Social workers involved in child maltreatment investigations faced considerable challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interactions with children and families carried new restrictions and risks, which resulted in changes in practice. We conducted a two-phase, mixed-methods study which examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social workers who work with maltreated children from both urban and rural areas across Canada. More specifically, we examined changes in service delivery, as well as perceptions of safety, stress, worry, and how support differed between urban and rural social workers. Fifty social workers (62% urban, 38% rural) responded to the Phase 1 survey, disseminated in May 2020, with 34 (76% urban, 24% rural) responding to the Phase 2 survey in November 2020. Quantitative and qualitative data revealed that rural social workers reported more worry, stress and a greater need for mental health support, in addition to receiving less support than urban social workers during the first wave of COVID-19 cases. However, during the second wave of cases, urban social workers reported more stress, a greater need for mental health support, and receiving less support than rural social workers. Additional research is needed to further uncover the nature of the differences between rural and urban social workers, and to identify the prolonged effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on social workers.

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The present study adds to the growing body of knowledge on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by examining the experiences of Canadian child maltreatment investigators. Three focus groups were conducted with child maltreatment investigators (n = 16) from across Canada to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on child maltreatment investigators and the children and families they work with. Findings from this qualitative study relate to the personal and professional impact of COVID-19 on child maltreatment investigators and the impact of COVID-19 on investigators’ work practices. Subthemes relating to the impact of COVID-19 on child maltreatment investigators include fatigue, stress, and burnout; self-care and isolation; working from home with increasing workloads; child maltreatment investigators as essential workers; and workplace support. Participants’ work practices were impacted by rates of reporting throughout the pandemic, reduced in-person contact with clients, remote services and communication, and COVID-related safety protocols and challenges. Recommendations stemming from these focus groups include the recognition of child maltreatment investigators as essential workers, access to adequate counseling services for child maltreatment investigators, workplace flexibility for child maltreatment investigators, and ensuring that child protection agencies are adequately resourced to maintain manageable workloads.