Personal Narrative: Direct Experience As A Child Protective Services Worker

As a child protective services worker, when interacting with a hostile, resistant or non -voluntary client, I would use several techniques to build rapport and engage the client in working with the agency. Being a social worker for the last ten years, and having four years of direct experience in child protect services, I have come across many reluctant clients. I learned very quickly that rapport is the foundation to any service provider in the social work field. Upon a first visit with a client, one needs to remember that you do not know them any more than they know you. It is important to be empathetic and understand that the client has just had a stranger come into their home and take away their child/children. You, are also a stranger coming into their home, and need to respect their home, as well as, the situation they are experiencing. It is very common to see a hostile and/or resistant client in the beginning of services.
My first technique is, if able to, I explain my role and my expectations of the family, along with the concept that the children will remain our focus. I provide ground rules for our relationship,
explaining respect, compassion, and understanding, and that I can learn as much from the family as they can learn from me, in order to illustrate that no one person in the team is superior than another. Authority figures can be very intimidating, especially if they have removed your children from your home.
That’s where my second technique comes into play.
The technique of listening. Sometimes a family just needs someone to listen to their point of view and their concerns. This technique applies greatly to a hostile, resistant or non-voluntary client. I have also learned in my experience that a lot of times, people have an incorrect understanding of what child protective services assist with, and a simple explanation of the agency and the expectations, helps to relieve a resistant client. As far as hostile clients, I have learned that listening as well as letting them know that they still have control of their situation and that I am not there to just point a finger at them, as assisted greatly in changing their attitude. I always tell my clients that they are not bad parents, they just made bad choices, which can be
corrected.
Lastly, if I truly feel that the client is unable to rationalize the situation with me and calm down, they I would explain to them that I will come back at another time and that they are more than welcome to call at any time. I would also inform the client that I understand their current feelings, as they have just had a major incident occur and that it is normal to feel the way they do. I would then contact the client by phone the next day to process with them how they are feeling and let them know I am still here to support them in their endeavor. I would hope that with a slow pace the relationship could be created to focus on returning the child to the home. I understand there are deadlines to be met, so building rapport cannot take its own time. In that case, I would remind the client that there are deadlines that will affect their case and that their needs to be a moment where they decide to work with the agency or refuse services.
I have always believed that without rapport you cannot provide any services. As a client there are so many emotions being experienced and the client needs to know that there are support systems and advocates on their side. The field of social work is there to provide the forward movement of self-efficacy, while learning to recognize and address one’s own barriers with a smaller need of reliability from outside sources. In the end, most clients can be calmed down and redirected to be compliant and have a pleasant attitude, but ultimately it is up to the client to participate with the agency.