Browsing by Subject "hyvinvointityöntekijä"

The focus of my study was to find out, what kind of parlances concerning welfare service work at child welfare institution employees construct and what kind of agency is available to - and possible for -them in that particular context. The study offers information that can be used when developing welfare service work at child welfare institutions, and brings up the employees' talk in a situation where child protection is said to be in a critical state in our society and in which general societal discussion has focused mainly on the work of social workers. For this study, I interviewed six employees working for three different child protective service institutions. Two of the interviewees were male, and four were female. I analyzed the research material by means of discourse analysis. The results include four parlances, which are parlance of care, parlance of control, employee-focused parlance and societal parlance. In the parlances of care and control, the focus was on the relationship between the employee and the child (client). Employee-focused parlance was the strongest one. It represented talk where the work itself seemed to be organised through – and was dependent on - the welfare service employee. In these kinds of situations, the employees' personal qualities like gender, attitude and personality were spoken of as central to being and acting at work. In talk, the use of personality for work purposes was either approved of or settled against. There was also talk concerning welfare service work at child welfare institutions in relation to society. This parlance was used to defend child welfare service institutions' place in the field of foster care. The typical things, which are common in welfare service work widely, guided the child welfare service employees' agency. The employees' agency was, from this point of view minor. From the point of view of society it was limited to social political decisions, child protection law and other agents working outside the institution. Inside the child welfare institution agency was limited to the wellbeing of children who lived in a child welfare institution, and the day-to-day structure in the institution. Also, in talk, the employees' agency was gendered. According to the results, however, the employees also have power over their own way of being in the context of work. That is also why the employees' agency seemed to be strong. The results also showed that welfare service employees' agency is based on their ability to adjust to the situational and general demands put upon them in their work.