Developing a Common Language in Children's Services through Research‐based Inter‐disciplinary Training

Two sources of inertia to improving services for children in need are the difficulties of getting evidence into practice and the complications of inter‐agency working. Current training arrangements in social work and disparities between children's services professions as regards training requirements are contributory factors. The Common Language project is a work in progress, adopting a research‐based, inter‐disciplinary approach to working with social workers and other children's services professionals. It comprises core ideas and methods to complement the more specialist knowledge and skills required in each profession. Underpinned by a child development perspective and a scientific development cycle, it rests on a conceptual framework including need, threshold, service and outcome. The approach has three components (each of which includes training): (1) the implementation of practice tools; (2) the planning and development of integrated services; and (3) supporting materials, including practitioner‐orientated modules and a curriculum for PhD students. Distinguishing features include research utilisation, notably a focus on inculcating research‐mindedness as opposed to imparting findings, and also collaborative professional working, in particular via practical connections between different agencies, stakeholders and countries. The project is being evaluated in terms of uptake, change in professional thinking and practice and effects on child well‐being. Next steps for the project relate to broader lessons for social work training emerging from research and development elsewhere.     

The prevailing cultures and staff dynamics in children's homes: implications for training

This paper is about training, and the learning needs of residential child care staff that training should address. It takes as its starting point research that focused on what happens in children's homes, as described by residential staff themselves. It depicts the tasks which staff carry out in relation to their overall goal of benefiting the children and young people in their care, and considers the ways in which staff work to develop and maintain viable and effective teams. Distinctive cultures emerge when working in staff teams, and the paper shows how these are related to the kinds of practice that can be achieved in residential settings. The knowledge base, practice skills, and personal qualities required to work within residential child care are detailed. The paper closes by addressing the implications which this research has for training residential staff to work effectively in group settings. It argues that fundamental to training competent residential staff is a commitment to developing an ongoing culture of learning in workplace settings.     

HIV and AIDS: unexpected lessons for Save the Children

SUMMARY. HIV and AIDS training is a sensitive area in which experience is all recent. Previous articles in Children & Society (issues 1. 1, 1.2 and 2.4) have looked at major concerns for children's services. This paper reports on an imaginative approach to staff training in one child care agency — Save the Children Fund. The authors' frankness about problems as well as benefits will help others to identify lessons for their organisations., particularly for those in management     

Training Graduate Social Work Students for Child Advocacy in Community Mental Health

A project aimed at training graduate social work students for child advocacy in Community Mental Health was developed and implemented through the cooperation of the School of Social Work, the Children's Treatment Center, and the Rock County Guidance Clinic. The training model was the practicum or field work experience approach. The training was concerned with providing students with knowledge and skills in child advocacy, for the treatment of severely disturbed children, and for providing services to a Black and disadvantaged population. The primary objectives were training professionals for the mental health field and to provide mental health services to children.     

An evaluation of a trial of looking after children in the state of Victoria,Australia

The paper details the experience of implementing Looking After Children (LAC) in the out of home care system in the state of Victoria, Australia. Findings from an evaluation of the pilot project are also reported. These include observed changes in child outcomes and improvements in collaboration between different sectors of the child and family support system after implementation of LAC, as well as carer and child perceptions of the Assessment and Action Records. Findings suggest an improvement in the monitoring of children's developmental progress and developmental gains for some children after implementation. Perceptions of the Records were also generally positive. However, very few people in children's personal networks, including members of a child's family of origin took part in the assessment process. Carer reports also suggested difficulty in intersectoral working.     

Are the Children Playing Quietly? Integrating Child Psychotherapy and Family Therapy

Over many years, family therapy training programs have not included the engagement of children under seven. John Byng-Hall wrote in 1986 that family therapists could learn about understanding young children from child psychotherapists. It has long been my practice to include young children when working with families. This article describe ways of working that include young children's play as relevant information. I hope to encourage other child psychotherapists and family therapists to find better ways of integrating skills.     

Prevention of child sexual abuse: implications of programme evaluation research

Thirty child abuse prevention programme evaluation studies were selected according to a set of methodological criteria following an extensive manual and computer literature search. Targets for intervention in 17 studies were children; in three parents; in four teachers; and in six studies multisystemic programmes were evaluated where some combination of children, parents and teachers was targeted for intervention. From a review of the 30 studies, it was concluded that child abuse prevention programmes can lead to significant gains in children's, parents' and teachers' safety knowledge and skills. Best practice guidelines arising from the review include the use of multisystemic programmes; child‐focused curricula which cover a wide range of safety skills and concepts; and the use of didactic instruction and discussion, video modelling and active behavioural skills training techniques in programme delivery. The curricula for parents' and teachers' programmes should cover child protection issues and local child protection procedures along with an overview of the children's programme lesson plans. Longer programmes conducted by trained staff are preferable and such staff may include teachers, parents, mental health professionals and law enforcement officers. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experience of undertaking infant observation as part of the Post-Qualifying Award in Child Care

Enquiries into child deaths have pointed to the difficulty that social workers seem to have of 'holding the child in mind'. Undertaking 'child observation' can be a powerful way of understanding what these difficulties are about and how to work in a way that is child focused, whilst being attentive to adult considerations crucial to children's positive development. This is an account of an experience of undertaking a 10-week child observational study as part of the Post Qualifying Award in Child Care from a student's perspective. It suggests that developing observational skills and an understanding of psychotherapeutic ideas enhanced the practitioner's ability to work with uncertainty and make accurate assessments.     

Worker skill and client outcome in child protection

The research in child protection and in work with other involuntary clients suggests that the use of certain skills by child protection workers is likely to be related to positive client outcomes. In particular, effective practice involves: helping clients and client families to understand the role of the child protection worker; working through a problem‐solving process which focuses on the client's rather than the worker's definitions of problems; reinforcing the client's pro‐social expression and actions; making appropriate use of confrontation; and using these skills within a collaborative client/worker relationship. This study attempts to identify the extent to which child protection workers make use of these skills and how these skills relate to client outcomes. Data were sought through 50 interviews with child protection workers and 282 interviews with family members. The child protection workers provided information about 247 client families. It was clear that when workers used the skills, their clients had better outcomes—the workers believed their clients showed better progress, the clients were more satisfied with the outcomes and the cases were more likely to have been closed 16 months later. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Substance Use Training Experiences and Needs: Findings From a National Survey of Social Care Professionals in England

For more than 30 years there have been calls in the UK to improve training for social workers in relation to substance use. Yet very little research has explored what training practitioners have received or what their training needs are. This study sought to establish practitioners' experiences of previous training in substance use and identify their current training needs. An online survey was disseminated to 3,164 practitioners in adults' (AS) and children's (CS) social care and 12 vignette-based focus groups were also held. Of the final sample of 597, more than a third of social workers had not received any training and a further fifth only received between one and four hours. Other social care staff fared worse. Overwhelmingly, respondents said that substance use knowledge and skills were very important to their practice but their professional education had not prepared them well. They identified a number of training needs including ‘how to talk to people about substance use’ and ‘the types of intervention and treatment available’. Most social care professionals report not being adequately prepared for working with substance use, particularly basic knowledge and skills which would help them to conduct assessments and signpost people to specialist substance services.     

Children’s consent to child welfare services: Some explorative remarks

In this article, children consenting to a care order proposal is explored as a form of meaningful participation as seen by care-experienced young people. In contrast to health care and research ethics, almost no research exists on children's consent to child welfare measures. The findings suggest that instead of approaching children as individualistic rights-holders, a more relational understanding about consenting is required, both conceptually and in practice, to acknowledge the social, emotional and power relations in which children's consent (or objection) becomes topical in child welfare. Without that recognition, consenting may be far from meaningful participation.     

Maximizing Student Learning: A Case Example of Applying Teaching and Learning Theory in Social Work Education

Social work is a practising profession and when students undergo a social work undergraduate course they are expected to learn and apply the knowledge, skills and values necessary for their future social work career. As an educator, the challenge exists in determining whether students have learnt the material and are prepared to implement the knowledge, skills and values into practice. Current theories on teaching and learning are useful tools to educators who want to ensure that course units are maximizing students' learning potential. This paper focuses on the application of three established teaching and learning theories implemented in a social work module. The paper begins with an overview of Biggs' theory of Constructive Alignment, Biggs' four levels of understanding/Bloom's Taxonomy, and Race's five factors that underpin successful learning. The paper describes the integration of the theories to a social work undergraduate module through the following four-step process: (1) revisit learning outcomes; (2) determine teaching methods and learning activities; (3) design assessment; and (4) receive feedback/evaluate. The students' learning experiences were positively reflected through their personal learning outcomes, formative feedback and summative feedback, which demonstrated the ability to maximize student learning through the incorporation of teaching and learning theory.     

Parent training to reduce problem behaviors over the transition to high school: Tests of indirect effects through improved emotion regulation skills

Adolescent problem behaviors are costly for individuals and society. Promoting the self-regulatory functioning of youth may help prevent the development of such behaviors. Parent-training and family intervention programs have been shown to improve child and adolescent self-regulation. This study helps fill gaps in knowledge by testing for indirect effects of the Common Sense Parenting® (CSP) program on reduced substance use, conduct problems, and school suspensions through previously identified short-term improvements in parents' reports of their children's emotion regulation skills. Over two cohorts, 321 low income families of 8th graders were enrolled and randomly assigned to either the standard CSP program, an adapted CSP Plus program, or a minimal-contact control condition. Pretest, posttest, 1-year follow-up, and 2-year follow-up survey assessments were completed by parents and students with 94% retention. Intent-to-treat multivariate path analyses were conducted. Neither intervention had statistically significant total effects on the three targeted adolescent outcomes. CSP, but not CSP Plus, had statistically significant indirect effects on reduced substance use and school suspensions at the 1-year follow-up as well as conduct problems and school suspensions at the 2-year follow-up through increased child emotion regulation skills at posttest. Findings provide some support for emotion regulation as one pathway through which the intervention was associated, indirectly, with reduced substance use, conduct problems, and school suspensions among at-risk students over the high school transition.     

Learning to be interprofessional through the use of reflective portfolios?

Learning portfolios are used extensively in health and social care. There is evidence of their value as a tool to consolidate learning although limited information is available regarding their use in social work education. This study explores the use of a portfolio to encourage social work students to reflect on their interprofessional learning (IPL). The portfolio offers a means of demonstrating professionalism concerning knowledge, skills and attitudes in the context of collaborative practice. The findings of this research suggest that qualifying students were largely capable of reflecting on their development of interprofessional competence after attending specific IPL events, which were part of a wider programme. Social work students found reflective writing difficult, although this improved over time. In particular students struggled to write about skills and attitudes. Students perceived the portfolio to be a good way to assess their progress and believed this helped them to engage with their learning and make meaning through reflection and analysis. They appreciated that IPL and feedback from their assessments had advanced their abilities for self-analysis; despite needing help with reflective writing, they felt better prepared for ongoing use of reflection in their professional development, and in ‘working together’.     

Pilot Evaluation of a Sexual Abuse Prevention Program for Taiwanese Children

The purpose of the current study was to develop and evaluate the efficacy of a school-based child sexual abuse prevention program for Taiwanese children. Forty-six Taiwanese children age 6 to 13 were divided into one of two groups based on their school grade and then randomly assigned to a skills-based child sexual abuse prevention program who received training immediately or a waiting-list control condition who received the training after a delay. Children's self-protection skills improved regardless of age after participation in the program. The program, however, did not successfully improve children's knowledge of sexuality and safety. Although future studies should modify the program content to better target knowledge of sexuality and safety, these results are promising for a pilot of this skills-based CSA prevention program in Taiwan.     

Care fit for children

SUMMARY. Following on from articles in Children and Society (3.1), this article discusses issues raised by recent research on foster and residential care practices, and centres on the question of whether children's homes should seek to provide child oriented day-to-day care. The role performed by children's homes in substitute child care is considered in order to highlight the dangers inherent in the notion that it may be appropriate to trade off child oriented care for the rather abstract notion of the ‘wider function’ of children's homes     

Empowering children with safety-skills: An evaluation of the Kidpower Everyday Safety-Skills Program

Changes in child safety knowledge concerning bullying, boundary-setting, and help-seeking were evaluated after participation in the Kidpower Everyday Safety Skills Program (ESSP), a workshop designed to increase children's knowledge of safe choices. The program consisted of an in-school workshop, weekly follow-up sessions, and homework assignments over 10 weeks and included skills-training, parental involvement, and opportunities to practice safety skills. Third-grade students (n = 128) participated in pre- and post-tests of safety skills, and were compared to a comparison group (n = 110) that did not participate in the program. Findings indicate that students who participated had increases in safety knowledge (maintained over 3 months) greater than the comparison group. Additional assessments indicate that the program was implemented with high fidelity and both teachers and students found the program successful. Children's understanding of the competency areas boundary-setting, stranger safety, help-seeking, and maintaining calmness and confidence improved.     

Conceptions of Family and Adoption Among Older Adoptees

ABSTRACT

Research on older child adoptions that incorporates the adoptee's perspective is noticeably absent from the literature. Drawing on the theoretical, clinical and empirical literature on children's understanding of family and adoption, this paper reports a study that examined older adoptees' conceptions of family and adoption relative to nonadopted peers. Interviews with 15 children adopted between ages 8 and 11 and a sample of 15 demographically matched nonadopted children (47% male; 84% Caucasian, 13% African American, 3% Biracial Asian/American) provided data that were analyzed for differences in children's understanding and elaboration of family and adoption concepts. Although no group differences were found in children's basic understanding of family or adoption, differences emerged in children's ratings of the acceptability and typicality of family constellations, as well as in the nature of concept elaboration. Older adoptees were more likely to accept and view as typical nontraditional family constellations. Whereas nonadopted children relied more on biological themes, older adoptees' concept elaboration was qualitatively richer, reflecting their varied birth family and foster care experiences. Within-group comparisons among older adoptees revealed differences: Children with more experience in foster care and children who lived in the adoptive home longer displayed higher levels of family understanding and a more realistic perspective of the permanence of the placement. Implications for future research and adoption service delivery are discussed.     

Back to the Future of Social Work: Child and Adolescent Mental Health and the Post Qualifying Curriculum in England and Wales

The first social work course to focus on children's mental health in the UK began in 1929 at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The subsequent child guidance movement spawned the genesis of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) where social workers held a pivotal and much-respected role among multi-disciplinary teams. This role has been undermined in recent years. Post qualifying social work education and training needs to recognise and reflect the potential social work contribution to modern CAMH services to enable social workers in England and Wales to engage and contribute to supporting the increasing numbers of troubled young people. This paper sets out a rationale, knowledge base and outline content for ways in which the post qualifying social work curriculum can be developed to equip social workers with the necessary skills to engage purposively in this area.     

The rights of the child enabling community development to contribute to a valid social work practice with children at risk

This paper presents a way of thinking about and doing child protection work using community development (CD) principles to guide practice. It suggests that a useful addition to CD can be found within the rights of the child provisions in Human Rights conventions. Using examples from the authors' three countries to illustrate the work that practitioners do in their work with children at risk, we argue that social work practice can be enhanced by the inclusion of these principles and practices which are essentially core generic social work practice. However, much of social work with the protection of children is bound by ‘risk’ perceptions which result in investigatory approaches being used as a first action, often to the exclusion of preventive approaches. This article demonstrates that in very different situations from different environments, CD in concert with the principles of the rights of the child can assist good outcomes with children at risk. A model is presented for unifying the worldview of human/children's rights with social work's core concern, the protection of children, using generic social work skills.