Solution Based Case Management
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Solution Based Case Management Method
Solution based case management method in the child protection service requires a well-focused case management technique. The case management must edge between the child and the environment of that child since children with unmet needs cannot get to negotiate the complexities within their environment such as human services and healthcare delivery. Child protection service workers must coordinate provision within the availabilities of the environment to meet the child needs (Organization, 2012). Case management methods vary about the environment and the service priorities and goals, but all the methods focus on their functions.
Solution based management techniques, one of the methods used by workers in casework entails focus on what the child already knows better, helping that child realize a future with minimal problems, manageable or without similar problems. Concentrating on solutions during exceptional times when the problems do not occur has more impact than focusing on the issues themselves. This is the basis of the solution-based casework. Solution based approach has been found to be much effective on children and adolescents who are struggling with acceptance and experiencing relationship issues. Its effectiveness is useful for the child protection workers in carrying out their functions.
In solution-based method, the worker engages with a client to define issues and design solutions together in a realistic client-determined achievable ways taking into account the context in which the problem arise. This process focuses on achieving a measurable results, valuing both interpersonal relationships and the broader social context of the individual (NSW, 2014). When people experience traumatic events and stressful situations, they try to understand and reduce their symptoms to regain-to-regain control over their environment and to achieve their support systems.
Solution based approach has well-structured procedures and techniques that can be readily learned by an individual and applied in finding solutions. The methods and techniques can illuminate a person’s goals in order to encourage that person to focus on a prosperous future. If a person’s coping methods are successful, then it is more possible to avert. Children however may not be able to have effective coping strategies, which in the end may escalate the crisis experienced which in the end overwhelm the usual coping strategies. Such person will not be able to meet any future challenge, thus will need an opportunity to learn new coping skills and mobilize incumbent skills and techniques.
Using solution based approach requires a worker to help a client imagine a situation where they have achieved their goals and visualize how it could be. The worker must recognize different barriers that bar such client from achieving the services deserved. The client should then be supported and be engaged in laying down plans to help them achieve their goals and put such ideas into actions. This method other than helping a client achieve the set goals through activities also helps such client to learn new coping skills and get empowered to take personal initiative into actions that will lead to achievement of desirable goals.
Solution based casework gives a conceptual framework for a child protection worker to stay focused on three essential elements (Antle, Barbee, Christensen & Sullivan, 2009). These factors include creating partnership on the problem consensus in a language the family understands, to focus the partnership on the patterns of everyday family life that directly relates to threats to family safety and finally, to target solutions specific to the prevention skills needed to create safety and reduce risk in such family situations. This method combines what is known from the research and child welfare outcomes (Chand, 2008).
This method of case management can be applied in child foster, prevention, adoption, assessment, investigation, adoption, juvenile cases and services and other child protection issues. A child needs subsequent change in perception, behavior and response to changes, which the case worker will initiate through prompted well-coordinated questions. The process can be improved in that the caseworkers should be trained to know how to coordinate questions so that they lead the client through sparking questions that will make the clients understand their situation and visualize where they want to be, in terms of their goals.
Focusing on knowledge, skills, capacity and potentials of an individual does not mean ignoring challenges or whirling problems into strengths. There need to be a structure that will guide every worker into solution finding mission without ignoring the problems, but integrating them with the capabilities in order to understand client’s ability to handle situations. The technique should be able to ensure the achievement of balance of care for an individual through deployment of their strength to build on their skills to respond to problems even in the future. The goal of this approach is to promote a positive; therefore, persons need to understand the accessibility of services in their environment as well as how to reach them.
The method is a solution focused, rather than a problem focused. It is, therefore, only important that through a collaborative effort the process be dominated by solutions whereas basing on the problems and future possibilities. It is important to note that the client contributes as much possibility into finding a successful outcome as the practitioners or the technique. It is important that a person giving therapy allow the client’s personal factors to contribute to the outcome, as an intervention. It is important to consider a person’s strengths to effectiveness of an intervention other than perceiving such person as a passive recipient. Duncan and Hubble (2000) argue that there need to be quality of the relationship developed between the provider and the client as well as the elements of the client to the process. It is easier to consume the outcome that a person contributed into producing other than just being a consumer.
Solution-base technique is a goal oriented. It is important that the person receiving therapy express the extent of goals to achieve as they were set by themselves. After which, the service seeker need to understand the resources at disposal in their environment that can be used to overcome the challenges. Environment always offers something that a person would consider useful. The practitioner, therefore, should enable the client link with such resources at disposal to utilize them in overcoming their difficulties. The method should be able to bring hope to a client so that the clients will make own choice that are informed.
There is a need to build on skills of people, the power within their associations and the supportive functions of their environment and services to draw upon existing strengths to build strength and sustainability. By encouraging strengths in achievements and realization of what a person have to contribute; clients generate increased confidence in their own ability to be producers and not recipients of outcomes (Foot and Hopkins, 2010). A person will achieve a greater quality life through a sense of well-being brought about by creating networks and building on resilience.
It is important that the process not only build on the capacity of an individual, but also building on families and community interactions and knowledge. There is a need for the provider to understand that networks within a person’s environment have more influence to achieving their goals other than an external person. People within social networks can provide insights into the strengths, talents and challenges of one of their own, as well as advice on how best to connect with the person (Brun& Rapp, 2001).
Developing confidence in an individual has a positive psychological impact and has a capacity to building on an individual’s well-being. Clients should be made to focus beyond their current impediments to the future of possibilities achievable through what is readily at disposal within their environment. This will inspire them and make on their hope that things are possible and that the solutions are within their reach. It is important that treatment providers build hopes on client's judgment and thoughts and only aiding them but not thinking or deciding for them. Children need to be helped in building capacity and confidence that would enable them makes change in their lives. Such young people should have confidence in their ability to achieve their goals, which will then serve as a weapon of change in their lives.
The program need not to be that which will keep the client to stay through the therapy as others may opt out, therefore, thrashing all the initial efforts. It should focus on building capacity as much as sustainability for a client. However, if need be, the managers need to encourage clients to stick to the program after care. Building positive relationship between care providers and seekers results to positive
According to Graybeal (2001), “the identification of strengths is not the antithesis of the identification of problems. Instead, it is a significant part of the solution,” (p234). Therefore, a practitioner should develop an approach that looks into the general picture of a person’s life. The client should have opportunity to make own choices. There is a need to focus on the balance on more dominant deficit approach and the strength based perspective (Brun& Rapp, 2001).
There is a need to create power tools that incorporate strengths elements, understanding that muscles differ from individuals (Akbar, 2011). Due to the difference, it is hard to have explicit definitions of strengths common to people and therefore service providers should focus on commonalities of the available guidelines, which include the client focus, and the creation of the partnership with the client. There should be the use of meaningful questions that combats the pursuit of the problems and that which will offer hidden strengths that will help design solutions to the problems. Employing frameworks focused on strengths and weaknesses encourages a holistic and balanced assessment of capabilities and problems of an individual within a particular situation (Brun& Rapp, 2001).
Other Case Management Practices
Other case management practices can be comparable to this method. Case management can be applied through different approaches informed with a variety of theories. Social inclusion is one of the approaches to case management aimed at giving people a decent life. It focuses on homelessness, drug abuse, youth offense, and mental health and disability services among others. Just as the solution based, this approach focuses on barriers that prevent people from fully participating in life events (access to available services and resources).
Solution-base practice is another way that equates with solution-based approach that focuses on the strengths and resources for empowerment. The methods are similar in practice and approaches and are practical rather than models. Just as in solution based where a worker engages a client in defining issues and solutions, the solution-base approach focuses on people’s strengths as their resources for empowerment.
Resilience approach is another method of case management that focuses on the ability of people, a community or family in dealing with their difficulties and gets empowered to build their capacity of existence. Just as the solution based, it builds capacity to cope with the situation and focus on growth through external challenges and opportunities. Trauma informed care and practice on the other hand focuses on trauma survivors and created hope for them. It enables building collaborative efforts with services available for the client’s case management approach.
Assertive community treatment is a team treatment approach focused on comprehensive community-based treatment supporting people with persistent illness while providing support services to enable people live in the community successfully. Evidence based is another approach in case management as well. It is based on evidence on the effects of a particular interventions basing case management practice with body of evidence or theory. This would enable providers understand, interpret and respond to the client’s needs most effectively (Chand, 2008).
Through focusing on solutions for individuals, providers create a vision of the future of success, which has been shown to have favorable outcomes, particularly in the work with the young youth and the adolescents. People also identified feeling free to talk about both strengths and weaknesses as important for helping them to set goals that they wanted to achieve and to make changes to their lives. As such, researchers have postulated that the value of setting self-defined goals may simply be that they are more likely to be completed, as the individuals themselves have been involved in their development.
The solution-based method can be applied to assist youth, young children and the drug addicts. It can be used for rehabilitative practice and follow up to build sustainability of outcome. It addresses the identification of opportunities and resources in an environment in which the client lives in and the use of such resources in achieving its goals. Researches by people cited in this work have indicated the effectiveness of this approach and how other approaches borrow from this method. It is considered more practical approach than a model. The resources needed by this program are those that are within the community and which can be identified by the client (Foot and Hopkins, 2010).
Reference
Akbar, G. (2011). Child Welfare Social Work and the Promotion of Client Self-Determination.Doctorate in Social Work.Dissertations.Paper 28.
Antle, B., Barbee, A., Christensen, D., & Sullivan, D. (2009).The prevention of child maltreatment recidivism through the Solution-Based Casework model of child welfare practice.Children And Youth Services Review, 31(12), 1346-1351. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2009.06.008
Brun, C., & Rapp, R. (2001). Strengths-Based Case Management: Individuals' Perspectives on Strengths and the Case Manager Relationship. Social Work, 46(3), 278-288.
Chand, A. (2008). Every Child Matters? A critical review of child welfare reforms in the context of minority ethnic children and families. Child Abuse Review, 17(1), 6-22.
Duncan, B L and Miller S D (2000) The Heroic Client: Doing Client-Directed Outcome-Informed Therapy, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Foot J and Hopkins T (2010) A glass half full: How an asset approach can improve community health and wellbeing, London: Improvement and Development Agency
Graybeal C (2001) Strengths-based social work assessment: Transforming the dominant paradigm, Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 82, 233-9
Organization, W. (2012).Developmental Difficulties in Early Childhood. Geneva: World Health Organization.
NSW Government.(2014). Section Two - Housing NSW.Retrieved from http://www.housing.nsw.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/8FAFE667-501C-4AF0-9977-8A5B97C3
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