É mais fácil condenar quem já cumpre pena de vida: um estudo sobre a prática profissional do assistente social no Sistema Penitenciário do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a prática do assistente social no Sistema Penitenciário do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, a partir dos pressupostos estabelecidos pelo Projeto Ético Político da Profissão. A relevância deste estudo consiste em colocar no centro do debate o desafio que representa para a categoria, com um direcionamento profissional ético e político comprometido com os interesses da classe trabalhadora e com a efetivação dos direitos da mesma, efetivar estes pressupostos num campo de atuação marcado pelo controle e repressão dos indivíduos pertencentes a esta classe. A prisão é uma instituição total, punitiva, vingativa, onde observamos a face mais dura do Estado, onde, muitas vezes, o assistente social se vê sozinho na defesa e efetivação dos direitos do preso. Constitui-se como objetivo central deste estudo analisar se dentro desta instituição, o assistente social consegue efetivar os valores defendidos e consagrados pelo projeto profissional. Para realização do estudo nos debruçamos sobre a produção teórica e a história do sistema penitenciário; sobre a legislação específica da área (Lei de Execução Penal e Regulamento Penitenciário do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) e sobre documentos, relatórios, manuais, etc., elaborados pela Coordenação de Serviço Social da Secretaria de Estado de Administração Penitenciária (SEAP). Devido às limitações impostas pela instituição, os sujeitos de nosso estudo foram os gestores e ex-gestores que aturam na Coordenação de Serviço Social e na antiga Divisão de Serviço Social da SEAP. Procuramos resgatar a trajetória histórica do Serviço Social dentro do Sistema Prisional fluminense, destacando as batalhas e conquistas alcançadas pela categoria, ao longo dos quase sessenta anos de inserção nas unidades prisionais do Rio de Janeiro. Observamos ao longo do estudo que a inserção do assistente social no Sistema Penitenciário encontra-se devidamente institucionalizada, regulamentada e organizada, o que demonstra a relevância do trabalho deste profissional, que muitas vezes ainda é visto como benfeitor do preso. Hoje, a execução penal pode ser considerada uma área consolidada para a atuação profissional dos assistentes sociais, embora apresente uma série de inconsistências e discrepâncias, tais como péssimas condições de trabalho, violação de direitos, entre outras. Procuramos mostrar neste estudo como o profissional de Serviço Social enfrenta essa realidade e contribui para a sua transformação, a partir dos ideais defendidos pelo Projeto Ético Político da profissão.

"Choque de capital": criminalização da pobreza e (re)significação da "questão social" no Rio de Janeiro (2009-2012)

O tema que nos propomos a estudar é Choque de Capital: criminalização da pobreza e (re)significação da questão social no Rio de Janeiro. A delimitação espaço temporal de nosso estudo situa-se na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, de 2009 a 2012. O período selecionado corresponde a primeira gestão do prefeito Eduardo Paes (PMDB) e os primeiros anos de execução das denominadas ações de Choque de Ordem. A proposta apresentada tem como pressuposto a centralidade do estudo da metrópole e a relação entre especulação imobiliária e capital financeiro, como um dos motivadores da criminalização da pobreza na contemporaneidade, cujo principal objetivo é tornar os espaços "ordenados" fonte de lucro, não importando as consequências impostas às classes subalternas. Considerando que este paradigma evidencia um processo de criminalização das classes subalternas e a necessidade compreendermos o modo específico de enfrentamento à pobreza por parte da prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro considerando suas implicações para o Serviço Social, optamos pelo seguinte caminho de estudo traduzido na forma dos capítulos assim identificados: I-Barbárie e passivização: aportes para compreensão da banalização da violência no Brasil, II- Das bases de tradição autoritária ao Esplendor do Estado de Polícia e III- Reordenamento urbano, mídia e consenso no Rio de Janeiro: Choque de Ordem para quem?. Acreditamos que o estudo aprofundado desses temas propiciarão um entendimento acerca da realidade, base insuprimível para sua transformação.

Serviço social e consultoria empresarial: uma possibilidade de intervenção crítica?

Esta tese consiste no estudo e sistematização dos resultados da pesquisa desenvolvida no curso de doutorado da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, acerca da nova alocação, externa aos quadros de trabalhadores das instituições, através de empresas que intermediam esses serviços, denominadas de consultoria, por assistentes sociais, entre outros da área de recursos humanos, para prestação de serviços. Esta denominação é criticada, por diferir do sentido original desta atividade, uma vez que a concepção de consultoria adotada na tese supõe que esta competência tem o objetivo de qualificação do trabalho a ser desempenhado. Compreende um nível de profissional com maior conhecimento especializado, possibilitando formular análises, pareceres, planos e proposições sobre situações de trabalho. No caso do projeto profissional hegemônico do Serviço Social, o seu trabalho deve ser orientado com vistas à ampliação dos direitos dos trabalhadores. O que as empresas tem chamado de consultoria, na realidade tem se configurado principalmente como expressão do trabalho precário terceirizado e as vezes informal, com incidências nas formas de contratação do Serviço Social e no desenvolvimento do seu trabalho. O objetivo central desta tese consiste em verificar os caminhos que essa profissão vem trilhando por meio das denominadas consultorias e identificar se estes apontam para a consolidação do projeto ético-político profissional pela categoria ou se eles estão contribuindo para afastá-lo desse projeto, diante das condições de trabalho e de outros elementos no espaço sócio-ocupacional da chamada consultoria empresarial. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam que, com a substituição de profissionais contratados por outros subcontratados, terceirizados ou quarteirizados, como vem ocorrendo nas empresas pesquisadas, a prestação dos seus serviços tende a sofrer um retrocesso diante dos avanços alcançados pela profissão.

Job retention and turnover: a study of child protection and welfare social workers in Ireland

Retaining social workers in child protection and welfare organisations has been identified as a problem in Ireland (McGrath, 2001; Ombudsman for Children, 2006; Houses of the Oireachtas, 2008) and internationally (Ellet et al., 2006; Mor Barak et al., 2006; Tham, 2006). While low levels of retention have been identified, there is no research that examines the factors in Ireland that influence the retention of social workers. In this thesis, data is analysed from qualitative interviews with 45 social workers in the Health Service Executive South about what influences their decisions to stay in or leave child protection and welfare social work. These social workers’ views are examined in relation to quantitative research on the levels of turnover and employment mobility of child protection and welfare social workers employed in the same organisation. Contrary to expectations, the study found that the retention rate of social workers during the period of data collection (March 2005 to December 2006) was high and that the majority of social workers remained positive about this work and their retention. The quality of social workers’ supervision, social supports from colleagues, high levels of autonomy, a commitment to child protection and welfare work, good variety in the work, and a perception that they were making a difference, emerged as important factors in social workers’ decisions to stay. Perceptions of being unsupported by the organisation, which was usually described in terms of high caseloads and demanding workloads, a lack of resources, work with involuntary clients and not being able to make a difference, were the most significant factors in social workers’ decisions to leave and/or to want to leave. Social workers felt particularly professionally unsupported when they received low quality and/or infrequent professional supervision. This thesis critiques the theories of perceived organisational support theory, social exchange theory and job characteristics theory, and uses the concept of ‘professional career’, to help analyse the retention of social workers in child protection and welfare.

Practice Links [Issue 52, April 2013]

Practice Links is a free e-publication for practitioners working in Irish social services, voluntary and nongovernmental sectors. Practice Links was created to enable practitioners to keep up-to-date with new publications, electronic resources and conference opportunities. Issue 52 contains reviews on publications covering Irish adoption stories, hospital to home discharge planning, cyber technology for social workers and meeting the service needs of young care-leavers.

Discovering keys to explain social policies within the social and democratic rule-of-law sate

There is a collective worldview on social policies that is expressed and understood by university professionals. However, it takes students time to construct this knowledge. Here, we provide fundamental ideas and a dynamic to facilitate learning of social policies. The preparation of a brief dictionary of significant terms is to be constructed as a group, alongside the maieutic work to be carried out by the teacher. The goal is to discover keys to understand the meaning of social policies and the underlying values that sustain a social and democratic rule-of-law state such as the one proposed in the Spanish Constitution of 1978. Attention is focused on the structure of the mixed welfare state. This is an integral proposal and comprises three dimensions. First, it considers the state and its possible welfare agents: business, market, the Church and civil society. The attitudes with which universal and inclusive social action is promoted, breaking radically with the aid-based meaning contained in other systems, are then addressed. Finally, we examine human dignity as a principle and aim of intervention, a basis for understanding other concepts such as human, social, labour and political rights. It is to be hoped that these pages prove useful for both teaching staff and students.

Museums as a factor for the social integration of art in the community. The experience of cultural volunteering by members of the senior community

After considering museums as cultural institutions responsible for preserving cultural memory and its evolution over time, this article describes the cultural practices within our society that are aimed at disseminating art and at reproducing and transmitting culture, history and identity. Further, it considers the key role that older people are steadily assuming in Spain’s ageing society. New social-empowerment activities based on volunteering by the elderly are linked to generativity because the individual and social groups acquire new skills through those activities, thereby strengthening a society for all ages. Never in the history of social work have so many older people been prepared to participate actively at the community level, and never has a social movement with these features gone so unnoticed by so many social agents.

Child Protection Work and Family Support Practice in Five Family Centres

Academic interest in the work of family centres in the United Kingdom has largely been concerned with categorising the work of such centres in terms of issues of childcare ideology, working practices and degree of service user control. Meanwhile, the re-focusing of child protection services in order to develop child welfare services has largely dominated childcare social work in recent years, with scant attention paid to the role of family centres in relation to this debate. This study is concerned with examining the perspectives of staff and service users in five 'client focussed' family centres in Northern Ireland in relation to how child protection issues are understood and dealt with. It was found that staff enter into negotiations with both referrers and service users to conceptually reframe child protection work as family support practice. This leads to the development of partnership relationships between staff and service users based upon mutual high regard. The work of such centres leaves them well placed to provide integrated services to children in need in line with current government priorities, but could leave some children vulnerable where child protection issues are not amenable to conceptual reframing along family support lines.

An Examination of the Use of Coercion by Assertive Outreach and Community Mental Health Teams in Northern Ireland.

In mental health services over recent decades, the positive move away from hospital-based care to community-based services has entailed that people with higher levels of need are being supported by community mental health services. This paper begins by reviewing the literature on coercion in the field of community-based mental health care and treatment. It is argued that the lack of a critical understanding of the concept and how it is used by practitioners and agencies can have serious repercussions for the rights of service users. Using a quasi-experimental, longitudinal design, the authors then seek to test some of the ideas about coercion by comparing the activities of assertive outreach and community mental health teams in Northern Ireland, particularly the key ideas of perceived coercion, workers’ strategies and engagement with services. Key findings were that assertive outreach appeared to be more successful at reducing perceived coercion, minimizing the need for coercive strategies, engaging high-risk clients and reducing inpatient bed use. These findings are compared with other studies in this area. The authors also argue that there is a need for greater transparency in the way that practitioners use coercive measures and more explicit guidance is required in this crucial area of mental health practice.

Decision making by senior social workers at point of first referral

In the United Kingdom there has been difficulty in implementing the family support provisions contained in the 1989 Children Act, largely because of continued emphasis on child protection activity by local authorities. There is an observable international tendency for child-care referrals to receive investigative response, resulting in families being traumatized and children's needs left unmet. There has been a lack of research into how child-care referrals are initially categorized by senior social workers. This paper reports on research undertaken in two Health and Social Services Trusts within Northern Ireland to ascertain if it might be possible to treat more initial referrals as 'child-care problem enquiries' as opposed to 'child protection investigations'. Results demonstrate that, while such potential may exist, a preoccupation with the management of risk could lead to the development of child-care problems receiving quasi-child protection responses. Consequently, changes in initial decision making may not have the full intended effects in terms of the organizational release of resources for family support or a lessening of the traumatic impact upon families.

Relationships matter: The problems and prospects for social workers' relationships with young children in care

One of the key lessons learnt in the UK from the Laming Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié was the importance of social workers developing consistent and long-term relationships with young children in whose lives they are involved. This issue is now informing policy developments, including the proposed Social Work Practices which, based on a similar model to General Practitioner practices, aim to provide a lead professional to act as a parental figure and an advocate for every child in care. This paper begins by confirming the importance of developing relationships between social workers and young children, but questions the ability of the new policy developments to facilitate these. Drawing upon data from research involving interviews with social workers, the paper outlines the factors which hinder social workers' relationships with young children and argues that while the new proposals address some of the more surface structural and organizational factors, they do not address the deeper factors regarding attitudes, values and emotional competence which are crucial if social workers are to successfully build relationships with young children in care.