Ideology of Child Protection
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When a case of child abuse is reported, an investigation begins. This can result in significantly different responses from the affected family and the child protection service workers. The family experiences fear, anxiety, and the need to cope with the situation, whereas the professional has to stick to procedures to avoid blame in case something goes wrong. The best outcome for the child occurs if the congruence between professional and family perspectives is high. Ideology associated with child protection involve distinct discourses, which are people’s communication practices at an intersubjective level. These ideological discourses are blame, bureaucratic, medical, penal, humanistic, and technocratic. The blame discourse involves people holding others, like the parent or social worker, responsible in case something bad happens to the child. Here, the media might be used as a tool for moral crusades. Bureaucratic procedures engage all the steps which an organization like Child Protection Service has undertake, e.g. case conferences, reviews, registers, etc. Hereby, the purpose is to avoid criticism. From the medical perspective, the offender is viewed as an individual with a medical history, syndromes, and pathology. The purpose is to treat and cure the parent, with the aid of medical expertise and technology. The penal discourse implies the legal actions that follow the act of depravity or abuse punishing the offender. Humanistic discourse encompasses sympathy or feelings of pity that the Child Protection worker might have towards people who are responsible for the situation in which the victim is in. The technocratic discourse involves risk assessment gadgets in order to solve the situation. Here, a mechanical classification and processing of the client is thought to be useful.
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