| Abstract: | This article examines the experiences and views of child-protectionsocial workers and managers in relation to the management ofviolence against child-protection social workers in a largecounty council’s Social Services Department. These findingsdemonstrate the importance of the role of managers and agencysupport systems in dealing with such matters. Questions areraised concerning the effects of interventions by child-protectionprofessionals with resistant and threatening parent service-users,and challenges some of the assumptions underlying the currentparadigm in child-protection work which demands an uncriticalview that working in partnership with parents is always in theinterests of children, and is always possible. The findingssuggest that in certain types of situations, workers’effectiveness can be compromised when carrying out their rolesin both supporting families and protecting children. They alsoillustrate the types of agency responses which professionalsand managers find helpful and unhelpful in response to parentalthreats and aggression. In particular, the importance of supervisionand support from managers is addressed, as are the implicationsof the findings for practice and agency support strategies forworkers. The relevance of the findings are also set out withinthe context of the requirements placed upon individual practitionersand agencies which employ social workers by the General SocialCare Council Codes of Conduct and Practice for Social Care Workersand their Employers. |
