Risk and Supervision: Social Work Responses to Referred User Problems

Correspondence to Peter Burke, Department of Social Work, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX Summary This study examines social work responses to users followingcase allocation of the initial referral. The aim of the studyis to demonstrate the need for supervision of social workersdealing with cases which have in common an inherent quality,described as ‘risk’. The study also links referralsto other practice responses identified as ‘service delivery’and ‘advisory’ work. The relationship between theseparticular responses is tested against the outcome decisionreached on case closure. All referrals were allocated betweentwo fieldwork teams over a one-year period and a total of 312referred cases was allocated within the categories mentioned.Findings are indicative that more ‘risk’ type referrals,however defined, are resolved with additional supervisory inputthan without, and that lower status workers favoured ‘middleground’ decisions of outcome when compared to their seniorcolleagues. A consideration resulting from this research isthat agency definitions of risk are different to the type ofrisk which requires crisis intervention. The question of riskto the user or to the agency requires the workers concernedto be able to discriminate between such cases. The implicationfor team training is that supervisory input should clarify thenature of risk, if any, and the task required of the workerfollowing case referral. The matching of skills which wouldultimately be the objective of this type of research cannotbe finally determined until a more comprehensive set of parametersfor practice is identified. This study shows that the responsecategories used demonstrate some basic supervisory needs ofthe worker.     

The Best Interests of the Child

Summary The purpose of this article is to clarify the concept of ‘thebest interests of the child’. It is argued that its usehas often confused rather than helped debates on child careand family work, creating the illusion that ‘the bestinterests of the child’ constitute an objective fact. Different assumptions of ends and means in interpreting the‘best interests of the child’ are discussed followedby an examination of the issues of parental authority and influencein decision making, the rights of the child to have a voicein his or her own future, and the authority of professionalsto weigh and balance all the factors. It is argued that more attention should be given to the complexityof the decision-making processes, that decision making shouldbe shared between children, parents and professionals, and thatviews of ‘the best interest of the child’ are alwayscontingent, depending on the particular position and assumptionsof the person expressing them, as well as the objective circumstances.     

New Labour, Social Justice and Children: Political Calculation and the Deserving-Undeserving Schism

Correspondence to: Barry Goldson, Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work Studies, The University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK. E-mail: b.goldson{at}liv.ac.uk Summary Within a context of national prosperity and relative economicstrength, poverty and inequality is rife in the UK. This paperconsiders the broad contours of such social injustice, beforesharpening the focus to examine the specificities of child poverty.The New Labour government has made an ‘historic pledge’to end child poverty within a generation. The paper traces thekey policy initiatives that are being directed to this end and,by drawing on the latest research evidence, it attempts to assesstheir early impact. Whilst it is acknowledged that the government'ssocial justice agenda has made some progress in ‘tackling’child poverty, it is further proposed that a more rigorous redistributiveapproach is required if substantial and sustainable improvementsare to be made. Furthermore, it is argued that the social justiceagenda is conditioned by wider political calculations, whichlimit its scope. In this way the imperative to be seen to be‘tough on crime’ has meant that policy responsesto children in trouble have taken a distinctive and increasinglypunitive form. By developing the argument that New Labour'selectoral ambitions have led it to re-engage with a specious‘deserving’ ‘undeserving’ conceptualdichotomy, the paper assesses the implications for the treatmentof child ‘offenders’ in particular, and the broadersocial justice project more generally.     

Ambiguities in Decision Making: Social Work's Response to 'Glue-Sniffing' in Scotland

Correspondence to Dr Elizabeth Jagger, Social Science Department, Park Campus, 1, Park Drive, Caledonian University, Glasgow G3 6LP Summary This paper examines how social workers make decisions aboutwhich cases of ‘glue-sniffing’ require intervention,in the context of a government policy which construes the problemprimarily within the arena of parental responsibility. Usingdata from interviews with social workers and research on ‘glue-sniffing’,it shows that social workers were frequently reluctant to dealwith cases. It explains that this has to do with factors suchas organizational priorities, lack of resources and, in particular,the ambiguous status of ‘glue-sniffing’ within theirown professional discourse. It concludes that the complex interplayof these factors means that government policy is not translatedinto practice in any simplistic manner.     

Evaluation with One Eye Closed: The Empiricist Agenda in Social Work Research

Please address requests for reprints to Peter Raynor, Centre for Applied Social Studies, University College of Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP. Summary This paper was originally presented at a conference on ’theeffectiveness of social work‘ at Swansea in 1981. It arguesagainst a narrowly empiricist model of evaluation in socialwork, suggesting that while such a model may help to improvethe technical efficacy of methods, it can tell us little aboutthe desirability of the goals towards which our methods aredirected, or the social functions which they serve. The finalsection points to some possible resources for rational discussionof areas which ’scientific‘ models of evaluationtend to neglect.     

Assessing Child Protection Risk

Correspondence to Lorraine Waterhouse, Lecturer, Edinburgh Centre for Social Welfare Research, 23 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LN. Summary The article outlines a set of child protection criteria usedby social workers for the evaluation of risk in sexual abusecases. The criteria were distilled from research findings basedon a sample of 51 child sexual abuse cases drawn from ChildProtection Registers in Scotland in 1987/89. Criteria dividebetween two types: primary (child care) criteria which concentrateon assessing circumstances prevailing within the family home;and secondary (disclosure) criteria which serve to either substantiateor refute disclosure. Primary criteria include attitude of non-abusingparent to alleged perpetrator; access between referred childand alleged perpetrator; type of abuse; age of child or youngperson; attitude of alleged perpetrator to allegations; andparental attitude to social work investigation. Secondary criteriainclude belief or disbelief of child; psychological symptomsin child; physical signs of abuse; children's attitudes towardsremaining at home; and criminal or psychiatric history includingalcohol or drug abuse. In practice the criteria tend to be usedlike a set of building blocks: tall towers represent higherrisk; low towers lesser risk. Given the enormous stakes involvedin child protection decisions, front-line practitioners wereunder considerable pressure to ‘play it safe’.     

Technicality and Indeterminacy in Probation Practice: A Case Study

Correspondence to Department of Law, Crookesmoor Building, Conduit Road, Sheffield S10 1FL, UK. E-mail: g.j.robinson{at}sheffield.ac.uk Summary ‘Technicality’ is a theoretical construct which,in the context of professional practice, refers to those aspectsof the work which can be prescribed, ‘programmed’or subject to routine practices. This paper considers the purportedrise of technicality in probation practice, with particularreference to the relationship between increasing technicalityand perceptions of ‘professionalism’. The paperpresents a case study of one ‘technical’ initiativein the probation context: namely, a structured risk/needs assessmentinstrument. The case study examined the implementation of thisinstrument in two area probation services, with a view to establishingits impact both on the exercise of professional judgement (‘indeterminacy’),and on perceptions of professionalism among users and theirmanagers. On the basis of the case study it is argued that,contrary to many recent commentaries, neither significant reductionsin indeterminacy nor an inevitable process of deprofessionalizationcan be automatically ‘read off’ from attempts tointroduce greater structure and/or standardization to socialwork and probation practice. The tentative conclusion of thispaper is that the professional future lies not in a wholesalerejection of technicality, but rather in achieving a positive,workable balance between technical and indeterminate aspectsof practice.     

Listening to Children--Who Cares?

Summary The intent of this article is to reinforce the idea of listeningto children in care. It is the author's belief that when giventhe opportunity to be heard, children can provide observationsthat are both relevant and important. To illustrate this beliefthe article provides verbatim comments of children obtainedas part of a larger research endeavour. It concludes with observationsextracted from children's evaluations of a Canadian ‘WhoCares?’ conference held in 1979, the Year of the Child.     

Swimming with Dolphins: The Assessment Framework, New Labour and New Tools for Social Work with Children and Families

Correspondence to Dr Paul Michael Garrett, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. E-mail: paul.garrett{at}nottingham.ac.uk Summary Local authorities, in England, implemented the Framework forthe Assessment of Children in Need and their Families in April2001. The Framework is the first ‘official’ standardassessment model intended for use in the initial assessmentof all ‘children in need’ under Part 111, section17 of the 1989 Children Act. This new ‘conceptual map’needs to be understood in terms of previous policy documentsand earlier technologies of intervention related to child protectionand, more broadly, child welfare. However, it also needs tobe more expansively perceived, fixed and located as it relatesto other elements in New Labour's political ‘project’.The Framework's preoccupation with an ecological approach toassessments and with questionnaires and scales are likely tohave major implications for social work practice and for micro-engagementswith children and families.     

Discourses of Child Protection and Child Welfare

Correspondence to Gordon Jack, University of Exeter, Department of Social Work and Probation Studies, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ Summary The history and dominance of the discourse of child protectionand its influence over social work practice with children andfamilies is discussed in the light of recent research into theoperation of child protection systems in the UK and elsewhere.The often negative effects of current approaches on professionals,parents, and, particularly, children are highlighted. The issuesof confidentiality and empowerment appear to be of central importancefor current debates about the welfare of children and youngpeople. Three strategies for change are outlined and discussed. It isargued that a fundamental challenge to the child protectiondiscourse is required. Parallels are drawn with the changeswhich occurred in attitudes and responses towards football supporters,following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. The dangers and shortcomings of the present reliance on a diseasemodel of ‘abuse’, with its focus on individual pathology,are analysed. Support is provided for the development of a newdiscourse, which acknowledges the social contexts within whichallegations of ‘abuse’ arise, and without whichsocial work will continue to be restricted to a procedurallydominated conservative orientation to child welfare.     

The Treatment of Enuresis amongst Child Clients of a Social Services Department

Summary The adoption of an ‘outpatient’ model of supervisingthe treatment of bedwetting amongst child clients of a socialservices department is described. The treatment technique usedwas the generally effective ‘enuresis alarm’, or‘bell-and-pad’. Fifteen out of a total of 25 concludedcourses of treatment were successful, with an average treatmentduration of 14.9 weeks. Both this outcome, and the rate of drop-outbefore completion of treatment (ten cases) are comparable withthose obtained with non social services clients, and the useof the enuresis alarm with children in care (including thosein residential establishments) was found to be quite practicable.A high relapse rate (43%) was, however, found for social servicesclients, relapse usually following a placement change or othermajor stress.     

Placing Children on Child Protection Registers: Risk Indicators and Local Authority Differences

Correspondence to Dr David Gordon, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, 8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK. Summary Wide variation in rates of children on protection registersin different authorities has led to doubts about the reliabilityof local decision making. A study of 1,752 referrals, for suspectedabuse or neglect in eight English local authorities, found thatindicators of child and family vulnerability were more importantthan local area in explaining selection for initial child protectionconference and placement on registers. There appeared to beagreement on ‘common-sense’ risk indicators butstronger measurements of risk would enable child protectionprocedures to be better targeted.     

The Social Worker as 'Bad Object'

Correspondence to Dr Marguerite Valentine, 56 Osbaldeston Road, London N16 7DR Summary A ‘bad object’ has been defined as an ‘objectwhom the subject hates or fears, who is experienced as malevolent.A bad object may be either an internal or an external object’(Rycroft, 1988, p. 100). This paper explores the circumstancesin which public fears and anxieties over child abuse becomeprojected into the social worker. It discusses how social workersintroject these feelings, become a ‘bad object’,and how social services departments have developed a numberof strategies which defend against feelings of blame and responsibility.The exploration is derived from my own experiences and observations,and applies Kleinian psychoanalytic theory to studies of institutionaldefences.     

'The Integration of Theory and Practice': a Re-examination of a Paradoxical Expectation

Summary Social workers seem to agree that the nature of the relationshipbetween theory and practice is problematic. However, few ofus have asked what we really mean when we talk of these problems.This paper re-examines the meanings commonly attributed to eachnotion and to the relationship between them. As a result ofthis process the paradoxical nature of the current expectationof ‘integrating theory and practice’ is exposed.This leads to a proposal that we modify our way of framing themeaning of ‘integration’ and thus introduce a newdimension to questions we pose when trying to improve socialworkers' ‘integration of theory and practice’. ‘Wecan no longer explain a paradix by running away fromit; we muststand and look it in the eye’.     

The Field Social Work Implications of Residential Child Care

Summary The workloads of field social work staff vary markedly, andlittle is known about the ‘burdens’ imposed by differentgroups of clients or cases. The research study reported hereset out to examine the extent to which field social work involvementin residential child care varied between individual childrenand to attempt to explain that variation in terms of the characteristicsof children, the characteristics and workloads of staff andtheir teams, the packages of services received by children andtheir families, and some general features of the residentialplacements. Field social worker involvement was measured interms of the number of contacts between ‘caseholders’and ‘case’ and the total amount of time spent onthe case over a three month period. The observed variationsin these two indicators were found to be significantly associatedwith the characteristics of cases and other factors. Indeed,these characteristics explained almost two-thirds of the variance.The empirical results have a number of policy implications whichare discussed under six heads: supply constraints, caseloadweighting, fieldwork organization, coordination and monitoring,out-county placements and travelling time, and comparative costings.     

Some Implications of Legal Approaches to Welfare Rights

Summary Legal reforms to welfare systems are analysed as either involving‘legalization’, the formulation of rules, or ‘judicialization’,the improvement of procedures. The implications of these typesof reform for the supplementary benefits system are examined.It is suggested that there are likely to be severe drawbacksto ‘legalization’ which does not involve, in effectthe elimination of selectivity. Judicialization, on the otherhand, is seen to offer needed procedural reforms, but it issuggested that there has been a failure to recognize the inherentlimitations of innovations of this kind, where the poor mayneed so much more than merely the guarantee of a fair hearing     

Euthanasia: Israeli Social Workers' Experiences, Attitudes and Meanings

Correspondence to Dr Ronit D. Leichtentritt, Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. E-mail: ronitl{at}post.tau.ac.il Summary Sixteen social workers in Israel were interviewed about theirexperiences with and attitudes towards various forms of euthanasia,as well as the meanings they ascribe to them. Using phenomenologicalanalysis, seven themes were identified, emphasizing individual,interpersonal, organizational, social and therapeutic considerations,and suggesting a holistic and integrative structure of the phenomenon.The themes were arrived at by identifying distinctions and similaritiesbetween different forms of euthanasia. Two themes suggestingsimilarities were revealed: ‘diminishing the value oflife’ and ‘a call for help’. Three themeswere found to distinguish between passive euthanasia (withholdingand withdrawing life-sustaining treatment) and active forms(active euthanasia and assisted suicide): ‘legality’,‘social acceptance’ and ‘concern for the sickand dying’. The last two themes distinguished betweenwithholding treatment and assisted suicide, on the one hand,and withdrawing treatment and active euthanasia, on the other:‘the involvement of others as executor’ and ‘thepublicity of the act’. Further research and training isrequired to better inform social workers in this ethical area.Given their unique position, social workers should activelyparticipate in legal, social and therapeutic discussions concerningend-of-life decisions, for the benefit of clients, their familiesand health-care providers.     

The State of Welfare

Summary The word ‘welfare’ is difficult to define becauseit combines within it a range of ideologies and actions. Twoconclusions are drawn from this: first, that social servicesshould be regarded as contributors to, but not providers ofwelfare; second, that the study of social work and social administrationshould be concerned not only with the relationship of ‘service’to ‘need’ but also with societal movements and pressureswhich determine the emergence of both. The article reviews theprofessed values of the welfare state, particularly ‘socialequality’ and the problems associated with its achievement,namely public attitudes, and the discontinuity between intentionand practice in the welfare services. The implications for socialwork education and practice are considered.     

Some Questions About the Reverse Tariff

Summary The modified version of the reverse tariff theory, developedby Pauline Hardiker, claims that a matrix combining risk andneed is implicit in the recommendations made to courts by probationofficers. This version of the theory is criticized on threecounts. (i) A number of counter-examples are examined: someof them imply factors other than risk and need which probationofficers take into account; others illustrate types of recommendationwhich, relative to the theory, have an anomalous form; (ii)it is suggested that, in any event, Hardiker does not have anadequate theory of how ‘need’ and ‘risk’are combined; (iii) it is argued that, given the evidence onwhich it is based, the reverse tariff model cannot have thestatus which Hardiker appears to claim for it.