弱勢家庭親職、家庭功能與家庭環境評估之研究---一般家庭與弱勢家庭的比較

Abstract

在經濟和社會動盪的時刻，家庭深受此一巨大變遷的力量所影響，不但弱化了原有的家庭功能，更常因為家庭壓力存在而使兒童成為易受傷害的一群。除了兒童受到主要照顧者虐待或疏忽之外，家庭貧窮或低收入也使兒童遭遇到較高的風險，這些對孩子不當對待的家庭，可能影響兒童的發展。對兒童的保護主要可藉由提供家庭處遇服務。通常評量家庭仍具有功能時，則會進行家庭維繫服務，讓兒童繼續居住在原生家庭；反之，若經評估兒童需要安置，則原生家庭會接受家庭重聚或返家的服務，以恢復其家庭功能，準備讓兒童返家。對家庭的處遇至少包括：要符合兒童少年身心發展需求、主要照顧者的親職的能力評估、家庭的環境以及危機解除狀況。因此，評量家庭以確認其是否適合兒童繼續居住，是重要的任務；而當兒童被安置一段時間之後，再次評量家庭是否適合其回家，更是重要。但是，我們如何知道家庭已經準備好了？我們又如何知道父母學會了並知道他們的職責？實務界一直缺乏一個可信賴的客觀工具或指標，因此本研究希望達到下列目的： 1. 從弱勢兒童及家庭（家扶中心受扶助兒童與家長、接受家庭寄養服務的兒童與寄養家長）和社會工作員的觀點，探討什麼是合適兒童居住的家庭？ 2. 從兒童福祉的觀點建構親職、家庭功能與家庭環境的指標—比較弱勢與一般家庭在這些面向上的差異？以檢視這些指標是否有區辨的效果。 3. 評鑑此指標的適合度，並嘗試評估家庭處遇服務的效果：選擇家庭維繫服務和重整（聚）服務之家庭，前、後測，並訪談家庭處遇成功的家庭。本研究將以親職、家庭功能與家庭環境評量取向，設計合適的標準化工具，並對一般家庭、寄養家庭和低收入家庭之父母調查訪談，希望能建立一個可以為實務界參考的工具。第一年以質化深度訪談法和內容分析深入了解社工員、父母和兒童對家庭的看法和期待；第二年以焦點團體、發展設計量表工具、與實地調查訪問，分層抽樣訪問一般家庭、寄養家庭和低收入家庭父母親386人；第三年為準實驗研究法（統計分析）和質化研究（內容分析），針對接受家庭維繫服務或重整（聚）服務之家庭，以了解本評量表的適用性。

Some families are suffering from the dramatic social change. This dramatic change not only weakens their family function, but also inflicts damage on children due to family stress. Children become vulnerable because of maltreatment or poverty. They are vulnerable in the sense that the risk situation affects their development and opportunity. There may be protection provided by the social services sector via family intervention services.When the family assessed to possess family function still, the family preservation services will be provided and children will stay in the family of origin. However, when the children need to be placed out of home, the family reunification services will be provided in order for family to recover its function. In general, the family intervention services must include: meeting developmental need of children, assessing the ability and responsibility of primary caregivers, providing safer environment for children, and alleviating risk situations. Therefore, the assessment of family function to ensure the appropriateness of living is important. It is even more important to assess family function before children returning to their family of origin. However, how can we know that the family has adequately prepared? How can we know that parents have learned and assumed their responsibility? There is no trustful or objective instrument for social workers of related fields. Therefore, the purposes of the study are as follows: 1. To explore what kind of families in terms of parental responsibilities, family function and family environment are suitable for vulnerable children. 2. To develop indicators for the assessment of parental responsibilities, family function and family environment in vulnerable families and normal families. 3. To evaluate the appropriateness of the indicators by comparing the effect of family intervention services between families with family preservation services and family reunification services. The study will be focused on the development and the assessment of parental responsibility, family function and family environment in vulnerable families and normal families. The first year research will be focused on how the meaning of home is conceptualized from perspectives of social workers, parents and children. Purposive sampling and content analyses will be employed. The second year research will be focused on the development and the comparison of parental responsibilities, family function and family environment between vulnerable families and normal families. Stratified sampling will be employed. The total sampling size will be 386. The third year research will be focused on the appropriateness of the indicators by implementing the instrument to families with family intervention services. Quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to triangulate the results.