The Functions of Child Care Reviews in Scotland A Preliminary Investigation

Correspondence to Dr A. J. Kendrick, Research Fellow, Department of Political Science and Social Policy, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, Scotland. Summary In this second article based upon the first stage of a researchproject on statutory child care reviews in Scotland we explorethe perceptions of the functions of reviews. We identify a numberof primary functions which can be viewed together as elementsin a rational model of decision-making. With certain provisosthis model allows us to distinguish analytically the explicitpurpose of child care reviews. We show that although a numberof other functions take place in reviews these are not perceivedas necessary to reviews and as such can be considered secondaryfunctions.     

From Children's Departments to Family Departments

Drawing upon his own experience as a child care officer, the author draws attention to the local authority Children's Departments which were established 50 years ago in 1948. To mark the anniversary, interviews were held with 20 former children's officers. From these, it was possible to identify three major achievements of the Children's Departments, namely the restoration of natural parents to child care, the promotion of child care skills, and the formation of a highly committed staff force. The Children's Departments were abolished over a quarter of a century ago and amalgamated into the Social Services Departments (Social Work Departments in Scotland). Despite some notable advances, it is argued that, under these departments, preventative work with children, child care skills and staff morale have declined. As a way forward, the author proposes the formation of a local authority Family Department which would consist of family workers equipped with child care skills, a facility approach which offers open services, and backing for locally run neighbourhood groups. It is contended that this service would be acceptable to and particularly helpful to parents and children living in conditions of social deprivation.     

Maternal Depression, Child Care and the Social Work Role

Correspondence to Michael Sheppard, Principal Lecturer, Department of Applied Social Science, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA. Summary This article reviews findings on the relationship of maternaldepression and child care problems, a relationship which haslargely been ignored in social work. These findings are of particularimportance in view of the philosophy in the Children Act 1989that the best place to bring up a child is usually with theirfamily and the duty of local authorities to promote this. Thefindings consistently identify a clear relationship betweenemotional and behavioural child care problems and maternal depressionshowing that depression is likely to affect the mother's childcare abilities and also her perceptions of the child's behaviour.These have important implications for education, training andpractice, and these are discussed.     

Maintaining Sibling Relationships--Neglected Dimension in Child Care Practice

Correspondence to Marjut Kosonen, 80, Grove Road, West Ferry, Dundee DD5 1LB, UK Summary This article describes some of the findings of a study undertakento evaluate all foster and adoptive placements in one localauthority social work department in Scotland. The numbers, characteristicsand care experiences of children in foster and adoptive carewere considered. The study found that for the majority of childrenplacement in foster care led to separation from siblings. Thechildren were most vulnerable to separation at points of entryand leaving care. Separation from brothers and sisters can havelifelong consequences for the child and his or her siblings,as few of the children were found to have plans which includedreunification with their siblings. A fragmented picture emergedconcerning siblings' living situations. Children were foundto have siblings living in a variety of situations, both inand outwith the care system. Social workers lacked full informationabout the family composition where contact with parents waslost or siblings had moved from the area. Children were mostlikely to be placed with siblings in temporary and relativefoster placements.     

Career Patterns in Child Care--Implications for Service

Correspondence to Dr David H. Thorpe, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Department of Social Administration, Fylde College, Lancaster LA1 4YF Summary This paper reports an empirical study of the 12-month careersof 231 children who entered care in one local authority in 1985.Career is analysed primarily in terms of length of time in care(weeks), legal status, age on ently to care and placement changesin care. The study shows that almost half the children who enteredcare went home within 6 weeks, and that those who stayed onin care after that time stood only a 1 in 3 chance of goinghome before one year. Onl a quarter of these children remainedin the same placement during their year in care. Drawing onbackground data derived from recently published child care researchand successful diversionaiy intermediate treatment schemes thepaper outlines child care practices which are targeted on childrenwho remain in care beyond 6 weeks and who would benefit fromintensive efforts to restore them to natural parents.     

Lessons learnt? Abuse in residential child care in Scotland

This paper draws on work carried out by Sen, Kendrick, Milligan and Hawthorn commissioned as pert of the Historic Abuse Systemic Review by the Scottish Executive in 2007. It considers the evidence‐based regarding abuse in residential child care from 1945 with a specific focus on Scotland. It reviews the context set for residential child care post‐1945 by the Clyde and Curtis reports, outlines how the residential child care sector developed following this, provides an overview of evidence and awareness of abuse in residential child care establishments after the 1948 Children's Act, giving particular consideration to the public inquiries and reviews of residential child care which there have been in Scotland, explores research evidence regarding the safety of convictions of residential child care workers found guilty of child abuse, and provides an overview of the main policy and practice developments which there have subsequently been in Scotland. The paper concludes by considering the progress that has been made in developing safeguards in Scotland and identifying areas where further research and development are required.     

Defensive Social Work

Correspondence to Nigel Harris, Department of Philosophy, The University, Dundee DD1 4HN. Summary Social workers with child clients face the possibility thatsome mistake or oversight of theirs could lead to a child abusetragedy, for which they may suffer opprobrium and blighted careers.How can they guard against such risks? This paper shows howsocial workers might use different types of ‘defensive’measure to protect themselves. These parallel the types of measureused by some doctors, particularly in the United States, facedwith risks of litigation on grounds of malpractice. Becausedefensive practices have undesirable consequences, it is importantto find ways to eliminate their use by protecting social workersby other means.     

Social Work and Self-determination

Correspondence to Department of Political Science and Social Policy, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN. Summary Self-determination is a curious concept, related to, but notquite the same as, freedom and autonomy. As an ethical principle,the principle of self-determination bears little relationshipto the way social workers behave. It is used as if clients werebeing allowed a free, independent choice; but clients are subjectto pressure, and the social work relationship is often conceivedwithin a structure of authority. As a guide to practice, theconcept of self-determination ignores the cases where directionis legitimate or desirable. Self-determination can be seen as a professional ideology—aninter-related set of values and ideas. The concept is derivedfrom a number of ideas and values outside social work, but itappears to have little direct relevance to social work in practice.The paper suggests that the concept of freedom may be more usefuland less remote from the realities than ‘self-detemination’is.     

Private Children's Homes

Summary The paper provides survey and intensive research material onthe private children's homes sector. It is shown that this sectoris currently in decline. Private homes are found to be shelteringchildren with long and complex care histories and to adopt adistinctive residential style. Although private homes providevaluable long term continuity, they are less likely to offerthe same range of community services as do residential settingsmanaged by the local authority and voluntary child care agencies.     

Caring for Troubled Children in Flanders, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom

Correspondence to Dr Matthew Colton, Lecturer in Applied Social Studies, Centre for Applied Social Studies, University College of Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP. Summary This article reviews research on residential care and otherservices for troubled children in Flanders, the Netherlands,and the United Kingdom. We begin by looking at Flanders andthe Netherlands. This includes an account of the organizationof services and a critical evaluation of initiatives resultingfrom the growing dissatisfaction with residential care overrecent years. We then compare the evidence from these two countrieswith the situation in the United Kingdom. Notwithstanding importantdifferences, there are clear similarities in the issues surroundingthe residential care of children in the three countries. Weconclude by outlining likely future developments in residentialchild care.     

Assessing Child Protection Risk

Correspondence to Lorraine Waterhouse, Lecturer, Edinburgh Centre for Social Welfare Research, 23 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LN. Summary The article outlines a set of child protection criteria usedby social workers for the evaluation of risk in sexual abusecases. The criteria were distilled from research findings basedon a sample of 51 child sexual abuse cases drawn from ChildProtection Registers in Scotland in 1987/89. Criteria dividebetween two types: primary (child care) criteria which concentrateon assessing circumstances prevailing within the family home;and secondary (disclosure) criteria which serve to either substantiateor refute disclosure. Primary criteria include attitude of non-abusingparent to alleged perpetrator; access between referred childand alleged perpetrator; type of abuse; age of child or youngperson; attitude of alleged perpetrator to allegations; andparental attitude to social work investigation. Secondary criteriainclude belief or disbelief of child; psychological symptomsin child; physical signs of abuse; children's attitudes towardsremaining at home; and criminal or psychiatric history includingalcohol or drug abuse. In practice the criteria tend to be usedlike a set of building blocks: tall towers represent higherrisk; low towers lesser risk. Given the enormous stakes involvedin child protection decisions, front-line practitioners wereunder considerable pressure to ‘play it safe’.     

Children's Homicide as an Indicator of Effective Child Protection: A Comparative Study of Western European Statistics

Correspondence to Colin Pritchard, Professor of Social Work Studies, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO9 5NH. Summary It is known that the extreme consequence of child abuse is adead child. Attempts to determine the success of services toprevent child abuse and subsequent deaths confront the problemsinherent in trying to prove a negative. The use of an epidemiologicalapproach resolves some of the methodological problems by measuring‘failure’ to protect in an examination of children'shomicides rates over time. Between 1973 and 1988 it was found that there was a substantialreduction in baby homicides in England and Wales, equivalentto a fall of 61 per cent and a 57 per cent reduction in Scotland.In a comparison with the other fifteen Western European countries,England and Wales topped the league of improvements in children'shomicide, and Scotland was fourth. Such improvements suggestadvances by the child protection services. Explanations forthe positive British results are considered.     

Adopted Children in Care

Correspondence to David Howe, School of Economic and Social Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ. Summary Four local authority social services departments were surveyedto determine the number of adopted children who were currentlyin their care. The biographical characteristics of these childrenand the reasons for them entering care are reported. The adoptivedimension is discussed as a possibly relevant factor in theassessment and treatment of these children and their families.It is concluded that appropriate practice in this field requiresspecialist skills and understanding.     

An Act of Empowerment: The Children, Young Persons and their Families Act (1989)

Correspondence to Marie Connolly, Department of Social Work, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 1, New Zealand. Summary In 1989, New Zealand introduced child protection legislationthat embraces a model of family decision making. The model,based on traditional indigenous decision-making practices, hasrevolutionized social work with children and families in thechild care and protection area. This paper considers the developmentof the legislation in terms of its antecedent factors and itsvision. It looks particularly at some of the care and protectionprovisions of the legislation, and explores, by use of casestudy, some of the issues of using a family decision-makingprocess as a practice model.     

The Best Interests of the Child

Summary The purpose of this article is to clarify the concept of ‘thebest interests of the child’. It is argued that its usehas often confused rather than helped debates on child careand family work, creating the illusion that ‘the bestinterests of the child’ constitute an objective fact. Different assumptions of ends and means in interpreting the‘best interests of the child’ are discussed followedby an examination of the issues of parental authority and influencein decision making, the rights of the child to have a voicein his or her own future, and the authority of professionalsto weigh and balance all the factors. It is argued that more attention should be given to the complexityof the decision-making processes, that decision making shouldbe shared between children, parents and professionals, and thatviews of ‘the best interest of the child’ are alwayscontingent, depending on the particular position and assumptionsof the person expressing them, as well as the objective circumstances.     

Child Sexual Abuse and the Male Monopoly: An Empirical Exploration of Gender and a Sexual Interest in Children

Correspondence to Mike Freel, Child Protection and Review Unit, Kirklees Children and Families Services, Westfields, Westfields Road, Mirfield, WF14 9PW, UK. E-mail: mike.freel{at}kirkleesmc.gov.uk Summary Researchers argue there is a male monopoly in the perpetrationof child sexual abuse, and that a male sexual interest in childrenis relatively common in society. Government and organizationsworking with children have done little to address possible implicationsof such research. This study explores gender differences inan expressed sexual interest in children, a history of childhoodsexual abuse, and the relationship between these two factors.A self-administer questionnaire was given to a sample of 92female and 91 male public sector child care workers. Resultsshowed a significantly higher percentage of males (15 per cent)than females (4 per cent) expressed a sexual interest in children.Females (20 per cent) were more than twice as likely as males(8 per cent) to report childhood sexual abuse. More than twiceas many men who had been sexually abused as a child (29 percent) expressed a sexual interest in children compared withnon-abused men (14 per cent), but this did not reach statisticalsignificance. In summary, this study found that a sexual interestin children is relatively common among male public sector childcare workers. Prevalence findings for childhood sexual abuseare broadly in line with other research. Experiencing childhoodsexual abuse was not related to a sexual interest in children,but this finding is based on small numbers reporting such aninterest.     

User-Practitioner Transactions in the New Culture of Community Care

Correspondence to Nicky Stanley, Lecturer in Social Work, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK. Summary This article describes the findings of a research project whichexamined the views and practice of social workers undertakingassessments in one local authority following the implementationof the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. While the assessorsexpressed dissatisfaction with some aspects of the new systemof care management, overall they appeared to be taking the newculture on board. Managers were consistently more enthusiasticthan practitioners. Both groups saw needs-led assessment, userchoice and keeping users in their own homes as central objectivesof care management. The shadowing of ten community care assessmentsallowed the degree to which these objectives were realized inpractice to be explored. Users' experience of the new culturewas also studied. The user-practitioner transactions observedsuggest that those users who were able to articulate their ownneeds forcefully were most likely to be able to exercise choice.It is argued that the new culture of community care embodies‘consumer choice’ rather than ‘user choice’.     

Changing Patterns of Fieldwork: Organization: II: The Team Leaders' View

Correspondence to Dr. David Challis, Assistant Director, Personal Social Services Research Unit, Cornwallis Building. The University, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF. Summary In an earlier paper we discussed the organization of fieldworkin Social Services Departments based upon a survey of headquartersrespondents. Here we discuss the findings from a survey of fieldworkteam leaders. A substantial trend towards client-group specializationwas noted, not only at team level but also in the caseloadsof individual workers. There was a trend away from patternsof generic working common in the early days after the Seebohmreorganization. This trend away from generic practice is discussedin the light of arguments about the relative efficiency andeffectiveness of alternative models of organization.     

Residential and Foster Care in the European Community: Current Trends in Policy and Practice

Correspondence to Dr Matthew Colton, Department of Social Policy and Applied Social Studies, University College, Swansea SA2 8PP. Summary This article compares residential care, foster care and theiralternatives in the countries of the European Community. Thefollowing common trends in policy and practice are examined:the decline of residential child care; changes in the populationof separated children; the trend towards small-scale provision;the development of an ecological perspective; increasing differentiationof care provision; professionalization; and alternatives toresidential and foster care. The pace of development is uneven across EC countries. Overall,the trends high-lighted are more apparent in the northern countriesthan in the southern states.     

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.