In my graduation thesis I write about the role of social workers, employed in the units of the Center for Social Work in Slovenia, who are providing supervised visitations. Besides that, I describe the course of supervised contacts, the knowledge on which the social workers rely in their work, and on the obstacles and challenges that they face within the supervised contact task. The thesis includes a theoretical discussion on the supervised contact task, the legal basis of supervised contacts, and the definition of the role of a social worker. I focus in detail on specific situations that lead to supervised contact, such as domestic violence, divorce, child abuse, child neglect, parental mental health disorders, and substance and alcohol abuse. I highlight the benefits to children deriving from the social work approach “relationship-based help and cooperation and support for the family.” The theoretical section I present the American research on the view of parents and children on supervised contacts. The empirical section describes qualitative research obtained by semi-structural interviews with eight social workers. The research results suggest that social workers view their role in supervised contacts as solely supervisory. They see their job as ensuring that parental visitation is conducted safely, and in accordance with the rules and regulations. Supervised contact thus creates an opportunity for the parent and child to spend time together. The social worker is not usually involved in the dynamics of this relationship, as he or she only observes and documents the visit. Different units of social work centers have formulated different approaches to supervised contacts. All of the social workers do not establish a relationship with parents and children; they often do not even know them before the start of supervised visitations. The research showed that counseling work is not necessarily part of the supervised visitation task. Families do not receive help and support at the center for social work, but are expected to seek it outside the center, which rarely happens. The results of my research showed that social workers face many obstacles and challenges in providing supervised visitations (unbeneficial supervised contacts for children, spatial barriers, court proceedings, and the aftermath of parent-child contact post- supervised visitations etc.).
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