Ethical dilemmas in child and family social work and emerging form of professionalism

Drawn on a qualitative research on ethical dilemmas experienced by social workers engaged in child and family service in Italy, the paper addresses the issue of the complex relation between professionals and the employing organization. It addresses the tensions stemming from both cultural changes about the expected role of public social care services and social professionals in child protection services and from the change that undergoes the welfare systems in the last years, in relation to the economic crisis, the reduction of the resources and the introduction of managerial policies. The paper discusses the different ways that social workers adopt to react to changes that seems to threat their professional identity and the ways they found to adapt and to face new demands and new challenges. A typology of four characters is outlined, also tracing some noticeable signs of emerging forms of new professionalism. The findings are critically discussed in the frame of the sociology of professions, referring to occupational and organizational approach to professions, and to the combination of different logic in relation to different contexts. Links and similarities with comparable studies from other European countries are also presented.