Why social workers don't do more to help teens

Why Social Workers Don't Do More to Help Emotionally Abused Teens

Here are a few reasons I have come up with...

One is surely the workload of the social workers. They are faced with more "urgent" cases, such as extreme sexual or physical abuse. And I recall once a social worker telling me in Australia that they don't even try to prosecute emotional abuse cases since there is such little chance of proving one.

Another might be because the authorities themselves are usually parents, so they don't want to blame parents for anything unless it is very obvious abuse of the kind they don't commit themselves. Another is that it is just easier to talk to teens because they are much more defenseless, less likely to criticize the psychologist or social worker, less likely to stand up for themselves etc.

Another big reason may be because the parents often have the power to stop seeing the psychologist or social worker or to stop sending their teen. So in short, the parents have more power than the teens. And it is easier to attack the weak. And if we don't want to use the word attack we could say it is easier to mold, shape, influence, convince, manipulate etc. a weaker person.

Another reason is that people typically put more priority on helping children than they do on helping teens. I would say that teens are almost forgotten unless they have attempted to kill themselves and someone has found out about it.

If you have other ideas, or would like to comment, please write me.

Steve Hein
April 17, 2006
Salta, Argentina