This paper studies viewpoints of social workers who work in the field of foster care and their reflection on work with biological families. It includes types of assistance that social workers offer to biological families when their child is placed into foster care, during foster care and at the end of foster placement. Work with biological families is presented also in relation to social workers' competencies required for the work in this field as well as skills and methods they rely on. In addition, the paper presents challenges faced by social workers in the work with biological families and how they cope with such challenges. In the beginning of the theoretical part, the terms biological family and foster care are defined. The legal basis for work with biological families is presented, along with types of assistance and support provided by social work centres and other related topics. The empirical part presents a qualitative research conducted with five social workers, employed in social work centres and working in the field of foster care. The empirical material was collected with the help of pre-prepared interview guidelines. In the research, I analysed how work in the field of foster care is conducted in social work centres, and I examined types of assistance and support provided by social workers at the start of foster care, during foster care and at the end of foster placement. I also studied how social workers undertake work from the position of power, how they ensure that biological families are heard, and what challengers they face and how. In the end, I analysed how service users in involuntary transactions are handled, and I portrayed the competencies and skills required to work with biological families. The acquired data were presented in the results.
|
