Reflections on social intervention from the experience of single-mother families

Abstract

The aim of this research is to document the experience of social work intervention experienced by women heading single-mother families in Zaragoza. We used qualitative research to analyse semi-structured interviews with 13 women forced to seek help from social services due to unemployment and/or earning less than the national minimum wage. These interviews were carried out within the framework of a broader investigation regarding mothers heading single-mother families with diverse origins, entry routes into single-motherhood and financial circumstances. The findings from the interviews revealed experiences and perceptions ranging from highly positive to highly negative, indicating striking levels of heterogeneity in professional social work interventions. As well as giving these women a voice to express their opinion on their experiences of social intervention, this research analyses those experiences from the perspective of feminist social work. The research confirms a clear risk of infantilizing and pathologizing applicants, in addition to a panorama in which social work professionals appear to succumb to bureaucratization, limited resources and ethical dilemmas, significantly undermining their professional practice. At the other extreme certain professional practices and highly positive experiences of support and empowerment reflected the fact that financial aid and benefits are a right. In the context of such a diverse reality, it is proposed to incorporate into social work practice methodologies with a gender and/or feminist perspective that provide mothers with satisfactory responses to requested interventions. There is also a need for training plans that underline a positive feminist vision of single-mother families as an example of responsibility and resilience in family care and support, as well as placing value on the opportunities for transformation that these families represent for women and society.