Strengthening parental capacity to care for children.

A caseworker’s role in strengthening the parental capacity to care for their children includes: 1. The promotion of the parents’ strengths and self-esteem by using a humanistic approach and viewing work together as a partnership or joint venture; 2. The selection and application of various modalities of treatment appropriate to the needs and strengths of the parents, such as crisis intervention, casework, groupwork, and marital and family therapy; 3. The maintenance of relationships with the family by being direct and active, and responding immediately to points of family crisis; 4. The capacity to balance the parents’ needs for dependency with those for independency; 5. The commitment to seek supervisory or specialized professional consultation regarding the progress toward case goals; and 6. The preparation of the family whenever a transfer to another caseworker or provider of services is necessary.