19.1 Milestones of Solution Based Casework (SBC)

Georgia State Seal

Georgia Division of Family and Children Services
Child Welfare Policy Manual

Chapter:

(19) Case Management

Policy Title:

Milestones of Solution Based Casework (SBC)

Policy Number:

19.1

Previous Policy Number(s):

N/A

Effective Date:

December 2016

Manual Transmittal:

2016-13

Codes/References

N/A

Requirements

The Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) will organize casework and supervision according to the following four milestones of Solution Based Casework (SBC)[1]:

  1. Milestone 1: Building a Consensus (Sorting Out, Assessment)

  2. Milestone 2: Getting Organized on Outcomes (Case Plan Outcomes)

  3. Milestone 3: Specific ACTION Plans (Behavioral Change)

  4. Milestone 4: Documenting and Celebrating

Procedures

Milestone 1: Building a Consensus

The Social Services Case Manager (SSCM) will:

  1. Engage family members in a manner that creates partnerships to protect children.

  2. Assess family dynamics/interaction and identify the family’s current developmental stage(s).

  3. Identify problems in a way that the family members will arrive at similar conclusions as DFCS (consensus building).

    1. In what everyday situations does the family struggle when it comes to caring for their children?

    2. How are problematic situations handled when things are going well within the family, and when things are not going well?

      1. Search for exceptions to the problem.

      2. Separate intentions from actions (normalizing the family’s struggle and externalizing the problem pattern).

    3. What personal issues does one or more parent have that makes caring for the children difficult?

    4. What is the pattern of unwanted behavior? Track the sequence/history.

    5. What skills do they have to manage their personal behavior issue(s)?

  4. Discuss specific issues that affect safety/risk, permanency and well-being.

  5. Summarize with the family what needs to change before going on to planning for change.

Milestone 2: Getting Organized on Outcomes

The SSCM will:

  1. In partnership with the family and supporting resources, write down the desired outcomes of DFCS intervention with the family.

  2. Explain what will be happening within the family when the necessary safety behavior has been established or re-established.

Milestone 3: Specific ACTION Plans

The SSCM will:

  1. Engage the family in understanding the critical skills basic to changing and managing human behavior:

    1. Identifying high risk or difficult situations.

    2. Identifying early warning signals.

    3. Preventing high-risk situations.

    4. Interrupting high-risk situations not avoided.

    5. Escaping high-risk situations not interrupted.

  2. Develop a case plan with the family that is solution focused and establishes family and individual level outcomes.

  3. Help the family understand the benefit of writing down and keeping track of the tasks necessary to accomplish real lasting change. The explanation must make sense to the person(s) needing to change.

Milestone 4: Documenting and Celebrating

The SSCM will:

  1. Help the family document their success step-by-step as they rebuild their lives so their actions eventually match their intentions. This will help the family and the court notice the change. Some examples for documentation approaches include:

    1. Daily journal

    2. Scaling feelings or accomplishments (e.g. assigning a number on a scale from 1 to 10)

    3. Routine or chores chart

    4. Buddy report

    5. Appointment calendar

    6. Providers report specific to tasks

    7. Observations from visitation

  2. Help families document and celebrate new safety behavior to reinforce change and to monitor danger.

  3. Notice and celebrate change with families to help them increase their confidence in their ability to change. Some examples include:

    1. Call a meeting with the family and its support team to make sure all participants hear about the good things that are happening.

    2. Create meaningful rituals to mark a milestone of progress.

Practice Guidance

Solution Based Casework

Solution Based Casework (SBC) informs the Georgia DFCS practice model. SBC is family-centered and prioritizes the partnership with families as the foundation for engagement. Family engagement takes place with the understanding that situations resulting in the need for DFCS intervention is associated with the challenges of everyday life events that all caregivers face. SBC teaches families to manage the challenges in their lives and create self-sustaining changes. SBC helps families to recognize problematic patterns of behavior that lead to negative outcomes for their family members. Then, SBC helps families discover exceptions to the problematic behavior and develop prevention skills. Written plans for action are developed with families to focus on solutions to prevent/reduce the risk of further problematic behavior causing maltreatment. SBC encourages practitioners to believe that parents ultimately want the best for their children, even when the parents are not providing the appropriate level of care needed to support child safety and well-being.

Milestones of SBC

At the time of DFCS intervention, parents may feel overwhelmed by the struggles of everyday life and that they are being judged. Consequently, parents need help to see that they are not their problems; they are just people who have problems for which they need effective solutions. Therefore, it is important to help families believe that they can actually change unwanted behavior and achieve successful outcomes. The milestones of SBC help organize what should be accomplished at a particular point and time during the life of a case.

Forms and Tools

N/A

1. The four milestones of case organization are concepts from the book Solutions-Based Casework by Dana N. Christensen, Jeffrey Todahl, and William C. Barrett.