Social Work and the News Media: A Hopeless Case?

Correspondence to Meryl Aldridge, Department of Social Policy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD. Summary The belief that the profession gets unusually poor news mediatreatment is entrenched among social workers. As a result, thesocial work press regularly prints articles discussing the issueand suggesting solutions. This paper outlines the main sociologicalapproaches to theorizing about the media and locates the majorityof the profession's own accounts of its coverage within an idealist/pluralistmodel. Examples of positive presentation of social work arethen considered, but it is argued that many of these come fromlocal media. Approving items in the national press have beenlinked mainly with disasters and with the work of voluntaryagencies. Given the search for profit in a consumption-led society,it is unlikely that national news media, particularly the press,will fully endorse social work as it delivers state welfare.Attempts by social work agencies and professional institutionsto re-educate the media can have only limited success and shouldbe more carefully targeted.     

Shared Learning for Doctors and Social Workers: Evaluation of a Programme

Correspondence to John Carpenter, Tizard Centre, Institute of Social and Applied Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7LZ Summary This paper reports a shared learning programme for final yearsocial work and medical students which was designed in the lightof social psychological studies of intergroup behaviour (theContact Hypothesis). Key features included institutional supportfor the programme and opportunities to work as equals in pairsand small groups on shared tasks in a cooperative atmosphere.Topics included alcohol abuse, dealing with psychiatric emergencies,deliberate self-harm and community senices for people with learningdisabilities. A comprehensive evaluation of the effects of the programme onone cohort of 85 participants revealed that overall attitudestowards the other profession had improved and that each sawthe other as more professionally competent at the end of theprogramme. Participants reported increased knowledge of theattitudes, skills, roles and duties of the other professionand of how to work together more effectively.     

Evangelical Christianity, Secular Humanism, and the Genesis of British Social Work

Correspondence to Dr Graham Bowpitt, Department of Social Sciences, The Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham NG1 4BU, UK. E-mail: graham.bowpitt{at}ntu.ac.uk Summary This paper is a reappraisal of the Christian origins of socialwork and, as such, is a contribution to writing the profession'shistory. It examines the competing ideological roots of theconcept of ‘social work’ which emerged in late nineteenth-centuryBritain, and the extent to which they are derived from the Christiancharitable tradition or its secular transformation. Two featuresof early social work are examined in particular depth: its moralpurpose in relation to the Evangelical belief in charity asan instrument of spiritual revival; and its rational methodsin relation to secular beliefs about the possibility of personaland social change. Much of the paper focuses on the ideological and institutionalrelationship between the emerging activity of social work andEvangelical revivalism which formed the context for most latenineteenth-century philanthropy. The crisis of faith experiencedby Victorian intellectuals is a significant motif throughoutthis period. This is not an attempt to rewrite the history of social work,but to re-examine neglected features in its origins: EvangelicalChristianity and its secular humanist transformation. In doingso, it is hoped to throw light on the recent revival of interestin the importance of religion to social work.     

Work Satisfaction in Probation and Social Work

Correspondence to Professor Martin Davies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ. Summary The design and preliminary development of a research instrumentintended to provide comparable measures of work satisfactionwithin different social work settings is described. The resultsof administering it to two separate samples of social workersand probation officers are presented. It appears that probation officers feel themselves more highlyregarded by members of the general public and are less likelyto say they are badly paid; they enjoy more job autonomy; rathermore social workers tend to feel alienated at work, but mostbelieve that they have better chances of career advancementthan is the case in the probation service. There are broad similarities between the two work settings sofar as work with clients and attitudes towards colleagues areconcerned; it is argued that the emergence of these similaritiesis methodologically reassuring because it suggests the stabilityof the data overall, and therefore increases the likelihoodthat the findings regarding agency differences are a valid reflectionof social reality in each setting.     

Enabling Adults with Learning Disabilities to Articulate their Housing Needs

Correspondence to Dr Alex McGlaughlin, Department of Social Sciences, The Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham NG1 4BU, UK. E-mail: alex.mcglaughlin{at} ntu.ac.uk Summary This study is about involving adults with learning disabilitiesin service planning by asking them to articulate their own needsin relation to housing. It also identifies some of the barriersto meeting the housing needs of this group. The views expressedindicate that ordinary housing with small numbers is the preference,and that appropriate support is highly valued. This suggestsa need for housing of a supported living model or similar. Theservice users in this study were clearly able to verbalize theirpreferences as well as to think through potential options. However,there is also clear evidence that they feel powerless in makingchoices, with decisions being taken on their behalf by professionalsand carers. This demonstrates the need for a cultural shiftwhereby the voices of adults with learning disabilities areheard and acted upon.     

Swimming with Dolphins: The Assessment Framework, New Labour and New Tools for Social Work with Children and Families

Correspondence to Dr Paul Michael Garrett, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. E-mail: paul.garrett{at}nottingham.ac.uk Summary Local authorities, in England, implemented the Framework forthe Assessment of Children in Need and their Families in April2001. The Framework is the first ‘official’ standardassessment model intended for use in the initial assessmentof all ‘children in need’ under Part 111, section17 of the 1989 Children Act. This new ‘conceptual map’needs to be understood in terms of previous policy documentsand earlier technologies of intervention related to child protectionand, more broadly, child welfare. However, it also needs tobe more expansively perceived, fixed and located as it relatesto other elements in New Labour's political ‘project’.The Framework's preoccupation with an ecological approach toassessments and with questionnaires and scales are likely tohave major implications for social work practice and for micro-engagementswith children and families.     

Care Management and Professional Autonomy: The Impact of Community Care Legislation on Social Work with Older People

Correspondene to Mark Lymbery, Centre for Social Work, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. e-mail: Mark_Lymbery{at}nottingham.ac.uk Summary The 1990 National Health Service and Community Care Act appearedto herald a new dawn for social work with older people, whichhad previously been a relatively neglected and undervalued areaof social work practice. The legislation proposed a new rolefor social workers as ‘case managers’, with considerableautonomy and flexibility about the way in which the ‘casemanager’ responded to need. By the time community carepolicy was implemented, the role of ‘case manager’had been transformed into that of ‘care manager’,with a focus which emphasized procedural and managerial requirementsrather than a more flexible professional practice. This paper explores the extent to which this shift has substantivelyaltered the nature of social work practice with older people.It outlines key theories of professions and their applicabilityto social work, and critically analyses the impact of the ‘newmanagerialism’ within social services departments. Thepaper also examines the nature of social workers' practice witholder people following the impact of community care legislation,and concludes that the impact on the social work professionhas been to locate an increasing control of practice with socialwork managers, with potentially serious consequences for thecontinuation of a distinctive social work role in relation toservices for older people.     

Legal Liability and Accountability for Child-care Decisions

Correspondence to Tom Guthrie, School of Law, University of Glasgow, Stair Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. Summary Although decisions taken by social workers in cases of suspectedchild abuse and in looking after children in their care maybe the subject of public enquiries and press comment, they willnot in general incur any legal liability to compensate childrenwho claim to have suffered as a result of these decisions. Thisarticle examines the reasons why such liability is excludedby the courts, as well as looking briefly at other mechanismsfor challenging social workers'decisions. It is argued thatthe grounds for excluding liability are speculative and thatintroducing liability to this area might encourage good practice.     

Parton, Howe and Postmodernity: A Critical Comment on Mistaken Identity

Correspondence to Carole Smith, School of Social Work,, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Dover Street Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL Summary In their contributions to the debate about social work, modernityand postmodernity Parton(1994) and Howe (1994) argue that therecent changes in social work practice can best be understoodas features of, or responses to, the postmodern social orderin which it is located. This has led, they argue, to an increasingfragmentation of the profession and an undermining of its formalknowledge base. We will argue here that, not only does suchan argument oversimplify the nuances of the ‘postmodernity’question, but it represents a misreading of the pressures affectingpractice at this time, which are more properly attributableto the operation of the discourses and ideologies of a particularphase of late capitalism and high modernity.     

Improving Social Workers' Knowledge Base in Child Protection Work

Correspondence to Dr Eileen Munro, 16 Aquarius, Eel Pie Island, Twickenham TW1 3EA, UK. Summary The present study was conducted to identify recurrent socialwork errors in the forty-five public inquiries held in Britainbetween 1973 and 1994. This article reports the findings relatingto the recurrent criticisms of social workers' knowledge base.The quality of investigations and assessments are repeatedlyfaulted. Also, many problems arise from social workers' failureto be explicit about what they are doing. The merits and shortcomingsof increased training and handbooks to improve practice arethen discussed. It is argued that social workers' widespreadpreference for a personal, private style of working is a majorobstacle to changing their use of theories and to evaluatingpractice.     

Applying a community needs profiling approach to tackling service user poverty

Summary Poverty across the United Kingdom is a growing phenomenon. Itsimpact on the users of social work services is well documented.This paper puts forward the argument that poverty is a legitimatepart of the social work agenda rather than being seen as a complexproblem which is somehow outside the scope of social work agenciesand best left to politicians and policy makers. Social workpractitioners and managers must not only begin to accept andacknowledge that poverty is a social work issue but also tobegin confronting this challenge in a changing society whereexclusion, social inequality, racism and oppression deny peopletheir citizenship. The community needs profiling approach is proposed as a usefultool in addressing service user poverty whereby practitionersand their agencies can become more aware of the needs of usersand the communities in which they live. It is argued that, armedwith this knowledge, social workers have the potential to becomepart of the solution rather than remaining on the margins ofthe lives of poor people. Using evidence and ideas drawn froma range of community needs profiling research studies and texts,the author offers working suggestions for applying the approach.     

The Client, The Caseworker and The Absent Third Person

Summary Some people seek social work help with problems that have arisenin their relationships with others to whom they are very closeand by whom they feel betrayed, attacked or maltreated. Often,so great are the distress and force with which the problem isbrought, the social worker may find himself drawn to acceptas substantially accurate the client's view of the situationand to act accordingly. This article argues that such a lineof action may be misguided or even harmful, and that help canonly be effective in the situations described if it has as oneof its basic assumptions the notion that the picture conveyedof 'the absent third person' has more connection with the client'sown inner needs than with anyone else     

'No Irish Need Apply': Social Work in Britain and the History and Politics of Exclusionary Paradigms and Practices

Correspondence to Paul Michael Garrett, Centre for Social Work, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. E-mail: paul.garrett{at}nottingham.ac.uk Summary In Britain, Irish people have continually been excluded fromthe discourse of anti-discriminatory social work theory. Themain reason for this centres on the dominant tendency to exclusivelycentre on ‘race’ and visible difference. Recentpolicy documents in relation to social work with children andfamilies illustrate the fact that Irish people are omitted indiscussions seeking to promote culturally appropriate services.Conceptually this approach is founded on implicit ideas aboutBritish identity and erroneously suggests that white ethnicitiesare homogeneous, unified and clearly demarcated from a (new)black presence. Historically, ideas associated with ‘theproblem family’ can be related to the racialization ofIrish people. Archival research examining responses to unmarriedmothers travelling to Britain to have ‘illegitimate’babies adopted also highlights how Irish women have been subjectto exclusionary social care practices. Whilst rejecting an essentialistconceptualization of ‘Irishness’, the article goeson to suggest that the mainstream and hegemonic discourse on‘race’ needs to take specific account of Irish peopleand other minority ethnicities not identifying as ‘black’,particularly during a period of globalization and new migrationinto Britain by refugees and asylum seekers.     

Applying for money The encounter between social workers and clients--A question of morality

Correspondence to Lars-Christer Hydén, Department of Social Work, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden Summary The facts of household finances generally obtain their meaningfrom the moral standards of everyday life: it is in relationto these standards that we evaluate our personal finances. Personswho lack money and apply for social welfare compensation generallyhave to turn to a public social welfare bureau where their eligibilityis assessed by a professional social worker. The central questionfor the present study is how social workers and clients dealwith the morally delicate question of personal financial deficitsand how this question should be processed in a formal and institutionalsetting by formal means. This problem is discussed through ananalysis of conversations between social workers and clientsat social welfare bureaux in the municipality of Stockholm,Sweden. In pursuing a formal inquiry the social worker is conductinga moral search: the social worker has to determine the moralcharacter of the client and the circumstances around his/herhandling of his/her own financial situation. The ‘relevantcharacteristics of the citizen’ that the social workertries to match with the beneficiary rules are of a moral nature.In this respect, the social worker is not only a social workerbut also a moral worker. In order to define and defend his orher moral character the client has to pursue the financial issueas a moral issue. In the encounter, the client alludes to everydaycircumstances to account for his/her financial situation andto justify it by applying everyday moral standards.     

Emancipatory Social Work? Opportunity or Oxymoron

Correspondence to Department of Social Work, Exeter University, St Luke’s Campus, Heavitee Rd., Exeter EX1 2LU. E-mail: w.j.o.jordan{at}exeter.ac.uk Summary This paper explores the extent to which social work can be saidto have espoused a consistent and distinctive set of principlesand values, particularly against the background of adaptationto the changing ideological agendas of government over the past25 years. Against the context of globalization, it traces aquickening pace of individual rather than collective progressas the touchstone of public policy, with an increasing relianceon coercive measures to discipline those who fail to make thenecessary or successful efforts on their own behalf. Socialwork's roots in nineteenthcentury individualism leaves it particularlyvulnerable to co-option into this agenda but, the paper argues,approaches which pay lip-service to autonomy, choice and empowerment,which actually deal in rationing, risk assessment and enforcement,will end in frustration and failure. A way forward exists ina renewed emphasis upon the social dimension of problems andtheir resolution, together with a re-investment by social workersin the notions of membership, mutuality and democratic solidaritythrough which individual well-being can be negotiated.     

Government, Social Services Departments and the Health of Children and Young People: Which Way Forward?

Summary Despite the dearth of research into the health of children andyoung people in contact with or ‘looked after’ bylocal authorities, a series of official and quasi-official reportshave begun to raise awareness of this issue. There are goodreasons to believe that this group of children will be disadvantagedin terms of health as they are in other aspects of their lives.The evidence suggests that local authorities do not live upto the standards of ‘good parents’. Current notionsof good practice are critically appraised and the article concludesthat social work is unable to do more than mitigate the effectsof Government policies which affect health and social servicesand which have lead to widening social inequalities.     

Facing adulthood alone: the long-term impact of family break-up and infant institutions, a longitudinal study

Summary This is the summary of a long-term follow-up study of 268 youngpeople who were infants living in Northern Israel's three pre-schoolinstitutions in 1973. In this third, and final, stage of theresearch it was found that, considering the extent of pathologyin their families of origin, the cycle of intergenerationaltransmission of pathology has been quite limited, and the largemajority are functioning adequately or well as young adults.They are, between them, now parenting 115 children, none ofwhom are in institutional care. Without the backing of a supportivefamily, life is difficult, and they tend to be sadder, lessenergetic and less educated than a more advantaged comparisongroup. Fully two-thirds have had pervasive learning problems,which continue to impact on their vocational options as youngadults. However, the intervention of social work counsellinghas been helpful, and neither pre-school, nor long-term institutionalcare was found to be harmful in terms of normative living.     

Narrating Love and Abuse in Intimate Relationships

via email: heather.fraser{at}rmit.edu.au Summary In this article, I use discourse analysis to explore the relationshipbetween love and abuse. I argue that Anglo-American social workhas been reticent to theorize love; and that when it does, theborders separating love from abuse are usually assumed to berelatively stable and readily apparent. After nominating someof the reasons for and repercussions of dichotomizing love andabuse, I suggest that knowledge about intimate abuse will expandif more attention is given to the study of love. I promote theuse of feminist discourses because they provide valuable insightsabout the operations of power in love relationships. Drawingideas from both structural feminism and post-structural feminism,I encourage social workers to move their analytical attentionback and forth between the micro-politics of intimate relationshipsto the wider cultural contexts within which they are staged.I conclude with the assertion that social workers will be betterplaced to understand the dilemmas that many ‘ordinary’women confront in their everyday lives, if they critically analysethe intersections of love and abuse.     

Bereavement: the Contribution of Phenomenological and Existential Analysis to a Greater Understanding of the Problem

Summary Theoretical approaches to grief and mourning have emphasizedthe instinctual and biological elements of a person's responseto bereavement. The behaviour of bereaved individuals has thereforebeen interpreted on the basis of these theoretical models. Thispaper argues that an appreciation of the social context in whichbereavement occurs leads to a fuller understanding of observedresponses in such a situation. It thus emphasizes the socialnature of individuals rather than their biological make-up andprovides a theoretical frame of reference in terms of whichthis may be understood. Such an analysis also has implicationsfor the kind of help which is seen to be appropriate to theneeds of bereaved people. It is suggested that social workersshould develop a greater understanding of this approach andthat, on the basis of this, they would then have a particularrole to play in relation to this area of need