Abstract: Submission #152

Abstract Drawing on Fricker’s (2007) thesis on testimonial and hermeneutical injustice, this presentation by a social work academic and two social work practitioners employed in a Child and Youth Care Centre (CYCC), examines linguistic practices and dominant discourses in child ‘protection’ services (CPS) within pervasive positivist, neoliberal and New Public Management (NPM) influences. The main aims of the research were to use the analysis of social workers’ case reports as a springboard for Freireian forms of reflexive discussion, and to counter normalized academic researcher privileges. We did this by adopting an appreciative enquiry, decolonized and praxis-oriented research approach, characterized by ethical, respectful and open dialogue, relationality and reciprocity that validate the contributions of practitioners to research and knowledge development, which is an ethical requisite of practice research.

The research was guided by the following questions:
• Does the language in social work case reports reflect congruence between the profession’s value premises and social workers’ daily practices?
• What is the potential of reflexive dialogue in challenging taken-for-granted, normalised assumptions about child protection (CP) in the South African context?
• What is the agential power of social workers within the structural relations of power in the CPS?

Drawing on the analysis of referral reports, that included court reports, of social workers motivating for placement of children into the CYCC, and our reflections on them vis-à-vis the broader socio-economic realities of South Africa, we will discuss the three major themes that emerged: 1) Epistemic injustice, poverty and child protection in South Africa; 2) Factors contributing to epistemic injustice; and 3) Countering epistemic injustice: The value of reflexive dialogue. The reflexive discussions on the reports enabled us to interrogate social work’s principles of non-judgmentalism, social justice, human rights, and respect for human dignity vis-a-vis daily practices, which the results of this study reflected, are often characterized by a disjuncture that produces ethical dilemmas.