Abstract
An Assessment of Social Welfare System for Women with Family ViolenceThe study is to explore the overview of social welfare service system provided for women who experienced family violence covering both governmental and non-governmental organizations, to assess social welfare service system including philosophy, operating process, practitioners, and clients, to assess the potentiality and limitations of the system, and to generate policy recommendations. The study has been conducted in qualitative research method. The researcher used in-depth interview, participatory observations, focus group discussion, case study, along with the documentary research. The agencies involved are such as Emergency Home for Children and Families, Child Welfare Protection Division, Department of Public Welfare, Kredtrakarn Protection and Occupational Development Center or commonly known as Kredtrakarn Home, Center for the Protection of Children Rights Foundation (CPCR), Friends of Women Foundation (FOW). The agencies involved have realized that myths are the major reasons obstruct the women from accessibility to the social welfare service system. They therefore have continuously launched series of societal-wide campaigns. The myths such as “Privacy against Publicity” existed among not only the general people but also the professional practitioners involved. These practitioners, the police in particular, could actually help prevent women from repeatedly hit, but then over-looked the incident because of their mis-understanding about the dominance of privacy rights over public and professional concerns. Therefore the prevention of the repetition cases of violence was inappropriately conducted. Collaboration among related agencies covering both GOs and NGOs was moderate progress when compared with the former study. This is evidenced by the increasing in collaborative responsibility, interdisciplinary approach, the clients-centered approach, as well as collaboration in social movement activities among the agencies. Even in the level of project activities, both GOs and NGOs personnel worked together as seen in the Home for Children and Family, the Center for Children, Women, and Seniors of BMA and the Kredtrakarn Home. GO administration pattern has been shifted from a traditional bureaucratic to be a professional bureaucratic model which is more flexible to interdisciplinary approach. NGO administrations have continuously maintained its nature of “alternative organization” with increasing maturity of collaboration. In addition, the agencies involved try to push an atmosphere of “learning organization.” GO practitioners gain more positive attitudes towards collaboration with any NGO while NGO workers feel the open-wider opportunities GO officials arranged for them. Working directly with the violence experienced women, the practitioners firmly believe in “clients centered approach.” They avoid a decision-making for the women but encourage their clients to change the structure of power relations by themselves. The practitioners and the women who had obtained an experience of overcoming family violence crisis are significant empowerment activators. GO operations are under policies legitimated by laws while NGOs follow their original ideology and values. Policy resources came from both inside and outside country supports as well as government budget. For the clients, the women experienced with family violence were from various economic and social statuses. They got stuck in “deterministic view” as they often blamed themselves for the reason of being abused. They gave up to the dominated patriarchy value surrounding them. Those who overcame the family violence crisis were the women who finally won their struggle against the structure of dominated power, created their new identity, and redefined the “new meaning of life” by themselves.The potentials of the system are: (1) the positive changes in government administration, (2) the opportunities opened for the women who had an overcome of family violence experience to be para-professional workers, (3) the maintaining of “alternative organization” quality with increasing maturity of collaboration among NGOs, (4) the increasing progress of networks building and development, (5) the political and administration reform which encourages the increasing roles of local administrations and community organizations in surveillance, protect, and help women with family violence, and (6) the increasing public support to the children and women rights movement. The limitations found are: (1) the different basic concepts towards women issues, (2) the failure to building-up a one stop service, and (3) the misunderstanding and unawareness of the problem among local administrations and community organizations.Regarding the service coverage, lots of abused women in the family have been left without any assistance because of the unawareness of the problem among neighbors and related professions. In addition, the women felt powerless by the myths and self- blaming attitudes. The existing welfare service is able to respond to the women problems appropriately in the case that they access to the service system. However the major obstacle is that they were unable to reach the gate of the system. The policy recommendations are (1) Continuously and assiduously campaigning to increasing the awareness and understanding of family violence among public, (2) Implanting the concepts of gender relations and awareness of family violence into every level of education curriculum, (3) Implanting the same concepts and awareness into related professions curriculum, (4) Accelerating the empowerment of the community surveillance and prevention for family violence, (5) Encouraging the learning together environment among related agencies in order to uplift the progress and advance of social surveillance, prevention, and assistance to the women, (6) Supporting the one-stop service for the women with family violence in social welfare system, (7) Restructuring the social insurance and social assistance schemes of the country in order to respond more appropriately and effectively to the women’s needs and problems, and (8) Supporting the agencies to employ the women overcome family violence crisis as the para-professional workers for being an effective and efficiency mechanism in the helping process.
