Annual of social work, Vol. 12 No. 1, 2005.
Original scientific paper
ATTITUDES OF SOCIAL CARE PROFESSIONALS TOWARDS THE EXCLUSION OF CHILDREN FROM FAMILIES AND TOWARDS FOSTER CARE PLACEMENT
Marina Ajduković
Branka Sladović Franz
Željka Kamenov
Abstract
The paper analyses the intensity and structure of the attitudes of a sample of professionals in the social care system (N=164) towards the exclusion of children and towards foster care placement. The analysis of results has shown that professionals tend to have a mildly positive attitude towards foster care placement and moderately positive attitude towards the exclusion of children from their families. The attitudes of professionals in both issues greatly differ statistically from the attitudes of a convenient sample of the general population (N=174). As a group, professionals have a more negative attitude towards foster care placement, and a more positive one towards the exclusion of children from inadequate families than the convenient sample of participants from the general population.
Within the group of professionals, there is no difference in the attitude towards the exclusion of children from their family and foster care placement in regard to their gender, age, years of work experience, size of the place of residence, marital and parental status. The only differences within the group of professionals have been determined in regards to their profession and the organisation they work for – the social care centre or institution for children. In relation to the professionals of other professions, social workers and the employees of social care centres have a more positive attitude towards foster care placement. Professionals are critical in their assessments of the state care for the children who are growing up in exceptionally difficult circumstances. Only every fifth respondent considers that the state care for those children in very good.
Keywords
social care of children; social workers; attitudes; foster care placement; the exclusion of children from families
Hrčak ID:
2786
URI
Publication date:
13.12.2005.
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