Case management by social workers of sexually abused children in the Moses Kotane District Municipality

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study of case management of sexually abused children by social workers wasconducted in the Moses Kotane District Municipality, because of the following reasons:firstly, there is an escalation of reported cases that are referred from various serviceorganizations to the Department of Social Services; secondly the statutory policies alonecannot be the absolute protection for children against sexual abuse; thirdly, as communitiesseem to ignore their roles in protecting children against this problem. The social workersend up carrying the ultimate responsibility to protect children. An exploratory study wastherefore undertaken to investigate how social workers in the Moses Kotane DistrictMunicipality intervene in these cases.It is crucial for professionals to have the necessary knowledge, skills and correct attitudewhen they intervene in child sexual abuse cases. The study explored the various dynamicsthat motivate this problem as well as the circumstances that can expose children to the riskof child sexual abuse. Motivation to abuse children in the Moses Kotane DistrictMunicipality emanated from the family circumstances, characteristics of the abusivefather(s) as well as a lack of community child care resourcesThe social workers need to have insight in various risk factors of this problem. These mayinclude the circumstances surrounding the child, community factors, societal factors, familyfactors and the attributes of professionals dealing with child sexual abuse cases. Theknowledge of the dynamics and risk factors assists social workers to assess whether thechild has been abused and to do risk assessment as well as need assessment of the victimsand their families. Such information can assist the social workers to make a safety plan ofaction regarding the child victims.It is therefore vital that the social workers identify the nature of case management stylethrough which they render services to sexually abused children. Direct service delivery,which is preferred by most social workers in the agency, and indirect service delivery arethe two types of case management styles that social workers can employ, depending onwhether they work in a generic social work setting or private child welfare agency. Although social workers may have the expertise and skill to intervene effectively in childsexual abuse cases, their interventions may be affected by various challenges and result inineffective service delivery to the victims and perpetrators of child sexual abuse. Thesechallenges may include working conditions that are adverse, community trials of cases ofchild sexual abuse and unresponsive agency management. Other challenges may includeresistance from clients, lack of supervision, lack of training in child sexual abuse work aswell as the demanding nature of child sexual abuse work.Throughout the process of case management the social workers need to liaise and cooperatewith the multi-professional team comprising of the police (CPU), medicalpersonnel, the prosecutor(s), a psychologist as well as the family members.The team may vary from one agency to the other, however, the social worker, police andmedical personnel need to be available at all the team meetings. None of theseprofessionals is supposed to assess victims alone, because the assessment should be focusedon the social, medical, psychological, legal, physical and material needs of sexually abusedchildren. It is imperative that social workers are aware of how their attitudes, beliefs,emotions, perceptions and feelings affect the effectiveness of service delivery to thesechildren.The professionals therefore need to be skilled to react responsively and professionally tothe victims. Social skills are important for creating worthy client - worker relationships andto enhance accountability in role relationships between the clients and the professionals. Byapplying interactional skills, the social workers can create a child-friendly atmosphereduring intervention, as the social worker can be able to listen empathetically and deal withfeelings that surface during the interviews. By applying cognitive skills, the professionalscan be in a position to read subtle emotions and feelings of the clients and assess the levelof their cognitive functioning.The application of theory in practice is vital during intervention as decisions; judgementand interventions should be professional and not haphazard. The social worker thus needsto have knowledge of the perspectives, theories and models of social work. This study hasprovided such a framework to guide social workers in managing cases of child sexualabuse.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University