Serviço Social no Sociojurídico: a atuação do (a) Assistente Social na Defensoria Pública da União frente às demandas do BPC

Abstract

The present study had the general objective of understanding the work process of the social worker in one of the instances of socio-juridical, the Union Public Defender's Office (DPU), highlighting its relationship with the Continuous Cash Benefit, considering that it is a recurring demand in the institution. In general, it was intended to address the particularities of the professional work of social workers in the Union Public Defender's Office, pointing out challenges and possibilities that arise in the daily work. To reach the proposed objective, we resorted to the historical background in order to approach the trajectory of Social Service in the social-legal field, understand the role of the social worker in the DPU and discuss the obstacles and opportunities of the social worker's work in this institution, with emphasis on the services provided by the Continuous Cash Benefit. As a methodological approach, this study is guided by bibliographic, documentary and field research. Regarding the research method, the dialectical historical materialism was predominant, for it was configured as essential to understand reality with greater criticality. Regarding the nature of the research, it was based on a qualitative approach because it was considered satisfactory as to the scope of what was intended to be researched. As a data collection technique, we conducted an online focus group with social workers working in the Union Public Defender's Office in the North and Northeast regions. Through the analyses made in the course of the work, it was found that Social Service within the scope of the DPU has its own particularities, constituting a substantial element for collaboration in the realization of basic social rights postulated in the Federal Constitution of 1988. On the other hand, it was also verified that the professional action of the social worker in this agency is crossed by elements such as: job insecurity, professional devaluation, excessive demands, lack of open competition, small number of professionals, which contributes to the fragility in the realization of the rights of users and in the mental and physical illness of the professional himself. Thus, it is essential that social workers are aware of their professional attributions and competences, rights and duties, so that their work is strengthened and that situations such as, for example, deviation of functions are avoided.