Manifestations of Institutional Aggression in the Practice of Child Protection Workers

Abstract

Studies show that practice in some professional fields may be socially and morally unattractive: employees working with stigmatized groups have to use methods, related to aggression and confrontation, which leads to stress and reduces their professional well-being. This applies to child rights and protection institutions which have a responsibility to take a child out of the family in the case of a threat to their safety. Problems related to workplace quality lead to a lack of qualified employees in this sector, and this problem is emphasized not only in Lithuania. Institutional aggression is typical of institutions to which the state attributes certain functions of abuse (e.g. public safety). Employee’s intervention into the family can also be regarded as aggression performed by institutions, and the nature of work in these institutions may be associated with the problem of workplace aggression. However, in the research on workplace quality among the indicators of workplace aggression we do not find the indicator of employees’ aggression against clients. We presume that an employee’s function to take a child from a family (the use of coercion) can affect their well-being. So, in the context of workplace quality, the concept of workplace aggression has to be re-conceptualized by including institutional aggression enforced by an employee.

Manifestations and Preconditions of Child Rights Protection—Specialists’ Aggression towards Caregivers and Child in the Situation of Child Removal from the Family

“…Therefore, it is important to investigate whether this particular phenomenon exists, to what extent, in what forms, how professionals reflect it, and what explanations for aggression they can provide. Researchers recognize that this is a much-needed area of research related to ensuring the human rights of clients and the quality of services, as well as the issues of professionalism and adequate working conditions [10,31,32]. This type of research is essential for understanding what needs to be conducted in order to change and improve the CRP system [33,34].…”

“…Before discussing research methodology and results, it is necessary to define the essential concepts. It is challenging to grasp and define what aggression is, especially aggression towards clients [10], and even more difficult to define aggression in an aggression-saturated situation, which is encoded in the very nature of CRPS function and includes breach of privacy and disruption of family ties by those in power [31]. Therefore, we will apply the definition of the essential concept of aggression suggested by Yon et al [35] for further analysis: "Overall abuse [against clients] is a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship [.…”