Experimental Group Social Work Process for Orphans

Other in-depth interviews:

“The children here include children with mild disabilities, street children... in general, they are very diverse, so managing and getting the children into order, not skipping school or running away from the center is already a success. I also know a lot about social work, my staff also has many people with social work expertise, also intervene and consult with some children, but to be honest with you, intervention using the social work method as you mentioned is not yet possible, in the coming time I will focus on further research and orient the staff to implement this activity" (PVS, male, 57 years old - TTBTXH4).

Thus, we can see that whether or not social work activities are implemented and implemented effectively depends partly on the leadership team of child care facilities. Through discussion, research and in-depth interviews, the author learned that although the leadership team of the facilities is very dedicated to children and social workers, they have not really gone into depth to help social workers participate in training and practice social work interventions, nor have they developed plans for TEMC using social work methods, but have only stopped at sending staff to participate in short-term and long-term training courses on general social work, not going into depth in practicing social work.

3.4.4. Policy factors

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Currently, our Party and State have had and are having appropriate policies for vulnerable groups in society, helping them to reduce their difficulties, meet their minimum needs in life and move forward. However, currently, the team of social workers who take care of TEMC at childcare facilities are not receiving a salary that is really commensurate with the effort they put in. Social workers have to work, intervene and assist vulnerable groups every day, which can be TEMC, children with disabilities, the elderly, etc., but the salary they receive is not really appropriate.

Excerpts from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions below:

“Currently, after working for a few years, our salary is only about 3 million, if we add the direct percentage or indirect percentage, it will increase by a few hundred to 1 million. Basically, the salary is still very difficult, we still have to do some other jobs after hours to raise our children. We still complete the assigned tasks well, but to go deeper into the intervention according to the CTXHN method,

"We have not been able to do it yet and there are still many certain difficulties" (PVS, female, 32 years old - NVCTXH, Birla Children's Village).

“We play the role of mothers in families, we live in a good campus and are cared for by the village leaders, but honestly speaking, we are also constrained from morning to night, having to take care of our children, the salary is not very good, each month if we just enter the village we get about 3,600,000 VND, with extra

610,000 VND for meals/month with the children, and if a mother works for a long time, the salary can increase to 5,000,000 or more. But in general, we still hope that the State will give us a little more salary so that we can have some money to send back home to our families" (FGD, female, 47 years old - Social Worker, SOS Children's Village).

“The specific thing we do is work with children who are TEMC, homeless, disabled or take care of bedridden elderly people. There are really hidden hardships that outsiders cannot recognize. Sometimes in the middle of the day or late at night, when the children have problems, we have to be there to handle them and we are always like children. There are so many basic daily tasks to take care of the children that we cannot finish, so it is difficult to have time to invest, understand the children's needs and intervene for children with the same problems. If we could do that, it would be great, but…” (FGD, female, 46 years old - TTBTXH 4).

Through the sharing of leaders and staff at child care facilities, it shows that mechanisms and policies have a significant impact on social work activities. When their lives have not been improved due to limited salaries and limited knowledge and skills in social work, it will hinder the implementation of specialized methods of social work in general and social work in particular for TEMC groups.

Currently, the average salary of social workers is only from 3,000,000 VND to 5,500,000 VND, while market prices increase almost every day, which causes certain difficulties in their daily lives, possibly leading to a state of not being wholeheartedly devoted to their work.

Thus, to be able to apply the CTXHN intervention method in child care facilities requires many factors, in which the mechanism and policy factor is considered an important factor and has a significant impact on the application of the CTXHN method for TEMC in child care facilities.

3.4.5. Facility factors

In addition to factors related to leadership, staff, TEMC, and policy, physical factors are also important for every childcare facility.

The majority of opinions from the facilities stated that the facilities serving the beneficiaries are guaranteed and the best. Also through observation, the author found that the facilities of the 4th Social Protection Center and the two Children's Villages are basically quite spacious, clean and airy. However, the current child care facilities do not have specialized rooms for intervention for different groups of subjects, and do not have sufficient facilities specifically for TEMC and children with mild disabilities. At the Social Protection Center, there are currently some children with mild disabilities, but the support and care are provided together with other children, and there are no separate intervention, therapy or study rooms for them (Appendix 6 of the observation record).

Excerpt from in-depth interview below:

“Currently, the number of vulnerable groups, including TEMC, is increasing, and the State budget for them is also very large, so investing in facilities like today is an effort. We also really want to invest more to intervene and treat special cases, especially installing camera systems for each area and other equipment, but it is really difficult. Therefore, we take advantage of every space to work with children” (IVS, male, 41 years old - SOS Children's Village).

Excerpts from some other in-depth interviews:

“Our center has a fairly large space for the children to play, but it is difficult to meet the standards of other countries because Vietnam is still facing difficulties. We do not dare to propose anything more, while it is very difficult to get foreign funding. Our center was built a long time ago, some items are old and have signs of peeling, but I think it can still be used. Designing play areas, specialized rooms for children to rehabilitate and provide individual and group intervention is really a difficult problem for us at the present stage.” (PVS, male, 52 years old - TTBTXH4).

Through the sharing of social work groups and leaders of the facilities, the results show that the facilities of the Center and the Children's Villages have basically met the basic needs for child care and nurturing activities. However,

The design of equipment, specialized rooms for disabled orphans and rooms for individual and group intervention for each age group is still limited, and the playground has not really received appropriate investment due to many objective factors such as: area, budget source...

Chapter 3 Summary

Through the process of researching qualitative and quantitative information from TEMC, social workers, and leaders of TEMC care facilities, the author draws the following conclusions:

First, the needs and difficulties of TEMC: most of the basic needs of TEMC are well met, however, they still face many difficulties in psychology, emotions, learning, career orientation... These difficulties have a significant impact on the children's life and study. In addition, the children also show some limitations such as: low self-esteem, shyness, lack of plans in life and when they encounter these difficulties, they are supported and advised by NVCTXH but still only in a general or individual manner.

Second, the current status of CTXHN activities: in this part, the author focuses on surveying 4 main activities: life skills education activities; career guidance counseling activities; knowledge enhancement propaganda activities and intervention activities. The author researches and surveys these activities to assess whether the facilities implement or not and apply the group CTXHN method or not? To what extent and how effective is it?

Life skills education activities : all three facilities currently organize life skills education activities, but they are only mass-scale and not implemented according to the CTXHN process, and are not organized to meet the needs and desires of children. The content of life skills education sessions mainly focuses on skills such as reproductive health, traffic safety, friendship, etc. These skills are also often integrated into school lessons. While helping children increase their self-confidence, make their own decisions, identify problems, have good communication skills and set goals, they are hardly focused on. In terms of organization, it is still focusing on children in the Hall and implementing without differentiating children. Therefore, some life skills education activities, although organized regularly, are not very effective.

Career guidance activities , the author focused on surveying the group of children from 14 to 16 years old because this is the age group that children are most interested in career guidance. Through the survey process, the author found that the facilities have had career guidance activities but only stopped at career guidance in the form of concentration and individual counseling. Career guidance activities are also organized periodically but due to the centralized organization, the effectiveness is not high. The content of the career guidance sessions only stopped at orienting children to choose schools and careers without analyzing and evaluating children's abilities and interests.

Knowledge enhancement propaganda activities are an activity that all three facilities pay great attention to and are organized periodically. The majority of children said that they participated in knowledge enhancement propaganda activities. However, the forms of organization are still similar to life skills education activities, which are still mass organizations without forming small groups with differentiation by age, gender, needs, etc. Therefore, the effectiveness of knowledge enhancement propaganda activities is not high, so only 16.3% of children said that they could apply it in handling situations.

Intervention activities : This is considered the most obscure activity among the activities of all three facilities. During the intervention sessions, the social workers have not yet formed groups, have not created conditions for members to participate in planning, determining goals... the intervention method is still of the nature of individual support for each child when they have difficulties and need help.

Thus, although all three facilities have organized activities to educate life skills, career guidance, knowledge enhancement, and intervention, those activities have only stopped at the level of mass or individual participation, without the color of social work. This is reflected in the activities that have not been carried out according to the social work process, and have not complied with the principles of social work.

Chapter 4

EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS OF GROUP SOCIAL WORK FOR ORPHANS AND PROPOSAL OF SOME SOLUTIONS

4.1. Experimental process of group social work for orphans

4.1.1. Experimental basis

4.1.1.1. Theoretical basis

Social work in general and CTXHN in particular have increasingly demonstrated their role and importance in intervention and support activities for TEMC in general and TEMC in child care facilities in particular. Applying the CTXHN process to intervention for TEMC groups is considered an effective activity and meets the needs of children as well as the actual situation in current child care facilities.

Through the process of social work with a series of intervention activities, support from social workers for a group of TEMC with common problems, needs, aspirations, and goals with interactive activities of the group helps members share difficulties, experience in handling problems as well as make plans to solve those difficulties. Social work is a method aimed at helping group members restore their functions and develop their existing abilities and solve problems. For groups of TEMC with common difficulties that need support, applying the social work process is considered an optimal solution. Through the group intervention process, not only does it help group members solve problems but it also helps them have an environment to learn from each other, assert themselves and strive to improve in life.

Activities such as life skills education, career counseling, knowledge enhancement, and intervention for TEMC groups at childcare facilities are considered important and necessary. Furthermore, applying the CTXHN intervention process for TEMC groups in the above aspects will be appropriate and easy because these are activities that most TEMC are interested in and enjoy. The CTXHN process for TEMC is carried out in 4 stages: 1) Preparation and group establishment stage; 2) Initiation stage; 3) Activity implementation stage; 4) Finalization and evaluation stage [73,94].

4.1.1.2. Practical basis

Firstly, based on the survey results on the current status of social work activities at three child care facilities on a number of activities such as: life skills education; career guidance; knowledge enhancement and intervention and therapy. The author selected an activity that still has many limitations and is also the activity that most TEMCs need and want to be supported to conduct an experiment on the social work process.

Second, through the survey, the majority of opinions said that although TEMCs are allowed to participate in activities, they only participate according to the regular schedule of the Center/Children's Village and have not participated as a member of the group and are carried out according to the CTXHHN process. Activities are often organized on a mass scale or only support individuals individually. Therefore, the results of life skills education activities; career guidance; knowledge enhancement propaganda and intervention and therapy have not been effective.

Third, most TEMCs also want to participate in social work activities to improve and solve the difficulties they are facing. By participating in social work activities, they can interact, exchange, learn and share more, as well as plan and solve problems together.

Fourthly , through in-depth interviews, group discussions with social workers and leaders of the three facilities, the majority of opinions said that in reality, the facilities have not implemented activities according to the social work process due to many factors such as: the social work team is still small, not much experience in social work, the workload of social work staff is still large, in the two SOS Children's Villages and Birla, the majority of mothers and aunts only have a 9/12 or 12/12 level and have never been trained in social work in general and social work in particular. Therefore, to be able to detect problematic TEMC groups and provide support according to the social work method is very difficult and has not been done yet.

Fifth , the survey results show that the majority of TEMCs like to participate in activities following the CTXHN method, in which career guidance is one of the activities that all three facilities have not yet applied and implemented according to the CTXHN process in the intervention for TEMCs. This is also an activity that the majority of TEMCs, especially children from 14 to 16 years old, social workers and leaders of the facilities want to experiment with to support the TEMC group, helping them to shape their abilities, interests and directions. The survey results at Birla Children's Village Hanoi showed that up to 89.7%;

SOS Children's Villages has 86.0% and TTBTXH4 has 83.3% of opinions that they like to participate in the career counseling group. If the CTXHN intervention model is successful, it will be a premise to promote other CTXHN activities to be implemented.

For those reasons, the author conducted an impact experiment through the activity: Career counseling for a TEMC group at Birla Children's Village, Hanoi.

4.1.2. Experimental design

Experimental purpose: to help the TEMC group at Birla Children's Village Hanoi identify their strengths, limitations in capacity, as well as their interests and understand the labor market, thereby identifying and choosing a suitable career. In addition, the successful career counseling experiment will be the premise for implementing and expanding the CTXHN intervention model for TEMC groups at childcare facilities.

Experimental hypothesis : Currently, the majority of TEMC, especially children aged 14-16 years old at TEMC care facilities, are still limited in career guidance activities. Most children have not discovered their own strengths and limitations, and do not understand the labor market and choosing a career for themselves.

Experimental subjects : 7 TEMCs at Birla Children's Village Hanoi, details in

Table 4.2 .

Time and location of the experiment : From January 7, 2018 to July 29, 2018 (from 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. or from 7:20 p.m. to 8:20 p.m. every Sunday) at Birla Children's Village, Hanoi.

4.1.3. Experimental results of group social work process for orphans

4.1.3.1. Experimental content

In this section, the author conducts experiments on three main contents, which are also the three basic objectives of the career counseling experiment for the TEMC group at Birla Children's Village, Hanoi.

Content 1: Help group members discover their strengths, abilities, and interests through the application of the Johari Book within 10 weeks.

Content 2: Help group members assess the relationship between their abilities, interests and labor market needs over a 10-week period.

Content 3 : Help group members choose a suitable career for themselves within 10 weeks.