Poverty, Shame and Child Protection Practice in England

This presentation discusses the findings of Giving Poverty a Voice, a collaborative project with ATD Fourth World, an international human rights organization working with families living in poverty. The project brought... [ view full abstract ]

This presentation discusses the findings of Giving Poverty a Voice, a collaborative project with ATD Fourth World, an international human rights organization working with families living in poverty. The project brought together family members living in poverty with experience of child protection services, academics and practitioners in four workshops. The aims of the project are to develop a training programme for social workers on work with families living in poverty to be delivered by the family members, and also to contribute more widely to the development of critical social work practice.
The theme of this presentation is poverty and shame. Family members identified that living in poverty was more than just lack of resources, but was also about being treated with a lack of dignity and respect. Shame is regarded as individually felt but socially constructed and imposed on people living in poverty by the hegemonic narrative of general public discourse and their dealings with others around them. Drawing on Lister’s theory of the politics of redistribution and recognition&respect, family members narratives of their experiences of social work practice were analyzed and ‘Othering’ processes identified. The feelings of shame associated with poverty were compounded by experiences of a child protection system that left many feeling powerless, voiceless, unfairly blamed and on occasions ‘set up to fail’. Social work, however, can also be experienced differently through practice that recognizes the complex interactions between personal problems and structural inequality and pays attention to the use of professional power in ways that promote rather than diminish human dignity and family members’ capabilities.
This presentation is part of the symposium - An exploration of the reproduction of domination and subordination in institutional and professional interactions with children and adults in social work practice with Johanna Hefel and Heidrun Schulze.