O peso da balança: análise da atuação do serviço social em uma Instituição de acesso á justiça

Abstract

The present work was based on discussing the professional practice of the social worker in an institution of access to justice, in the case of the Public Defender's Office of the State of Bahia. In this perspective, we sought to analyze how the social worker's role in the DPE-BA is characterized. The interest for the research theme arose from the Supervised Internship in Social Work in a unit of DPE-BA. The main objective of the research was to discuss the professional work of the Social Service in the DPE-BA and as specific objectives: to present the insertion of the Social Service in the Socio-juridical considering historical and local aspects; analyze the Office of the Public Defender as an instrument for access to citizenship rights; to describe the work process of the social worker and its positioning in front of the demands of the institution and to analyze the limits and challenges that permeate this socialoccupational space. The methodological approach adopted included a bibliographical,documentary and field research, in a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews with social workers of the DPE-BA. The choice for the development of qualitative research was due to the very object of study that required a more contextualized analysis, as well as the richness of its results. In this way, it is expected that the present work will contribute to the bibliographical production of this theme and to strengthen the professional practice of the social worker in this social-occupational space, providing discussions not only in the academic, but also institutional-specifically in the Public Defender's Offices, allowing not only the law and justice operators, but all those interested in this action, to understand the importance and the possibility of the social worker's work in this space, contributing to the visibility of this important action.