Challenges Faced by Professionals Working with Child Victims of Sexual Abuse

V diplomski nalogi sem se osredotočila na izzive strokovnih delavk enot Centra za socialno delo Ljubljana pri delu z otroki, ki so žrtve spolnega nasilja. Namen naloge je bil ugotoviti, s kakšnimi izzivi se srečujejo pri delu z otroki, ki so žrtve nasilja, in kaj jim pri njihovem delu najbolj pomaga. Delo socialnih delavk z družinami, še posebej pa z otroki, je zelo kompleksno, saj se primeri razlikujejo, delavke pa nimajo vnaprej opredeljenih in pravilnih odgovorov. V prvem poglavju teoretičnega uvoda se osredotočim na spolno nasilje. Podrobneje predstavim potek odkrivanja in prijavo spolnega nasilja pri otrocih, delo strokovnih delavk v fazi odkrivanja zlorabe pri otroku ter število prijav in pogostost pojavljanja spolnega nasilja v Sloveniji in po svetu. Nato se dotaknem problematike dela (kompleksnost problemov) socialnih delavk, ki vsebuje različne izzive. Ti so nemalokrat povezani tudi s sodelovanjem s starši. Nadaljujem s travmami in okrevanjem ter zaključim z medinstitucionalnim sodelovanjem. Raziskava je kvalitativna, empirična in poizvedovalna ali eksplorativna. Nalogo zaključim s sklepom in predlogi, ki bi strokovnim delavkam pomagali pri izzivih, s katerimi se soočajo pri delu. Največji izziv pri pogovorih z otrokom (žrtvijo) je zanje, da otrok o nasilju spregovori, za kar je potrebnih več pogovorov in pridobitev otrokovega zaupanja. Izobraževanj na temo spolnega nasilja ni, so pa ta vključena v izobraževanja o nasilju v splošnem. Pri multidisciplinarnem sodelovanju se delavke srečujejo s številnimi težavami, in sicer pri sodelovanju in odzivnosti zdravstvenih služb. Po sprejetju Zakona o preprečevanju nasilja v družini uslužbenke beležijo več prijav o nasilju. Zakon je pripomogel predvsem k večji ozaveščenosti populacije.In this graduation thesis, the focus sits on the challenges of the Ljubljana Social Work Centre professionals, especially in their work with child victims of sexual abuse. The aim of the thesis was to find out what challenges the workers face when working with children who are victims of violence, and what helps the professionals the most in their work. Social workers\u27 interaction with families, and especially with children, is extremely complex, as cases differ and workers do not have unified and suitable answers. In the first chapter of the theoretical introduction, the focus lay mainly on sexual violence. It is presented in more detail the process of detection and reporting of sexual violence in children, the work of social workers in the phase of child abuse detection, and the number of reports and the frequency of occurrence of sexual violence in Slovenia and worldwide. Moreover, the complexity of the work of social workers results in various challenges. These are often related to cooperation with parents. It is followed by trauma and its recovery and concluded with inter-institutional cooperation. The research is qualitative, empirical, and exploratory. The thesis wraps up with a conclusion and suggestions to help practitioners with the work challenges. The most important challenge for them is to encourage child victims to talk about the violence that happened to them, which requires more time for conversations and gaining the child\u27s trust. There is no dedicated training on how to deal with sexual violence, but such training is included in the educational program on violence in general. In multidisciplinary cooperation, the workers face numerous challenges, namely the cooperation and responsiveness of the health services. Since the adoption of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, staff members are observing more reports of violent acts due to raising public