Abstract
This paper analyses social workers’ moral agency in addressing child abuse and neglect. We argue that ethically sound social work requires the capacity to exercise strong, multidimensional moral agency. The contribution is based on a qualitative interpretative meta-synthesis of four studies representing different forms of child abuse and neglect in varied contexts. Drawing on our analysis, we identify three thematic categories of moral considerations in terms of social workers’ moral work in addressing child abuse and neglect: genders and generations, agencies and responsibilities, and families and communities. We then proceed to posit four dimensions of moral work in child and family social work – individual; cultural and communal; societal and political; and global – and argue that if they are to exercise strong moral agency, social workers must negotiate these intersecting contextual dimensions. Recognising the salience of these dimensions, how they increasingly intersect, and what this demands of social workers is necessary for the profession. Social workers must embrace individually sensitive, culturally translative, politically engaged and globally aware moral agency. This is crucial in elaborating context-sensitive practice that critically engages with moral complexities when working with individuals, families and communities.
Highlights
This paper focuses on social workers’ moral agency in relation to child abuse and neglect
We ask: (i) What are central themes of moral considerations associated with cases of child abuse and neglect and (ii) what are salient dimensions of the framework that informs moral work? These allow us to conceptualise the forms of moral agency that social workers are called upon to exercise when responding to child abuse and neglect
Child abuse and neglect are widely researched areas, but we aim to present new insights that inform context-sensitive child and family social work
Summary
This paper focuses on social workers’ moral agency in relation to child abuse and neglect. These allow us to conceptualise the forms of moral agency that social workers are called upon to exercise when responding to child abuse and neglect. Promotion of social justice: the obligation to remove damaging inequalities between people and groups and promote the fair distribution of goods and services among people and groups These are clear as written, moral work is needed in realising them, because values may conflict and situations are shaped by competing ideas that force child and family social workers to make choices that are both contested and contentious (Berrick, 2017). Practice requires social workers to make moral decisions, in a process which entails deliberation, the decision itself and the consequent action (Keinemans and Kanne, 2013) Preceding this is a moral judgement, which can be defined as the evaluation of a situation. We point out that strong, multidimensional moral agency among social workers could be realised best when the professional is individually sensitive, culturally translative, politically engaging and globally aware
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