crisis management in Social Services department

July 14, 2018 11:01 AM

Social Services in my small community is in a tailspin of scandal upon scandal, with compounding problems to be solved on the way to functioning acceptably. They have gone through a series of directors, some meant to be temporary, in just a few years, and have lost staff. The place is in meltdown, with kids and parents traumatized unnecessarily.

There is a state investigative team that will report next month, though their mandate is limited to whether to replace the Board, which has refused to resign. The state representatives are variously sympathetic but not helpful. The district attorney has played his hand, resulting in sympathy but no action. The state DSS has no influence beyond its guidelines: local agencies exercise an insane amount of power and secrecy.

Isn't there an occupational category or type, for someone who specializes in on-the-ground organization and management, while motivated to be a quick study of the field? Kind of a hired-gun whose real skills are administrative, good at group dynamics, maybe from the military or business worlds, who would like a challenge - then to move on once things stabilize and a different skill set is needed for the next step? Where would you start?

posted by mmiddle to Law & Government (3 answers total)

Yes, "emergency managers" for cities such as Flint and Detroit are exactly that. They have a VERY mixed record of success (see: Flint water crisis), but in terms of researching what kind of folks do this, I'd start there.
posted by Ausamor at 11:49 AM on July 14, 2018

Best answer: A poster who wishes to remain anonymous says:

Hi - my experience of this is in children's social services in the UK. I've not come across the sort of person you are talking about, if you mean managers who are not social work-qualified and experienced, but here are routes I would consider taking in the UK:

* Ofsted is the children's services inspectorate for England and Wales, and they can put a local authority's children's services into special measures, meaning that central government can intervene. This is likely to involve sending in temporary managers approved by central govt. From your post it sounds as if your service's inspectors have not been helpful, but I thought I'd list it just in case.
* If there are other similar services which are functioning well, preferably geographically close, they may be able to take over your area's service temporarily or for the medium- to long-term. They would normally put their own senior managers and procedures in place; sometimes joint support (back-office - IT and admin etc) services too. I have seen this work reasonably well.
* It may be worth talking to successful charities locally who do similar kinds of work. Possibly some services could be outsourced to them, or they might be able to second to your service some of their senior staff.
* The only American expert I'm aware of who it might be worth contacting is Mark Friedman, who wrote Trying Hard is Not Good Enough. He has done some work with people I know over here and knows a lot about children's social services.
* Are there any local universities who have expertise in children's social service you could talk to?
* If part of the issue is trying to get people to understand that there is a problem, your local newspapers may be worth talking to.

Some other thoughts ...

* Over here the issues are often connected with funding and austerity. This is really difficult to address, especially as services in crisis tend to spend a lot of money (for instance, intervening late and therefore expensively).
* You mention changes of director. I think this is really destabilising for a service, to the point it's possibly worth keeping a not very good senior manager longer than you might, just because of the effect of lack of stability and "start again syndrome" with a new director. You might find this with the type of crisis manager you're talking about too. You don't want someone who stirs things up and moves on unless part of their work is putting in long-term sustainable solutions and permanent managers.
* Staff turnover is a really big problem. To address it, the service needs to understand why people are leaving - high caseloads? Pay? Amount of leave? Parking (this was a big issue for staff in one authority I worked in)? It's possible that there are some reasonably cheap things that could help, or cheaper in the long run anyway than constantly having to recruit.
* Think about how you could evidence the poor service that children are receiving. Over here a major indicator tends to be the rate of children in care. I don't know what sort of metrics your service would use.
* Is the service research-driven? Over here there is some evidence that the Reclaiming Social Work way of working is helping some local authorities to provide better children's social services and also less stressed staff.
* The articles by Ray Jones of which this is the first might provide some ideas.
* What do children and families say about the service (if they have been asked)?

Hope all of this is some use, even given the different context. You have my sympathies - failing children's services organisations are not fun places for anyone, or for local people. And my admiration for looking for solutions.
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posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:24 PM on July 15, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks (both answers) - the UK suggestions are terrific, and at least give us a framework for tackling the problem. Though it sounds like your system is far better integrated across the government than ours. It's a really helpful start.
posted by mmiddle at 3:06 PM on July 16, 2018