Competencies of social workers regarding forensic assessments of sexually abused children in a rural area

Abstract

As a social worker working for the South African Police Service the researcher is rendering services to the sexually abused children in the Eastern Cape rural areas. While doing forensic assessments to the sexually abused children the researcher observed that specialized training is efficient. With this research the researcher aims at describing and exploring the own views of social workers in rural areas regarding competencies social workers need in performing forensic assessments of sexually abused children. This study also reveals that social workers performing forensic assessments need to be trained in the field of forensic practice, since they need to follow guidelines and rules during the forensic assessment process with sexually abused children. The concern is that the social workers in rural areas are expected to perform forensic assessments while they are not trained in this specific field and functioning with limited resources. In this study it became evident that most social workers performing assessments of sexually abused children lack knowledge on performing forensic assessment of sexually abused children. These social workers need training because they do not follow any protocol. According to most of the participants social workers only ask the child about sexual abuse. They do not have resources, such as assessment tools for assessing children, suitable cars to drive on gravel roads and most of their offices are overcrowded and not child friendly. The social workers doing forensic assessments need to be trained in the field of sexual abuse and forensic assessments of sexually abused children to prevent further trauma to the child.