Committed but constrained: Social workers’ perspectives on practice with children and families living in poverty

Abstract

Objectives

Knowledge about the actual components of social work practice with people living in poverty remains limited. This exploratory study examined perceptions of Israeli social workers of their professional values, daily practices, and organizational conditions, and comparing their personal commitment to poverty alleviation with their perceptions of their agencies’ priorities.

Method

The convenience sample includes 84 social workers employed in local Social Services Departments (SSDs) across Israel. The survey, was developed through an international collaborative effort, was informed by an extensive literature review on social work with families living in poverty. Both closed and open-ended questions were analyzed.

Results

Findings reveal a consistent gap between social workers’ ethical commitment to addressing poverty and their perceptions of their agencies’ emphasis on poverty-related values. Participants reported frequent engagement in bureaucratic and procedural tasks, which they viewed as essential yet limiting. Open-ended responses illustrate the emotional toll and practical constraints of working within resource-scarce, neoliberal systems. While relational values such as respect and empathy are widely implemented, rights-based and structural practices are less frequently employed.

Conclusions

Social workers recognize and attempt to address poverty in their daily work, but institutional and organizational barriers—conceptualized through the lens of administrative burden—limit their ability to implement poverty-aware and rights-based practices fully. The findings underscore the urgent need for poverty-aware approaches at the policy level—approaches that address the structural roots of poverty while also transforming the working conditions of social workers. This includes fostering improved inter-agency collaboration to strengthen advocacy efforts and providing enhanced training that equips social workers to navigate the tensions between ethics, theory, and everyday practice.