The role of child protection managers during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Challenges, priorities, new knowledge and skills

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on the role of the managers of child protection services in a region of Northern Italy during the Covid-19 pandemic. In most child protection services, there is a manager who is responsible for supporting social workers and collaborating with directors and policymakers. The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted welfare organisations, professionals, service users, and families. Given the exceptional situation, an online survey was conducted on child protection services and the functions performed by managers during the first phase of the pandemic (March-May 2020). This paper presents the findings of a research survey involving 85 child protection managers. The challenges of the new organisation of child protection services required by the health emergency, the hectic work schedule and the fear of infection did not hinder the action of social services. Managers played a crucial role in developing and enhancing the new skills and tools necessary to cope with problems and difficulties created by the health emergency. Although the scope of the study is limited as it involves only the managers of one Italian region, its findings could be relevant to other European child protection services.

ABSTRACT

Il presente contributo intende focalizzarsi sul ruolo dei manager dei servizi di child protection della regione Lombardia (Italia) durante la prima fase della pandemia da Covid-19. Nei servizi di tutela minorile è spesso presente un manager che supporta gli operatori sociali e collabora con dirigenti e amministratori pubblici. L’emergenza sanitaria causata dal Covid-19 ha fortemente colpito le organizzazioni di welfare, i professionisti, gli utenti e le famiglie. Data l’eccezionalità della situazione, è stata condotta una survey online sul funzionamento dei servizi di child protection e sulle funzioni svolte dai manager durante la prima fase della pandemia (marzo-maggio 2020). L’articolo presenta parte dei risultati dell’indagine condotta, che ha coinvolto 85 coordinatori dei servizi di tutela minorile. Dalla ricerca emerge che le sfide derivanti dalla nuova organizzazione dei servizi di child protection, il crescente carico di lavoro e il timore di essere contagiati non hanno ostacolato l’azione dei professionisti dell’aiuto. I manager hanno svolto un ruolo cruciale nello sviluppare e nell’accrescere nuove competenze e strumenti per affrontare i problemi e le difficoltà causati dall’emergenza sanitaria. Anche se la ricerca coinvolge solo i manager di una regione italiana, i risultati potrebbero essere rilevanti per altri servizi europei di child protection.

KEYWORDS:

• Management
• child protection
• COVID-19
• social work
• children and families

PAROLE CHIAVE:

• Management
• Tutela Minorile
• COVID-19
• lavoro sociale
• Bambini e famiglie

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our special thanks to the child protection managers who participated in the online survey and shared their time, insights and work experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In Lombardy, there are 130 child protection services, and a manager works in each of them.

2 After an overall reading of the answers collected, a textual analysis was carried out to identify common themes. Subsequently, the answers were divided into homogeneous groups and assigned a label describing their focus. This process was concluded with a descriptive quantitative analysis.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Camilla Landi

Camilla Landi is researcher and member of Relational social work Research Centre at the Catholic University of Milan (Department of Sociology). She teaches Social work procedures in the child protection field and she accompanies students in Unconventional Practice Placement experiences. She is a social worker with experience in child protection.

Paola Limongelli

Paola Limongelli is fellow researcher and member of Relational social work Research Centre at the Catholic University of Milan (Department of Sociology). She accompanies students in Unconventional Practice Placement experiences. She is a social worker with experience in family service centre.