Capitalizing Capitol Capital: Child Welfare Policy Advocacy

This article presents an example of collaborative policy advocacy intended to overcome obstacles to effective policy development. A multidisciplinary coalition, focusing on a state child protective services agency, aimed to improve caseworker pay and conditions, improve education and training, gain financial compensation and status recognition for degrees in social work, and reduce caseload sizes to recommended standards. The means to achieve these goals were (a) harnessing the energy generated by a crisis (the death of a child); (b) maximizing social and symbolic capital; (c) coalescing around a set of specific proposals; (d) shaping the story “frame” in the media by countering bad publicity with consistent, targeted communication; (e) capitalizing on bad press for politicians; and (f) strategic use of ridicule. Following the advocacy effort, increased funding to support recommended changes was attained.