Challenges faced by child protection workers in the process of child removal from an unsafe family environment

Atvykę į šeimą ir svarstydami, ar galima palikti vaiką šeimoje, ar jį reikia perkelti į saugią aplinką, vaiko teisių apsaugos darbuotojai susiduria su prieštaravimu tarp savo veiklos kaip profesinės misijos traktavimo ir sprendimo paimti vaiką dviprasmiškumo. Iššūkiai renkantis tinkamiausią sprendimą susiję ne tik su tėvų ir vaikų elgesiu, nepakankama informacija apie vaiko ir šeimos situaciją, laiko stoka sprendimui priimti, bet ir su institucinėmis, organizacinėmis problemomis. Straipsnis parengtas įgyvendinant Lietuvos mokslo tarybos projektą „Vaiko gerovės profesionalų darbo vietos kokybė“ (S-MIP- 19- 37, 2019–2021). Reikšminiai žodžiai: vaiko teisių apsaugos darbuotojai, vaiko paėmimas, sprendimo priėmimas.The article analyses the challenges faced by child protection workers when they come to a family and have to decide whether to take a child out of an unsafe family environment. The identification of these challenges is important in order to reduce the risk of inadequate decision-making and the negative consequences of this decision for the well-being of both the child and the family, as well as the employee herself. On the other hand, because challenges are understood not only as situations that require a great deal of mental or physical effort on the part of the employee to solve them successfully, but also as an opportunity to test one’s abilities and powers, they can be seen as a motivating factor. A survey of child protection workers implementing the function of child removal allowed identifying a number of key challenges facing these specialists. First, there are challenges associated with treating one’s activities as a professional mission and the complexity and contradictions of removal situations to accomplish that mission. Second are the challenges posed by the behaviour of parents and children, which sometimes threaten the safety of workers, and the stress and tension experienced when they have to lie to a child to avoid her resistance. Third, there are challenges relating to the uncertainty caused by the lack of information and the limited time allocated to make a decision, because the action must be taken “here and now”. Last, there are challenges arising from institutional, organisational problems, such as insufficient organisational support, teamwork problems, and insufficient cooperation with other institutions. In order for child protection workers to be able to successfully overcome challenges and be motivated to work, it is important to ensure comprehensive organisational support, strengthen trust relations with managers, implement traditions of practice reflection, and pay sufficient attention to the composition of teams formed. Keywords: child rights protection workers, child removal, decision making