Mariëtte Lusse focuses on the opportunities for children growing up in poverty, and what social workers can do. Together with special professor Nicole Lucassen from Erasmus University Rotterdam, she is researching how to better assist families in poverty. They are doing this on behalf of the Municipality of Rotterdam and the National Fund for Childrens Aid.
Their research highlights the assistance requests that families in poverty primarily have and how they are being addressed. For this, families in four Rotterdam neighborhoods were intensively followed over a period of 2 years. This took place in Delfshaven, Oude Noorden, Tarwewijk, and Beverwaard. The researchers followed social workers from neighborhood teams and from organizations that provide assistance without conditions and waiting lists. These included House of Hope, Thuis in West, Goud van Noord, the Van Veldhuizen Foundation, and the Family Approach of the municipality.
Acute Problems
Lusse: The research shows that social workers spend a lot of time solving acute problems. For example, high debts, housing issues, or legal matters. The bureaucratic rules and arranging the necessary assistance take a lot of attention and time. As a result, there is too little room to work on underlying issues, such as parents who have no friends or neighbors to support them or who find it difficult to go out. The risk is high that those real problems will not be solved. Therefore, for some families, it is desirable to have long-term assistance. So that not only the acute problems are solved, but there is also time to strengthen the families themselves.
Attention for Children
The researchers also see that there is little attention for children. Social workers do apply for funds for things like a bed, glasses, or a bike for a child. Of course, children are also helped by that. But children also have their own questions and concerns. When there is a lot of stress at home, they often cannot turn to their parents. And social workers often have too little time for that now. Fortunately, there are informal organizations that deliberately pay more attention to children. They also connect families in poverty with each other, so they get a stronger network. The children also benefit from that.
Improving Support
The results of this research will be used for the professionalization of (future) social workers and other professionals and for improving policy.
Want to read more about the chair and the research?
That can be done via the website hogeschoolrotterdam.nl. Link opens an external page.