Evaluating a Group Home: Problems and Results

Summary The need for an evaluative framework for group homes for thementally ill is discussed. Evaluation involves separating implicitfrom explicit objectives. The possible objectives for a grouphome are considered in terms of the questions of who decideswhat the objectives are to be, how they are defined, and theirrelationship to the idea of normality. A further issue in decidingobjectives is whether the client's independence is to be foundwithin the group home or beyond it. The elements of a group home's regime are then considered: theseinclude control and group support. Problems in measuring theelements involved are mentioned. An evaluative scheme based upon this is then drawn up for aparticular group home, and the results described. The residentsare found to have experienced little change overall in theirlevel of independence, and this is associated with a regimewhere residents act in a dependent way towards staff, and staffperceptions of control and support are different from thoseof residents.     

Child Placement Policy: Some European Comparisions

Summary There is consensus among European countries that the first aimof a social policy for families should be to enable childrento remain in their own homes. However, in all countries somechildren require placement apart from their parents, but thereis no agreement as to the best mode of care for these children.Some countries rely entirely on residential care, others almostentirely on family placements in the community. The articlecompares Sweden (high fostering) with Belgium (low fostering),and England and Wales, which is midway between the two, andsuggests that some European models are relevant to English practice.     

Using a Unitary Approach in Student Placements

Summary This paper is an attempt to think through the use of a unitaryapproach in the supervision of students, in particular withinstudent units. It considers separately the beginning phase ofany placement, first and second placements and develops theconcept of a team model by which to run the unit.     

SETTING OBJECTIVES AND MEASURING ACHIEVEMENT IN SOCIAL CARE

Correspondence to Tony Bovaird, Public Sector Management Research Centre, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7EJ Summary This paper examines a systematic approach to formulating andevaluating policies for social work practice in social care.A hierarchy of aims and objectives is advocated, based on theassumption that a clear statement of desired outcomes in socialwork practice with groups of service users is required, togetherwith the establishment of indicators by which their achievementmay be measured. The purpose of the hierarchy is to generatean integrated policy for change and to give a full sense ofdirection to all staff involved, both in policy making and insocial work practice.     

Bridging the divide: elders and the assessment process

Summary At the heart of needs-based assessment is an uneasy tensionbetween agency-centred and user-centred objectives. Using casematerial from an ethnographic study of the process of assessmentfor older people, this paper looks at what happens when practitionerstry to understand the needs of individual elders through a processdominated by agency agendas. By marginalizing the older person'sinsights, the risk of unwelcome or inappropriate interventionmay increase. A user-centred approach, by contrast, requiresinformation gathering and provision that is meaningful to theolder person and sensitive to their efforts to analyse and managetheir situation. These efforts are often revealed in narrativeform as the person tells their story which, in an agency-centredassessment, is easily overlooked or even ignored.     

Birth Mothers and their Mental Health: Uncharted Territory

Correspondence to Janette Logan, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester Summary This article reports the findings of a study commissioned bythe Mental Health Foundation which examined the experiencesand needs of birth mothers who relinquished a child for adoption.Historically, birth mothers have been neglected in the Britishliterature; their experience is considered to have ended atthe time of placement. This research however, indicates thelong-term implications of relinquishment are severe—particularlyin relation to mental health. They demand that the complexityand uniqueness of relinquishment as a form of loss be more fullyunderstood, birth mothers' reactions to those experiences arenot pathologized and professionals learn to respond more positively.GP's in particular need to develop a more sensitive understandingof their needs and in so doing could prevent the medicalizationof some birth mothers.     

Anti-Discriminatory Practice: Pedagogical Struggles and Challenges

Correspondence to Narda Razack, Assistant Professor/Field Education Coordinator, School of Social Work, Atkinson College, York University, 4700 Keele St., North York, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada. E.mail: nrazack{at}yorku.ca Summary Transnational alliances and changing global realities have resultedin a proliferation of material relating to diversity and socialwork practice. More recently the focus has rested on anti-oppressionand multicultural social work. Although there is growing acceptanceof the need to be sensitive to diverse populations, the struggleoften lies in pedagogical and practice considerations. Coursesdealing with oppression have emerged and the emphasis has beento encourage student and teacher to examine their own biasesand understand their ethnicity and culture while seeking todevelop a framework for sensitive practice. Issues relatingto power and subjugation are highlighted along with an understandingof history and present realities. Pedagogical and practice strugglesneed to be addressed on a consistent basis to ensure that theslippage towards a more didactic approach is not adopted inorder to avoid dealing with sensitive material and issues. This article represents a synthesis of my experiences of developinga half credit course on anti-discriminatory practice and teachingit over a period of five terms. The guidelines and approachesused for teaching this course include journals, reflective papers,coalition groups and small group discussions. These approachesare discussed, together with an examination of the locationand struggles of staff and students, and ongoing challengesto effect social knowledge production that is premised on ananti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive framework for practice.Excerpts from student journals, my observations, and feedbackfrom student evaluations are utilised to promote a criticalreflection of pedagogical and practice concerns necessary forsustaining an anti-oppression framework for social work practice. The ways in which groups, individuals, and ideas come to bemarginalized in a given culture, society, and/or place has muchto do with what is considered to be knowledge and who is consideredto possess it, who is perceived as knower and who is known (Edgerton,1993, p. 222). Curricula are revised but rarely transformed from the insideout (McGee, 1993, p. 281).     

Indicators for Placement in Foster Care

Summary In order to develop a typology of indicators for long-term treatmentin foster care, a cluster analysis has been carried out on theitems of a standardized questionnaire which is used by fostercare centres in the province of Zuid-Holland. Two types of indicationfor placement have emerged from the present study. In combinationwith the foster child's age, these two types discriminate effectivelybetween unsuccessful, prematurely terminated placements aftereighteen months and continued placements. It is claimed thatthe employment of this procedure can effect a reduction in thenumber of unsuccessful, prematurely terminated placements.     

A Study of Predictors of Success on a Social Work Course

Summary A variety of test measures and biographical variables was relatedto the theoretical and practical course performance of two separateintakes of social work students who began their professionalcourses in a polytechnic in 1968 or 1969. Theoretical performancewas effectively predicted by cognitive variables, but only onetest, a measure of persistence, correlated significantly andconsistently with the practical criterion     

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.     

The Use of TGroups in Training Social Workers

Summary It is suggested that T groups might be of value in Social Worktraining as a means of encouraging Social Workers to make greateruse of group techniques. T groups have been criticized on ethicalgrounds and for their tendency to produce psychological disturbancein predisposed individuals. In he context of Social Work trainingT groups have a dual function, promoting self awareness in theparticipants and increasing their knowledge of group dynamics.A procedure is described which emphasizes the necessity of focusingon group behaviour as opposed to individual psychopathology.It is believed that by doing so the psychological hazards arereduced. A brief outline is given of the manner in which materialproduced in the group sessions may illustrate theoretical materialintroduced elsewhere on the course     

Joint Reviews: Judgement Day and Beyond

Correspondence to Jill Humphrey, Adoption and Family Finding Unit, 3 Unthank Road, Norwich NR2 2PA, UK. E-mail: jill.humphrey.socs{at}norfolk.gov.uk Summary Joint Reviewers are the central regulators of social servicesauthorities in England and Wales. This article explores howreviewers arrive at their judgements about the performance ofsocial services authorities and how these authorities respondto Joint Review reports and recommendations. It also offersa framework for evaluating the costs and benefits of Joint Reviewswhich enables us to appreciate the ambivalence which local authoritystaff harbour towards their central regulators.     

The Children's Family Trust: a Unique Approach to Substitute Family Care?

Summary This article outlines the contribution made to child care since1945 by the Children's Family Trust in providing substitutefamily homes. Reference is made to some Trust policies whichhave aroused controversy over the years. Recruitment and supportof the substitute Parents is discussed, and a brief analysismade of the children for whom placement with the Trust may bemost appropriate. Comparisons are drawn between staff turnoverin Trust families and other residential homes, and between successand failure rates of placements with the Trust and in long-termfoster-homes. The final section assesses the role of the Children'sFamily Trust and its philosophy in contemporary child care.     

Integrating Group Dynamics Training and the Education and Development of Social Work Students

Summary This paper explores experience of the development of a groupdynamics workshop in a post-graduate course for student socialworkers. The background to the workshops is outlined with referenceto students, course staff and consultant staff. A brief summaryof different conceptual approaches to group dynamics trainingis offered in order to clarify terminology and methods. Importantconclusions concerning the design and operation of the workshopsare drawn and emphasis is placed on an analysis of the multiplerole situation of student social workers, choosing appropriatelearning designs, and making these explicit     

The Samaritan Concept of Befriending

Summary This paper considers the view that the Samaritan concept ofbefriending constitutes a debasement of our traditional notionof friendship. An analysis of the main features of friendshipis attempted and this analysis is then used as a framework forassessing the nature of befriending     

Social Work Intervention in Community Service

Gill McIvor, Research Fellow, Social Work Research Centre, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA. Summary The recently introduced National Standards for Community Serviceschemes in Scotland recognize that certain offenders on CommunityService may experience personal difficulties that interferewith their ability to comply with the order of the court andrecommend that where necessary advice and help should be providedto assist completion. A study of twelve Scottish Community Serviceschemes revealed that in spite of their often being acceptedfor Community Service because of the absence of obvious instabilityin their lives, many offenders encountered personal difficultieswhile completing their orders and those who did had a higherincidence of absence from placement. The relatively few instancesof intervention by Community Service staff that were found weremainly of a practical nature. Two schemes were, however, identifiedas offering a more intensive social work service which may haveenabled certain offenders who would not otherwise have doneso to complete their Community Service Orders. The practicalimplications of increased intervention by Community Servicestaff are discussed as is the possibility that such an approachmight enable schemes to deal successfully with a higher proportionof offenders who would otherwise have received a custodial sentence.     

Social Work Assessment Processes in Work with Ethnic Minorities-the Doshi Family

Summary The authors describe a framework for assessment which they developedin a book on practice theory (Curnock and Hardiker, 1979). Thisframework was used by them to guide the practice described withthe Doshi family and to analyse the social work processes involved.This paper concludes with an evaluation of the practice.     

Theory and Practice in Social Work: A Re-examination of a Tenuous Relationship

Summary This article discusses the need for an agreed framework withinwhich a genuinely reciprocal relationship between social worktheory and practice could be developed. After pointing out theinconsistencies of the present relationship, the author goeson to conclude that three main obstacles stand in the way ofthe achievement of this goal. He cites firstly, the presentdesign of the social work curriculum, with particular referenceto the underlying principle of eclecticism; secondly, the negativeattitudes held by many in the profession towards science asa means of evaluating competing concepts; and thirdly, the lackof an acceptably rigorous field work evaluation procedure whichsocial workers could use to register their impact on the morenebulous aspects of their work. Suggestions are made as to howthese obstacles might be overcome.     

Two Post-Qualifying Courses in Social Work: the views of the course members and their employers

Correspondence to Alan Rushton, Course Tutor, Southwark Social Services, Fieldwork and Community Services, The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ. Summary Social workers who had completed two practice oriented post-qualifyingprogrammes were sent questionnaires asking them to evaluatetheir courses and to report on their subsequent careers. A selectedsub-sample was then interviewed and their current line managerscompleted questionnaires on their views of the training. Findingsare presented on their evaluation of both academic and practiceaspects of the programme. Levels of satisfaction were foundto be linked with the characteristics of course members. Somedifficulties were experienced in applying the new learning onre-entry to full-time work.     

The Care Programme Approach: Dimensions of Evaluation

Correspondence to Barbara Hatfield, Mental Health Social Work Research Unit, School of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University of Manchester, 12th Floor, Mathematics Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. Summary The study examined the first six months of implementation ofthe Care Programme Approach (the CPA) at a psychiatric unitof a district general hospital. From an analysis of the researchliterature on case management, and from current policy, a frameworkwas developed which was used to analyse the implementation understudy. The framework included such features as: a keyworkeroffering a continuous relationship and co-ordinated care; assessmentand intervention over a range of ‘needs’; multidisciplinaryworking in the community; and involvement of user and carer.The objectives were to ensure continuity of care and reducehospital admission. The targeted service users were to be thosewith severe and enduring mental health problems. The study showsthat most of these features were achieved in the implementation,although there is no evidence that hospital admission was avoided.A number of factors were found to be associated with re-admission,and these are discussed in the light of the findings of otherstudies.