Agencies using social media as a practice tool is a relatively new approach. Organizations serving youth and families have recognized that the use of social media has spread greatly among the populations they serve. Although social media can be used to improve the effectiveness of working with children and families, it also presents challenges.
The following resources help organizations and their employees address benefits, challenges, and strategies for leveraging social media in child welfare. Additional ideas are shared for effective social media guidelines and policies for agencies and programs.
Using social media in practice
Eye on Ethics: New NASW Code of Ethics Standards for the Digital Age
Reamer (2017)
Social Work Today, August
Describes revisions to the National Association of Social Workers' (NASW) Code of Ethics written in response to the impact digital technology, the internet, and social media are having on the field of child welfare. The article lists new standards that have been added, two of which deal with the use of social media.
A Scoping Review of Social Media Use in Social Work Practice
Chan (2016)
Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work, 13(3)
Reviews literature around the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media in social work practice and offers recommendations for future research in the field.
Social Media and Child Welfare: Policy, Training, and the Risks and Benefits From the Administrator's Perspective
Stott, MacEachron, & Gustavsson (2017)
Advances in Social Work, 17(2)
Discusses how child welfare agencies use social media and reports findings from interviews with administrators on their views of the risks and benefits of using social media to enhance the well-being of youth in out-of-home care.
Social Media: Children's Lawyer's Friend and Foe
Baum & Fox (2015)
American Bar Association
Explores how attorneys for children should talk to their clients about their use of social media, privacy settings on internet sites, and posting inappropriate content online.
Social Media Use, Attitudes, and Knowledge Among Social Work Students: Ethical Implications for the Social Work Profession
Ricciardelli, Nackerud, Quinn, Sewell, & Casiano (2020)
Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 2(1)
Describes social work students' use of, knowledge of, and attitudes toward using social media and examines the social media's role in ethical social work practice.
Social media guidelines and policies
CDC Social Media Tools, Guidelines, and Best Practices
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Presents guidelines and best practices for social media use including an example social media policy, Facebook guidelines, Twitter guidelines, a social media toolkit, and a guide to writing for social media.
Digital Strategy at HHS
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Offers numerous resources on how to best implement new technologies to communicate online. The website includes a standards and policies checklist, guidance on specific types of social networking tools, a webinar series, a blog, and more.
Sample Social Media Guidelines
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Shares sample guidelines for social media sites that cover profile settings and passwords, privacy, developing content, hashtags, and more.
Social Media Policies
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Provides a listing of social media standards and policies from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on accessibility, branding, comments, and record keeping.
Social Media Policy Guide (PDF - 1,208 KB)
Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (2017)
Outlines social media guidelines for the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, including a glossary of social media terms, information on account and content management, and answers to questions from foster parents and kinship caregivers relating to social media use.
Standards for Technology in Social Work Practice (PDF - 341 KB)
National Association of Social Workers, Association of Social Work Boards, Council on Social Work Education, & Clinical Social Work Association (2017)
Presents standards for various uses of technology for social workers to access, gather, and manage information of their clients to use a guide in their practice. The guide includes information on social media policy beginning on page 18.