The Impossible Imperative

by Jill Duerr Berrick (Author)

The Impossible Imperative brings to life the daily efforts of child welfare professionals working on behalf of vulnerable children and families. Stories that highlight the work, written by child welfare staff on the front lines, speak to the competing principles that shape everyday decisions. The book shows that, rather than being a simple task of protecting children, the field of child welfare is shaped by a series of competing ideas. The text features eight principles that undergird child protection practice, all of which are typically in conflict with others. These principles guide practice and direct the course of policymaking, but when liberated from their aspirational context and placed in the real world, they are fraught with contradiction. The Impossible Imperative is designed to inspire a lively debate about the fundamental nature of child welfare and about the principles that serve as the foundation for the work. It can be used as a teaching tool for aspiring professionals and as motivation to those looking to social work to make a difference in the world.

Review
Child protection systems in the U.S. currently fail to adequately protect the well-being of the majority of the more than three million children who come to their attention each year. The Impossible Imperative is the most insightful book about how to improve child welfare policy that I have read in many years. Using case stories, this book examines the challenges in implementing current policies from the perspective of the caseworkers who have to implement them. The authors use their unique perspectives to illuminate the complex choices that confront workers on a daily basis, and provide a set of principles that can improve policy and practice. It is critical reading for both policy-makers and caseworkers.

- Michael S. Wald, JD, MA, Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law, Emeritus, Stanford Law School

The authors masterfully convey how the ambiguities, uncertainties, and ethical tensions inherent to child welfare practice manifest in the day-to-day work of this field's front-line professionals. These individuals must continually grapple with the complex needs of the families they encounter, the labyrinth of policies guiding their practice, the competing perspectives of other system stakeholders, and larger structural forces that work against child and family well-being. Yet, as evidenced by the case stories integrated throughout the book, they manage to approach their work with profound care and compassion, motivated by a desire to strengthen families and keep children safe. This book will significantly enrich the learning experience of students in multiple disciplines that intersect with child welfare.

- Kristen S. Slack, PhD, AM, Professor of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Principal Investigator, Wisconsin Child Welfare Professional Development System

This book uniquely features the voices and expertise of front-line child welfare workers. In highlighting many of the safety, permanency, family preservation, and behavioral health complexities in child welfare practice, Berrick and her team integrate a coherent set of guiding principles with case rich analyses. Readers will gain much thoughtful practice wisdom (with empirical grounding) from the showcasing of the dilemmas faced by these social workers. Because it brings to life the palpable, moving stories of trained social workers and the children and families they serve, this book promises to be a treasured classic in the field.

-Katharine H. Briar-Lawson, PhD, MSW, Professor and Dean Emeritus, School of Social Welfare, SUNY University at Albany

About the Author
Jill Duerr Berrick, PhD, MSW, is Zellerbach Family Foundation Professor in the School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Berrick's research focuses on the relationship of the state to vulnerable families. She has written or co-written ten books on topics relating to family poverty, child maltreatment, and child welfare. Her interests target the intersect between poverty, early childhood development, parenting, and the service systems designed to address these issues. Berrick's research approach typically relies upon the voices of service system consumers and providers to identify the impacts of social problems and social service solutions on family life.