The Dilemmas in the Professional Activity in the Field Work of Family Probation Officers in Poland

<ns3:p>The aim of the paper is to describe the field work of family probation officers in the perspective of Fritz Schütze's concept of the dilemmas of professional activity. To complete my considerations, I also employed the assumptions of the theory of “dirty work”. I used the procedures of grounded theory methodology to conduct the analysis and interpretation of the empirical material. Empirical data was collected through participant observation, as well as ethnographic, informal and casual interviews. As a result, I determined the manner in which the paradoxes in professional activities in the work of a family probation officers emerge. The results of the research show the ways in which probation officers deal with playing a double role, being representatives of the formal control agenda and people providing support to the supervised, which constitutes the basis of the dilemmas they experience in professional situations. The conclusions presented in this article may be useful for future and present probation officers in organizing their work in the field.</ns3:p>