Abstracts
Abstract
Through a final qualitative interview question, we asked mothers who were involved with the Canadian child welfare system to provide recommendations to improve practices in this system. Through their responses, these women focused on the relationships between parents and workers. Surprisingly, they stated that child welfare workers should “act like friends.” In these descriptions, they stated that child welfare workers should be respectful, honest, caring, supportive, non-judgmental, and encouraging. They further stated that workers should have empathy and provide concrete supports so that parents maintain connections to their children. First, we present the mothers’ recommendations. Then, we situate these findings into best practice literature and discuss both the possibilities and challenges of developing stronger relationships between parents and child welfare workers.
Keywords:
- Relationship,
- child welfare,
- social work practice,
- intimate partner violence,
- mothers,
- empathy
Résumé
Lors d’un entretien qualitatif, la dernière question posée à des mères encadrées par le système de protection de l’enfance les invitait à formuler des recommandations pour améliorer le fonctionnement de ce système. Dans leurs réponses, ces femmes ont mis l’accent sur la relation entre parents et travailleurs sociaux. Étonnamment, elles ont dit que les intervenants devraient « agir comme des amis ». Elles ont précisé que les intervenants devraient être respectueux, honnêtes, bienveillants, attentionnés, ne pas porter de jugement et donner des encouragements. Elles ont aussi dit qu’ils devraient faire preuve d’empathie et offrir un soutien concret pour aider les parents à maintenir des liens avec leurs enfants. Nous commençons par présenter ici les recommandations des mères, puis nous les replaçons dans le contexte des écrits sur les pratiques exemplaires, et enfin nous analysons les possibilités et les difficultés de resserrer les liens entre les parents et les intervenants.
Mots-clés :
- Relations,
- protection de l’enfance,
- pratique du travail social,
- violence entre conjoints,
- mères,
- empathie
Appendices
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