Factores económicos que inciden en la activación del procedimiento abreviado

Concerns expressed by some social work academics (Smith 2011; McDonald 2006; Webb 2006; Evetts 2003; Lymbery 2001) that New Public Management and the neo- liberal political context poses significant problems for caring social work practice are reinforced by the findings of this study. In spite of social workers having a clear idea of what constitutes caring practice, they revealed that care is not always easy to maintain when faced with policies and procedures that conflict with social work values, time and economic constraints, time-consuming administrative procedures and a hyper vigilant risk aversive agenda. None of this stopped social workers from ‘caring about’ their clients, however there were times when it was difficult or impossible to demonstrate care to the degree that social workers would have liked.

In common with previous research (Gregory 2010; McDonald & Chenoweth 2009; White 2009; Stanford 2008; Meagher & Healy 2003; Vonk 1999), my findings showed that social workers identified ways to continue to care and to challenge the constraints they faced in their practice. Participants in this research made use of gaps in systems that provided room to care, thereby demonstrating creativity in their

176 commitment to care for others. Others blatantly ignored rules and took professional risks while providing moral justification for their actions. Some social workers stood up to managers and other professionals by advocating strongly for their clients and challenging practices and policies that were antithetical to caring practice. Others used more strategic methods by building relationships with managers and colleagues and choosing to only fight the battles that were considered to be most important. In order to do this, I argue the results indicate that social workers used moral courage and took responsibility for their commitment to caring practice, which I now discuss.

Moral courage

Peterson and Seligman (2004, p. 197)define moral courage as ‘exercising courage in any situation in which there might be opposition to what you are doing in a way that might result in personal cost to you if you went ahead and did it’. Often the

demonstrations of resistance enacted by the social workers in this study revealed significant levels of moral courage, with social workers facing feelings of insecurity and uncertainty in regards to repercussions and consequences of the decisions they made and actions that they took. This was particularly highlighted in Mary’s account of assisting a child to write a letter to the court about parental abuse. While Mary strongly believed in and felt justified in her professional decision, even after complaints were made against her by the child’s father, the uncertainty around the consequences of this action engendered a sense of fear that her job may have been in jeopardy.

Moral courage is viewed by van Hooft (2006, p. 127) as a moral virtue that is motivated by love or care for others, and which overrides the fear that necessarily precedes an act of courage. The commitment to protect and/or defend someone or something that one cares about takes precedence over the feared consequences (van Hooft 2006, p. 138). MacIntyre (1981, p. 32) also views courage as a virtue, arguing that:

If someone says that he cares for some individual, community or cause, but is unwilling to risk harm or danger on his, her or its own behalf, he puts into question the genuineness of his care and concern. Courage, the capacity to risk harm or danger to oneself, has its role in human life because of this connection to care and concern.

177 Van Hooft (2006, p. 141) asserts that courage builds confidence, because when courage leads to a moral good it becomes easier to be courageous in the future. This premise was evident in the findings of this study as social workers with many years of experience (Cloudy Bay, Sally, Shirley and Yasmine) expressed more confidence in rebelling against the system or strategically navigating through it than those who had worked in the field for only a few years (Billy, Kate and Mary). Courage can be seen to have developed as a result of social workers taking responsibility to ensure care is extended towards their clients.

Taking responsibility for care as an ethic in practice

A sense of responsibility to meet the needs of clients often overrode social worker participants’ sense of duty to organisational rules and regulations. These findings support Tronto’s (1993) view that responsibility is a key dimension of an ethic of care, in which care is recognised as a moral necessity because it is the ‘right’ thing to do. The responsibility that social workers take on to continue to care for their clients may conflict with organisational policy. This was evident when Cloudy Bay decided to buy cigarettes for a client who did not have the freedom to purchase them himself, and when Kellie chose to take care of a sick woman’s children for a few hours until other arrangements could be made.

As van Hooft (2006, p. 143) argues, ‘taking responsibility’ is a moral virtue because it involves a degree of self-sacrifice or risk. While the social workers who

participated in this study were aware that their actions could possibly lead to conflict with managers or colleagues, their sense of responsibility to care led them to make the decisions they did. It is important to note, however, that such decisions were carefully considered, and arguments to justify their actions were prepared in case the social workers were confronted by authority figures. In spite of the tenacity that was evident in the social workers’ stories of remaining committed to caring practice, this did not happen without taking a toll on participants. A commitment to caring practice also required a commitment to self-care, which is the focus of the next section of this chapter.

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Doing care by incorporating self-care

The findings indicate that the care social workers demonstrated in their practice involved considering and attending to certain limits and boundaries in order to ensure that they also took care of themselves. These findings support Noddings’ (1995, p. 26) contention that the relational aspect of an ethic of care ‘does not separate self and other in caring’. She argues that it is not possible to continue to care if the person doing the caring is diminished due to feelings of being

overwhelmed and a lack of support from either the person one is caring for or from others. In order to continue to care it is sometimes necessary to ‘free oneself to whatever degree one must to remain minimally, but actually caring’ (Noddings, 1995, p.27).

Awareness that the constant day-to-day struggle of hearing difficult stories, fighting the barriers of the organisational and political context, and dealing with difficulties in their own lives made social workers aware of the need to attend to their own self- care. The ways they did this included taking time off, going for a short walk during work hours, seeking professional supervision and making time for hobbies, and family and friends outside of work time. Most of these strategies for maintaining self-care were not only employed as a way of caring for themselves, but also so that the social workers could continue to care for their clients in a meaningful way. They did not view self-care as an excuse to not care about and for their clients, but rather as a necessary component of their role as caring workers.

A couple of participants did express concerns that from their observations some social workers do use self-care as an excuse to distance themselves from their clients, believing that it was used as an avoidance tactic by them. Therefore, this study shows several sides to the concept of self-care. Some participants viewed self- care as necessary to continue to care for their clients and others viewed it as

necessary to maintain a sense of their own comfort and wellbeing. When self-care became an excuse for not caring for clients, or when self-care overrode care towards clients, it was thought to be problematic. While scholars (Weekes 2014; Lee & Miller 2013; Alkema, Linton & Davies 2008; Lloyd, King & Chenoweth 2002) who have studied self-care in social work practice do briefly acknowledge the impact that

179 ‘stress’, ‘burnout’ and ‘compassion fatigue’ have on the social workers’ ability to meet the needs of their clients, the predominant focus is on the impact of a lack of self-care on social workers and organisations. No direct link is made between self- care and an ethic of care in social work practice. The findings of my research suggest that the impact of a lack of self-care on social workers’ abilities to care for clients is as important as the wellbeing of the social worker.

In summary, the social workers who participated in this study ‘did care’ in a myriad of ways. They cared by connecting with clients, ‘being there’, advocating for clients and challenging the obstacles to caring practice, and intervening in the lives of their clients only when they considered it to be absolutely necessary or when it was perceived to be the most caring thing to do. They cared by ensuring that they looked after themselves, so that they were mentally and physically in a position to continue to care for their clients. I now progress this chapter by answering how client

participants experienced care in direct social work practice.

Clients’ Experiences of Care in Direct Social Work