Ministry Partners

Relationship between ministry leaders, social workers, and mental professionals

The relationship hasn’t always been a good one.

Both are trying to help people who are in the midst of emotional-relational-spiritual brokenness.

Social workers and mental health professionals are beholden or responsible to one individual or family at a time.

Their decisions are to help the individual person or family to work through and flourish in their current situation.

Pastors are beholden or responsible to an entire congregation and care for each individual as a member of the group.

Each decision or move that is made through a process has a sense of setting a precedent for the entire group.

When providing care in an abuse context, these differences have immense implications.

Remember, each case of this is going to be very different. We are dealing with individuals and families who have a wide range of variables which have put them in the situation they are in.

While there will more than likely be differences in the theological approaches of ministry leaders and social workers, there needs to be a good working relationship between the two when dealing with victims of abuse in the church.

Two things to learn from this lesson:

Name, define, and describe the roles of three key professionals in victim advocate roles.

Provide an overview of key ethical limitations for these individuals.

Child Protective Services (CPS)

Locally run government organization who protects children.

Not everyone who works for CPS is a social worker.

Three ethical limitations for CPS

CPS adheres to strict confidentiality policies.

can create frustration and mistrust by ministry leaders

depend on family to communicate for themselves

unless identified as caretaker of the children, only family will be involved in this process.

CPS prioritizes the vulnerability of victims in their approach to interviewing.

will interview the abused first before they will interview other members of the family to ensure safety

the abuser will be the last interviewed

Alerting a suspected perpetrator that CPS has been or will be contacted alters the course of a CPS investigation and can put a victim at risk.

CPS has an ethical and legal obligation to consider the parents’ wishes for their children.

they have a say as to what friends or family children can be placed with temporarily

they will make sure where the kids are will be safe

Key tips when working with CPS

Provide as much information as you know.

Present as many resources from your ministry as possible to help the family.

short-term residence for spouse

foster family for children

Offer to be present for meeting with CPS and attend court dates.

confidentiality

you can only attend if you have been requested to by one of the parents.

Video - 5:28

How can a ministry leader proactively (before a crisis) develop a good working relationship with CPS?

Social Workers

They are professionals who felt the call to work at making life better for the vulnerable, oppressed, and those living in poverty.

hospitals, doctor’s offices, mental health clinics, schools, hospice, CPS. domestic violence centers, shelters, or other non-profit organizations

If they are licensed, they can work as therapists and are allowed to diagnose mental health disorders and provide therapy.

They are helpful in abusive situations because

their training on the impact of abuse

their experience assessing abusive situations

their experience recognizing individual and family needs

Three ethical limitations for social workers we need to be aware of:

Social workers are always mandated reporters.

ministry leaders are under the same mandate

Social workers have to accept all religions and walks of life within their professional role.

They have to support the church member’s religious goals.

However, if the abuser is involved in something immoral also, the social worker can’t take this into account with their evaluation of the illegal actions.

an affair

Social workers are also under strict confidentiality guidelines similar to a CPS worker.

Church members can sign an information release so that ministry leaders/pastors so there can be cooperation between therapy and the church.

Key tips when working with social workers

Ask that the abused church member under the care of a social worker request a release of information.

Its the only way for the ministry leader/pastor to be able to get information from the social worker so they can work together.

Ask the social worker to provide their perspective on the key safety variables at play, how the leader or the church itself can best be a stabilizing force, and what effects of abuse that you might be mislabeling in moral terms.

a trigger response to a trauma sometimes comes off to church leaders as poor self-control in conflict

Video - 12:15

What are the best ways ministry leaders and social workers navigate the spiritual and moral neutrality within which a social worker has to operate?

Guardian Ad-litem (GAL)

A trained community volunteer who gets to know the child, the child’s living environment, and their social environment.

They will also find out what they child wants to happen in the decisions being made about their life.

They are important in the proceedings when you feel the child isn’t be represented well or they are being manipulated.

If you are ministering to an abuse victim or someone being divorced who believes their child’s interest is not getting adequate consideration, they can request that the judge assign a GAL.

A GAL makes recommendations to the court.

The court isn’t obligated to follow these, but they do take the GALs seriously.

Three ethical limitations of GALs

GALs are only in an advisory role to the court and CPS.

don’t make any recommendations except to the court

GALs are not capable of respecting the family’s privacy because they have been tasked with gathering information as a means to supply the court with their recommendations.

Video - 19:52

What are key do’s and don’ts that a ministry leader could advise a parent about relating to a GAL?

When CPS, social workers, or GALs are involved in a family’s care, it means that danger has been involved and conflict is high.

Their involvement in the judicial process can bring stability that might be difficult to maintain with the mere peer influence of ministry leaders.

Questions & Comments