215319 Globalization of emotion work: Fear management in child protection work with undocumented immigrant families

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 : 8:30 AM - 8:45 AM

Elspeth M. Slayter, PhD, MSW , School of Social Work, Salem State University, Salem, MA
Katrin Kriz, PhD , Department of Sociology, Emmanuel College, Boston, MA
Current social work practice with undocumented immigrant families takes place in an at-times hostile policy environment. Social workers engaged in child welfare work with undocumented immigrants face the challenge of a doubly-hostile environment in which to work, given parents' fears of child removal. While the challenges of child protection practice with immigrant families are well-documented, little is known about the process of client engagement from the workers' perspective - and whether the process of engagement fosters better case outcomes for children and families. Building on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 20 child welfare workers in the Northeastern United States in 2009, findings suggest that that child welfare workers spend a considerable amount of time and energy managing fear and mistrust when working with immigrant families during the engagement phase - and beyond. Drawing on best practices for the promotion of rigor in qualitative data analysis, factors related to fear management were identified, namely immigrants' experiences in their countries of origin and immigration policy and practice in the United States, especially deportation. Implications relate to the challenges of facilitating access to child welfare-related social and health services that can foster positive outcomes for children and families.

Learning Areas:
Ethics, professional and legal requirements
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
To discuss the challenges faced by immigrant families and their child welfare workers in the current immigration policy environment To formulate approaches to fear management with immigrant families who are child-welfare system involved To design community-specific approaches to client engagement when working with immigrant families who are child welfare involved

Keywords: Access Immigration, Children and Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the co-principal investigator of the project from which the data for this presentation were derived. While obtaining my doctorate in health service research, I was trained in qualitative research methods. I have also worked as a front-line child welfare worker in Brooklyn, New York (not the site of the current research), and am familiar with the challenges of child welfare practice with immigrant families.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.