Narratives of early career child welfare social workers in Northern Ireland

: how working with children and families experiencing adversity and trauma has been influenced by neoliberalism

Abstract

The child welfare social work role often entails making difficult decisions about children's wellbeing and it is thus acknowledged that as a career, child welfare social work can be challenging and stressful. The persistently high rate of turnover in the sector has proved to be a significant problem which can impact the quality of service. Despite the nature of the problem of staff turnover and considerable research in the field, there has been limited studies exploring the lived experience of these social workers particularly in relation to their motivations on entering the profession and in the early phase of career as they navigate the complex terrain that is the professional role. To help close the gap, this qualitative study uses a combination of narrative-based interviews with nine early career child welfare social workers and semi-structured interviews with three managers, to allow for a deeper analysis of participant lived experiences within their organisation and on the influences in their working life.

The findings reveal that, underpinned by a neo-liberal policy agenda, managerialist ideals seem to infuse every aspect of the s9cial worker experience from interactions with families through the support that they as workers are offered. Within the profession and within the organisation, reflecting perhaps the emphasis on individualism, redolent in the broader policy arena, a discourse of professional resilience and self-care has also emerged. For early career child welfare social workers who have been motivated to enter a profession in order to help others, such a discourse, appears at variance with the value base of social work and does not appear to serve the support needs of the newest entrants to the profession. A shift in the theoretical paradigm is required if such fundamental issues are to be tended to in practice environs.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2026.

Date of Award	Jul 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Southern Health and Social Services Board
Supervisor	Suzanne Mooney (Supervisor) & Caitlin Donnelly (Supervisor)