Sosyal Hizmet Akademisyenleri ve Sosyal Hizmet Uzmanlarının Türkiye Çocuk Koruma Sistemine İlişkin Görüş ve Değerlendirmeleri

Abstract

In today's modern societies, the protection of children is not a necessity but a requirement of children's rights. The social work profession has an important place in the protection of children who face more and more risks every day. Determining the views and evaluations of social work academics and social workers on the child protection system in Turkey and eliminating the lack of knowledge in the field of child welfare constitute the subject and motivation of this research. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the views and evaluations of social work academics and social workers on Turkey's child protection system, to identify the deficiencies in the field of child protection in a holistic manner from the perspective of both parties, and to develop various solutions for the problems that arise. It is thought that reflecting the views of social work academicians and social workers on the child protection system in Turkey, creating information for practice, revealing the problems encountered in practice and solution suggestions in a holistic manner will contribute to the literature This research was conducted using a phenomenological approach based on qualitative research methods. In the study, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 31 subjects, including 14 social work academics and 17 social workers, selected through purposive and snowball sampling. During the interviews, the audio recording was taken, and then the audio recordings were transcribed by the researcher and resolved with thematic analysis. During the interviews, the subjects were asked about the legislation in the field of child protection, the status of the child protection system in terms of rights-based approach, the evaluation of the services provided in the field of child protection, the problems experienced in the system and the solutions to these problems, and what knowledge, skills and values social workers working in the field of child protection should possess. The data were categorized under three main themes. These are; the general evaluation of Turkey's child protection system (legislation, rights-based approach, services offered), the problems of Turkey's child protection system, and solution proposals for the issues experienced within Turkey’s child protection system. It has been revealed that the child protection system in Turkey is not in the system collaboration, can not offer a holistic service, does not provide services in a rights-based manner, the legislation related to the field does not find a response in practice, child protection services at the primary and secondary level are not sufficient, Eliminating the deficiencies of the system requires the development of protective-preventive services with a rights-based approach and ensuring comprehensiveness in the delivery of services. As a result of this research, in which the child protection system of Turkey was evaluated from the perspective of social work academics and social workers, it was determined that protective and preventive services are inadequate in the child protection system of Turkey, coordination and cooperation in services are lacking, there are problems in the definition of social workers, there is no case management and supervision system, child protection should be provided with a centralized structure, service models are inadequate and unqualified, and personnel and administrators are assigned not in accordance with the merit principle. Suggestions were made for the development of school social services for the improvement of child protection services, the development of social worker and family support services in family health centers, and the integration of supervision and case management practices into the system.