158 The Coaching Toolkit for Child Welfare Practice
Example: Coaching to Improve Case PlansBackground: Leadership of a Northern California county child
welfare agency (20 social workers and three supervisors) contracted
with external coaches for assistance with writing child welfare case
plans. Agency management and county counsel identified several
challenges facing child welfare and decided to first focus on
improving case plans to make the plans more tailored and less
vague and “cookie cutter.”
The agency wanted to increase family engagement in case
planning, however, families reported t hat they felt lost in the
system, did not understand the case plan goals, and complained
about too many different meetings and appointments. The coach
was to work with social workers to write case plans in such a way
that family outcomes would improve due to more concrete and
applicable case requirements.
Setting Goals: C oaches first met with child welfare leadership and
agreed on an implementation plan. Prior to offering individualized
coaching with staff, the coach worked with leadership to ensure
appropriate conditions were in place before asking staff to make
changes. After two meetings between the coach and agency, a plan
was finalized with these key goals:
The coach would work with all social workers to ensure full and
consistent implementation of the new practice. Social workers
and supervisors were mandated to participate in the coaching.