The Historical Evolution and Legitimacy of Social Work at the National Children’s Foundation

Abstract

This article collects partial findings from research on the profile of a National Children’s Foundation (PANI, from its acronym in Spanish) social worker, carried out during the 2020-2021 period, for the College of Social Workers of Costa Rica; subsequently, the authors expanded and questioned its results. Its purpose is to reflect on the historical legitimacy of PANI’s professional social work. To develop this analysis, the authors recover the transformations that have occurred in the field of childhood development and, within these, both the genesis and historical trajectory of the social work profession at the governing institution.

The article summarizes the legal treatment of childhood; the insertion of social work protoforms in this field; and their relationship with how to treat the approach to this social issue. The second element to analyze corresponds to the creation of social work as a profession to care for children and adolescents within the framework of the government’s transformations. Finally, it presents a reflection on reconfiguring professional tasks based on the transformations and processes of institutional reorganization.

The study concludes that the political-ideological foundations of childcare policies in Costa Rica, as well as their regulatory frameworks, have mediated social work professional intervention processes at the National Children’s Foundation. The foregoing corresponds to the foundation’s technical-political management and has been expressed in multiple reform and restructuring processes, as well as theoretical-methodological management of the profession and its ability to respond to contradictory demands.