A family focused approach to promote child protection : what child protection workers do and experience

Abstract

The child protection workforce is charged with the responsibility of protecting the ever growing numbers of children exposed to abuse and neglect. However, little is known of the child protection workers' (CPWs) experiences of their day-to-day working roles or how they manage the challenges they face. This thesis explores the day-to-day working lives of CPWs within one child protection service (CPS) that uses a model of family-centred care. The method of choice was an instrumental case study with 15 CPWs in a non-government child protection service (CPS) situated within a large organisation in a major Australian city. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews, structured observations, non-structured observations and organisational documents. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. These data were coded into 42 codes and later four major categories. Quantitative observational data were entered into an excel spreadsheet and descriptive statistics were calculated and displayed in tables and graphs. The study findings indicate that child protection work is multi-dimensional and requires CPWs to be proficient in many key practice and administrative roles including child protection assessments, the implementation of family-centred interventions, documentation and attendance at meetings. The CPW role presented many challenges to the workers including developing worker-client relationships, working closely with CPWs from different disciplines, and collaborating client care with other services and community agencies. The challenges of their work caused CPWs to experience workplace stress which resulted largely from organisational constructs rather than direct client work. For CPWs social support, organisational supports as well as professional supervision were essential for managing their workplace stress. Workplace stress was also managed through the CPW and their organisation implementing strategies that ensured work-life balance. This thesis has shown that child protection organisations should implement appropriate workload allocation in response to the multi-dimensional nature of child protection work as well as providing effective induction processes and ongoing professional development opportunities. Additionally, organisations must ensure that regular and appropriate professional supervision is available for all CPWs. Finally, further research on the day-to-day work life experiences of CPW, in particular the impact of organisational constructs on worker and workplace well-being is recommended.

Date of Award	2011
Original language	English