Moving beyond the child care debate toward implications for social and political agendas

Early nonmaternal child care, for at least some portion of the week, is now the reality for most families in the United States. Ongoing debates surrounding what these changes mean for our society have focused on the possible negative consequences of extended nonmaternal care and the potential impact of such arrangements on children's later development. The NICHD-Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development has made great strides toward addressing methodological limitations in previous research through a series of landmark examinations of child functioning from transition to school through 15 years-of-age. The primary goal of this commentary is to put the child care findings into a broader developmental, social, and political context by reframing the discussion to move beyond the current daycare debate and consider implications for social policy and research agendas. Given that daycare has become a normative social institution, we first consider what the research findings mean for the healthy social–emotional and cognitive growth of children. Second, we articulate the implications of the data for social interventions to improve those outcomes. Finally, we address the issue of what political changes are necessary to produce those improvements.     

Kinship Care and Public Child Welfare: Challenges and Opportunities for Social Work Education

Abstract

The growing practice of arranging and financing “foster placement” of abused and neglected children with relatives provides an opportunity to redefine relationships between extended families and the child welfare system. The dilemmas and possibilities presented by kinship care as a child welfare service challenge schools of social work to provide intellectual leadership and to prepare social workers for changing child welfare practice. The author's ideas concerning responses to this challenge focus on key mandates of the Council on Social Work Education's Curriculum Policy Statement and on five principal curriculum areas in social work education.     

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.     

‘..It takes a lot of brain space’: Understanding young carers’ lives in England and the implications for policy and practice to reduce inappropriate and excessive care work

This qualitative study, undertaken in England, explored young carers’ perspectives on the nature of their caring responsibilities. The findings are significant, particularly in the context of England's Care Act 2014, which seeks to prevent children engaging in ‘excessive’ or ‘inappropriate’ caring. Our research placed children at the heart of the debate on what constitutes appropriate care. The findings raise key questions regarding effective implementation of contemporary child policy, duties of care towards children in caring roles and priorities for child protection and family support policy and practices, with the potential to inform thinking around child's well-being in wider contexts.     

An eco-social approach to tackling social exclusion in European cities: A new comparative research project in progress

In this article we would like to introduce a three-year Research Project called 'New Local Policies against Social Exclusion in European Cities', financed by the Targeted Socio-Economic Research Program (TSER) of the European Union. We will briefly highlight the entire research project that aims to make a contribution to European debate about social exclusion within social work (see also Washington and Paylor 1998), as well as social work's theoretical knowledge and field projects. The specific emphasis is on analysing the significance of the eco-social environment and citizen participation in disadvantaged residential areas, but related work aims to develop new kinds of action models and research methods. The project started in January 1998 in Finland, Germany, and Great Britain, and it will be completed by the end of 2000. Our research is a unique kind of cross-national comparative case-context research, based on classic ideas of action research and comparative research. Overall, the project aims through a European exchange to develop innovative models of local policies, particularly within community-based social work.     

The street-level delivery of activation policies: constraints and possibilities for a practice of citizenship

The debate on activation policies and challenges to social citizenship has to go beyond the level of formal policy and take into account also its operational and street-level dimension, which shapes what eventually arrives as policy on the ground. In this context, frontline practice plays a crucial role since it constitutes the very moment when activation policies encounter their target groups and real-world solutions have to be found. This article outlines a conceptual framework to approach frontline work within the context of activation and presents the main findings of a research project aimed at exploring the challenges, interpretations and reactions of frontline practitioners in Public Employment Services in the cities of Vienna (Austria) and Milan (Italy). The findings contribute to the debate on the constraints and possibilities for a practice of citizenship in a practice field whose challenges are often neglected both by social policy and social work research although it has become a central arena for welfare state intervention in which social citizenship, eventually, becomes manifest. Particular attention is paid to different framings of practice and to the questions whether and to what extent professionalising ‘activation work’ could counteract the precarious and highly individualised role of frontline practitioners in this ambiguous public domain.     

Paradox in professional practice—womens' views of social work A tri-national study in England,Germany and Italy

‘Paradox in Practice’ is an international comparative study which highlights some of the dilemmas and tensions inherent in social work practice presented by women working in three European countries. The paper is drawn from a longitudinal tri-national study which was undertaken between 1993 and 1996 by the social work departments of the University of Bournemouth, Dorset, England; the Fachhochschule Niederrhein in Monchengladbach, Germany; the University of Perugia in Umbria, Italy. The study was undertaken in two phases, the first a quantitative survey with one hundred participants in each country, the second qualitative interviews with twenty-five practitioners and ten experts in the social work field in each country.

Despite cultural, economic and political differences women appeared to face similar problems in their practice and the issues they raised are pertinent to the wider European debate on social work practice. The contribution of women to paid and unpaid care appears to have small impact on the organisation and design of care services except at the point of delivery. Priority setting and policy design appear still to be largely male domains in a female dominated profession. Where is women's voice given their significant role in underpinning social work services?

The wider study examined the profile of women engaged in social work practice in three European countries. In particular, the study examined the extent to which factors such as women's roles, caring and gender difference impacted upon work styles, practice and management in social work and on policy development in the personal social services in three European countries.     

Changing Contexts of Practice: Challenges for Social Work and Community Development

ABSTRACT

In a rapidly changing global environment, there have been renewed calls to position community development more centrally in social work, particularly in the face of contemporary practice challenges. This paper analyses the broad policy contexts of neoliberalism, globalisation, and governance change and discusses how these forces interact with social work and community development, drawing on examples from Australia and Ireland. The paper argues that sociopolitical forces both restrict and present opportunities for social work and community development practice and we seek to reactivate debate about the position of community development within changing and challenging contexts.

IMPLICATIONS

• Contextualises community development practice, policy, and research within contemporary environments of neoliberalism, globalisation, and governance change.

• Critically evaluates implications and new opportunities for social work and community development, drawing on examples from Australia and Ireland.

• Reactivates debate and analysis on the position of community development in contemporary social work as we move forward into the new decade, and the next global agenda for social work and social development.

     

‘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.     

Significant harm: making professional judgements

Judging whether a child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm has become a critical task for professionals working with children and their families in England and Wales. Yet little guidance is available about what the phrase means in its entirety and how it should be applied in practice. This study set out to examine how the phrase was used in practice by a selected sample of experienced health and social work staff. The evidence collected suggests flaws in the general approach adopted by professionals to identification and assessment in child protection cases. The data indicate a heavy concentration of attention on the weaknesses of families being assessed rather than their strengths and on parents rather than children. Problems are identified in responding effectively to long-term, chronic abuse such as emotional abuse and neglect. The study recommends changes in practice based on these findings which have been implemented by a wide range of practice agencies within the study area. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Racial/Ethnic Patterns of Kindergarten School Enrollment in the United States

Enrollment into unequal schools at the start of formal education is an important mechanism for the reproduction of racial/ethnic educational inequalities. We examine whether there are racial/ethnic differences in school enrollment options at kindergarten, the start of schooling. We use nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Birth Cohort (ECLS‐B) to model whether parents seek information about their child's school before enrolling, whether parents move to a location so that a child can attend a certain school, or whether parents enroll their child in a school other than the assigned public school. Results indicate that enrollment patterns differ greatly across race/ethnicity. Whereas Black families are the most likely to seek information on a school's performance, White families are the most likely to use the elite option of choosing their residential location to access a particular school. These differences persist when controlling for socioeconomic status and sociogeographic location. Kindergarten enrollment patterns preserve the advantages of White families, perpetuating racial/ethnic disparities through multiple institutions and contributing to intergenerational processes of social stratification. Research should continue to examine specific educational consequences of housing inequities and residential segregation.     

Responses to Homelessness in Australian Cities: Social Worker Perspectives

Abstract

Responses to homelessness in Australia are provided by a range of government and nongovernment services. The present study examined the experiences of social workers within these diverse services. The article discusses how social workers make meaning of their professional identity and responses to homelessness in contemporary practice and policy settings. The findings of a qualitative study of 39 social workers employed in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney are analysed from a social constructionist perspective. The practice dilemmas for social workers interviewed related to the dominating influence of the contemporary political and economic climate, the managerial requirement of organisations, and the personal and professional tensions these political and organisational contexts created.     

The Doctoral Education of Professional Marriage and Family Therapists

The professional practice of marriage and family therapy (MFT) scholarship is regulated at the master’s level in the United States. Consequently, contemporary curricular issues have largely been focused on what is to be achieved within the master’s degree, with an emphasis on clinical practice. We consider here what value may and should be added through the doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy. Doctoral programs are the developmental stage wherein we should seek to transmit the specialized knowledge and skills germane to MFT scholarship and practice in diverse settings, e.g., clinical and research intensive university, family law, health care, child development and education, child welfare, juvenile justice, faith based, and business. However, underlying this specialty education are three transcendental goals: sophistication of family systems scholarship, socialization into the profession of MFT, and cultivation of professional maturity.     

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.     

Conceptualising Child and Family Support: The Contribution of Honneth's Critical Theory of Recognition

The role of social support in child welfare policy and practice continues to engender widespread debate. Yet the moral and philosophical underpinnings of this topical area have received less attention in the literature. This is of concern, not least because academic debates on the ‘politics of identity’ have a significant contribution to make to our understanding of self‐development and social justice. In this article the authors show how Axel Honneth's account of the ‘struggle for recognition’ can be adapted to invigorate theories of social support. The result is a conceptual framework for reflective practice that can illuminate, and interrogate, the moral and operational dimensions of preventative work with children and families.     

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.     

Family support in practice: voices from the field

This paper revisits core family support messages for social work practice in working with children and families, linking to findings from high-profile child protection cases in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Drawing on a comparative study where these identified practice messages were explored through the lens of testimony of family support workers in the UK and Ireland, these core messages are examined. Operating with hard-to-engage children and parents, we hear how families and family support worker colleagues now view the core functions of child and family work across both jurisdictions (Ireland and England). The authors argue that by naming a more detailed set of practices that are deemed as most useful by families, based on the benefits and challenges of intensive family support work, key messages arise that have major resonance for social work and multiagency practice into the future. A basic message from this study is that valuable lessons on engagement and intervention with families can be drawn for professionals by examining the practice elements of this group of paraprofessionals in the child and family arena. This paper adds to debates on the role of support and intervention in social work and family support work.     

History of Research on Process Relevant to Clinical Social Work

Case study research methods and holistic approaches have not appeared in the social work literature for at least two decades due to debate over what constitutes legitimate science. This debate has contributed to alienation of the work of the researcher and the day-to-day practice of the practitioner. Existing intellectual frameworks and measuring tools for understanding clients’ reactions and behaviors through case study research methods can help close the gap between researcher and practitioner. The purpose of this article is to provide a historical review highlighting certain tensions in the field of social work and to provide the foundation for a discussion of the contemporary state of process research—whereby new theory and methods from the natural sciences tender means for the field to pick up where previous process researchers have left off. The article concludes with recommendations for future work and anticipates novel and useful methods for process research.     

Dilemmas in International Social Work Education in the United Arab Emirates: Islam,Localization and Social Need

This paper discusses emerging dilemmas in social work education and practice in the United Arab Emirates. Here social work education is primarily based on Westernized curricula; however localized cultural sensitivities require that some mainstream issues, particularly in relation to issues of abuse, are not engaged with. Nevertheless research findings show that social problems such as these are clearly present in UAE society. Therefore it is argued that what is required is an accountable, effective social work education that retains cultural congruity whilst empowering practitioners with the knowledge needed to engage with contemporary social problems. Finally, to contextualize the dichotomy between local culture and the wider community of Islam in relation to social work, some comparisons are drawn with other Muslim nations, specifically Malaysia.