The Sole Parent Family: Family and Support Networks

This paper reports on a research project that focused on the experiences of ten sole parents and their support networks. Results indicate that they relied both on informal support networks and welfare organizations in the initial period of sole parenthood but that this reliance waned over time. Participants accessed church groups, cancer support groups, governmental agencies, financial institutions, and counselling services. After the initial use of support networks, many of them became involved in recreational activities that they had not participated in during the course of their marriage. They emphasized the importance of friends who were influential in assisting them to cope with the initial stresses of sole parenting. Most were critical and disillusioned about the level and type of assistance from the extended family and the emotionally charged responses to their situation. They were also critical of Government services and felt stigmatised by the treatment they received.     

Substance‐dependent women becoming mothers: breaking the cycle of adverse childhood experiences

Parenting may be particularly challenging for substance‐dependent mothers who have grown up with parents who themselves had substance use disorders (SUDs). The aim of this study was to explore how substance‐dependent mothers describe their childhood experiences with substance‐abusing parents and the association between these earlier experiences and their own role as caregivers. Using purposeful sampling, mothers admitted for 1 year to a family ward at a substance abuse clinic were approached. Through in‐depth, qualitative interviews, nine substance‐dependent mothers described their lives in the form of present, past and future tense. The findings indicate that substance‐dependent women, who have experienced SUDs in their families of origin, face several major challenges when they become mothers. Some describe having lived their whole lives ‘on the edge of society'. This makes their rehabilitation process more complex. All mothers work to abstain from substances, process traumatic experiences and integrate their family into society. They need help to build supportive social networks and to establish a safe and predictable family environment for themselves and their children. The therapeutic implications of these findings will be discussed.     

Troubled families: vulnerable families' experiences of multiple service use

This paper draws on a small‐scale study examining the experiences of highly vulnerable families with complex and enduring needs. The previous UK government and the current government have sought to develop policy and service initiatives that target families who present high levels of need and require high cost services. However, to date remarkably little is known about family perspectives and experiences. In this paper, family accounts of their experiences are presented and it is suggested that from these come some difficult practice questions. The family data reveal evident gaps in existing practice and challenges social work to ‘think family’ in new ways. The paper explores how families understand they are understood at the point of engagement, the assumptions that are made about family knowledge, and how families share and withhold information about their needs and experiences. In the discussion, the argument is made for the development of nuanced practice capable of recognizing and working with the ways highly vulnerable families ‘do family’, and the processes that support and inhibit professional interventions.     

Assessing the value of family safety networks in child protective services: Early findings from Minnesota

The considerable number of families served continues to place systemic challenges on the child welfare system. Jurisdictions are turning to new strategies to increase family engagement in services and to leverage taxed or limited resources. Signs of Safety® is a strengths‐based and safety‐focused approach to child protection work that is grounded in partnership and collaboration. This exploratory pilot study with a referred participant sample used interviews with 26 parents and 32 safety network members to explore respondents' perceptions and use of a safety plan and safety network, core components of the Signs of Safety framework. Findings from this pilot investigation include insights about how safety plans and safety networks are established, how they function, and opportunities for enhancing their use with families with the goal of providing supports that increase the likelihood of continued safety for children after case closure. Preliminary results also suggest these tools may contribute to reduced re‐reports to child protection.     

Someone to check in on me: social capital,social support and vulnerable parents with very young children in the Australian Capital Territory

Although knowledge of how social support can mediate stress is now well known, finding ways to enable isolated parents to access social resources that could make a positive difference for children during their critical early years remains difficult. This paper reported on the findings of a telephone survey aimed at understanding levels of social capital and social support experienced by isolated parents raising young children on their own in Canberra, Australia. Specifically, it discussed a successful methodology for reaching isolated parents, those whom services find hard to reach. The survey found that despite the relative affluence of Canberra's population, there is a significant group of parents who are isolated from both formal and informal support and the social capital that can help them cope with the stresses and demands of raising young children. These parents were unsure where to get parenting information and had a strong sense that they were judged by their local communities and services. We identified lost opportunities by general practitioners and other widely used systems such as public housing and security to take more proactive roles and connect parents to formal service support systems. Flexible, affordable child care was identified as an unmet need for these parents, not only as a source of relief from extreme isolation but also to enable them to work or prepare for work through study.     

Parental competence and the welfare of the child: issues for those who work with parents with learning difficulties and their children. A response to Booth and Booth

The parental competence of parents with learning difficulties is discussed by Booth and Booth as if it was separable from consideration of the welfare of their children. The author responds by arguing that The Children Act 1989 requires a focus on the welfare of the child and any debate about parenting must take this into account. The Act also imposes a statutory duty on local authorities to promote the upbringing of children by their families. If parents with learning difficulties need help to carry out some of their parental responsibilities, they have the right to expect services which are sensitive to their needs. Their children, however, must also have rights to help, care and protection where this is needed, as other children have. The author argues for an integrated approach to work with parents with learning difficulties and their children, in which the welfare of the children is seen as the proper concern of all parties.     

Children whose parents misuse alcohol: a study of services and needs

Despite the fact that many children are affected by parental alcohol misuse, both services and research have largely concentrated on adults. Recently, projects have been set up to assist children, but developments have been piecemeal. This article reports on a qualitative study which learned directly from children, their parents and some young adults what they saw as the effects on children of excessive drinking by one or both parents. The most common consequences were distress at witnessing violence to the other parent or to the home; verbal abuse towards the children; feelings of shame; and taking on caring and protective roles. However, the children were not passive victims and usually took active steps to tackle the drinking or modify its impact Those in the sample usually had at least one family member who helped them and was trusted. Nevertheless, many wished they could meet with others in the same position, so they could feel less isolated and learn from each other. The need was identified for access to a network of services with group work, individual counselling, family mediation and educational components.     

The welfare state, the individual and the need for care: older people's views

The aim of this qualitative study was to study how older people experience aging and reflect on their need for care in the Swedish welfare context. Sixteen people were interviewed, aged between 77 and 92 years. Staying healthy and independent in their everyday lives were prized values for the informants. Some brushed aside thoughts of being in need of home help services in the future and others had a more reflecting attitude. The informants did not want to burden either society or their children. Through mass media and the experiences of their neighbours, they had gained a negative impression of eldercare. They were uncertain if there would be any helping hand of good quality in the future. On the other hand, informants who already had home help thought that it was helping them to maintain independence in everyday life and they were also satisfied with the help they received.     

The construction of maternal identity among Israeli mothers who are welfare clients

Dominant social, cultural, and professional discourses view motherhood as the core of a woman's identity. Thus, the identity of women who do not meet the general expectations of motherhood might be negatively affected. Specifically, mothers who are welfare clients may violate the prevailing norms concerning the maternal role. This qualitative study explores how Israeli mothers who are welfare clients construct their maternal identity. Studies of mothers who are clients of welfare services suggest that they feel blamed for being “bad” or “unfit” mothers. However, women occasionally negotiate or challenge the negative perceptions that are forced on them by hegemonic discourses of motherhood. We postulate that such women experience a troubled maternal identity that they negotiate through interactions with others. Accordingly, this study set to explore how Israeli mothers who are welfare clients negotiate their maternal identity in the context of motherhood and welfare discourses. Fourteen participants were interviewed, and the findings illustrate the vulnerability of the mothers and their strategies to construct a positive maternal identity. We discuss the findings in light of the concept of troubled identity.     

Teenage childbearing: young sole mothers challenge the stereotypes

Teenage sole mothers in receipt of welfare benefits are seriously affected by systematic and radical restructuring of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s state welfare system since 2008. With few exceptions, the changes oblige beneficiaries to prioritise obtaining paid work. To address questions of how welfare changes and socio-cultural context in Aotearoa New Zealand are experienced by teenage mothers we conducted a narrative study of 10 young women’s stories of sole mothering as beneficiaries. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit young mothers who were attending, or had recently attended a specialist school for teen parents. Thematic analysis of interview narratives represented experiences of financial and social deprivation, negative stereotyping, stigma and resistance. In contrast to the government’s explicit goal of getting welfare recipients into paid employment, the teenage mothers in our study placed full-time mothering as their principal duty. They also acknowledged the material and social advantages of entering paid employment, and were committed to working but only when their child was ‘settled and ready’ – a decision they understood to be their responsibility.     

How do immigrant parents of children with complex health needs manage to cope in their daily lives?

Daily life with children who have complex health needs can be stressful for parents. Immigrant parents are vulnerable to stress because they may lack language skills and knowledge about the health care system and have limited social networks. In this study, we focus on how immigrant parents of children with complex health needs use emotion‐focused and problem‐focused coping strategies to manage their daily life, and how their self‐efficacy and the immigration process may affect their coping. This qualitative study had an exploratory design with individual and focus group interviews. The sample comprised 27 parents—18 mothers and 9 fathers—from Pakistan, Poland, and Vietnam. The findings indicated that the parents' love for their child helps them to cope in their daily life. Newly arrived migrants, single mothers with a severely ill child who lacked support and migrant parents with language difficulties struggle to cope. Some of the stress is related to personal, social and structural problems, and to the insufficient resources available to meet the child's needs. The parents used both emotion‐focused and problem‐focused coping strategies. The parents noted that access to both universal and selective welfare services is an important factor that contributed to their self‐efficacy and coping.     

Moral distress among social workers: The role of insufficient resources

The present study examined moral distress among Finnish social workers and the role of perceived resource insufficiencies in explaining it. The aim was to shed light on this understudied phenomenon in the field of social welfare. The study focused on work‐related moral distress, defined as impaired wellbeing that is connected to the continual inability to implement actions that one considers morally appropriate. The survey data were collected with an electronic questionnaire between the years 2011 and 2012. The respondents (n = 817) were social workers in the public social welfare services and the overall response rate was 46.5 per cent. Nearly 11 per cent of the respondents reported experiencing moral distress and perceived resource insufficiencies strongly explained this experience. Moreover, social workers with moral distress reported that they were less willing to continue in their post, were more frequently on sick leave and had positive work‐related experiences less often than their colleagues who did not experience moral distress. Key Practitioner Message: ● The concept of moral distress is useful in describing the experiences of social welfare workers when they are unable to practise their profession according to their moral code and the emotional burden related to this inability; ● Perceived resource insufficiencies are strongly associated with experiences of moral distress among frontline social workers; ● Social workers experiencing moral distress are less willing to continue in their work, take sick leave more often and less frequently have positive experiences related to their work.     

Thinking outside the box: Strategies used by low‐income single mothers to make ends meet

Recent changes to Australia's welfare system have impacted low‐income single parents who have been moved from a family payment, Parenting Payment Single, to a lower payment directed at individuals looking for work, Newstart Allowance. Research has shown that single‐parent families are particularly vulnerable to the risk of financial deprivation and poverty, and this recent welfare payment change further compounds the often dire financial situation for these families. Twenty‐three in‐depth interviews were conducted with low‐income single mothers who had been recently moved off the Parenting Payment Single and on to Newstart Allowance. As a result of this payment change and the decreased welfare assistance, the women spoke of needing to develop new strategies to compensate for their decreased income. This article focuses on the strategies these families developed and employed, exploring the women's ability to be resourceful in times of welfare changes.     

Strategies for survival: users' experience of child welfare in three welfare regimes

This paper draws on research into child welfare services in France, Germany and England which compares the subjective experience of mothers who have been in contact with family support and child protection agencies in the three countries. The mothers' stories suggest that successful help‐achieving strategies differ according to the nature of the child welfare regime, and that behaviour which is effective in getting a good response in one country may work less well elsewhere. The stories of two mothers in each of the countries have been chosen to demonstrate how the structures of different social welfare regimes affect the efforts of welfare users to get the help they need.     

The transition to adulthood from care as a struggle for recognition

This article explores young people's experiences in the transition to adulthood from child welfare services and how Honneth's theory of recognition can be useful as an analytical tool to help us understand these experiences. The underpinning empirical research consisted of interviews and focus groups with 43 adolescents who had been in contact with Norwegian child welfare services. Three themes emerged as particularly important: having good relationships to caring adults, being listened to and able to influence their own lives, and receiving support and encouragement. The research shows how young people's difficulties in leaving care can be understood as experiences of misrecognition and points to some ways in which these can be overcome.     

Practitioner accounts of responding to parent abuse – a case study in ad hoc delivery,perverse outcomes and a policy silence

Parent abuse is becoming recognized as a serious problem in some families. It can have a damaging impact on physical and mental health, family relationships and employment and has been found to be implicated in other past, current and future forms of family abuse and violence. For this reason, many frontline practitioners who work with troubled families frequently find incidents of parent abuse in their caseloads, but we know little of how they respond to it. This study used in‐depth interviews with nine practitioners who work in a range of agencies in one large county in England and explored how they each identify, conceptualize, explain and respond to parent abuse. In a context where there is no national guidance regarding how agencies should respond to this problem, this study finds that practitioners must ‘make do’ without appropriate resources or policy guidance to help them. The study concludes with suggestions for change for the benefit of families who seek support but who currently find little effective response.     

Challenges and dilemmas working with high‐conflict families in child protection casework

Social workers within child protection services report that families marked by high levels of conflict between separated parents are among the most challenging cases to handle. Few studies however have focussed on how social workers themselves experience and meet with parents involved in hostile martial interactions. This article reports on a qualitative study involving 31 social workers and provides an analysis of their experiences and dilemmas in working with such families. Findings demonstrate that social workers struggle to find ways to help high‐conflict families and often find themselves at an impasse. Parents involved in such conflict are highly resistant to change, and social workers struggle to engage with them over concerns about their children. Furthermore, findings suggest that social workers lack organizationally allotted time to assist the parents. I conclude by discussing ways in which emotional support, empowering interventions, and strength‐based approaches enable social workers to manage relationships with high‐conflict families. More research on this topic is needed to support and promote better practices for social workers to be more effective in assisting high‐conflict families.     

A comparison of systems and outcomes for safeguarding children in Australia and Norway

Using aggregated national data, this paper compares outcomes of Australian ‘child protection’ (CP) and Norwegian ‘child welfare services’ (CWS). We highlight each nation's context and key elements of their CP/CWS organizations, with emphasis on policy and programme orientation. System outcomes are examined along with the implications of their different approaches. The main policy focus in Australia is protection and risk, while Norway's systemic approach stresses prevention, early intervention and support. These differences influence practitioner's intervention strategies and how the needs of children and parents are met. In Norway, approximately 80% of the children in the CWS receive some sort of supportive services. In contrast, Australian services for supporting families are narrowly targeted. Both countries share the ‘best interest of the child’ principle and an increased focus on children's rights, and have experienced increased service demands and rates of children in out‐of‐home care. The paper explores the relative merits of these systems.     

Families on the brink: the effectiveness of family support services

This paper presents findings from a study of the costs and effectiveness of family support services offered to 40 families with a high level of need, in two neighbouring local authorities in North Wales. It describes the level and type of services offered by different agencies in each of the authorities, estimates the costs of these services, and assesses outcomes for the families receiving them after three months. Information is also provided about families’ experience of the support they received, and the kind of help they would have liked. Parents’ well‐being and family functioning were found to improve over the intervention period in both authorities, although only to a limited extent. Improvements were greater among those who were living with partners, and less among families identified by social workers as having financial difficulties or problems with drug or alcohol abuse. Respondents who rated their problems as very severe showed less improvement. The pattern of service provision and the costs involved turned out to be similar in both authorities, so it was not possible to reach conclusions about the relationship between services and outcomes. However, a number of themes emerging from the data are discussed, including the role of day care services in supporting families with young children, the impact of poverty and deprivation on parents’ ability to provide good care for their children, and the importance of an interagency response to children's and parents’ needs. The article also includes a discussion of problems encountered in undertaking comparative outcomes‐based research and cost‐effectiveness analyses in the social welfare field.     

打工子弟学校社会工作的实践与反思——以北京市打工子弟学校教育援助项目为例

打工子弟虽然大多已有条件接受基础教育,但他们普遍存在社会适应、城市融入、人际交往的能力差以及亲子沟通障碍等问题。为了解决这些问题,帮助打工子弟在大城市健康成长,我们尝试在两所北京市打工子弟学校运用学校社会工作的方法开展了一系列服务,包括个案、小组和社区教育等。通过这些服务,服务对象在个人卫生习惯、人际交往等方面比以前有了显著改善,不少打工子弟尊重和关心他人的意识增强,架设了学校、打工子弟、打工子弟家长三位一体的沟通桥梁。但是,我们的服务也暴露出了一些不足,比如个案工作开展得不够深入、社会动员不够等。导致这些问题的原因包括实习学生经验不足和未能充分利用社会支持系统等方面。以上问题,希望在今后进一步服务过程中能够加以避免和克服。