De inzet van de buurtteams Jeugd en Gezin ter bevordering van de eigen kracht van ouders.

Abstract

In The Netherlands youth policies are changing; the responsibility for youth care transfers from the provincial government to the local government. The municipality of Utrecht has decided to start a pilot with the goal to make a head start in the new social youth care system. In this pilot social workers are embedding empowerment in their work ethics. In this study empowerment of parents by social workers has been studied. Eleven social workers are interviewed and questioned about their actions and thoughts when empowering parents. Only two of the workers expect having to deal with a possible negative influence of the social network of parents, and opinions on the best approach in this situation are divided. Also, social workers question themselves about what to do when someone doesn’t want to be empowered. There is a need for extended studies on the limitations of empowerment of parents by social workers and best practices of empowerment in social work.