Social Inquiry Reports in One Juvenile Court: An Examination

Summary The paper begins by briefly outlining the current debate overthe usage of social inquiry reports in the juvenile court, particularlywith regard to the effect that their recommendations can haveupon the lives of young people appearing in that court. It thendiscusses the findings of research carried out by the authorinto the social inquiry reports presented to one juvenile court.In particular it examines the contents and format of these reports,the effect that concepts of ‘welfare’ and ‘justice’have upon the recommendations of these reports, and the differencesthat exist in the reports presented by the probation and socialservices. It concludes that there is a pressing need for a revisionin the presentation of these reports to the court as no consistentstandard of information is being offered. It also argues thatit is time to reassess the role of treatment in the juvenilejustice system, in the light of this and other recent research,and to separate more clearly the components of welfare and justicewithin this system.     

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.     

A Revisionist History of Intermediate Treatment

Correspondence to John Pratt, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zeland. Summary This paper examines and challenges the view that intermediatetreatment for young offenders in England and Wales has alwaysbeen intended as an alternative to custody provision. It arguesthat its origin and subsequent development have to be understoodwithin what was the prevailing welfare discourse at the timeof the 1969 Children and Young Persons Act. It traces some ofthe processes involved in the change that has since taken place,characterized by a move from ‘welfare’ to ‘justice’talk, and suggests that it was only then that the conceptualspace for intermediate treatment to operate as an alternativeto custody was established. Finally, it examines some of thecritical issues raised by these changes in policy and discourse.     

Institutionalized Ambivalence: Social Work and the Children and Young Persons Act 1969

Summary Partly through political ambivalence, partly through internalcontradictions, the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 hasfailed to reconceptualize the relationship between justice andwelfare in the juvenile court. The social work role is now characterizedby the potential for role conflict and inappropriate exerciseof discretion. Nevertheless, it is argued that the Act raisesissues which must be addressed and the capacity of the ‘backto justice’ movement to do so is critically assessed.     

Informal Networks of Care: Issues Raised by Barclay

Summary In calling for the creation of ‘community social work’,the Barclay Report argues that social workers should aim todevelop informal caring networks. This entails exploiting anindividual's informal social contacts, such as kin, friends,and neighbours, to provide care. This paper firstly examinesthe assumptions and thinking behind the concept of informalcaring networks. It then assesses the feasibility of using differentinformal relations in care provision by analysing the normativepatterning and exchange content underlying them. It concludesthat strategies like Barclay's are unlikely to be successfulbecause they entail a transformation of these relationshipsthat is incompatible with their normal organisation.     

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.     

The Trouble with Harry: Why the 'New Agenda of Life Politics' Fails to Convince

via e-mail: paul.garrett{at}nottingham.ac.uk Summary Harry Ferguson (2001), referring largely to Britain and Ireland,maintains that social work should be committed to a ‘newway of thinking’ which is rooted in ‘life politics’.This idea, uncritically grounded in the ideas of Anthony Giddensand Ulrich Beck, fails to convince because: the assertion thatwe are now living in a ‘post traditional order’is undermined by the resilience of key historical forms of regulationand control which continue, for example, to limit women's choicein the sphere of reproductive rights; identified changes inthe texture of family relations are not evidenced by research;the ‘life politics’ perspective places too greatan emphasis on human agency, choice and volition and not enoughon structural constraint; the structural location of the ‘lifepolitics’ proponents is not interrogated; the analysisis too stridently dismissive of the idea that ‘emancipatorypolitics’ should be social work's primary orientation.     

Self-fulfilling Prophecies, Self-defeating Strategies and Change

Summary This paper sets out to describe and define ‘self-fulfillingprophecies’ and ‘self-defeating strategies’and discuss their relevance to understanding families. The conceptsare presented as a model for making sense of, and simplifying,the complex repeating sequences of behaviour seen in families.It is a model which has a behavioural and a cognitive componentand this may form a bridge between theories which concentrateon the ‘here and now’ and those which emphasizethe significance of history. Examples of the model are givenwith an analysis of the process of interaction. Certain featuresof self-defeating strategies are discussed, specifically howattempts to avoid a particular outcome can, in fact, precipitateit and how obsolete expectations can inhibit families from changing.Finally, some of the underlying assumptions of the model areexamined.     

The Families of Agoraphobics Treated by Behaviour Therapy

Summary The article describes a study of the families of agoraphobics.On the basis of interviews with patients undergoing treatmentby extensive exposure the P.S.W. assigned them to 3 groups:‘well-adjusted families’, ‘anxious-patientsfamilies’ and ‘sick families’. 6 of the 7patients in the ‘well-adjusted’ group showed significantimprovement, maintained over a follow-up period of 1 year. At3 month's follow-up none of the other patients had shown improvement,at 1 year's follow-up one ‘anxious’ patient enteredthe significantly improved category with additional help, and3 showed a trend towards improvement; of the ‘sick families’patients one eventually showed a trend towards improvement.Possible associations between family adjustment and the patient'schances of recovery are then discussed     

The Effect of Huntington's Chorea on Family Life

Summary This paper examines the effect of Huntington's Chorea (H.C.)on family life with particular reference to the consequencesfor the spouse of the H.C. patient. It describes in some detailthe marital and parental difficulties encountered and confirmsthe severe familial disruption that occurs. It suggests thatfamilies or individuals segregating this disorder can be usefullydivided into two categories of behaviour which are referredto as ‘H.C.-orientated’ and ‘independently-orientated’.It is further suggested that for purposes of practical managementand in the hope of avoiding the process whereby families becomeH.C.-orientated, these families require and should be offeredon-going social-work support from the time a family is recognisedas being at risk of H.C.     

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.     

Prison Welfare and Voluntary After Care

Summary Some findings of a survey into the experiences of men releasedfrom prison are reported, where they relate to their use ofprison welfare and after care services. These are discussedin the context of issues such as through-care, rate of take-up,and the factors which may be influential in determining whethera man makes use of after care on release from prison. It isproposed that for more isolated men the probation service shouldadopt a ‘reaching-out’ strategy.     

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.     

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.     

User-Practitioner Transactions in the New Culture of Community Care

Correspondence to Nicky Stanley, Lecturer in Social Work, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK. Summary This article describes the findings of a research project whichexamined the views and practice of social workers undertakingassessments in one local authority following the implementationof the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. While the assessorsexpressed dissatisfaction with some aspects of the new systemof care management, overall they appeared to be taking the newculture on board. Managers were consistently more enthusiasticthan practitioners. Both groups saw needs-led assessment, userchoice and keeping users in their own homes as central objectivesof care management. The shadowing of ten community care assessmentsallowed the degree to which these objectives were realized inpractice to be explored. Users' experience of the new culturewas also studied. The user-practitioner transactions observedsuggest that those users who were able to articulate their ownneeds forcefully were most likely to be able to exercise choice.It is argued that the new culture of community care embodies‘consumer choice’ rather than ‘user choice’.     

Social Work Responses to New Labour' in Continental European Countries

Summary The re-emergence of a majority of centre-left governments incountries of the European Union was associated with the hopethat, after the neo-liberal attempts at its marginalizationand de-institutionalization, social work could regain a morevalued position in society. There are indeed indications thatthe growth of the profession continues and that social workis returning to a more explicit and official role in nationalsocial policies. However, this tends to be associated with anexpectation that social work would play its part in ‘activating’the recipients of welfare benefits in the context of the NewLeft project of shifting from social rights to social obligations.The practical and political effects of this new agenda are,however, modified greatly by the prevailing ‘welfare cultures’as well as the professional and academic discourses. This paperexplores the dilemmas and opportunities for the social professionsin Europe associated with the ‘pull’ to become incorporatedinto these new social policy agendas.     

Staff Attitudes and Caring Practices in Homes for the Elderly

Correspondence to Tim Booth, Joint Unit for Social Services Research, The University, Sheffield S10 2TN. Summary This article presents the findings from a major survey of staffattitudes and caring practices in homes for the elderly in Fife.The survey was carried out in the wake of the Wagner Reportto examine the diffusion of good practice ideas among residentialstaff and to see how far these ideas are reflected in actualcaring routines. The study points to the existence of a ‘coolingeffect’ whereby adherence to good practice lessens thecloser one gets to operational reality. Finally, the implicationsof these findings for staff training are discussed.     

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.