Factors affecting Decisions of the Italian Social Worker in Child Protection

Services dedicated to child protection are among the most complex and difficult to manage for the Public Authorities and social workers involved. Intervention measures for the protection of minors and support for their families are burdened by undeniable problems, due to both the obvious complexity of the issues dealt with, and lack of available resources. The social workers, in accordance with the national and regional laws in the child protection area, are endowed with a wide margin of discretion, allowing them to respond to the specific circumstances of each individual minor and family. However, this also results in a lack of clear, shared procedures for the choice of the most appropriate measures to be taken for the welfare of minors that risk to create big discrepancy and inequality between territory and territory, even when very close. The aim of the present study was to identify similarities and differences in the factors that influence these decisions on minors and their families, through comparison between professionals, using the focus group technique. The study involved 22 social workers, all working in child protection services in 3 large local councils in the North-East of Italy. The results highlight some common values but a lack of shared practices, with a marked displacement of decision making onto individuals rather than institutions, and an approach that is largely experience-based and intuitive rather than scientific and analytic.