A model proposal for social work supervision in child welfare field in the light of social work practices in the USA

This research is aimed to develop a supervision model proposal for the child welfare field of social work in Turkey. The research method was chosen as the qualitative approach. In the first phase of the research, 5 social workers and 6 supervisors were interviewed in the USA. In the second phase, 9 social workers and 7 social work managers were interviewed in Turkey. Opinions and evaluations of the participants on the supervision, the supervisor profile, the supervision process and the problems experienced in this process, the functions of supervision and the suggestions on establishing a supervision system were collected. Social workers in the USA mentioned that the supervision system works on a weekly basis in some institutions, while in others, supervision meetings are held irregularly and only in emergencies. Supervisors in the USA stated that the system works regularly in their institutions and they meet weekly, while those who do not have the opportunity to meet regularly, they provide supervision to their employees with an open door policy, whenever they need it. On the other hand, social workers in Turkey emphasized that there is no official, structured supervision system, and they stated that they consult a more experienced professional when they need supervision. Social work managers in Turkey directly emphasized that there is no official supervision system and they also mentioned that they try to provide supervision to their employees by individual effort. Participants from the USA emphasized that one of the biggest problems in the supervision system is the workload. On the other hand, according to social workers and administrators in Turkey, the problem in the system is that there is no supervision system. In practice in the USA, it has been observed that social workers can take advantage of the administrative, educational and supportive functions of supervision and they are generally satisfied with this situation. It has been observed that supervisors support their employees in various ways to benefit from these functions. In practice in Turkey, it has been observed that social workers cannot benefit from the administrative, educational and supportive functions of supervision and it has been also seen that personal efforts of social work managers are insufficient to provide those functions of supervision. The participants of the research presented various suggestions regarding the scope of supervision, the establishment of legal regulations and standards of practice, the qualifications required of supervisors, trainings for supervisors, and the appointment procedures of supervisors in order to establish the supervision system. As a result of the research, the suggestions of the participants from both countries have been comprehensively discussed, and a model proposal for supervision in the child welfare which is considered to be the most appropriate for Turkey has been designed in the light of the literature. Keywords: Social work, social worker, social work manager, supervisor, supervision, functions of supervision.