Putting Policy into Practice: A Qualitative Analysis of Front-Line Care Work in Human Services

Authors' Affiliations

Julianna Jenkins, Student Researcher in Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, The University of Virginia's College at Wise. Christa Moore, Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, The University of Virginia's College at Wise.

Location

Culp Center Ballroom

Start Date

4-25-2023 9:00 AM

End Date

4-25-2023 11:00 AM

Poster Number

146

Faculty Sponsor’s Department

Other - please list

Sociology UVAW

Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor

Christa Moore

Classification of First Author

Undergraduate Student

Competition Type

Non-Competitive

Type

Oral Presentation

Project's Category

Sociology, Family Health Services, Family Law

Abstract or Artist's Statement

Previous research reveals the existence of social distance between the social policies that govern care work and human services that make up child welfare systems and their front-line implementation by direct service workers. The authors suggest that the nature of child welfare and human services requires discretion and flexibility that is not built into governing social policies. Our study uses qualitative ethnographic methods including participant observation, informal interviewing, and content analysis to determine the extent to which front-line barriers persist to implementing child welfare and related types of human services social policies and legal mandates. A comparison of different human services settings is presented along with a social policy analysis. A discussion of implications for front-line care work and ongoing research goals will be included.

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Apr 25th, 9:00 AM Apr 25th, 11:00 AM

Putting Policy into Practice: A Qualitative Analysis of Front-Line Care Work in Human Services

Culp Center Ballroom

Previous research reveals the existence of social distance between the social policies that govern care work and human services that make up child welfare systems and their front-line implementation by direct service workers. The authors suggest that the nature of child welfare and human services requires discretion and flexibility that is not built into governing social policies. Our study uses qualitative ethnographic methods including participant observation, informal interviewing, and content analysis to determine the extent to which front-line barriers persist to implementing child welfare and related types of human services social policies and legal mandates. A comparison of different human services settings is presented along with a social policy analysis. A discussion of implications for front-line care work and ongoing research goals will be included.