Childish work: a reality cannot be analyzed out of the family context

Abstract

he issue of child work is a social phenomenon existing al over the world being present in the media, in political speeches, and also in governamental and non-governamental programmes worldwide. The very fact that the topic has merited the attention of various slices of society is evidence of its importance in modern society. Child work together with low schooling levels end up producing the bad quality of life of the children and adolescents involved as well as their inadequate professional qualification. The concern with these little workers in São José, SC, Brazil, led to the exploratory study here reported, which aims to reveal the realities of child work not only in relation to the isolation and exclusion of individual families but also in relation to the need for intervention in such situations so as to transform these children and their families into the subject and object of our professional action. Fisrt, this article brings the reality of such children and adolescents to the fore; then it explores the possibilities of Social Work intervention in such matters