to the consent decree, CPS workers are not supposed to have more than 13 at any given time.” These caseworkers did everything in their power to protect this child, but because of the lack of authority, the child’s life was taken. It becomes a witch hunt, and these two caseworkers were jailed and charged. The system not only failed the child but also the employees. This young child’s life was taken because these social workers had limited power to remove the child, and now they must defend themselves because of it. It’s an unjust and outrageous cycle.

In conclusion, the tragic case of Nubia and Victor Barahona and countless others highlight a systemic failure that demands urgent attention and reform. Social workers are essential to the fabric of our communities, providing vital services to those in need. Yet, they are hampered by inadequate pay, overwhelming caseloads, and insufficient resources. The system's failure is not only a disservice to the social workers themselves but also to the vulnerable individuals and families who rely on their support. Addressing these challenges requires a concerted effort from society and government to ensure fair compensation, manageable caseloads, and access to mental health resources for social workers. Only through such reforms can we hope to create a system that truly supports both social workers and the individuals they serve, preventing tragedies like that of the Barahona twins from occurring in the future.

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