Ambiguities in Decision Making: Social Work's Response to 'Glue-Sniffing' in Scotland

Correspondence to Dr Elizabeth Jagger, Social Science Department, Park Campus, 1, Park Drive, Caledonian University, Glasgow G3 6LP Summary This paper examines how social workers make decisions aboutwhich cases of ‘glue-sniffing’ require intervention,in the context of a government policy which construes the problemprimarily within the arena of parental responsibility. Usingdata from interviews with social workers and research on ‘glue-sniffing’,it shows that social workers were frequently reluctant to dealwith cases. It explains that this has to do with factors suchas organizational priorities, lack of resources and, in particular,the ambiguous status of ‘glue-sniffing’ within theirown professional discourse. It concludes that the complex interplayof these factors means that government policy is not translatedinto practice in any simplistic manner.     

Social Work: Gender, Care and Justice

Correspondence to: Joan Orme, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Lilybank House, Bute Gardens, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8RT, UK. Summary This article, in examining gender and justice, seeks to examinethe relationship between feminist theory and social work. Specificallyit reviews writings on social work ethics and suggests thatlittle attention has been paid to feminist scholarship thatresonates with social work practice. Focusing primarily on communitycare, it demonstrates how debates within feminism have becomemore complex and have problematized understandings of both careand justice. It argues that for social work it is unhelpfulto dichotomize justice and care; we should aspire to just socialwork practice.     

The Manifest and Latent Lessons of Child Abuse Inquiries

Correspondence to University of Glasgow, Department of Social Administration and Social Work, Lilybank House, Bute Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RT. Summary This article examines some of the key implications of publicchild abuse inquiries for social work services and practice.It recognizes the positive value of certain of their findingsand recommendations. However, equally important are the unintendedconsequences and latent social functions of inquiries. Thesehave meant that the general public has been able to distanceitself from responsibility for protecting children. Attentionhas been diverted from wider social processes, including adult-childand male-female power relationships. At the same time, the dominantrole of child protection procedures in the statutory sectorhas inhibited the development of preventive practice strategies.     

Making Judgements about parenting: The Example of Freeing for Adoption

Correspondence to Malcolm Hill, Senior Lecturer in Social work, University of Glasgow Department of Socail Administration and Soical work, Lilybank House, Bute Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RT. Summary Social workers frequently are involved in assessments aboutparenting. Thes issues are posed in a particularly Sharp formjudgements need to be made which may transfer parental rightsand reponsiblities permanently, as in cases of freeing for adoption.This article draws on a wider evaluation of freeing to identifythe key dimensions of parent child relations which influencedsocial work and work court decisions. In the majority of cases, there were requests to dispense withbirth parents' agreement to adoption. The principal corcumstanceswhich seen to warrant this involved inital neglect and/or poorbonding following by failure to respond to social work helpafter childern were in care. In most instances, the Courts endorsedthe local authorities position and granted freeing order. However,serveral judgments were in parents' favour. This was relatedsometimes to different perspectives on the relationship betweenfamily circumstances and the precise legal grounds for freeing.Also the lengthy precedures involved menat that in a few instancesthe parents had apperaed to imporve thier situation and so strengthenedthe legal case against freeing.     

Reshaping Social Work Authorities in Scotland

Correspondence to Neil McGarvey and Arthur Midwinter, Department of Government, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ Summary This article examines the assumptions and arguments underpinningthe case that the Government has made for reorganizing Scottishsocial work authorities. In particular the argument that thereforms will enhance both efficiency and accountability at noincrease in the cost of senive delivery is examined. The neutralcost assumption is questioned with data provided showing thatin England and Wales larger social services departments havelower unit costs. Moreover, the need for more joint and contractualarrangements under the new structures, which the governmenthas itself acknowledged, could undermine efficiency as wellas blurring accountability. Overall, it is argued that the government'scase for change is based on shaky assumptions with little evidence,and the concern must be that the combination of reorganizationand spending constraints will lead to reductions in semce provisionin the new authorities.     

A Critical Perspective on Quality within the Personal Social Services: Prospects and Concerns

Correspondence to David Watson, Glasgow Caledonian University, Room W109a, Hamish Wood Building, City Campus, 70 Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 OBA, UK. Email: d.watson{at}gcal.ac.uk Summary This paper considers the development of ‘quality’within the personal social services over the last decade. Inparticular, it locates ‘quality’ within a managerialdiscourse, which de-politicizes and minimizes the critical aspectsof the concept in order to increase organizational scrutinyand control through the use and development of performance measurement.It is in this critical context that the prospects and concernsfor recent policy initiatives such as the Labour Government's‘Modernising Social Services’ are considered. Itis the contention of the paper that the critical and empoweringaspects of recent policy developments and quality approacheswill be minimized, as they are subsumed into activities whichare presented as technical and value-free. Further, that unlessthis process is critically questioned and challenged by managersand other stakeholders ‘quality’ and its developmentwill lead to greater proceduralization, increasing bureaucracyand ultimately commodification of the work processes.     

A Survey of Approved Social Work in England and Wales

Correspondence to Prof. P. Huxley, Department of Psychiatry, University of Manchester, Mathematics Tower, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Summary A survey of approved social workers (ASWs) was undertaken withlocal authorities in England and Wales, to review the provisionand organization of ASW services, and the contribution theymake towards the establishment and maintenance of a comprehensivemental health service. The findings show some variation in provisionwhich is in itself indicative of a variety of factors operatingto produce local and regional patterns of provision. Some ofthese are related directly to policy decisions, others to demographicand geographic variables, while still more are related to teamstructure, workload demands, and generic/specialist issues.The future pattern of mental health social work following theimplementation of the NHS and Community Care Act is consideredin the light of the findings from the survey.     

A National Survey of the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse

Correspondence to Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH, UK Summary The article reports a national survey of social services andpolice arrangements for investigating child sexual abuse (CSA).It is now officially accepted as good practice for police andsocial workers to jointly investigate such allegations. To evaluateinvestigative practice, the survey aimed to (i) document existingarrangements for police/social services investigation and managementof CSA cases; (ii) identify the main organizational models informingsuch work, and (iii) explore the perceptions of police and socialservices managers of the key policy and practice issues posedby such work. The criteria for judging the benefits of jointwork were: reduction in the number of occasions children wereinterviewed, clarification of the role of professionals involved,increased coordination of service delivery, and establishmentof group support for difficult decisions. While there were signsthat some benefit was being achieved, there were also indicationsof the endurance of problems long associated with multiagencywork.     

Selecting Students for Social Work Training

Summary Research into the interview as an instrument of selection isconsidered and its use in relation to selection for social worktraining examined. An account is given of a research projectundertaken to compare selection decisions made on the basisof written applications with those reached after additionalinterviews. It was found that in the majority of cases the additionalinformation from interviews did not materially affect the decisionsmade. The implications of these findings are discussed     

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Structure: A Comparative Study of Nine Social Service Departments

Summary The authors investigated the relationship between aspects oforganizational structure and job satisfaction as experiencedby personnel employed in nine social service departments. Aftera series of unstructured interviews from 28 respondents in oneauthority, interview schedules were used for three distinctgroups of 603 respondents in nine organizations: those makingexecutive decisions, those making supervisory assessments andthose primarily concerned with client interaction. The bestpredictors of organizational structure were dimensions of centralizationand formalization which related significantly but negativelyto job satisfaction. The relevance of these findings is discussedin relation to the rapid growth of social services and the effectit has had on social workers and other employees.     

Contract or Con Trick?

Correspondence to Stewart A. Collins, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Queen's College, 1 Park Drive, Glasgow G3 6LP. Summary This paper consists of a critical examination of the contractapproach in social work. It argues that contract work is onefacet of the consumerist movement which has become increasinglyinfluential in social work in recent years. We are in favourof of constructing more equal and more open work relationshipswith clients. But we also maintain that the claims made on behalfof the contract approach in these respects are extravagant anduntenable. We develop our case by using critical material fromthe field of social work. In the second half of our paper weargue that contract work cannot be fully understood unless itis linked to wider social and economic relations in society.We introduce a number of themes from the areas of sociologyand philosophy to substantiate this point.     

Interaction Between Field and Residential Social Workers

Summary This paper is based upon collaborative project work with a socialservices department aimed at improving interaction and collaborationbetween field and residential social workers. It describes theprinciples upon which it was agreed that interaction shoulddevelop. These include notions of case-accountable staff, acollateral model of interaction between staff and the idea ofone party being identified as a prime care agent. Based on theseprinciples it sets out a model arrangement for clients enteringresidential care which recognizes the need for precision aboutthe nature of key decisions that need to be taken with clientsand the way these decisions should be taken.     

The assessment relationship: interactions between social workers and parents in child protection assessments

Summary This paper is concerned with a relatively unresearched areaof child protection practice: the comprehensive assessment.The study comprises qualitative research of social workers conductingthese assessments. Sixteen assessments are analysed in detail.It is noted that these assessments, like many other in-depthsocial work assessments, are mainly based on verbal interactions.Some of the core evidence cited by social workers as formingthe basis of their assessment decisions is based on verbal interactionbetween social workers and parents. Such verbal interactionsare viewed as being inextricably intertwined with the socialworker-client relationship. A particular aspect of the relationship,the ability to agree a plausible explanation for the familysituation, is highlighted as particularly important in determiningthe outcome of the assessment. The possible implications ofthese findings for assessment practices are outlined.     

Social Workers' Attitudes to Lesbian Clients

Correspondence to Karen Hardman, Department of Applied Social Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX Summary Within British social work there is no model of good practicefor working with lesbian clients. As a prelude to the establishmentof such a model, this paper attempts to ascertain social workers'attitudes to lesbians using a thirty-item attitude (Likert)scale. The implications of social workers' attitudes for practicewith lesbian clients are considered from responses to case vignettes.     

Managing Human Services in a Market Environment: What Role for Social Workers?

Correspondence to Karen Healy, Department of Social Work, Social Policy and Sociology, Building A26, University of Sydney 2006, New South Wales, Australia. Summary International research suggests that the market reform of humanservices is leading to reduced opportunities for social workersto achieve organizational management positions. This paper exploresthe future of social workers as managers of human service organizations.It examines the tensions between the social justice principlesthat guide social work and the emerging contexts of social welfaremanagement. The exploration draws on in-depth interviews withthirty-four social welfare managers working in the non-profitsector in Australia. These managers were identified by theirpeers as progressive, that is, as championing social justicevalues such as access, equity and social inclusion. This paperwill report on their approaches to social welfare managementand their perceptions of the threats and opportunities for progressivemanagement practices in a climate of public sector reform. Thepaper will consider how social work educators can better prepareservice professionals for social welfare management positions.     

Strengthening Professional and Paraprofessional Contributions to Social Service and Social Development

Correspondence to Prof. E. Allan Brawley, Professor of Social Work, The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Sociology, 414 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA 16803, USA. Summary Based on a long-term research project that has generated dataon paraprofessional social service personnel in fourteen developedand developing countries, this paper presents some findingsthat, if acted upon, could strengthen the contribution of bothprofessionals and paraprofessionals to social service and socialdevelopment goals. The type of frontline workers who are generallyregarded as paraprofessionals have always been important participantsin social service activities throughout the world. This continuesto be the case in the countries studied. This article identifiesconditions under which the service activities of professionalsand paraprofessionals can be more productive and where theirjoint contribution to human well-being can be enhanced.     

Working with creative creatures: towards a Christian paradigm for social work theory, with some practical implications

Summary In a previous article (Bowpitt, 1998), I examined the role ofEvangelical Christianity as a neglected feature in the historicalorigins of social work in Britain, arguing that the secularhumanist paradigm that came to dominate the profession for thebulk of the twentieth century goes a long way towards explainingthat neglect but that the challenging of that dominant paradigmmay throw light on the recent revival of interest in the importanceof religion to social work. The present article seeks to followup this historical narrative with a normative considerationof what a Christian theological perspective might imply forsocial work theory and practice today. It does so in the contextof an examination of some traditional philosophical difficultieswhich social work thinkers have encountered with the relationshipbetween the theoretical and ethical foundations of social work.It then argues for an over-arching theoretical account of humannature as a possible way of overcoming these difficulties, andoutlines the main features of a Christian theological anthropologyas providing just such an account. It finishes by looking atsome implications for a Christian approach to social work practice.     

Cutting Edge Issues in Social Work Research

Correspondence to Ian Shaw, Cardiff University, School of Social Sciences, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3WT, Wales. E-mail: shawif{at}cardiff.ac.uk Summary Taking the panel report on social work submissions to the British2001 Research Assessment Exercise as a starting point, I commenton some of the central questions facing social work research.These include social work research methodology; social work'srelationship to science; the relationship between social workpractice and research; governance and research ethics; buildingresearch capacity; and establishing research quality. I outlineaction that is needed by social work academics and researchers,social work agencies and government departments.     

Professional Ideology, Middle Range Theories and Knowledge Building for Social Work Practice

Please address requests for reprints to Professor F. M. Loewenberg, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, 52100 Ramat Gan, Israel. Summary More effective social work practice will require increased effortstoward knowledge building and theory development. Until a unifiedsocial work theory is available social workers will choose eclecticallyrelevant theoretical formulations from the large number of middlerange theories available to them from other professional disciplines.New middle range theories and innovative theoretical formulationsappear continually, resulting in a smorgasbord of theories,from which social work practitioners can choose. This articleexamines the effectiveness of an aclectic theory base for apractice profession. In the discussion of the findings noteis taken of the need for explicating social work's professionalideology as a next step in knowledge building.     

Is Social Work a 'Non-Traditional' Occupation for Men?

Correspondence to Alastair Christie, Department of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork, Cork. Email: A.Christie{at}ucc.ie Summary The European Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commissionhave called for the increased employment of men in occupations,such as social work, where men are numerically under-represented.In Britain, men's employment in social work is contentious but,as yet, little discussed. This article draws on Williams' (1993,1995) concept of ‘non-traditional occupations for men’to explore the positions of men in social work. It focuses inparticular on continuities and dissonances between dominantconstructions of men's gender and professional social work identities.These are discussed in relation to particular areas of practiceand an agenda for further investigation is considered.