Abstract:

Introduction:
Social work has a history of concerning itself with child welfare by assessing and intervening in their lives. The focus of practice has tradtionally focused on children’s physical contexts and social environments. The advent of the digital era – the internet, technology, smart devices and social media – has resulted in children and young people being invested in a social world beyond their immediate micro-systems. The dynamic ecosystemic environments in which adolescents explore autonomy and identity ‘includes cyberspace as both a system, and a means to interact with many other systems’[1]. This provides an impetus for social services to consider the professional, ethical and practice implications of technologically-assisted practice.

Methodology:
This paper critically examines the role of technology in social work with children, and explores the theoretical and empirically-informed debates about risks, opportunities, impacts and outcomes for children in a digital world. While arguments that the monitoring of children’s use of technology has been conceptualized as paternalistic and controlling, mental health, child protection and medical social workers are attuned to ‘legitimate concerns about and potential negative effects of IT' [2]. In this regard, the paper draws on the discursive stance about children’s ‘digital citizenship rights’ [3] and how state responses can ‘other’ children by constructing them as almost universally vulnerable in contrast to adults who are seen as ‘knowers’ and digitally ‘insusceptible’.

Results:
This paper will demonstrate the results of technology-assisted practice initiatives in Ireland which were sparked by online social work initiatives following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion:
This paper will critically examine the professional issues that arise for social workers who engage in online practice. It will reiterate ‘the benefits for social workers of being versant in new technologies’ [4] and applying this knowledge to practice. Issues of training, supervision, informed consent and assent, accountability and transparency will be discussed. This is particularly relevant because aspects of service-users’ lives, previously not readily known to social workers, is available through social media and digital platforms [5].

References:
[1] Shifflet-Chila ED, Harold RD, Fitton VA, Ahmedani BK. Adolescent and family development: Autonomy and identity in the Digital age. Children and Youth Services Review. 2016;70:364–8. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.10.005
[2] Fitton VA, Ahmedani BK, Harold RD, Shifflet ED. The role of Technology on Young Adolescent Development: Implications for Policy, Research and Practice. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. 2013;30(5):399–413. doi:10.1007/s10560-013-0296-2
[3] Livingstone S, Third A. Children and young people’s rights in the digital age: An emerging agenda. New Media & Society. 2017;19(5):657–70. doi:10.1177/1461444816686318
[4] Kirwan G. Editorial: Networked relationships in the digital age – messages for Social Work. Journal of Social Work Practice. 2019;33(2):123–6. doi:10.1080/02650533.2019.1608430
[5] Cooner TS, Beddoe L, Ferguson H, Joy E. The use of Facebook in social work practice with children and families: Exploring complexity in an emerging practice. Journal of Technology in Human Services. 2019;38(2):137–58. doi:10.1080/15228835.2019.1680335

Keywords:

Digital practice, digital rights, risk, protection, technology-assisted intervention.