Working with Prostitutes: Probation Officers' Aims and Strategies

Summary This small sample survey examines probation officers' aims andstrategies when working with street prostitutes within the contextof the Street Offences Act, and the results of their work. Itindicates that the officers fail in their main aim of encouragingstreet prostitutes to stay within the law because of the women'sintention to do otherwise. The officers' strategy of definingand tackling prostitutes' legal, emotional and material problemson an individual basis also leads to little impact being madeon such problems. The article suggests that probation officersmight more profitably adopt non-correctional aims when workingwith street prostitutes and consider alternative social workstrategies.     

Exploring the 'Need' for Family Centres: The Perceptions of Social Workers and Their Importance for Planning

Correspondence to Ms J. R. Fells, Wooster Arms, The Walk, Islip, Oxon OX5 2SD. Summary This article follows Gilbert Smith in questioning the usefulnessof some traditional ways of regarding need, which rely mainlyon surveying potential client populations in order to decidewhat provision a social services department ought to make. Itdescribes a small study which examined in detail what socialworkers meant when they said that certain families ‘needed’a Family Centre, and which also looked at the subsequent historyof the department's contact with those families in the absenceof such a resource. It is, therefore, based on looking at whathappened to families when the Centre was not provided, and onanalysing social workers' perceptions of the need they encountered. It is argued that, despite its limitations, such an approachcan give useful indications, not only of what services shouldbe provided but as to the specific way they should be offered.In view of the role played by social workers in assessment for,and allocation of, services, it is suggested that a clearerunderstanding of their perceptions is essential to achieve effectiveservice utilization.     

Children and young people with a hidden disability: an examination of the social work role

Summary There has been little research attention paid to the natureand extent of social work intervention with children and youngpeople with invisible impairments. The recent study describedhere found that children and young people with a hidden andstigmatizing impairment received a social work service whichwas at a minimal level. The children and young people were affectedby physically induced incontinence, and described how they facedan environment which created particular tensions. Their parentsconcurred with this overall picture and reported unmet needs.Recommendations are made about social services input, but itis recognized that the level of social services interventionavailable to these families may, in part, be a reflection ofa low priority assigned to disabled children generally. It isargued that, although such an assignment is a common picturein recent research about social services provision to disabledchildren, a change in priorities is needed which recognizesthe importance of coherent support to disabled children as ameans of improving their environment and thereby reducing families'stress levels and the likelihood of abuse or rejection.     

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.     

Informal Welfare, Social Work and the Sociology of Welfare

Summary This article seeks to inject some important but neglected considerationsinto discussions about the nature of informal welfare and thenotice social workers should take of it. Following a sketchof how both sociology and social policy have regarded informalwelfare, it is argued that a sociology of welfare which is sensitiveto the definitions held by participants indicates that socialworkers would be wise to seek to ‘tap’ informalwelfare very cautiously. It is also argued that such sociologyneeds to be accorded a more prominent place in social work trainingcourses.     

Agency Function and Social Work Principles

Summary The concept of agency function is examined in relation to thenature of the social work task. It is often the case that agencyfunction is seen more as a problem for social work and not asone of its characteristics. It is argued in this paper thatthe agency itself is not responsible for the apparently delicatestate of present day social work, but that on the contrary,the failure to appreciate social work's relationship to societyand social processes in part accounts for its uncertain condition.     

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.     

Informal care in farming families in Northern Ireland: some considerations for social work

Summary This paper is the result of a study of the dynamics of care-givingwithin farming families in Northern Ireland. It is argued thatwhilst much is known about informal care, existing knowledgeis largely urban based and quantitative, and therefore limited.Following in-depth interviews with 'farm wives' it is concludedthat for these women care-giving patterns are dependent on aparticular set of cultural expectations and norms. Within farmingfamilies there is much resistance to becoming involved withformal social services. Outside help with the care of one'selderly relatives is often seen as an admission of failure,as there is a pride in being able to look after one's familymembers. Users of social services, which still evoke associationswith the Poor Law, are highly stigmatized. It is claimed thatfor these women the concept of 'carer' has no bearing on theirlives and is not something to which they can relate. The paperchallenges the depiction of caring as a one-sided difficultrelationship where the person being cared for is a passive recipient.It is suggested that caring is not necessarily oppressive butmay be rewarding and positive. It concludes that if social workersare to support and facilitate informal care they must be awareof and fully understand the diversity of care provision andthe different contexts in which care is undertaken. If interventionis to take place then it must be sensitive to the deeply embeddedideas and perceptions that exist within farming families.     

Social Work and Child Mental Health: Psychosocial Principles in Community Practice

Correspondence to Steven Walker, Senior Lecturer, School of Community Health and Social Studies, Anglia Polytechnic University, 2nd Floor, Ashby House, Brook Street, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1SQ, UK. E-mail: s.walker{at}apu.ac.uk Summary The increased prevalence, complexity and earlier onset of childand adolescent mental health difficulties, has prompted governmentinitiatives to reconfigure current provision for this clientgroup, their parents and the carers who try to support them.Social workers have an important part to play in respondingto the needs of these individual children and families. A residual,care management role is not adequate in these circumstances.This paper describes the development of social work in childand adolescent mental health, and suggests that a synthesisof psychosocial principles and community practice, offers theoptimum social work model of assessment and intervention. Sucha model embraces the most useful aspects of psychodynamic theoryin the context of practice consistent with anti-discriminatory,children's rights and partnership principles.     

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.     

Should any Child be Placed in Care? The Forgotten Great Debate 1841-74

Summary This paper first describes a system of Day Industrial FeedingSchools in the mid-nineteenth century known as the 'AberdeenSystem'. As originally conceived, it challenged the whole ideaof residential care of children. We argue that while SheriffWatson, with whom the schools are usually associated, is generallygiven a paragraph in histories of social work or of education,the social movement with which he was associated is entirelyoverlooked. This movement gave first importance to family ties,for religious reasons, and then argued on rational grounds theadvantages of a day care system. It attempted to meet withinsuch a system the needs of the whole child in his family andcommunity setting. It also sought to avoid the processes ofstigmatization, arguing that service provision should be basedon recognition of children's rights. We consider briefly theideological context of the movement and finally look very brieflyat some of the implications of the material for social serviceprovision today. We suggest that greater historical awarenesscould enhance opportunities for developing imaginative policiesin relation to the development of social work services     

Social Work with Huntington's Chorea

Please address requests for reprints to Rosemary Yale, Association to Combat Huntington's Chorea, 108 Battersea High Street, London SW11 3HP Summary All professionals with knowledge of patients suffering fromHuntington's Chorea (HC) or their relatives, living in a definedgeographical area, were interviewed. Our findings show thatin spite of multiple psychosocial issues from time of diagnosis,and even earlier, social work was offered at a relatively latestage or not at all. Some important tasks such as genetic counsellingwere often ignored or mishandled. Lack of knowledge about theissues inhibited good practice. Professionals failed to communicateadequately and, like HC families, experienced feelings of frustrationand impotence. We conclude that HC requires a team approachif families are to cope with the complex problems they face,and we make recommendations for a better service.     

Reflections on Gender, Knowledge and Values in Social Work

Summary This paper is a discussion of the application of social workknowledge and values in practice. It draws on ethnographic researchin a child-care team in the UK which set out to explore theconstruction of clients as gendered. It is argued that socialworkers' accounts of practice reveal tensions between an emphasison clients as individuals and an emphasis on social collectivity.These tensions could be seen as inherent in social work knowledgeand values. There are various implications of these tensionsbetween the individual and the social, but there is a particularfocus in the paper on the implications for questions of gender.It concludes with some ideas for a theory for practice thatwould better equip social workers for the complex task of negotiatingthe gender tensions raised in the paper.     

Factors Contributing to Stress on Mothers Caring for an Intellectually Handicapped Child

Summary With the shift away from institutional care, increasing responsibilityis falling on families to care for their elderly or disabledmembers. Whilst this move may be cost-beneficial for the authorities,it inevitably puts additional strain on family resources. This paper examines the home care of intellectually handicappedchildren and the subsequent impact on families. Specifically,it assesses stress levels amonst mothers of intellectually handicappedchildren and explores the factors which contribute to that stress.It is argued that better understanding of the causes of stresswill help in the optimal provision of support services.     

Themes and Continuities in Radical and Traditional Social Work

Summary Traditional and radical social work are amongst the principalcombatants in the paradigm-crisis that is alleged to characterisecontemporary social work. In considering the way in which thesetwo theoretical stances approach one of social work's centralproblems—the relationships between the person and society—itis argued that what is revealed is as much overlap as disagreement.This is in part through the subdued radicalism of a traditionalapproach which struggles to comprehend the effects of societyon clients' lives, and in part because radicalism is incorporatedinto prevailing ways of thinking through having to answer thesame questions as social work orthodoxy. It is because of thisthat Marxist social work is shown to be inevitably compromised,though this is not to deny the important contribution of radicalismin providing more satisfactory answers to crucial social workproblems.     

Models of Assessment in Social Work

Summary The provision of a social work service depends significantlyupon assessment of the social situation of clients as determinedby social workers. It is argued that the social worker's ‘understanding’of the social situation is framed within a particular way ofthinking about cause and effect. Three different models of suchthinking are used in practice. They are identified as the linearmodel, systems analysis and the management model. The originsand attributes of each model are described and related to thesocial, economic and political environments which have influencedtheir separate developments. The value base underlying eachmodel is explored. Issues relating to the present position ofsocial work are clarified.     

Beyond Power Discourse: Alienation and Social Work

Correspondence to Michael Lavalette, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool. E-mail: M.Lavalette{at}Liverpool.ac.uk Summary This paper argues for the relevance of the Marxist concept ofalienation to the development of an emancipatory social workpractice. As the concept has often been misinterpreted withinthe social work literature to refer primarily to a psychologicalstate, the first part of the paper seeks to establish the materialbasis of the theory as developed by Marx, and identifies fourkey aspects of alienation—from the product of labour,from the labour process, from our ‘human nature’and from our fellow human beings. Alienation theory is thenapplied to the experience of both social workers and serviceusers and it is argued that the notions of loss of control (inthe case of social workers) and powerlessness (in the case ofservice users) have greater explanatory power, and provide afirmer basis for a radical practice, than currently fashionablepower discourses, derived from postructuralism, which oftenmirror the individualism of the New Right approaches they seekto challenge. Finally, examples are given of the ways in whichthe concept of alienation might contribute towards the developmentof a new, emancipatory social work, central to which is likelyto be the development of more collective approaches.     

Entry into Residential Care

Summary This paper examines the interaction between the organizationalstructure of social services departments and procedures foradmission into residential care. By drawing on research experiencea 'placements table' is proposed which contains the key operationaldecisionstaken by the department when the client becomes a resident.It is argued that, in accordance with the structure of the department,it is possible to suggest appropriate staff to make each keydecision in order that departmental criteria for admissionsmay be met.     

Slovenian Social Work: A Case Study of Unexpected Developments in the post-1990 Period

Correspondence to Dr Shulamit Ramon, London School of Economics, Department of Social Policy and Administration, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Summary The paper contextualizes Slovenian social work in terms of thepolitical, social, economic and cultural changes which Sloveniahas gone through recently. The frame-work of social work educationand services is then outlined. Two major examples of unexpectedinnovative social work projects are outlined and analysed. Theimplications of these examples to Slovenian social work practiceand theory are looked at in the conclusions.     

Working in Partnership in Child Protection: The Conflicts

Correspondence to Dr Margaret Bell, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, York, UK. Summary This article critically examines the work of twenty-two localauthority social workers undertaking child protection investigations.The findings suggest that, while the social workers were committedto being (and believed their practice to be) participative,the dual tasks of making risk assessments for the conferenceand working in partnership with the families concerned producedconflicts of interests and rights. The impact of these on socialworkers' engagement with family members, on their assessments,and on the decision making process is explored. It is concludedthat the difficulties identified limit opportunities for participativepractice, and that these difficulties are endemic to the presentsystem. It is argued that these findings point up the need fora more broadly based child-care service which more appropriatelymeets the families' welfare needs, and that the contradictorynature of the conference task should be addressed by clarifyingthe legal base of the intervention and developing other modelsof decision making. Some ways forward are suggested.