Child welfare workers' practice in cases involving domestic violence

This paper reports the findings of an exploratory and qualitative study of child welfare workers' practice in cases involving domestic violence. The research aimed to focus on child welfare workers' interventions with families experiencing domestic violence, elements influencing the child welfare workers' decisions, and the factors facilitating and creating obstacles for intervention. An analysis of the qualitative data showed that child welfare workers have different ways of intervening in cases involving domestic violence. Also, the interventions were especially centred on women victims of violence and they were held responsible for protecting their children. Finally, the dilemmas and difficulties which child welfare workers face in these cases are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Making Continuing Professional Development Relevant and Accessible in Regional Social Work

ABSTRACT

Continuing professional development (CPD) is an integral component of quality social work practice (Australian Association of Social Workers, 2013). Despite this, there is a lack of knowledge around the perceived needs and challenges of accessing CPD for rural and regional social work practitioners. This research explored professional development education needs and challenges for rural social work practitioners. The findings revealed an increase in complex cases in practice leading to the need for more training in mental health, legal aspects, and therapeutic interventions. Strong demand for CPD was evident, with a preference for face-to-face training instead of online modules. In the face of persistent challenges some innovative solutions were possible from a partnership between service providers, higher education providers, and the professional body to better meet the needs of the rural social work practitioners.

IMPLICATIONS

• Increasing complexity in rural, regional, and remote social work practice has placed extra demands on the knowledge resources of social workers.

• Continuing professional development (CPD) must be relevant and readily accessible to meet the needs of those who practice in these areas.

• Partnerships between agencies, higher education providers, and professional bodies, along with the use of technology can increase accessibility for rural, regional, and remote social workers.

     

Initial assessment: A key stage in social work intervention

Abstract

This paper examines the intake practices in child protection in the New South Wales Department of Community Services as a case study of initial assessment in social work intervention. Data was collected in three Department of Community Services local offices where 39 practitioners were interviewed about their child protection work practices. An observational study of the workers' intake practices was also undertaken for a period of approximately 110 days. While official Department of Community Services policy and procedures provided the basis for intake practice, this research found that other important factors relating to the informant, the characteristics of the frontline worker, the workplace environment and the context of child protection practice influenced the intake process. The implications of the research findings for other social work practice settings are considered.     

Parental substance misuse and child protection in a British sample. A survey of children on the child protection register in an inner London district office

The relationship between parental misuse of alcohol and/or illegal drugs and child maltreatment has received considerable attention in the USA, while comparatively few British studies have been published. In both countries, research suggests that it is a large and growing problem and that it has a significant negative impact on children. This study looks at 50 families with 95 children on the Child Protection Register (CPR) in an inner London area through an examination of files and social workers' rating of parental substance misuse as a child protection concern. Parental substance use, as defined by social workers, was considered by social workers to be a cause for concern in 52% of families. Alcohol (in 24% of families) and heroin (in 16%) were the main substances of concern. Substance misuse was strongly related to neglect and cases were twice as likely to be subject to care proceedings. Very little involvement of substance misuse professionals in child protection procedures was found. Different profiles of social work concern were found for alcohol and for illegal drugs. Reasons for this difference and areas for further research are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Threshold decisions: how social workers prioritize referrals of child concern

This paper examines local authority social workers' decision‐making when considering referrals of children, where the concerns are on the margin of child protection procedures. In doing so, it describes the findings of a qualitative research study undertaken in the policy context of attempts to ‘refocus’ social work practice in the late 1990s and early twenty‐first century. Data collection involved interviews with social workers and parents in 23 cases. Conclusions are that referrals were evaluated on the basis of five key factors, specificity, severity, risk, parental accountability and corroboration, the use of which determined whether an initial assessment or an investigation of alleged abuse took place. The analysis builds on previous work in the child protection field, but demonstrates how the application of these factors differs between cases of child concern and cases of child protection. Policy implications concern the complexity of decision‐making in the uncertain context of limited referral information and it is proposed that the simplistic notion of a continuum of abuse is now outdated. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Agency policy and the participation of children and young people in the child protection process

This article explores agency policy in relation to children's participation in the child protection process. This was done by examining policy documents and conference minutes and by interviewing social workers and conference chairs working in child protection in Wales. Issues and dilemmas surrounding the participation of children and young people in the child protection process are identified and examined. The lack of children's more direct participation was noted, but many agencies were taking action to inform themselves of children's views indirectly. Advocacy was being more frequently used, and highly valued where it was available, but did raise some role dilemmas. The essentially child‐unfriendly nature of child protection processes (particularly the conferences) was identified as a significant barrier to promoting children's voices. The contradiction of trying to promote children's direct participation in a process that is inherently not geared towards their direct involvement was noted. The total lack of children's input into service planning for child protection services was seen as significant. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Obstacles for child participation in care and protection cases—why Norwegian social workers find it difficult

Although some attempts are being made to increase children's participation in Norwegian child protection cases, much needs to be done in order to comply with the participation principle in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This paper reports on a study of factors that are likely to predict if social workers will attempt to give children an effective voice in decision making processes. 53 child protection case managers and 33 social work students participated in a questionnaire survey in which they were asked to agree or disagree with 20 statements about child participation. Statistical factor analysis was used in order to identify underlying factors in the dataset. The results suggest three main reasons for children not being allowed to participate: communication difficulties (communication factor); because child participation was not deemed necessary (participation advocacy factor); or that participation was considered inappropriate because it might be harmful (protectionism factor). This research suggests that, if we are to improve participation within the child protection system, formal regulations and guidelines need to be accompanied by a greater attention to development of social work skills in working with children through participatory processes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘We have very different positions on some issues’: how child welfare workers in Norway and England bridge cultural differences when communicating with ethnic minority families

This article compares how child welfare workers in Norway and England experience and cope with communication problems resulting from cultural differences. This study is based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 53 front-line child welfare workers and draws on social theories that understand communication as a social act. We show cross-country variations in child welfare workers' perceptions of the communicative problems and coping mechanisms. In Norway, social workers think that minority parents' perceptions on children's needs and child-rearing and parents' lack of understanding of the child welfare system were challenging. Social workers in England perceive the physical abuse of minority children as problematic. They are also concerned about carers' fears of social workers forcing majority cultural values on minority families. While social workers in both countries spend more time with minority families, their approaches dealing with communication challenges correspond to their different problem perceptions. Social workers in Norway act as cultural instructors: they focus on the needs of the minority child and instruct parents about Norwegian values and the Norwegian welfare system. Social workers in England are cultural learners: they focus on practising in anti-oppressive ways, while protecting ethnic minority children from physical abuse. Both approaches avoid going into real communication about perceived problems and what a child might need. We also discuss the implications of these findings on social work practice.     

“We are merchandise on a conveyer belt”: How young adults in the public child protection system perceive their participation in decisions about their care

The aim of this study is to show young people's feelings about their experiences with participation in decision-making in public care. The study is based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with eight young adults in the public child protection system in a northeastern state in the U.S. conducted between 2015 and 2016. All study participants had made both positive and negative experiences with participation. Most reported negative experiences at the point of their first entry into care, and most reported positive experiences when signing themselves back into the care of the child protection system when they turned 18. Further, we found barriers and pathways to participation at the individual child's or youth's level, including a child's or youth's ability to self-advocate, access to information, and age. Organizational-level factors that affected a child or young person's participation included the child protection agency's view of the child or youth; the agency's view of the parents; the quality of legal representation, and the type of rapport between social workers and children or young people in care. We discuss the implications of these findings on theory and policy.     

Out of the wilderness and into the fold: the school nurse and child protection

This paper argues that there has been a major change since the mid‐1980s in the extent to which other workers involved in child protection recognize the value of the contribution of school nurses. Evidence for this is drawn from a longitudinal study in an English shire county using a vignette approach to explore workers' perceptions of the handling of child protection issues. While in part the greater recognition of the role of the school nurse can be attributed to the adoption of child protection procedures, this provides only a partial explanation. School nurses in the 1990s were better qualified and more experienced, while other workers such as school heads and social workers recognized the need to work with others, such as the school nurse, in order to meet their own objectives. The paper concludes that there is a case for more formal recognition of school nurses in child protection because, like health visitors, with whom they have a follow‐on colleague relationship, they are often the most significant health workers for children who may be neglected or abused. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Child protection: An unreflective practice

This paper highlights the need for social work education to focus on the ideological, cultural and organisational influences that shape practitioner perspectives and determine case careers, particularly in the area of child protection. Using the findings from a case study on the processing of child abuse referrals made to a social work team in Ireland's largest health board region, this paper illustrates the dissonance between the 'official' child protection discourse and the complexities and dilemmas of everyday practice. It also highlights practitioners' apparent lack of awareness of the dynamics that determine the way in which decisions and assessments are reached. The need to encourage and facilitate social workers' use of theory as a means of addressing these complex areas is endorsed, and implications for educational programmes are discussed.     

Supporting Post-Adoption Contact for Children Adopted From Care: A Study of Social Workers' Attitudes

New legislation in England and Wales requires adoption agencies to specify the contact adopted children will have with their birth families and obliges agencies to offer all parties support to maintain such contact. This study, based on responses from 112 adoption social workers in England and Wales, used a case vignette methodology to explore workers' attitudes towards supporting post-adoption contact. The findings suggest that social workers think primarily about the child's needs and about providing services to or on behalf of the child. In contrast, adults' needs, especially the relationship between birth parents and adoptive parents, were less often considered. Workers were least orientated toward supporting birth parents. Workers from different agencies had very different attitudes towards the case vignette. This study suggests that supporting post-adoption contact is a complex professional task likely to be influenced by workers' own attitudes. Implications for training, support and supervision are discussed.     

Participation for children exposed to domestic violence? Social workers' approaches and children's strategies

This article explores social workers' approaches to children exposed to domestic violence and children's strategies in encounters with these professionals in the context of family law proceedings. Investigator approaches as well as child strategies are reconstructed from children's narratives. Furthermore, possible links between the social worker's approach described by a particular child, and the child's own strategies are outlined. Participation can offer children validation of their experiences and support their recovery after exposure to violence. However, it is suggested that it seems to be a challenging task for social workers to both validate children's experiences of violence and simultaneously offer them participation in the investigation process.     

Messages to Social Work Education: What Makes Social Workers Continue and Cope in Child Welfare?

This article examines the positive elements which make social workers continue their career with a focus on statutory child welfare. Such analysis is needed, as existing research tends to highlight stress, exhaustion and career break-up issues. The empirical data consist of focus groups of 28 social workers and a questionnaire addressed to 56 professionals in child welfare in two Finnish urban municipalities. The focus groups were targeted at novice, expert and veteran social workers. The analysis presents organisational, person-related and client-work-related positive elements from the point of view of social workers. The results highlight that social work in child welfare may be experienced as being rewarding and professionally challenging. The positive elements vary among novice, expert and veteran social workers, with the latter especially viewing their work as independent expert work with major opportunities to make a change in children's lives. Commitment to care of children is one of the key motivating factors. The study suggests that social work education should recognise that the subjective motivation to do social work may change during one's career and that social work may be simultaneously both stressful and rewarding. Students should learn how to balance these aspects of their work.     

Attitudes to child care reform in Romania: Findings from a survey of Romanian social workers

This paper presents the findings of a survey of Romanian social workers' attitudes towards two key aspects of child and family social work in their country: namely, the development of foster care, and the regulation of inter-country adoption. Major changes to the law on these matters were introduced in Romania in 1997, and the paper links the research findings with discussion of the progress, and difficulties, of putting the new legislation into practice. The research was undertaken in spring 1999, by means of a self-completion questionnaire for social workers and workers in related occupations. Comparisons between the attitudes of the two groups, and analysis of differences within the social work group, generate insights into the ways in which the new approaches to child and family welfare are taking hold in Romania. The research highlights the wide range of opinions and beliefs within the social services workforce in Romania, and draws attention to the complex interaction of professional education, workplace culture, and government policy in shaping those attitudes. The conclusion offers some thoughts on ways forward for child care policy, practice, research, and training in Romania.     

GPs' and health visitors' participation in child protection case conferences

This study was conducted in two related but separate phases. Phase one compared the frequency and type of participation by general practitioners and health visitors in child protection case conferences. Two hundred consecutive case conferences involving 83 general practitioners from 33 practices were independently reviewed and scored to assess the level of general practitioner and health visitor participation, whether by written report and/or by attendance. Health visitors showed a far higher level of participation in case conferences than general practitioners and their attendance was more often rated essential by the social worker than that of the general practitioner. There was no evidence in those cases where social workers rated the general practitioner's attendance as essential that this resulted in increased general practitioner participation. General practitioners were equally unlikely to participate in initial, first review and subsequent review case conferences. Most importantly, general practitioner participation/non-participation was not related to length of notice given. In phase two, 76 general practitioners from the sample of 83 were interviewed in order to elicit factors underlying their decision on participation in child protection case conferences. Personal and practice characteristics and attitudes towards the case conference and towards social workers were examined and subsequently analysed. No significant associations were discovered apart from a link between previous training in child protection and a less negative attitude towards communication with social workers and the belief that the general practitioner's participation in the case conference helps him/her in the subsequent management of the case. Personal contact between local social workers and the primary health care team was seen as likely to be helpful in the establishment of a climate of trust which would facilitate the flow of sensitive information in both directions. Health visitors were often regarded by general practitioners as fulfilling the role of delegate to the case conference without having any formal remit to carry out this task.     

Learning for the Twenty-First Century: Maximising Learning Transfer from Learning and Development Activity

This article builds on the learning gathered from the evaluation of a Scotland-wide child protection training programme. Based on Kirkpatrick's four-level framework, the study aimed to evaluate the impact of the learning programme on the practice of participants in the workplace. The study prompted the authors to examine the literature on maximising learning transfer across a range of occupations. This literature is discussed in the light of the findings from the evaluation and the experience of the authors in designing and implementing continuous professional development programmes in social services.

The practice of inspection, monitoring and audit seems to have impacted negatively on staff's willingness to participate in data collection, and coupled with what appeared to be confusion about data protection legislation, the perceived burden of audit and inspection has significant implications for research and evaluation activity.

Suggestions are made for the future design, delivery and evaluation of learning and development activity, and the role of managers is explored in relation to their responsibility for preparation, support and follow-up of workplace learning.     

SOCIAL WORKER PERCEPTIONS OF THE PORTRAYAL OF THE PROFESSION IN THE NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

This exploratory study describes social workers' perceptions of the depiction of the social work profession found in the news and entertainment media. A random sample of 665 MSW social workers who were members of the Florida Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers were surveyed regarding how they felt the profession was depicted in the news and entertainment media on a set of paired adjectives comprising 9 semantic differential scales. Findings showed that these social workers perceived the profession to be depicted negatively in both news and entertainment media. Implications for social work educators are discussed.     

The Role of Managers in Critical Incident Stress Management Programmes: A Qualitative Study of New Zealand Social Workers

This paper reports part of a larger exploratory research study of social workers' preferred models of critical incident stress management and experiences of critical incident stress debriefing. Social workers were invited to contribute to the research through an advertisement in the national association's newsletter for Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers. Using a qualitative methodology involving in-depth interviews with 13 social workers, participants were asked about their experiences of critical events encountered within their workplaces over the last five years. Interviews were recorded by audiotape with consent and analysed using thematic analysis. Four main themes emerged: the importance of preparation for critical incidents, the role of relationship between line managers and social workers, specifically the line manager's support immediately after the critical incident, and the availability of peer/colleague networks. An unexpected finding was that social workers interviewed noted that the pre-existing relationship with the line manager influenced their experience of the debriefing process itself. The more engaged and emotionally aware the manager was seen, the more the social worker claimed the debriefing process had been successful from their perspectives. The implications for social workers and their employing agencies are discussed.     

Using Q-sort methodology as an educational tool in post-qualifying education whilst simultaneously gathering research data about views on parenting

Post-qualifying courses for social workers offer unique access to large numbers of practising social workers. Therefore, they present an opportunity to gather research data about current practice concerns. Asking students on post-qualifying courses to take part in research activity can also enable reflections upon the links between research and practice. However, ideally, any research activity should also contain an educational element so that students will directly gain from taking part. This paper describes a study in which Q-sort methodology was used as a method of both gathering data and as an educational tool. The study was an exploration of the links between views about both 'good enough' parenting and decision-making in child care and protection work. Subjects were students attending post-qualifying child protection courses. The methodology was successful both in gathering meaningful data and in stimulating lively debate about the issue. This paper will describe the study, briefly set out the research findings and discuss the advantages of the methodology as an educational tool.