Working with families and youth is at the core of good family-centered practice. To conduct assessment, case planning, and case management successfully, caseworkers must be skilled in communicating with children, youth, and families to help them strengthen interpersonal, parenting, and problem-solving skills.
Elements of effective work with families include engaging families and youth; providing direct assistance with challenges the family is facing, including counseling, parent coaching, and modeling; and continuing to assess—with the family—their strengths, needs, and progress.
Engaging Clients from a Strengths-Based Solution-Focused Perspective
Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program (2012)
Teaches workers skills to use solution-focused strategies when working with families involved with the child welfare system.
| Author(s) | National Technical Assistance and Evaluation Center for Systems of Care. |
| Availability | View Download (PDF - 1,370KB) |
| Year Published | 2008 |
Introduces social work practitioners and students to an evidence-based communication method that helps clients draw on their strengths to commit to and implement positive changes.
Presents a model for assessing families using a resiliency framework and links the concepts of resiliency with family therapy approaches.
A Strength-Based Approach to Working With Youth and Families: A Review of Research (PDF - 270 KB)
Northern California Training Academy (2009)
Explores the difficulties of evaluating strength-based approaches to working with children and families and shares the research findings of three strength-based programs that use the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale and placement outcomes to assess the effectiveness of the programs.
Explains the strengths-based philosophy, demonstrates how it works, and provides practical tools for its application.
Strong Families Around the World: Strengths-based Research and Perspectives
DeFrain & Asay (2007)
Provides a conceptual framework for global family strengths, discussing the diverse strengths and challenges that families face regardless of location.
That Wall Is Around My Heart: Family Centered Practice
Friedman (2011)
Journal of Family Strengths, 11(1)
Presents a clinical case study that demonstrates the continuing impact of childhood trauma on the interpersonal patterns of behavior within the family. The author explores effective ways for family-based service program staff to address those interpersonal patterns using a family-centered approach.