The Ecological Approach – a Valuable Tool for the Social Work Practice

The ecological approach is one of the most important tools available to practitioners who work with children and their families in the child protection or in the child in need arena. This paper draws evidence from a case of abuse and neglect managed by the author whilst being employed by a local authority from the United Kingdom. The paper highlights the meaning of the ecological approach in the child protection context and how this approach might be used by social workers in order to make sense of the children’s specific needs. The analysis of the three main domains and their mutual influences proves to be a useful exercise which is able to evidence what means to be a specific child in a specific family and what are the most appropriate paths to be followed in order to help the child to achieve his full potential. This discussion can be useful for practitioners who are not familiar with this approach as well as for the students.

Keywords: approach, child protection, child in need