When Parents Fail: Addressing Delinquent Child Maintenance Through Informal Resources

2020 ◽  
pp. 104973152098080
Author(s):  
Esmeranda Manful ◽  
Alhassan Abdullah ◽  
Ebenezer Cudjoe
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Informal Support ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Parental Roles ◽  
Support Resources ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Child Maintenance

The success rate using formal mechanisms by Ghanaian social workers to ensure the best outcomes for the child when there is default in child maintenance payments is low; hence the need to explore other strategies. The objective of this research was to explore informal support resources that could be helpful to families involved with social services on delinquent child maintenance (DCM). Guided by a practice research approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 parents involved with a regional-level social service organization in Ghana. Their narratives were analyzed thematically using the NVivo software. Findings revealed that DCM is a problem for both sexes. Parents reported information, financial, and material support from relatives and neighbors to be relevant resources in addressing the problem. The study’s findings suggest the need for social workers to focus on informal support when addressing DCM and emphasize parental roles as situation-based not gender-based.

Modes of Relational Agency among Welfare-reliant Mothers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hagit Sinai-Glazer ◽  
Boris H J M Brummans
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Relational Agency ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
Seeking Help ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract How do welfare-reliant mothers enact their agency in relationships with social workers and social services? The present article addresses this question by investigating how twenty Israeli welfare-reliant mothers expressed different modes of human agency in in-depth interviews. Results show how research participants enact agency through (i) expressing anger, (ii) seeking help, (iii) resisting and (iv) engaging in non-action. By highlighting the multidimensional and situational nature of agency, this article offers a new relational lens for conceptualising and empirically studying human agency in social work.

Remote social work during a pandemic. The example of Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-69
Author(s):  
Marcin Boryczko ◽  
Anna Dunajska
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Work Organisation ◽  
Remote Work ◽  
Professional Work ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Purposive Sample

Employees of social work centres and nursing homes have to deal with the consequences of the ever-increasing coronavirus pandemic. The problems faced by social workers during the pandemic became the subject of this study. The research aim was to identify the difficulties faced by social workers in their professional work during the coronavirus pandemic which began on 20 March 2020 in Poland. The method of the study was a computer-assisted survey and the tool applied was the electronic questionnaire as well asindividual in-depth interviews . The study concerned three areas: diagnosis of difficulties occurring in the professional work of employees in the area of work organisation; diagnosis of difficulties occurring in the area of work with the client or environment; collecting opinions on possible remote work carried out by social workers in the future. The survey was conducted in late August and early September 2020 and covered 432 respondents. The data gathering was based on purposive sample where the adopted criterion was employment in a social work centre or a specialist institution connected to social work. The most important problems indicated by the respondents were: lack of appropriate tools, place, as well as procedures and instructions for remote work, lack of support of superiors, increase in the scope of administrative and office duties, and strongly limited cooperation with other services and institutions. We also formulated a set of recommendations in the following areas: equipment, work organisation, support in the area of relations with the client, coordination of social services and institutions.

Young Adults’ Contextualization of Environmental and Sustainability Issues: A Critical Issue for Environmental Education Intervention

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony KOLA-OLUSANYA
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Insight Into

As soon as decision makers are expected to make differences towards sustainable future, young adults’ ability to make informed and sound decisions is considered essential towards securing our planet. This study provides an insight into young adults’ knowledge of key environment and sustainability issues. To answer the key research questions, data were obtained using a qualitative phenomenographic research approach and collected through 18 face-to-face in-depth interviews with research participants. The findings of this study suggest that young adults lived experiences that play a huge role in their level of awareness of topical environmental and sustainability issues critical to humanity’s future on earth. 

Parenting in migration: Critical aspects and challenges of “doing family” of refugee families and social workers

2021 ◽  
pp. 146801732110146
Author(s):  
Nadia Rania ◽  
Laura Pinna ◽  
Ilaria Coppola
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Family Identity ◽  
Helping Relationship ◽  
Refugee Families ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Migrant Families ◽  
Italian Context

Summary Although migrant families comprise a small number of immigrants, they present a significant challenge for the host community. In the Italian context, social services support migrant families through paths to autonomy and integration in the community. The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions that families and social workers have of “parenting” and “doing family” (training and management of family identity, roles and daily practices) in the complexity of migration. The study involved 15 immigrant parental couples, using family interview techniques and 12 social workers in 3 mini-focus groups. The collected materials were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using grounded theory. Findings The main results are identified and discussed as strengths, critical points and challenges. Some of the themes such as “willingness to work” or “lack of job opportunities” are common to both family members and social workers. Other themes are relevant to one group only. Among these, “availability and support of social workers” only emerged among families, whereas “education and respecting the rules” only emerged among social workers. Applications The results indicate that it is necessary for social workers to engage in a meaningful helping relationship with families, build networks of inclusion services, and also with the support of mediators overcome linguistic and cultural barriers. Social workers should involve families throughout he integration process. Furthermore, social services must also consider how families experience the difficulty of relating to social workers, which represents an obstacle to support for social integration.

scholarly journals “When we talk about intimate partner violence we talk in an adult way” – Social workers’ descriptions of intimate partner violence between teenagers

2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110028
Author(s):  
Emmy Högström Tagesson ◽  
Carina Gallo
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Treatment Quality ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender

This article examines how seven social workers within the Swedish social services describe intimate partner violence between teenagers (IPV-BT). The article adds to the literature by examining IPV-BT outside a U.S. context, where most studies have been conducted. Based on semistructured qualitative interviews, the authors analyze descriptions of IPV-BT in relation to Charles Tilly’s notion of category making through transfer, encounter, negotiation, and imposition. They also analyze how the social workers’ descriptions of IPV-BT relate to the intersection between age and gender. The results show that the social workers mostly described IPV-BT by referring to encounters with teenagers and by transferring knowledge and theoretical definitions from their specialized working areas, primarily intimate partner violence between adults (IPV-BA) and troubled youth. More rarely, the social workers based their definitions of IPV-BT upon negotiating dialogues with teenagers. Also, those who worked in teams specialized on IPV had the mandate to impose their definitions of IPV-BT to other professionals and teenagers. When taking age and gender hierarchies in consideration, the results show IPV-BT risks being subordinate IPV-BA on a theoretical level, a practical level and in terms of treatment quality. The study suggests that social work with IPV-BT needs to be sensitive to the double subordinations of the teenage girl and of the teenagers who do not follow gender expectations.

scholarly journals The Information Behaviour of Social Workers: Needs, Seeking, Acquiring and Using Information in Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 1588-1610
Author(s):  
Niamh Flanagan
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Information Behaviour ◽  
Traditional Research ◽  
Search For Information ◽  
Information Landscape

Abstract In the debate about what informs social work practice, research remains the dominant discourse. However, the relationship between research and social work practice has always been an uneasy one, arguably passed from other clinical disciplines without resizing to fit social work. Even as social work research matures as a discipline it represents one element in a much broader composite which informs practice. This article takes a unique step back from the traditional research-practice discourse and examines the broader information landscape of social work practice, asking how practitioners inform their practice, rather than how research informs practice. This study explores the information needs that prompt practitioners to search for information, the strategies they employ, their acquisition of information and the uses to which the information is put. This study aims to elucidate the information behaviour with a view to improving dissemination and use. Findings demonstrate that the social work information base is substantially broader than has been suggested. Practitioners employ a pragmatic palette of strategies to navigate the breadth of information that supports practice, from research through to knowledge sharing. This article proposes that a pragmatic framework of information behaviour is required to accurately reflect the information behaviour of social workers.

scholarly journals Exploring the experiences of social workers in working with children suspected to have fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-172
Author(s):  
David J Gilbert ◽  
Raja AS Mukherjee ◽  
Nisha Kassam ◽  
Penny A Cook
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Fetal Alcohol ◽  
The Social ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol ◽  
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is one outcome from prenatal alcohol exposure. Social workers are likely to encounter children with the condition, due to the greater likelihood of prenatal alcohol exposure among children in social services settings. This study explores the experiences of social workers in working with children suspected of having FASD and the support offered to social workers, the children and their families. Semi-structured interviews followed by qualitative framework analysis were conducted with seven child and family social workers along with one child protection solicitor who had experience of handling FASD cases. The two main themes that emerged from the data were a lack of knowledge about FASD and the paucity of diagnosis. Lack of knowledge among the social workers was linked to difficulty in managing children suspected to have the condition, feelings of frustration and normalisation of challenging behaviours. The paucity of diagnosis led to an under-emphasis of FASD in assessments, a dearth of specialist services and confusion about its specific effects in contexts of multiple substance misuse and harmful socio-environmental factors. The need for increased FASD awareness within social services and the development of FASD-targeted support for children and families is highlighted. Social workers would benefit from the inclusion of FASD-focused training in their curricula and professional development plans. Improving the diagnostic capacities of health institutions would address the paucity of diagnosis and raise the profile of FASD, especially in the social services setting.

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