The role of the social worker in the Family Court regarding marital separations

Abstract

The intention of the study was to examine the involvement of social workers in the family court regarding marital separations. It highlighted the different roles that social workers use while working with persons going through marital separations. A comparative study with an overview of the involvement of social workers in four countries, notably: Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada was deemed necessary. The study describes how the family courts are employed in these countries and the co-ordination there is between the family courts and social work services. The four main counselling services used in these countries were explored. These were reconciliation, therapeutic, conciliation and mediation counselling. Five social workers from the Family and Children Welfare Department that prepare court reports and five separated spouses were interviewed. Results revealed that social workers are more involved in evaluation work rather than being empathic or educating the parents. In this area it seems that there exists a lacuna as no social worker is specialised in this type of work. The amount of marital separation cases screened by social workers is limited. Results revealed the lack of information spouses have about the consequences of marital separations. Furthermore, spouses needed to be guided and educated as to how to deal with children regarding their family breakdown. Results also showed that the need is felt that in Malta we have a family court that specialises with family matters.