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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE
This article describes empirical results of the views of child protection workers, parents and children along different dimensions including interpretation of engagement, approaches with families in the engagement process, collaboration and relationship, barriers and factors promoting engagement.
Method
A qualitative study was undertaken of a sample of eleven child protection workers, eleven parents and eleven children in one county in South-Estonia. The study explored the participants' experiences and perspectives of the engagement, within the context of assessment in child protection practice, through in-depth semi-structured interviews.
Results
Results indicate that child protection workers demonstrate an over-reliance on expert- and deficit-based approaches, indicating a requirement for a focus on traditional social work assessment, concentrating on problems, and more investigative, coercive, and judgement-focused approaches. Both workers and parents valued the quality of relationships, emphasising trust, dialogue and support as important elements of engagement. According to children, they were not always considered as a subject in the assessment process, including their needs as the primary focus; children expressed the wish to be more heard and understood, with their opinions being taken into account.
Conclusions
Findings propose that child protection workers are 'stuck in the past', in traditional deficit-based discourse, however families prefer 'modern', strengths-based perspectives.
Language: en |