Forensic social work is a fairly new concept in the South African context.
However, the activities of forensic social work began with the dawn of the
profession itself. In recent times the demand for social workers in court has
spiraled.
The researcher endeavored to explore the perceptions and experiences of
social workers functioning in the courts. Further, the problems that they
encountered were also examined. The results of this qualitative study stem from
in-depth interviews with thirteen social workers.
The main findings indicate that the majority of social workers had not received
any training in legal processes prior to their first experience in court. Social
workers also perceived legal officials to be lacking in training in respect of child
related issues. Social workers are generally called to testify in relation to their
expertise of a specific child, and not in relation to their expertise of subject
matter.
In view of the demands placed upon social workers to appear in court, it is
recommended that social workers endeavor to organise themselves into a group
that can lobby for the recognition of social workers as experts. It is the
researcher's contention that such a concerted effort by social workers will
improve the status of the profession in the legal system. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2001.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/9516 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Kisten, Annite. |
| Contributors | Matthias, Carmel Rose. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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