| Summary: | Social workers who are employed by non-governmental organizations have unique experiences.
Through training and education, social workers are taught skills on how to remain professional
during service delivery, but subjective experiences and the influence remain part of human
nature.
The purpose of the research was to investigate the experiences of social workers in nongovernmental
organizations during investigations of child sexual abuse as well as the influence
of these experiences on service delivery.
The research followed a qualitative approach. Fifteen registered social workers from
NG Welfare in the North West Province participated in this investigation where
semi-structured interviews were conducted and notes were taken.
The interviews focused on the following themes:
-Theme 1: Personal experiences of social workers during child sexual abuse
investigations.
-Theme 2: The experience of social workers with other professionals during
investigations of child sexual abuse.
-Theme 3: Limitations social workers experience during child sexual abuse
investigations.
-Theme 4: Social workers’ experience of objectivity during child sexual abuse
investigations.
-Theme 5: Social workers’ knowledge and practice experience in child sexual
abuse investigations.
-Theme 6: Suggestions by social workers to improve the quality of
investigations of child sexual abuse cases.
The results of the data were divided into subthemes for detailed clarifications and discussions of
the respondent’s experiences in order to make useful recommendations.
According to the results all the respondents stated that their experiences with regard to child
sexual abuse cases do influence their behaviour, decision making and service delivery. Half of
the respondents experience good cooperation from other professionals. Limited resources are
the biggest limitation for social workers and all the respondents are of the opinion that social
workers are unbiased and objective when confronted with child sexual abuse investigations.
The majority of the respondents do not think social workers have enough knowledge and
practice experience for conducting these investigations and made the following suggestions to
improve the process.
These suggestions include the following:
- Establishing an assessment unit
- Employing a forensic social worker
- Having a place of safety and or a rehabilitation centre available for children involved in
child sexual abuse === Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.
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