Towards a Model for Co-working in Family Conciliation

Correspondence to Thelma Fisher, Tutor in Social Work, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, Avon BA2 7AY. Summary This article surveys the present state of co-working in thepractice of those independent family conciliation services affiliatedto the National Family Conciliation Council. It proposes thata model of co-working is needed that is specifically tailoredto conciliation practice. It sets out progress towards such a model in a particular agency—theSwindon Family Conciliation Service. It develops a theoreticalbase for this model from the concepts of ‘content’and ‘process’ which it links with the ‘underlying’and ‘substantive’ issues brought up by separatingand divorcing couples for resolution. It draws these ideas fromwritings about divorce experience and negotiation procedures. It then presents a particular case, with an extract from anactual interview in which the model is used, and introducesa diagrammatic format for analysing conciliation processes interms of the model proposed.     

The Impact of the First Term of the New Labour Government on Social Work in Britain: The Interface between Education Policy and Social Work

Summary This paper considers how far the New Labour educational policyrepresents a clear shift in focus from the policies of the Conservativeadministrations of the 1980s and 1990s. As in other areas ofsocial policy, the paper concludes that current government policyowes as much—if not more—to ‘New Right’ideology than to that of the ‘Old Left’. With anew emphasis on social inclusion, the paper considers the contributionof, and implications for, contemporary developments in educationpolicy and practice for child and family social work in general,and education social work in particular.     

The Client Group Preferences of Diploma in Social Work Students: What are they, do they change during programmes and what variables affect them?

Correspondence to Dr Raymond Jack, Reader in Social Work, Anglia Polytechnic University, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT Summary Social work is undergoing fundamental changes in terms of theway it is organized and how it is practised. If, in this shiftingscenario of occupational deconstruction, the output of socialwork education is to be relevant to the workforce needs of welfareagencies—no matter how organized—it is importantto know more about the client group preferences of social workstudents and what factors influence them. This longitudinalstudy inquired into student preferences at the beginning andend of three Diploma in Social Work programmes and its findingssuggest that the sociodemographic characteristics of studentsare less demonstrably influential than previous experience andplacement experience whilst on the programmes. In addition,students attribute far less influence to lectures and tutorialsas change agents than they do to placements, service users orother students. The implications of this for social work educationare discussed.     

The Davies Quartet: A Comment on 'Skills, Knowledge and Qualities in Probation Practice'

Summary The publication of the ‘Davies Quartet’—fourlinked studies of probation training and practice directed byMartin Davies—has created considerable interest. In thispaper the main findings are outlined and the discussion thenbroadened to raise certain epistemological questions which arisefrom the studies. It is argued that to take some of the studies'conclusions and recommendations at face value would be premature:firstly it is necessary to interrogate the theoretical and assumptiveframeworks from which these conclusions and recommendationsderive.     

Learning from a Murri Way'

Summary Under the modernist project indigenous social welfare work approacheshave been silenced and relegated to the periphery as deficittheory and practice in the landscape of social work. This positioninghas promoted the belief that indigenous expertise and cultureis only of relevance for culturally-sensitive practice. Rejectingthis view, I utilize the findings of a study of intra-grouphelping amongst Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders—a‘Murri way’—to argue that social work theoryand practice has much to learn from indigenous peoples aboutthe interpersonal helping process. I call for recognition ofa space of possibility between indigenous and non-indigenouspractitioners that the indigenous telling creates. This is aspace in between these players who do not share a common understanding,a space where players may participate in a dance of difference(dialogue) to help map a common space of understanding.     

Problems in the Perinatal Prediction of Child Abuse

Summary The aim of this paper is to consider and comment criticallyupon the recommendation by some eminent authorities that effortsbe made to design and implement procedures to predict the abuseof children. My view is that this move toward prediction—‘sponsored’largely by American paediatricians—is less of a new departurethan an extension of the dominant conceptual tradition wherebychild abuse is seen as analogous to a disease. However, in spiteof its basis in a medical model, it is clear that the idea thatthe abuse of children can be accurately predicted has greatappeal for many social workers. I shall argue, however, thatserious obstacles stand in the way of prediction; that theseobstacles are insufficiently appreciated by the advocates ofprediction; and that—consequently—social workers(and others) should temper with scepticism their enthusiasmfor these developments.     

Marriage in Literature

Summary The surface which marriages customarily present to the worldis often misleading. Indeed, one of the central paradoxes inthis most intimate of relationships is that although almosteverybody has some personal and immediate experience of it,and although there is a vast array of social research that haslooked at marriage from the outside, we do not in fact knowmuch—other than from our personal experience—aboutmarriage from the inside. As Mount (1982), in a review of theexperience of marriage and the family in history, comments: It is the essence of marriage that it is private and apart fromthe rest of society. Its ‘selfishness’ or ‘exclusiveness’is not its undertone but its heart and soul (p. 188).     

Social Work with Single Parent Families: Consumer Views

Summary The article describes a research project undertaken to determinethe satisfaction of a particular client group—single parents—withthe service they were given. The research examines five kindsof problems—legal, accommodation, financial, child care,and emotional-and concludes that problems were likely to arisein all these areas, and that, whatever the problem, the socialworker's ability to help solve it depended to a large extenton the quality of the relationship with the client.     

Implementing Care Management: Issues in Relation to the New Community Care

Correspondence to Professor Jane Lewis, All Souls College, Oxford OX1 4AL Summary The official guidance on the new policy of community care emphasizedcare management as the means of securing needs-led services,together with user empowerment and choice. This paper uses datafrom eighteen months intensive fieldwork in five local authorities,first, to examine the very different interpretations of caremanagement in these authorities; secondly, to examine two majorsources of difficulty in the implementation of care managementsystems—the simultaneous development of purchaser/providersplits, and the tension between needs and resources—and,finally, to draw some conclusions about the implications ofcare management for social workers.     

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.     

The Witch-Hunt Metaphor (And Accusations against Residential Care Workers)

Correspondence to Mr Chris Beckett, Anglia Polytechnic University, School of Community Health and Social Studies, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK. Summary This Critical Commentary examines the widespread use of themetaphor of the witchhunt in relation to child sexual abuseinvestigations when they are perceived as being unjustified.The use of this metaphor can be seen to be part of a backlash,part of a widespread desire to discredit the evidence that sexualabuse is widespread. However, it is argued here that the metaphoris actually quite apt in the case of the recent wave of convictionsof residential care workers, where the methods used have beenquite suspect—and genuinely reminiscent in some respectsof those used in historic witch hunts. It is suggested thatlegitimate child protection will ultimately be the loser ifthis is not addressed.     

Taking Fathers Seriously

Correspondence to Brid Featherstone, NSPCC Reader in Applied Childhood Studies, Centre for Applied Childhood Studies, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK. Summary This article explores contemporary developments in men's livesin relation to fathering. It explores ‘changing’family structures and the attendant consequences for the livesand identities of fathers. It identifies key initiatives thathave been developed by the post-1997 Labour administration inrelation to fathers and explores the thinking behind such initiatives,as well as more general initiatives in relation to supportingfamilies. It identifies an important theme promoted by the administration—fathersare actual or potential resources for their children. It thengoes on to look at how fathers appear to be constructed withinchild protection social work where notions of threat appearmore dominant as a theme in relation to men generally. The articlegoes on to explore the possibilities within the current climatefor practices in relation to fathers that are more attuned tothe complexities of their lives.     

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.     

The Prevention of AIDS Among Injecting Drug Users

Correspondence to Dr Beth Crisp, School of Social Inquiry, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia 3217 Summary There is great potential for the spread of HIV amongst injectingdrug users (IDUs) if they engage in unsafe injecting and sexualpractices. This paper identifies a range of obstacles to safebehaviour, including availability of sterile injecting equipment,legal/policy factors, social norms and personal factors suchas ignorance, beliefs, intoxication and craving. Two alternativepolicy options—harm reduction and use reduction—arediscussed along with specific strategies for ameliorating risk.Strategies include drug treatment, provision of sterile injectingequipment, bleach, promoting alternate methods of drug administration,HIV testing and counselling and peer endorsement of safe behaviour.The paper concludes by considering the implications of thesepolicy and programme options at the level of service delivery.     

Social Work and Self-determination

Correspondence to Department of Political Science and Social Policy, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN. Summary Self-determination is a curious concept, related to, but notquite the same as, freedom and autonomy. As an ethical principle,the principle of self-determination bears little relationshipto the way social workers behave. It is used as if clients werebeing allowed a free, independent choice; but clients are subjectto pressure, and the social work relationship is often conceivedwithin a structure of authority. As a guide to practice, theconcept of self-determination ignores the cases where directionis legitimate or desirable. Self-determination can be seen as a professional ideology—aninter-related set of values and ideas. The concept is derivedfrom a number of ideas and values outside social work, but itappears to have little direct relevance to social work in practice.The paper suggests that the concept of freedom may be more usefuland less remote from the realities than ‘self-detemination’is.     

Social Work with Failure-to-Thrive Children and their Families: Part I: Psychosocial Factors

Summary The problem failure-to-thrive is described and a brief reviewof the main causal theories is provided. Part I of this studydetails an investigation of psychosocial factors associatedwith non-organic failure-to-thrive in 17 children (comparingthem with two contrast groups). There were significant differences between the groups (interalia) in the adverse temperamental attributes of the index children,problems in the mother's feeding of their children and otheraspects of their interactions and relationships. The mothersshowed no specific psychopathology but were socially disadvantagedin various ways. The implications of these findings—preventiveand therapeutic—are discussed.     

Virtue Ethics and Social Work: Being Lucky, Realistic, and not Doing ones Duty

Correspondence to Graham McBeath, Department of Sociology and Politics, University College, Northampton, Northants. NN2 7AL, UK. E-mail: graham{at}spooner.demon.co.uk; Stephen Webb, Centre for Social Policy and Social Work, University of Sussex, Falmer, Nr Brighton, Sussex, UK. E-mail: s.a.webb{at}sussex.ac.uk Summary This article argues that in a complex socio-political world,social work ethics needs to re-cast the moral identity of thesocial worker in terms of virtue ethics. We review virtue theory'sAristotelian foundations and criticisms of Kantian and utilitariantheory and show how they apply to social work. Subsequentlywe offer an account of a virtue-based social work that questionsthe validity of several models of practice currently fashionable.Virtue theory emphasizes the priority of the individual moralagent who has acquired virtues commensurate with the pursuitof a revisable conception of the good life—the well-beingof all in a defined community. The virtues are the acquiredinner qualities of humans—character—the possessionof which, if applied in due measure, will typically contributeto the realization of the good life or ‘eudaimonia’.The role of the virtuous social worker is shown to be one thatnecessitates appropriate application of intellectual and practicalvirtues such as justice, reflection, perception, judgement,bravery, prudence, liberality and temperance. This ‘self-flourishing’worker, in bringing together the capacity for theoretical andpractical action makes possible a hermeneutic or interpretivepraxis best appraised in dialogue with fellow-practitionersand clients. With a social work remit increasingly routinizedby accountability, quality control and risk management thereis an emphasis on regulation and duties. This has produced aculture of following approved or typical processes resultingin defensive forms of social work wholly uncongenial to thedevelopment of human qualities likely to promote social workers'engagement in critique and revision of what counts as best practice.In sum, our core proposition is that social work practice andeducation, to fit an unpredictable, non-linear world, shoulddevelop means by which professionals nurture the virtues. Thiswould reflexively enhance social work itself.     

From Values of Rights in Social Work: Some Issues in Practice Development and Research

Prof. E. Sainsbury. Dept. of Sociological Studies. University of Sheffield. Sheffield S10 2TN. Summary The following is a discussion paper prepared for a researchteam engaged in a project funded by the Joseph Rowntree MemorialTrust. The problems it sought to address concerned how the teamcould derive a clear statement of clients rights from broadformulations of professional values, and the extent to whichresearch can measure the realization of these rights in socialwork practice. It was found in the research that the practical wisdom (commonsense) of social workers is frequently assumed to be based onprofessionally agreed values, and that—in the pressuresof daily work —values are seldom articulated in ways whichchallenge the procedures and solutions dictated by common sense.Thus, an initial purpose in preparing the paper was to commenton ways in which matters concerned with values become obscuredin practice, and to find ways of linking together values. rightsand practice more strongly. In offering this paper for widerpublication. the research team hopes that it will stimulatecomments which will assist their thinking.     

Some Implications of an Integrated Model of Social Work for Theory and Practice

Summary This paper is an attempt to assess the significance of the introductioninto this country of an ‘integrated’ or ‘unitary’approach to social work. An attempt is made to clarify the relationshipbetween paradigms, theories and models. The author claims thatan integrated approach to social work may represent a shiftfrom a predominantly individualistic conceptual model of practiceto an interactionist one. These conceptual models are comparedand critiques of the integrated model are examined. The questionis posed: is it possible to have an integrated model of practicewithout an integrated theory? Some suggestions are made concerningthe essential characteristics of such a theory and the possiblecontribution of sociology to its development Finally, some implicationsof the model for practice and for social work education arediscussed.