Obstacles Facing Social Services Offices at Family Protection Department in Jordan from the Viewpoint of Some Employees and Those Concerned with Their Technical Affairs

Abstract

This study aims at answering the questions: What are the obstacles facing social services offices at the Family Protection Department in Jordan? What are the patterns of beneficiaries receiving services? What are the requirements and aspirations of staff from the viewpoint of employees and those concerned with technical affairs?
The study used the qualitative research method based on four approaches: Content analysis to examine the roles, tasks and features of the service recipients of the examined offices. Semi-structured interviews with some of the office employees and those concerned with their technical affairs to determine obstacles facing them and the impact of the service recipients’ trends on the development of the employees’ knowledge, skills and trends. Brainstorming to determine the training requirements and aspirations of the employees. Focus groups conducted with some of the employees and those concerned with their technical affairs to determine methods used to overcome their obstacles. The study received its data and information from a deliberate sample of employees consisting of 11 male and female employees of social services offices and those concerned with their technical affairs. They are divided into two groups. The first group consists of eight heads of social services offices comprising 47% of all heads of offices, consisting of 17% and 18% of the total number of employees working in the offices, which are 45 male and female employees. The second group consists of three employees from the Ministry of Social Development’s headquarters and field offices.
The study results revealed that social services offices of the Family Protection Department face twenty obstacles. The most significant of which were: the unclear professional role carried out by social workers at those offices, their marginalization by police officers, the loss of technical reference among their ministry’s directorates, the overlap of their authorities and tasks with their police counterparts, the many files they are required to follow up on, the absence of employment description cards and the lack of procedural manuals. These problems can be treated collectively by adopting an institutional trend and quality control of services. Results also revealed that the sectors receiving most of the services from social services offices are victims of both sexual and physical violence. This demands that service providers for these sectors develop their knowledge, skills and trends. The results also revealed that employees of social services offices have eight training requirements, the most important of which are the implementation of social protection legislations, which can be met through continuous education programs. These workers also have seven expectations from the ministry supervising them, the most important of which are receiving financial incentives and officially recognizing the difficulty of their jobs. These expectations and others can be met should their ministry’s resources be developed.