Socialinis darbas

The role of a professional social worker who works with social risk families and participates in the process of taking away a child from his/her biological family is both varied and diverse. Social workers have a lot of roles which are often inconsistent and contradictory to each other. When there is inconsistency of social worker's roles, there is a possibility to arise role conflicts which are a condition of job stress, disappointment of job or a burn-out syndrome.
The aim of this article is to find out which and why role conflicts experience social worker during the process of taking away a child from his/her biological family. This paper overlooks concepts of role and role conflict and establishes role conflicts during the process of taking away a child from his/her biological family.
A qualitative research was conducted and performed in a semi-structural interview method. 6 social workers involved in the process of taking away a child from his/her biological family were interviewed. The data was analyzed by grounded theory. Analysis of data developed the central categories that characterize social worker's role conflicts, its reasons and outcomes. It is clear that role conflicts are arising between role of control, schoolmaster, and keeper of the clients, observer and motivator, supporter, teacher, helper roles. These conflicts arise when conception of the social worker role of organization concur with social worker's opinion, also when clients do not accept social worker's role and when social worker's conceivable role contradicts accomplished role. Social workers during this process construct three types of professional identity: integral, functionary, and caregiver. Two types of job related stress covers this field of conflict.