Research note. Gaining access to looked after children for research purposes: lessons learned

Summary This article provides a researcher's account of gaining accessto looked after children for the purpose of conducting a studyof children's experiences of family life. Based on a researchproject involving two social services departments, it givesa stepwise account of the process, from approaching social servicesdirectors to actually gaining access to looked after children.It describes the different methods of allowing access employedby the two departments and the advantage and disadvantage attachedto each method from a researcher's perspective. It providesinformation about the timespan involved and the delays experiencedin contacting social services staff. It discusses the issueof adults' involvement in preventing children from participatingin research and the effect this has on the number of childrenresearchers are able to contact.     

The Family Dynamics of School Phobics

Summary A casework based method of assessment was devised to examinethe family dynamics of school phobic children. There was significantdifferences found between the family interaction of male andfemale school phobic children. The relationships were dichotomizedalong gender lines, that were broadly oedipal in nature. Thesefindings and methodological problems were discussed     

Split in Two: Experiences of the Children of Schizophrenic Mothers

Correspondence to Jeni Webster, Lecturer in Psychiatric Social Work, University of Manchester, Department of Psychiatry, Williamson Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Summary The children and families of 28 schizophrenic women were interviewedto assess the amount of burden they experienced in the formof disruptions and problems as a consequence of the schizophrenia.Different styles of coping emerged within the family patternsthat related to behaviours associated with schizophrenia, therole of the fathers, the stages of development of the children,and the adverse effects on the family and the children.     

Social Work and Blood Vengeance: The Bedouin-Arab Case

Correspondence to Alean Al-Krenawi, Department of Social Work, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel Summary The practice of blood vengeance, the obligation to kill in retributionfor the death of a member of one's family or tribe, is illegalin most countries of the world; however, many traditional culturesstill demand this form of maintaining honour. This paper outlinesthe cultural and historical contexts of the practice of bloodvengeance among the Bedouin of the Negev of Israel. It considersthe consequences for the targeted family and details the copingstrategies adopted by the family, especially the children, underconditions of extreme social, emotional and economic deprivation.It discusses social work intervention, from initial contactto partial resolution; strategies of cultural sensitivity arealso outlined.     

An Act of Empowerment: The Children, Young Persons and their Families Act (1989)

Correspondence to Marie Connolly, Department of Social Work, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 1, New Zealand. Summary In 1989, New Zealand introduced child protection legislationthat embraces a model of family decision making. The model,based on traditional indigenous decision-making practices, hasrevolutionized social work with children and families in thechild care and protection area. This paper considers the developmentof the legislation in terms of its antecedent factors and itsvision. It looks particularly at some of the care and protectionprovisions of the legislation, and explores, by use of casestudy, some of the issues of using a family decision-makingprocess as a practice model.     

Tracing the Causes of Stress in Families with Handicapped Children

Summary Variations in the level of stress in mothers with very severelydisabled children do not appear to be associated with the characteristicsof the disabled child or the social and economic circumstancesof the family. The level of stress in a sample of mothers didnot change after they had received help from the Family Fund.     

Psychological Disturbance Following T-Groups:: Relationship between the Eysenck Personality Inventroy and Family/Friends Perceptions

Summary This study assessed the psychologically disturbing effects ofsensitivity training. Two different measures of disturbanceor distress were used, the Eysenck Personality Inventory (astandardized personality test) and a Behaviour Change questionnairecompleted by the participant and his close family and friends.The relationship between the two measures was explored. Participantsshowed increases in neuroticism as a result of training butthis was not confirmed by the participants' family and friendstwo weeks after the T-group (the most likely period of heighteneddisturbance from training). In fact, a large number of traineessaw themselves and were seen by their family, friends and childrenas slightly better able to cope with personal and family problems,more happy, better able to get on with their children and/orsignificant person/s, and better able to communicate     

Examining the Causes of Stress in Families with Severely Mentally Handicapped Children

Summary Though it is recognized that the presence of a mentally handicappedchild may be a source of stress for a family, less is knownabout precisely which impairments are particularly stressful.This question was investigated in a study of 200 families withseverely mentally handicapped children living in two healthdistricts in South East England. Interviews were carried outwith the people responsible for the day-to-day care of the childrenand stress was measured by means of the Malaise Inventory. Theresults suggested that the highest levels of stress were associatedwith the presence of a child with behaviour disorders or withmultiple impairments; the stressfulness of these conditionswas exacerbated by adversity. A regression analysis showed thatthe factors causing most stress in carers were, in order ofimportance: behaviour problems in the child, night-time disturbance,social isolation, adversity in the family, multiplicity of impairments,difficulty in settling the child at night, problems with thechild's health, problems with the child's appearance, and moneyworries. The article ends with recommendations for the developmentof services aimed at reducing stress in families with mentallyhandicapped children.     

The Background of Children who enter Local Authority Care

Andrew Bebbington, PSSRU, Cornwallis Building, The University, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF. Summary The family backgrounds of 2500 children admitted to care inEngland were investigated, to quantify the association betweenindicators of material and social deprivation and entry to care.These indicators are more closely associated than in Packman'snational survey of 1962. Broken family is the most significantfactor, though there are several alternative explanations forthis, which have quite different policy implications. When allowanceis made for other social factors, children from particular ethnicminorities do not seem specially vulnerable, though childrenof mixed race are. The study confirms that many children whocome into care after an offence have experienced similar deprivationsto non-offenders. There remain great variations between authoritiesin children's routes into care, but less so in the circumstancesof the children themselves.     

The Cost of Hope

Summary A conversation with a woman, recently widowed, living in a poorblack community of London, reveals the difficulty in merelysurviving that she, her family and families like her own presentlyare experiencing. Her concers are with housing, schools, healthcare for herself and her children, ageing when one lives inpoverty, and perhaps most significantly, her gradual loss ofhope that anything can be done to improve her circumstances.The study reported has been done on one single family; it isnot a composite of several families, although clearly, the lifeof this one woman is most representative of families livingwhere she lives.     

Children in Need and their Families: Outcomes of Referral to Social Services

Jane Gibbons. Social Work Development Unit. University of East Anglia. Norwich NR4 7TJ. Summary The Children Act provides a clear remit to local authoritiesfor the provision of services to children in need and theirfamilies. Increased service provision needs to be supportedby evaluation of effectiveness. The paper describes an attemptto develop instruments for this purpose. In a sample of 122families containing children under 14 who were referred to socialservices departments, indicators of family needs, services receivedand their outcomes were used to examine whether services werematched to needs; and whether they had any effect on familyproblems in the short term.     

Child Placement Policy: Some European Comparisions

Summary There is consensus among European countries that the first aimof a social policy for families should be to enable childrento remain in their own homes. However, in all countries somechildren require placement apart from their parents, but thereis no agreement as to the best mode of care for these children.Some countries rely entirely on residential care, others almostentirely on family placements in the community. The articlecompares Sweden (high fostering) with Belgium (low fostering),and England and Wales, which is midway between the two, andsuggests that some European models are relevant to English practice.     

The Quality of Parenting of Individuals Who had Failed to Thrive as Children

Correspondence to Professor Dorota Iwaniec or Dr Helga Sneddon, Institute of Child Care Research, The Queen's University of Belfast, 5a Lennoxvale, Belfast BT9 5BY, UK. E-mail: d.iwaniec{at}qub.ac.uk, h.sneddon{at}qub.ac.uk Summary Parenting behaviour is determined by a range of factors includingpersonality, psychopathology, values, social support, childcharacteristics and socio-cultural influences. It has also beensuggested that an individual's style of child-rearing is influencedby the style of parenting that they experienced as children.The relationships between children who fail-to-thrive and theirparents are often characterized by interactional difficulties.Previous research using retrospective accounts suggested thatmothers of children who fail-to-thrive for non-organic reasonsthemselves showed high levels of abuse, neglect, and deprivationduring their childhoods. However, to date no one has investigatedprospectively what kinds of parents failure-to-thrive individualsbecome. This paper examines the parenting experiences of individualswho had received psychosocial intervention for their non-organicfailure-to-thrive as children over 20 years ago. Results suggestthat where initial intervention failed to bring about long-termchanges in family interactional patterns, there was a greaterincidence of failure-to-thrive in the next generation. Thesefamilies were characterized by dissatisfaction with the child,high levels of stress associated with the parenting role, andlow levels of social support. However, where the family environmentin the original study had changed substantially, the formerclients' outcomes were more positive with their own children.These parents tended to find interaction with their childrenmore rewarding, had good support networks and low levels ofstress. The characteristics of particular cases are discussedin detail to illustrate differences between these two groupsof individuals.     

No-one else could understand': Women's Experiences of a Support Group run by and for Mothers of Sexually Abused Children

Summary Previous studies have shown that when a woman finds out aboutthe sexual abuse of her children the consequences for her areserious and can represent a major life crisis. Women in thisposition frequently report a lack of professional understandingand support. The current study explores the experiences of women attendinga busy peer support group at the NSPCC in York. It demonstratesthe vital role that peer support can play. It traces a varietyof factors which mean that family, friends and social workersare not well placed to help. At the heart of these difficultiesare the powerful feelings of guilt and failure in their roleas mothers which the women experienced as a result of the sexualabuse of their children. For these women it was impossible toshare with social workers their doubts about their own abilitiesas mothers, particularly in a context in which those workerswere making judgements about their ‘ability to protect’.On the other hand the support group provided a safe and non-judgementalforum in which these powerful emotions could be expressed anddealt with. The study explores the role that social workerscan play in relation to such groups.     

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.     

Social Process, Space Usage: Reflections on Socialisation in Homes for Children

Summary This paper analyses the links between social processes and spaceusage through an examination of socialization and patterns ofspace use in local authority homes for children. Concepts of’family group‘ and ’responsibility‘are discussed using data from a participant observation studyas a basis, drawing attention to the relationship between socialpower and meanings attributed to architectural space.     

The Bereavement of Parents and Their Search for Meaning

Summary The emotional relief of bereavement is generally recognizedas being the primary task of mourner and caregiver, but lessattention has been given to the ways in which the bereaved understandtheir experience and reconstitute family life. Recent studiesof parents whose children have died in traumatic circumstances,from murder, suicide and operation, suggest that it is an essentialpart of griefwork to resolve the meaninglessness of the crises.Those whose children die from chronic disease, handicaps, oraccidents, also need to find a meaning in their tragedies. Bereavementis thus a total psychophysical experience of suffering, andthe renewal of family life depends on the acceptance of separationand the regenerative use of its pain. Insights from psychiatrists and sociologists are acknowledgedand related to those of bereaved parents, and to the developmentof their self-help association, The Compassionate Friends. Theseprovide models of mourning and a collective response to familyloss which offer hope, support and varieties of meaning to thenewly bereaved. The roles of health and social workers involved in pre- andpost-bereavement care are explored, and ideas are offered formaking the social network more supportive. It is suggested thatthis will not be costly in material resources, but in thoseneeded for the more therapeutic involvement of the caregiver.     

Women Whose Children have been Sexually Abused: Reflections on a Debate

Catherine Humphreys, Department of Applied Social Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. Summary Women whose children have been sexually abused have been thesubject of a polarized debate between feminist practitioners/writersand family therapists. This paper explores the development ofthat debate, outlining the key characteristics of work whichwas informed by family systems perspectives and the contrastingunderstandings which feminist perspectives brought to analysisand practice. Both feminist perspectives and family therapyhave changed since the original debate erupted. This articleexplores issues which may have been obscured within feministperspectives. These are, first, the difficulties in the mother-childrelationship and, second, the contribution which aspects offamily therapy can make to progressing the interests of womenand children in the aftermath of child sexual abuse.     

Values in Social Work: investigations of the practice of family placement

Professor Noel Timms, University of Leicester, School of Social Work, 107 Princess Road East, Leicester LEI 7LA. Summary This study explores values in social work distinguishing valuesat the levels of practice and of rhetoric A small scale projectwas undertaken in family placement work in two local authoritiesand four voluntary agencies. A pattern of activity was foundcommon to both voluntary and statutory workers engaged in familyplacements. Workers in both agencies rendered comparable accountsof a distinctive practice which stressed virtuoso skills inthe collection, appraisal and use of knowledge. The practicedepended on confidence in the ability to make good within theform of work known as family placement, and on the recognitionof what people are owed. The work was undertaken in a socialcontext which acknowledged—in the eyes of the social workers—theobvious (rhetorical) goods of the proper flounshing of children,and respect for rights. Beliefs about certain aspects of thesocial context, particularly in relation to religion, differedbetween the two groups, but such differences could not be seento reverberate in the practice.