The role of social workers dealing with child neglect: Lithuanian and Latvian perspectives

Abstract

The professional obligation of social workers for the welfare of children is a complex phenomenon characterised by rigorous adherence to diverse roles, responsibilities, regulations, values, and laws, thereby engendering numerous challenges. This work comprehensively reflects the social worker's experiences through the qualitative method. A sample size of twelve (12) social workers from Lithuania and Latvia were selected and conducted semi-structured interviews. After this, transcriptions were made, and the data was analysed through the Thematic Analysis method using MAXQDA 2022. The study critically explores the perception of social workers on the child neglect phenomenon, their specific roles and challenges in the case management process and their view of the child protection system. Essentially, findings show that social workers understood well that neglect is perpetrated due to certain factors in the family, and it poses a severe threat to the child's life and growth. Also, findings reveal that social workers face challenges as they perform their roles because of too many workloads, conflicts of personal values, people's need for more understanding about their work and issues with cooperation with other institutions. Following that, this study also analysed the perspective of social workers regarding their reflection on the child protection system. Findings indicate that social workers perceived the active reporting pathway, the constant interagency collaboration, and the support from the legal system as the most notable aspects of the child protection system's working well. Meanwhile, social workers experienced the lack of accessible services to clients, the need to promote prevention and parental accountability in the process, and the lack of social workers to compensate for workload issues. Therefore, the study gives a dynamic insight into social workers' reflections on their experiences, and it is empirically useful for academic discourses.