Caseworker Visits With Children and Youth in Out-of-Home Care

Quality engagement during visits with children and youth in out-of-home care is a key element of effective casework practice, as it supports an accurate assessment of safety, permanency, and well-being. Resources on this page highlight the importance of and strategies for establishing a trusting relationship with children in out-of-home care and their families to support quality interactions during caseworker visits. Resources also include strategies for hosting virtual caseworker visits when in-person visits are not possible. 

• Virtual caseworker visits

Assessing Safety in Out-of-Home Care
The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center
Provides a curriculum with strategies that frontline child welfare workers can implement in order to assess child safety during home visits. This resource includes workshop content, appendices, and a series of handout.

Child Welfare Toolkit for Early Childhood Professionals (PDF - 23,091 KB)
Partnership for Resilient Infants + Toddlers (2014)
Provides fact sheets about standard child development, including age-specific red flags to note. This toolkit for early childhood professionals can be utilized by caseworkers during in-home visits.

Defining Quality Contacts (PDF - 286 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States & Capacity Building Collaborative (2017)
Provides a foundation for understanding what quality contacts look like, why they are important, and how a child welfare agency can set the stage for their successful implementation. Quality contacts, also referred to as caseworker visits, are defined as purposeful interactions between caseworkers and children, youth, parents, and resource parents that contribute to assessment and case planning processes.

Episode 1: Engaging Youth in Foster Care [Podcast]
Child Welfare Information Gateway (2016)
Discusses strategies for caseworkers to implement in order to encourage older youth to participate in case planning.

Quality Matters: Improving Caseworker Contacts With Children, Youth, and Families
Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative
Helps improve engagement with families by identifying elements of quality contacts before, during, and after visits and ways the supervisory relationship can improve practice.

Quality Contact Casework Activities Worksheet (PDF - 102 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States (2017)
Lists suggested casework activities to undertake before, during, and after a caseworker visit with children, youth, and families. Caseworkers and their supervisors can use this simple two-page worksheet as general guidance to help plan and assess quality contacts.

Quality Visitation (PDF - 216 KB)
The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center
Outlines the key elements and content for quality child welfare visits.

Supporting Quality Contacts Through Supervisor-Worker Coaching
Capacity Building Center for States (2017)
Offers one-on-one coaching techniques aimed at enhancing the quality of caseworker contacts with children, youth, and families. 

Using Science and Technology Effectively (PDF - 264 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States (2017)
Provides an overview of the links among adolescent brain development, trauma-responsive care, and the importance of normalcy and explains how this information can be used to work more effectively with young people in foster care.

(Back to Top)

Virtual caseworker visits

Improving Human Services Using Virtual Technical Assistance 
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (2020)
Presents promising strategies and lessons learned from a literature review and interviews on the use of virtual technical assistance in a human services setting. 

Successful Video Visits With Young Children
Burnson (2020)
National Council on Crime & Delinquency
Provides tips and strategies for overcoming potential challenges when hosting video visits with young children, including when there are technological limitations or language barriers or when participants may be in distress during a call. 

Top Tips to Engage With Young Children When Video Calling (PDF - 187 KB)
Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children & Prevent Child Abuse Arizona
Provides five tips for successfully engaging young children on video calls.

Using Media Effectively With Young Children and Virtual Visitation [Webinar]
Florida's Center for Child Welfare (2020)
Presents a two-part webinar series hosted by Dr. Rachal Barr on information, tips, and strategies for using remote and virtual communication to strengthen and maintain relationships between children and their families.

• Part One: Virtual Communication With Young Children
• Part Two: Using Media Play With Young Children

Virtual Case Management Considerations and Resources for Human Services Programs
Waters, Winston, & Ghertner (2020)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation 
Explains three key considerations for performing case management online and over the telephone in place of in-person visits and services. This webpage also provides related resources. 

Virtual Visitation Resources
Child Welfare Information Gateway (2020)
Lists resources on the use of virtual visitations in child welfare practice and other fields.

(Back to Top)