Alexandra Damaschin (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania)
(Romania)
Topic: Rethinking social work practices. Experiences of children during Covid-19 pandemic
Language: English
Abstract
This paper brings into discussion the importance of children’s participation in social work practices. During Covid-19 pandemic, children were exposed to different experiences, which created discrepancy, fear, anxiety, confusion. These new realities unfortunately emphasize even more some problems already known, as child abuse and neglect, often being ignored. Closing the schools led to deepening these problems, some children being engaged in household chores, rather than to participate online in classrooms, or being isolated from school group, due to the lack of resources. Being a qualitative research, the paper presents the perspectives of children from vulnerable contexts regarding their own experiences during Covid-19 pandemic. Data are coming from four focus-groups and five in-depth interviews with children, organized in November 2020. Children’s representations empathize the need of preventive social services at local level, the need to be listened to, supported, and understood. Finally, the paper underlines the importance of considering the perspectives of children for improving strategies to promote and protect children’s rights.