The erosion of social protection principles: qualitative research on the role of social work in the lives of citizens in precarious situations

The knowledge ambition of our doctoral research project is to examine how contemporary social policies orientations and the focus on poverty and child poverty reduction strategies directly impact social work frameworks and interventions. Our exemplary focus will be on the most preeminent public institution that embodies poverty reduction strategies in Belgium, the Public Centre for Social Welfare in each municipality and its evolution over the last hundred years. Furthermore, we will demonstrate the erosion of social protection principles in the framework of poverty and child poverty reduction strategies, from the perspective of social work practices and families, considering that child poverty must always endorse a family-oriented approach.