| Summary: | From earliest times, child protection has formed an important part of the social worker's responsibilities. When child protection is referred to, statutory intervention, with the accompanying supportive or therapeutic intervention, is often necessary. In cases of sexual abuse of children, the nature of the service rendered is complex, requiring a wide range of inputs. Forensic social work is a fairly new specialist field in terms of service provision in social work in South Africa. The forensic social worker is primarily involved in investigating reports of alleged sexual abuse and must draw up a court report and, as an expert, give evidence in court. The forensic social worker is not involved with the child at therapeutic level. Social workers involved with generic child and family care can be involved in both the statutory and the therapeutic interventions, but are not always sure when a child should be referred for forensic assessment. This may lead to role confusion and conflict. This study attempts to establish a guideline for social workers in the offices of the Christian Council Social Services in the Highveld Synod, in order to facilitate referral for forensic assessment and to eliminate the role confusion and conflict mentioned above. The guidelines have been drawn up on the basis of information gathered from the relevant literature and from focus group conversations with social workers and individual interviews with social workers specialising in forensic social work. Although the guidelines have been developed specifically for the above–mentioned organisation, social workers in other child and family care organisations could also derive benefit from them. === Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.
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