Open AccessTrauma-Informed Care in Child Welfare: An Imperative for Residential Childcare Workers
Author(s) -
Denise Michelle Brend,
Ginny Sprang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of child and adolescent resilience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2292-1761
DOI - 10.7202/1072595ar
Subject(s) - welfare , harm , context (archaeology) , nursing , rehabilitation , psychology , residential care , medicine , business , environmental health , social psychology , political science , paleontology , neuroscience , law , biology
Context: Rates of traumatization among residential child welfare professionals are alarmingly high. The well-being of these professionals is associated both with their intention to stay in their jobs and outcomes of children in their care. Several risk factors threaten the well-being of child welfare professionals, including primary and secondary exposure to experiences with the potential to provoke posttraumatic stress reactions. Objectives: This manuscript details experiences empirically shown to have potential negative impacts on professional well-being, discusses why these impacts are of particular concern for residential childcare workers, and describes the types of organizational cultures and climates that appear to mitigate these negative impacts. Implications: Trauma-informed care at the organizational level is proposed both as a means to reduce harm to child-welfare professionals and promote the rehabilitation of children within the child welfare system.