Jeff Edwards

For those who have spent any length of time serving in America’s thinly stretched child welfare system, they are well aware that “doing the best they can” comes up short on a far too frequent basis.

If you ask any public or private child welfare agency in the United States, I submit that every single one of them would say they need more foster parents and they need them now.

Despite my 13-plus year career in the child welfare sector, I was never a clinician. I managed clinicians in an administrative capacity for a large number of those years and as such, a good deal of the information stuck with me. Yet, I could always count on my...

To be clear, the title of this article is not one of equity or opportunity regarding foster homes in the child welfare system. Rather, it is one of competency and confidence. It may come as a surprise to many, but there is not a significant deficiency in the...

Without exception, perhaps the most tangible reward for a job well done in the child welfare service is seeing a young child find their forever family via adoption. Yes, it’s great to see children go back home to their birth families as well. To say that I enjoyed...

Nearly 20 years ago, I embarked on what would be a fascinating career serving some of our nation’s most troubled youth. A remarkable career considering that when I started, I didn’t know anything about kids. I was a Political Science major in need of a job...

For most of us reading this article, we didn’t have life completely figured out when we turned 18 years of age. I turned 18 in the middle of boot camp with the United States Marine Corps. I declined to notify my Drill Instructors that it was my birthday, lest they...

A little less than 20 years ago, almost to the day, I received a call that would unknowingly launch a 13-year career in child welfare services. That's quite a remarkable tenure considering that when the organization called me for the interview, I couldn't even...

Welcome back to the second part in a two-part series on combating staff turnover in social services. Previously we talked about the budget dilemmas that typically put the least experienced and least paid staff on the frontlines, spending most of their time with...

It was a scene that I would see play out time and time again during my 13-year career, serving some of our nation’s most vulnerable youth. A child comes into care needing foster care, and the youth and their caseworker shows up with a couple of black garbage bags...