Whose Choices？Whose Dilemmas？In Search the Working Model with Youth Prostitutions

• Main Authors: Yuchen Lin, 林瑜珍
• Other Authors: 許雅惠
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2003
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/19046332973099720268

碩士 === 國立暨南國際大學 === 社會政策與社會工作學系 === 91 === The law of the “Child and Youth Sexual Prevention Act” has been established for eight years. Following rapid social changes, most of female adolescents involved in prostitution have no longer been forced by others. Rather, they were voluntarily engaged in prostitution. Many female adolescents were assigned to compulsory education, counseling and family treatment as involuntary clients. Social workers usually were introduced by the court, with a role that was perceived as having much authority. Since this misconception might create many conflicts and difficulties in the service delivery process, it is imperative that supports must be offered to social workers, so they can deal with the clients, monitor proper services, and fulfill the ultimate goal of protecting children and youth. This study examines several issues from perspectives of social workers: (1) perceptions and attitudes of social workers toward misfortunate female adolescences; (2) conflicts and difficulties that were faced by the social workers while providing services; and (3) development of treatment model within the placement center for resolving the conflicts and difficulties. This study utilizes a qualitative research method to collect data by forming a focus group and interviewing six social workers from various placement centers in Taiwan. Those social workers have involved in direct services and placement treatments for at least two years. The main findings of the study include: (a) The following delinquent behaviors of the misfortunate female adolescents were identified: (1) their personality and characteristics changed frequently according to time; (2) they observed the reaction of the male customers carefully in order to satisfy male customers’ desire and lust; (3) they did not have a mature understanding of gender role, sexual relationship, and sexual orientation; and (4) they possessed open-minded sexual behavior, yet lacked a clear understanding of sexual education. In terms of personal interaction, they involved in sub-group in order to gain friendships and self-identity. They do care about others, but most of them did not establish a clear boundary between personal relationships. They were willing to sacrifice lots of things for friends, however, they had never been aware of the “traumatic reaction”. Therefore, they usually need a prolonged session of psychological counseling. (b) The social workers experience various dilemmas under different circumstances: there are ten types of dilemmas about professional ethics and values for social workers. The social workers felt anxious with serious existing conflicts and knew little about how to respond, such as “guidance vs. management”, “clients’ self-decision vs. workers’ professional diagnosis’, “personal treatment vs. family intervention”, and “general education vs. special education”. In terms of professional skills, the social workers perceived that they did not possess adequate counseling skills, and they would need the support and intervention of the professional counseling advisors. On the other hand, those social workers were exhausted due to the long hours of work. They consistently struggle for a balance in caring about clients and themselves under an inflexible working schedule. Therefore, they expect more recognition from the general publics and seek more opportunities for personal development and professional trainings. (c) The following direct practice models were mentioned by those interviewees：the guidance skills used by the social workers mainly based on aspects such as cognitive-behavioral theory, ecological perspective, and some on feminist perspective, psychological counseling, and case management model. In terms of intervene goal and treatment strategies, social workers have become more practical in order to modify the irrational thinking model and life styles of the misfortunate female adolescents. Workers tend to focus on treatments in personal cognition, rebuilding family relationships and interpersonal relationships. Treatment strategies include, using systematic, structured group and semi-structured group design to satisfy the needs of each individual client in different stages. In terms of constructing ideal resource network and team work, most workers show a lot of concerns and expectations. Adequate manpower/resources, the support of counseling professionals, individual counseling, and life management are fundamental elements for building a successful social service delivery. Finally, this study provides suggestions about how to help those misfortunate female adolescents, how to empower social workers and how to make direct services in the placement centers more successful and friendly.