The perceptions of social workers regarding the rights of children to care and protection

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In accordance with the White Paper for Social Welfare (Ministry of Welfare and Population Development, 1997), the Integrated Service Delivery Model (Department of Social Development, 2006), and the Children's Act (Act 38 of 2005), social workers are required to focus first on rendering preventative services and then early intervention services to prevent the rendering of statutory services in the care and protection of children. This implies that in protecting the rights of children to care and protection, social workers should focus on preventing the unnecessary removal of children from their families through the delivery of preventative and early intervention services which could effectively enhance the family functioning.The research study therefore investigated the perceptions of social workers regarding the rights of children to care and protection.A qualitative research methodology was used to involve social workers employed at non- governmental and government organisations in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the study that was based on both an explorative and descriptive research design. For the aim of the research study, the researcher used purposeful non-probability sampling. Twenty two social workers that met the inclusion criteria of the research study were selected according to their willingness to participate. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect the data during the empirical investigation and a pilot study was implemented to test the measuring instrument with three participants.A literature study aimed at describing the rights of children to protection and care within the context of South African policy documents and legislation from a rights-based perspective, as well as the services rendered by social workers in protecting the rights of children to care and protection, and the challenges faced by social workers in executing these services, was completed. Thereafter an empirical investigation was done and the results were then purposefully processed and analysed. Through processing and analysing the results, the researcher was able to come up with certain conclusions and recommendations concerning social work practice with regards to the rights of children to care and protection from a rights-based perspective. Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za5The most important conclusion resulting from the research study indicates that social workers in child and family welfare organisations strongly focus on the delivery of statutory services at the expense of preventative and early intervention services in the care and protection of children. These social workers seem to be denying the parents, who are struggling to care for and protect their children, the rights to intervention, as well as the rights of children to social services, which when rendered properly, should enable parents to care for and protect their children, thereby reducing the need for the removal of children from their families.Certain challenges were identified in this research study as hampering the delivery of preventative and early intervention services by social workers in the care and protection of children. Therefore, the study recommends that community resources (facilities) and organisational resources (cars, computers, office space, funds and manpower) should be made available in communities as well as in child and family welfare organisations for utilisation by social workers. The resources are necessary to improve the delivery of social services to children in order to protect their rights to care and protection. In addition it is recommended that social workers should receive on-going in-service training with regards to the implementation of policies and legislation protecting the rights of children to care and protection and that the salaries of social workers be reviewed to ensure better job satisfaction. Furthermore it is recommended that social workers endeavour by all means to adhere to the requirements set out in the South African policy documents.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University