Keeping Social Work Honest: Evaluating as Profession and Practice

Correspondence to Ian Shaw, School of Social and Administrative Studies, University of Wales Cardiff, 50 Park Place, Cardiff CF1 3AT Summary The central argument of this paper is that social work needsa radical alternative to existing options for evaluating practice.Social workers at present are offered three choices. They areinvited to choose between applying research, conducting researchor adopting specific forms of empirical research-based practice(for example Everitt et al., 1992; Thyer. 1993; Fuller and Petch,1995). We touch briefly on reasons why we believe none of these optionsprovides an adequate grounding for social work, referring especiallyto the growing call for social work to find new purpose throughan empirical, research-based practice. If alternative approachesare to be persuasive, they must be fashioned from the materialsof a new approach to research on social work practice—‘one that is exploratory rather than confirmatory, buildinga model of evaluation from the practitioners' own accounts ratherthan superimposing an ideal model’ (Elks and Kirkhart,1993, p. 555). The major part of this paper is taken up withevidence from research of this kind. The model of evaluatingin practice with which we conclude the paper is simultaneouslytrue to social workers' accounts of their practice, while offeringa critical starting point for evaluating and refashioning thatpractice.     

Parents' Views on Social Work Interventions in Child Welfare Cases

Correspondence to Trevor Spratt, Lecturer in Social Work, School of Social Work, The Queen's University Belfast, 7 Lennoxvale, Belfast BT9 5BY, Northern Ireland. E-mail: T.Spratt{at}qub.ac.uk Summary This article reports findings from the third part of a three-partresearch project examining the potential for social workersto shift from a child protection to a child welfare orientationin their practice. Whilst social workers in the UK have beenencouraged to make such changes, they have been hampered byconcerns to manage risk. Findings reported from the earlierparts of the project, indicated that there was potential fora substantial proportion of child protection work to be redesignatedas child welfare work, but that where this was achieved in practice,there was evidence of the continued influence of child protectionprocesses as social workers sought to manage the risks inherentin child welfare cases. The study reported here sets out toascertain the views of parents who were subject to child welfareinterventions. The findings indicate that while parents feelapprehension with regard to contact with social workers, inthe majority of cases successful relationships are formed. Itis argued that social workers display considerable skill inmonitoring potential risks whilst engaging with families andthat the subtleties involved in such activity are not capturedby official measures of governance which concentrate on moreabstract indicators of performance.     

Notes on Theory and Practice in Social Work: a Comparative View

Please address reprint requests to Robert van Krieken, Department of Social Work, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia. Summary There are still a number of problems surrounding the relationshipbetween theories of social work practice and that practice itself.This paper examines the factors underlying those problems andemphasises their roots in the failure to examine the diversityof social work theories and practices. We refer to one attemptto resolve the problems—the distinction between ‘practicetheory’ and ‘theory of practice’—pointout some difficulties with it and suggest an alternative, three-folddistinction within theorising: between (a) materialist socialtheory, (b) strategic practice theory and (c) working concepts. As an example of how those distinctions can be used, we thenbriefly discuss the work of Oskar Negt and its introductioninto the Dutch welfare context, as it was the issues raisedby that which stimulated the ideas in this paper. We concludeby arguing that only this kind of perspective on theorisingcan produce ideas which are of real use to progressive socialwork practitioners.     

Survival Analysis in Social Work Research

Correspondence to Dr Richard Pugh, School of Social Relations, Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK. E-mail: spa08{at}keele.ac.uk Summary Survival analysis is a method of analysing any data set thatconsists of time to event where the data set is not temporallycompleted. That is, where not all of the initial events havebeen succeeded by the end events. Its major advantage is thatit allows the researcher to model the data using the whole set.Although widely used in other disciplines, with a few exceptions,it has received relatively little attention in social work.This paper provides a review of the method and illustrates itsapplication in a study of child protection practice.     

The Trans-Theoretical Model of Change: A Reliable Blueprint for Assessment in Work with Children and Families?

Correspondence to John Corden, 1 Brockfield Road, Huntington, York YO31 9DX, UK. Email: John_Corden{at}msn.com Summary In this paper, the authors consider the promotion of Prochaskaand DiClemente’s transtheoretical model of change (theTTM) to the assessment of parenting capacity, within the literaturewhich supports the Framework for Assessment. A number of criticismsof the model, originating from within its original area of applicationare reviewed, and considered in the context of the assessmentof parenting. The authors go on to raise certain questions aboutthe validity of transferring this model from the field of addictivebehaviours to that of parenting and child protection.     

Children in Secure Accommodation

Correspondence to Professor Robert Harris, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Department of Social Policy and Professional Studies, The University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX. Summary This paper describes the characteristics of a sample of children(N = 399) being held in secure accommodation in eleven localauthorities prior to the implementation of the Children Act1989. It is argued that secure accommodation cannot be divorcedfrom other aspects of child care policy and practice; that anyconfidence that problems of excessive or variable usage canbe removed by more restrictive legislation is largely misplaced;that when social workers resort to secure accommodation it isoften through a combination of ‘worry’ about anunpredictable child and uncertainty as to what else to do; andthat since not all children in secure accommodation wish toleave it (and the more secure accommodation constitutes goodquality child care the more children are likely to want to stay)a ‘rights’ framework, though necessary, is not asufficient moral or conceptual basis for developing secure accommodationpolicy and practice.     

Discourses of Child Protection and Child Welfare

Correspondence to Gordon Jack, University of Exeter, Department of Social Work and Probation Studies, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ Summary The history and dominance of the discourse of child protectionand its influence over social work practice with children andfamilies is discussed in the light of recent research into theoperation of child protection systems in the UK and elsewhere.The often negative effects of current approaches on professionals,parents, and, particularly, children are highlighted. The issuesof confidentiality and empowerment appear to be of central importancefor current debates about the welfare of children and youngpeople. Three strategies for change are outlined and discussed. It isargued that a fundamental challenge to the child protectiondiscourse is required. Parallels are drawn with the changeswhich occurred in attitudes and responses towards football supporters,following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. The dangers and shortcomings of the present reliance on a diseasemodel of ‘abuse’, with its focus on individual pathology,are analysed. Support is provided for the development of a newdiscourse, which acknowledges the social contexts within whichallegations of ‘abuse’ arise, and without whichsocial work will continue to be restricted to a procedurallydominated conservative orientation to child welfare.     

The Influence of Child Protection Orientation on Child Welfare Practice

Summary This article reports the findings of the second part of a two-partresearch project examining the potential for social workersto make changes in their work with families and children. Whilstsocial workers in the United Kingdom have been encouraged toshift from a child protection to a child welfare orientationin their practice, such changes have been hampered by professionaland organizational concern to manage risk. The research exploresthe influence of a child protection orientation on practicein child welfare cases. The findings, from two file analysesand interviews with 26 social workers, indicate that such aninfluence is indeed apparent. This is evidenced in two ways;first patterns of practice in child welfare cases are similarto those in child protection cases. Secondly, while the majorityof social workers express an attitudinal desire to move towardsa child welfare orientation, they still prioritize the managementof risk in their practice. It is argued that social workersneed permission from their employing organizations to make changesin their practice. This, in turn, requires such organizationsto state clear goals in line with a child welfare orientationand develop holistic strategies to achieve these.     

Understanding Young People and Prostitution: A Foundation for Practice?

Correspondence to Ian Shaw, School of Social and Administrative Studies, University of Wales Cardiff, 50 Park Place, Cardiff CF1 3AT, UK. Summary The practice and research literature on young people and prostitutionreflects a number of methodological challenges. This paper offersa focused review of the literature in the context of those challengesand attempts to draw conclusions that are strong enough to providea reflective and strategic approach to service planning andimplementation. Definitional issues are discussed, particularlyin relation to estimates of prevalence. The robustness of pastresearch designs and associated causal inferences are questionedand a synthesis of current explanatory accounts is offered.Risk in relation to prostitution is explored. Past service responsesare examined and a rationale for future responses is developed.     

Regulation in Child Protection--Policy Failure?

Correspondence to Mai Walton, Department of Applied Social Studies and Social Work, University of Keele, Keele, Staffs. ST5 5BG Summary This paper examines child protection policy formulation andimplementation. It suggests that policy has been incrementallyformed in an expedient fashion to suit the political and organizationalstatus quo. It draws upon models of issue ascendancy, policyanalysis and inspection, and argues that child protection policyis regulatory in nature yet lacks the prerequisites normallyfound in regulation. It examines perceived policy failure anddemonstrates that this results from partial policy formulationand lack of clarity in objectives.     

Modernity, Postmodernity and Social Work

Correspondence to Prof. David Howe, School of Social Work, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ. Summary For so long in search of a common base, there are early signsthat social work's intellectual outlook is fragmenting. Theunity that was once sought in both theory and practice as wellas policy and organziation is being abandoned. A child of modernity,social work now finds itself in a postmodern world, uncertainwhether or not there are any deep and unwavering principleswhich define the essence of its character and hold it togertheras a cohernt enterprise. The article outlines some of the characteristics of modernityand postmodernity, relating them to the rise of social work,its formation within modern society, and its current conditionin what many observers believe is a postmodern world. Thereare three ‘visions’ within which people look toleam the ’truth‘ of things, including matters offact and matters of value: those centred in God's word (revelation);those centred in the minds of men and women (reason); and thosede-centred and dispersed withing language, meaning and culture(relativism).     

Participation and Child Protection: The Importance of Context

Correspondence to Karen Healy, Department of Social Work, Social Policy and Sociology, University of Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia. Summary This paper examines the effects of discourses about participationon child protection practice. The paper critiques the prevalentconceptualizations of participation on the grounds that, often,these ideals have been imported from other disciplines withoutdue regard for the specificities of child protection practice.Initially, the critique is focused on how participatory discourseshave resisted adaption to the child protection field. For example,participation and paternalism are often paired dualistically,with the consequence that participation is seen as an unquestionablegood, whilst practices that do not conform to this ideal areassociated with paternalism and considered to be antitheticalto just child protection practice. By examining some of thetypical responses, within the child protection literature andamongst child protection professionals, to the prevalent discoursesabout participation it is argued that these discourses haveactually thwarted the development of participatory processesin child protection work. This is because these discourses donot engage with the expectations associated with child protectionwork, particularly the use of statutory power that such practicedemands. The final part of the paper identifies how post-structuraltheory, particularly the work of Foucault, can highlight anddismantle some of the assumptions about power on which participatorymodels have rested and allow for the development of a participatoryethos which is receptive to the specificities of child protectionwork.     

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.     

Allocating Blame in Social Work

Correspondence to Geraldine Macdonald, Applied Social Studies, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, Egham Hill, Surrey TW20 OEX. Summary This article takes issue with those who assume that the responsibilityfor bad outcomes in social work, such as child deaths, is appropriatelylaid at the feet of individual workers. It examines the philosophicalorigins of such arguments, some recent applications within socialwork literature and their appropriateness to the realities ofsocial work practice. The author argues that a morality of socialwork must recognize the social and organizational context inwhich it occurs.     

Evaluating Social Work and Medical Practice with Black and Ethnic Minority Groups Using the Clinical Audit Model

Correspondence to Kish Bhatti-Sinclair, Department of Social Work Studies, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK. Summary This paper is based on the External Audit-Ethnically SensitivePractice (EA-ESP) project which was undertaken within six primaryand secondary health care settings. This project is used asan example of how the clinical audit model can be used to monitorand review health and social work practice in the UK. The paperexamines quality, compares approaches to evaluation, and suggeststhat audit can be a useful tool for agencies in obtaining userand staff views on many areas of practice but in particularon equal opportunities, anti-racism and anti-oppression. Attentionis drawn to audit within broader evaluative and review approachesalready employed by social work academics and practitioners.The issue of quality and how it can be measured is consideredthrough an analytical comparison with approaches which employaction research and other evaluative means in the process ofreview. Audit is explored in the context of a growing need for the developmentof monitoring and review systems which provide evidence to supportand develop professionalism within social work. External auditis explored and compared to internal audit. Finally, the needfor the development of quality services in anti-racist and anti-oppressivework is highlighted and it is suggested that audit can be acost-effective and efficient way of achieving this.     

The Effectiveness of Attached Social Workers in the Management of Depressed Women in General Practice

Summary Following early reports of the feasibility and usefulness oflocating social workers in general practice (Collins, 1965;Forman and Fairbairn, 1968; Cooper, 1971) the number of attachmentsto general practice has increased markedly over the last decade(Gilchrest et al., 1978). Although there have been a numberof accounts of the increased co-operation between health carestaff (Clare and Corney, 1982) there has been a dearth of objectiveevaluations of the advantages these schemes bring to generalpractice patients. This paper describes the design, executionand outcome of a clinical trial of social work carried out ondepressed women in general practice aged 18–45. It focuseson the social workers' activities and the clients view of help:more detailed information is described elsewhere (Corney, 1981).     

Search for an Indicator of Effective Child Protection in a Re-analysis of Child Homicide in the Major Western Countries 1973-1992: A Response to Lindsey and Trocme and Macdonald

Correspondence to Professor Cohn Pritchard, Department of Social Work Studies, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1 BJ England Summary An analysis of child homicides published in the British Journalof Social Work, demonstrated major falls in child deaths inEngland and Wales between 1973 and 1988. The results were seenas one indicator of improved child protection (Pritchard, 1992a).That study, and a reply to a critique by Creighton (1993), werechallenged by Lindsey and Trocmé (1994) and Macdonald(1995). This paper is a response, and takes advantage of thecriticisms and new data to present evidence which confirms thatthere have been reductions in child homicide in England andWales between 1973 and 1992 and that the Anglo-Welsh improvementswere the best of all the major Western countries.     

Towards an Alternative Model of Social Groupwork

Summary This paper arose from our disagreement with some of the suggestionsin an earlier article in this journal (Brown et al., 1982).Before and since, we have both worked in and studied numerousexamples of groups of a type which, according to Brown and hiscoauthors, scarcely exists in British social work practice.This paper explains what we believe to be the actual significanceof the type of group work we refer to as ‘self-directed’,together with our view of its place within wider social work,community work, and groupwork practice. We also give examplesof such groups and conclude that their proliferation would enableworkers to go beyond the alleviation of individual distressinto the achievement of external change.     

Social Work, Social Science and Practice Wisdom

Correspondence to Michael Sheppard, Department of Applied Social Science, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA. Summary Social work has for some time had an ambiguous and ambivalentrelationship with its social science knowledge base. However,this has arisen, at least in part, because of the emphasis onthe outcome or product of social science rather than the processby which research is conducted. This paper, focusing on assessment,argues that an emphasis on process goes some way to closingthe gap between social science and social work, that the methodsused by social researchers are, in many respects, simply refinementsof the methodology of everyday life, and that social workers,when conducting assessments operate rather like practical qualitativeresearchers. Using Analytical Induction as an heuristic device,it proceeds to explore critical characteristics of good practicein social work assessments. It concludes that practice shouldbe characterized by critical awareness, involving imaginativedevelopment of alternative hypotheses, a sceptical attitudetowards case assessments and a principle of adopting hypothesesleast likely to be in error.     

Probation Officers Working with Men

Correspondence to Jonathan Scourfield, School of Social and Administrative Studies, University of Wales Cardiff, 50 Park Place, Cardiff CF1 3AT, UK. Summary Recent debates on making masculinities explicit in work withoffenders are reviewed as the context for a qualitative researchstudy. Interviews were conducted with probation officers andfiles and pre-sentence reports read with the aim of exploringthe construction of masculinities within the probation service.Tensions about gender were found within and between the threeareas of professional rhetoric, practice and internal relations.The most significant finding is a gap between rhetoric and practice.While most officers interviewed spoke of an interest in focusingeither directly or indirectly on their clients' identity asmen, the files and reports found only a very small amount ofdirect work on this. There was a larger amount of evidence ofwork that could be seen as indirectly challenging masculinites,but another significant part of the files and reports on menreflected a tendency towards ignoring gender or even colludingwith oppressive masculinities.