Family conceptions and social workers’ professional judgment in Chilean social child services

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the Chilean Child Welfare Service has been questioned by the legislative and judicial powers over its work with children and their families. However, it remains unclear what the social workers’ family conceptions are and how they influence professional judgment. Here, 85 social workers were interviewed, and four focus groups were conducted. The interactions between variables were estimated using ANOVA and a model with marginal measures was developed with the purpose of observing the differences between groups for each factor, followed by post hoc comparisons. The qualitative data was examined by content analysis. We detected the presence of a marked tendency in professionals being able to visualise families based on their weaknesses. Case supervision and the knowledge of previous cases are the main factors that influence family conceptions.

KEYWORDS:

• Social work
• family conceptions
• professional judgment
• decision-making
• Chilean Child Welfare

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico [Fondecyt Nº 13201].

Notes on contributors

Claudia Reyes-Quilodran

Claudia Reyes-Quilodran is an Associate Professor. She received her PhD in Public Policy from Washington State University in 2009. She is Social Worker from Universidad de Concepción, Chile. Her areas of specialization include criminal justices, political psychology and Latin American studies. Her most recent research projects include juvenile delinquency and gender; prison violence; professional judgement in the intervention with vulnerable families; engagement in social work intervention; and comparative studies in juvenile restorative justice.  She has a long experience working with victims affecting by human rights violations during the Chilean military regime, and she has worked in the  National Child Social Service and state agencies to prevent crime and violence in Chile.

Carolina Muñoz-Guzman

Carolina Muñoz-Guzman is an Associate Professor. She received her PhD in Social Policy from University of Birmingham, and the master degree from Boston College. She is a Social Worker from Pontificia Universida Católica de Chile. Her last researches are focused on foster families, adoption and out of home care.

Liliana Guerra-Aburto

Liliana Guerra-Aburto is an Associate Professor. She received her PhD in Latin American studies from Universidad de Chile, and Master degree in Social Work from Pontificia Unversidad Católica de Chile. She has her postgraduate degree in Family Studies and her undergraduate degree in Social Work from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Her last research projects include culture and family;  family intervention; social policies and family.