MCCSC Social Services http:www.mccsc.eduSocSer

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MCCSC Social Serviceshttp//www.mccsc.edu/SocSer/

• New Teacher In-service, February 23, 2009

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School Social Workers Develop Successful Students
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MOST CHILDREN

• Want to succeed!
• Have families that want them to succeed in school
  and in life!

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EMOTIONAL BARRIERS
21 of low-income children and youth ages 6
through 17 have mental health problems.
(Howell, E. (2004). Access to childrens mental
health services under Medicaid and SCHIP.
Washington, D.C. Urban Institute.)
One in five children has a diagnosable mental
disorder . (New Freedom Commission on Mental
Health, 2003)
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BUT FEW RECEIVE HELP

• Most children and youth with mental health
  problems do not receive needed services.
• 75 to 80 of children and youth in need of
  mental health services do not receive them.
• (Kataoka, S. Zhang, L. Wells, K. American
  Journal of Psychiatry , 2002)

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ECONOMIC BARRIERS

• For the 2007-2008 school year, the percentage of
  students in MCCSC on free and reduced lunch was
  37, which is a 15 increase from 10 years ago.

With the current economic crisis, these figures
will most likely increase.
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ONE TEACHER SAID,
I cannot teach the head when the heart is broken
or the mind is troubled

Parkway School District Missouri Teacher of the
Year
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TEACHERS CANT DO IT ALONE!
No teacher having a problem with a student
should feel responsible for solving it alone.
Smith Mills Elementary School Henderson County,
Kentucky
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SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS
Help teachers students families overcome
barriers to learning.
School Social Workers
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A RESOURCE FOR STUDENTS IN SCHOOLS
School social workers are mental health
professionals licensed to provide services that
promote social, emotional and behavioral
adjustment in school and in society. We
currently have 16 social workers in MCCSC, almost
all of whom are Licensed Clinical Social Workers,
the highest level of credential for this
profession.
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School Assistance Fund/Holiday Assistance

• The MCCSC School Assistance Fund is a United Way
  Agency. We have a limited amount in this fund to
  use for school clothing, shoes, coats, vision,
  dental emergencies, emergency prescription
  assistance, and lice and hygiene products. This
  fund has also been used to purchase school
  supplies for students, if necessary, but because
  of community efforts to provide school supplies
  and with the Teachers Warehouse, we rarely
  purchase school supplies.
• In addition to assistance through the School
  Assistance Fund, most school social workers also
  work with area agencies to match students for
  Holiday assistance.

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Attendance

• School social workers are heavily involved in
  promoting good attendance
• Attendance letters
• Home visits
• Truancy referrals
• Educational neglect referrals
• Referrals to DCS

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SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS HELP STUDENTS DEVELOP
INTERNAL ASSETS
Individual and group counseling to develop

• social skills

• anger management

• positive self concept

• self advocacy

• stress management skills

Classroom presentations on

• Talk about Touching
• sexual abuse prevention program
• (elementary)

• Steps to Respect/
• bullying prevention
• (some elementary)

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School Social Workers Help Students

• Facilitate activities that increase

• the motivation to learn

• attachment to school

• community involvement

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DEVELOPING EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE

• Jason is a 15-year-old boy in a special
  education class. His skills have improved and
  he could return to the regular class. But Jason
  is overweight and embarrassed. He has anxiety
  attacks when he is around other students because
  he thinks they are making fun of him.
• The school social worker teaches Jason how to
  relax when he gets nervous. She also planned a
  service learning project for Jason and invited
  several students from the regular class to join
  him. With her help Jason started making friends.
  When they completed the project he returned to
  his regular class.

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SUPPORTING TEACHERS

• Providing information about the mental health
  needs of students

• Showing how poverty, race,
• language or disabilities
• interfere with learning

• Helping build partnerships
• between teachers and parents

• Listening

• Supporting

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SUPPORTING TEACHERS

• Sue Sweet, a second grade teacher, privately
  tells the school social worker in her building
  that she is afraid to talk to the Principal about
  problems with students because she thinks that he
  doesnt like her.
• The social worker helps Sue to look at how the
  principal interacts with other people. Sue
  realizes that the principal has a way of being
  sarcastic with people, even people that he likes.
  After her talk with the school social worker Sue
  feels more comfortable sharing her concerns with
  the Principal.

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HELPING FAMILIES BUILD ASSETS

• Bridging the gap between schools and culturally
  diverse families
• Empowering families to be advocates for
  themselves and their children.
• Listening to families
• Connecting students and families with community
  services
• Communicating with therapists and other agencies
  to bridge the link between school, home, and the
  community

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BUILDING UNDERSTANDING

• Mr. and Mrs. Culpepper didnt listen when
  Veronicas kindergarten teacher recommended a
  special program, just as they hadnt listened
  when school staff told them that Veronica wasnt
  ready to start kindergarten.
• The principal sent the school social worker to
  tell Veronicas parents that she needed extra
  help. The school social worker didnt start by
  telling Mr. and Mrs. Culpepper anything. She
  started by listening to Mr. and Mrs. Culpepper
  instead!
• Over the next year the social worker continued
  to talk to Veronicas parents and her teacher.
  With her help, they began to understand and
  respect each other. Her parents decided to
  accept some of the schools recommendations.
  Her teacher began to ask her parents for
  suggestions about ways to help her learn.

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BUILDING SCHOOL CAPACITY TO

• develop and use research based approaches that
  prevent problem behavior and create a safe and
  supportive school climate such as Positive
  Behavior Supports and Response to Intervention

• implement culturally competent policies
• and practices

• assist in developing Functional
• Behavior Assessments

• report suspected child abuse and neglect

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Child Abuse and Neglect
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Scenarios

• Report ALL suspected child abuse and neglect
  issues, including student safety issues such as
  suicide or homicide.

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Child Abuse and Neglect Your Responsibility

• The law states that as an educator, you must
  report suspected cases of child abuse and
  neglect.
• In MCCSC, we have a
• Protocol for Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect

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Protocol for reporting suspected child abuse and
neglect

• If a child reports to you that he/she (or another
  student) has been abused or neglected in any way
  (or if you suspect abuse or neglect) by a parent
  or someone inside or outside of the school, it is
  necessary that this information gets your
  schools social worker before the end of that
  same school day. In addition, please report the
  information to your school principal.
• If you are not sure whether or not something is
  reportable, report it to the social worker and
  let him or her decide what to do in the
  situation. It is better to err on the side of
  caution. Examples of reportable information

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Protocol for reporting suspected child abuse and
neglect

• being hit with belt or other object
• bruises or red marks (other than normal ones
  explained by bike wrecks, playing football, etc.)
• being locked in a room or closet for an extended
  period of time
• hair pulling or other injurious behavior
• continued poor hygiene and/or dirty clothing
• hunger due to not having enough food at home
• child being left alone before or after school
  (elementary)
• inappropriate touching/molestation
• suicidal or homicidal ideation (threat of suicide
  or homicide)

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Protocol for reporting suspected child abuse and
neglect

• If your schools social worker is out of the
  building that day, please let your principal or
  assistant principal know about the situation, and
  they will call in another social worker to handle
  the situation. If the case needs immediate
  attention, a social worker from another school
  can be called in your social workers absence.
• If you are not the classroom teacher, please
  report the situation to the classroom teacher and
  let the teacher know you have contacted the
  social worker so the teacher will have
  information for follow-up.
• Once the social worker gets the message, he/she
  will contact the person who made the report (or
  the classroom teacher if it is a non-certified
  staff member or volunteer) to confirm receiving
  it. If you have left a voice message for the
  social worker and have not heard back from
  him/her within a reasonable amount of time to do
  an in-school investigation that day, please
  contact the office to confirm the social workers
  presence in the building that day and to inform
  him/her of the urgent matter. If you believe the
  student may be in imminent danger (ex high
  suicidal ideation), please escort the child to
  the social worker or administrator immediately.
• This protocol is expected of all staff members.
  Certified staff, please make sure that your
  support staff and guest teachers have this
  information. Volunteers in the building should
  also be made aware of this protocol.

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MCCSC Reporting in 2007-2008
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MANY PATHS TO SUCCESS!
SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS
Assisting Parents Teachers
Reducing Absences Dropouts
Bullying Prevention
Improving Student Behavior
Conflict Resolution Anger Management
Crisis Intervention
Helping Students Learn Social Skills
Counseling Mental Health Interventions
Accessing Community Resources
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THANK YOU

• For supporting school social workers in your
  public schools!

Together we can do great things!
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THE VITAL LINK

• School social workers link home, school
  community to enhance student success