A Study of Those Who Cease to Foster

Summary The Portsmouth Fostering Study was the first project undertakenby the Portsmouth Social Services Research and IntelligenceUnit which was set up in August 1972 under the joint auspicesof Portsmouth Polytechnic and Portsmouth Social Services Department. This article summarizes the report of the Study, the main focusof which was on the experiences of ex-foster parents and theproblems they had encountered. The study concludes that therole of the foster parent is not always made clear, and thatthe foster parent is placed in the position of being half client/halfcolleague     

Moving Out: Insiders' Views of Relocation

Correspondence to Tim Booth, The University of Sheffield, Department of Sociological Studies, Joint Unit for Social Services Research, Sheffield, S10 2TN. Summary This paper presents some of the findings from the Kirklees RelocationProject, an evaluation of a local community care programme forpeople leaving long-stay mental handicap hospitals and socialservices hostels. It concentrates on the views of movers interviewedbefore and after the move using an innovative ‘visualgame’ technique. The study confirms that given the opportunityto make an informed choice the movers would almost always optfor the least restrictive alternative.     

Group Living in Homes for the Elderly: A Comparative Study of the Outcomes of Care

Correspondence to Tim Booth, Department of Sociological Studies, Joint Unit for Social Services Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN. Summary This paper traces the theory and practice of group living inhomes for the elderly in the literature and in the field. Itreviews the current state of research and calls for more workon the comparative evaluation of outcomes. It describes andpresents the results from a longitudinal study of matched samplesof residents in group homes and traditional homes which assessedthe relative changes in their personal functioning over time.The findings suggest that group living arrangements have beenoversold—in so far as they promise more than they deliver.     

Changing Patterns of Fieldwork: Organization: II: The Team Leaders' View

Correspondence to Dr. David Challis, Assistant Director, Personal Social Services Research Unit, Cornwallis Building. The University, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF. Summary In an earlier paper we discussed the organization of fieldworkin Social Services Departments based upon a survey of headquartersrespondents. Here we discuss the findings from a survey of fieldworkteam leaders. A substantial trend towards client-group specializationwas noted, not only at team level but also in the caseloadsof individual workers. There was a trend away from patternsof generic working common in the early days after the Seebohmreorganization. This trend away from generic practice is discussedin the light of arguments about the relative efficiency andeffectiveness of alternative models of organization.     

Including Families in Residential Work: Educational and Agency Tasks

Correspondence to Stephen Casson, Social Services Department, Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8PA, England. Summary This paper identifies obstacles to the inclusion of familiesby residential establishments. A review of the literature indicatesthat the notion of including families is a worthwhile consideration,but that few programmes have committed themselves with sufficientenergies over time to test the worth of this assumption. Tobring families centre stage a set of obligations is proposedto managers and certain principles from the family dynamicsliterature are identified for inclusion in the training curriculumof residential workers.     

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.     

A Profile of Adult Placement Carers

Correspondence to Andrew Gage, Manchester City Council Social Services Department, Adult Homefinding Team, Fenham, 5 Moorfield Road, West Didsbury, Manchester M20 8UZ. Summary This study examines the social and personal characteristicsof the people providing support in their own homes (adult fostering)to people with severe learning disabilities. Comparisons aremade with the general population on social and personal areas.A typical carer is identified and the results lead into issuescurrently affecting carers. Links are drawn between carer characteristicsand service user quality of life which require further study.     

Ethnicity and Caring for a Disabled Child: The Case of Children with Sickle Cell or Thalassaemia

Correspondence to Waqar Ahmad or Karl Atkin, Ethnicity and Social Policy Research Unit, University of Bradford, Bradford, BD7 1DP, UK Summary Services for haemoglobinopathies have been a major site of strugglesfor the black communities, yet the social research literatureon haemoglobinopathies remains patchy and fragmented. We providean overview of the literature on sickle cell disorders and thalassaemiamajor in the broader context of debates on childhood disabilityand chronic illness, and on ethnicity, racism and health care.     

Community Based Care for People with a Mental Handicap: A Family Placement Scheme in County Durham

Correspondence to Dr R. F. Drewett, Department of Psychology, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE Summary In 1984 a family placement scheme for people with a mental handicapwas started by Durham County Council Social Services Department.Thirteen were placed in ten families by the summer of 1988,when we interviewed all clients and carers in the scheme. Responses to the scheme were generally positive, both from thecarers and from the clients. All but two of the carers, however,had considerable previous professional experience with peoplewith a mental handicap, and generalizations from the experienceof this initial group of carers therefore need to be made withsome caution.     

Child Protection: Balancing Paternalism and Partnership

Correspondence to Martin C. Calder, Child Protection Unit, Salford Social Services Department, Avon House, Avon Close, Little Hulton, Manchester M38 OLA Summary There have been a great many protracted and heated debates aboutthe practice of state intervention and control of family lifein recent years. Indeed, the Children Act (1989) was draftedafter the Cleveland Inquiry highlighted the lack of consulationwith parents and the lasting effects of ill-considered intrusioninto family life, and embraced the philosophy of partnership.Social workers operating in the child care and child protectionareas need to balance the contradictory notions of paternalismand partnership, in the knowledge that they will be pilloriedby the popular press when they get it wrong. This paper attemptsto contrast the two concepts in their philosophical and socialwork contexts, and moves on to recommend frameworks for helpingto balance them when they are operationalized. It is essentialto consider this particular debate in the wider political andeconomic contexts, particularly where uncertainty and the lackof resources are ever-present features.     

Social Workers and Supervision Orders: A Case of Occupational Uncertainty

Summary A distinctive feature of the supervision order is that it canbe administered either by the Probation Service or by the LocalAuthority Social Services Department. An examination of the case files on a large sample of boys (N=971)aged 14–16 placed on supervision orders for criminal offencesreveals a number of differences between the way in which workersin the two agencies approach the task of supervision. The findingssuggest that social workers are in some respects less professionallysecure and certain as to their purpose in performing their supervisorytask than are probation officers. This is accounted for by locatingtheir practice in a number of intersecting contexts, includingan occupational ambivalence over the exercise of authority anda lack of clarity in relation to the role of welfare in thecontext of juridical requirements     

Dependency and its Relationship to the Assessment of Care Needs of Elderly People

Correspondence to Dr Ian Gibbs, Social Policy Research Unit, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, Heslington, York, YO1 5DD Summary A number of previous studies of old people in residential homeshave suggested that a substantial minority are not in need ofthat form of care. The rapid growth in the number of peoplein private homes, supported by social security payments andentering without any independent assessment, has led to concernthat many more people enter residential homes without needingto be there. Social workers were employed in four areas to assess the needsof residents newly admitted to homes in the independent sectorand over eighty per cent were found to be in need of residentialcare. It is suggested that the measures of dependency used toindicate need in some previous studies fail to take into accountthe complex factors involved in deciding whether a person needsresidential care.     

Literature and Social Work: An exploration of how literature informs social work in a way social sciences cannot

Margaret Turner. Senior Caseworker. Social Services Department. Coventry City Council. Crisis Intervention Team. 36. St Paul's Road. Coventry CV6 5DF. Summary There have been several teachers and practitioners who havesuggested literature has something to offer social work andtherapy. but without making a comprehensive case for its importance.This paper attempts to show why literature is valuable. evennecessary, to thinking and talking about social work. and toits practice. Beginning with a critical examination of languagein the public domain the study moves on to demonstrate how thereading of literature helps develop sensibility, and so maylead to enhanced understanding, self-awareness, and responsiveness.The paper ends with a brief exposition of the sustaining andvitalizing power literature may have for social workers as persons.     

Two Post-Qualifying Courses in Social Work: the views of the course members and their employers

Correspondence to Alan Rushton, Course Tutor, Southwark Social Services, Fieldwork and Community Services, The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ. Summary Social workers who had completed two practice oriented post-qualifyingprogrammes were sent questionnaires asking them to evaluatetheir courses and to report on their subsequent careers. A selectedsub-sample was then interviewed and their current line managerscompleted questionnaires on their views of the training. Findingsare presented on their evaluation of both academic and practiceaspects of the programme. Levels of satisfaction were foundto be linked with the characteristics of course members. Somedifficulties were experienced in applying the new learning onre-entry to full-time work.     

Have Child Protection Efforts Reduced Child Homicides? An Examination of Data from Britain and North America

Correspondence to Duncan Lindsey, School of Public Policy and Social Research, Department of Social Welfare, University of California, Los Angeles, 247 Dodd Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1452, USA. Summary In a recent British Journal of Social Work article examiningtrends in child homicide statistics collected by the World HealthOrganization (WHO), Colin Pritchard attributes a reduction inchild homicides in England and Wales to improved effectivenessof child protection services. However, further analysis of theWHO data show that the decrease in England and Wales is dueto an unusual single-year drop in homicide rates, and that thereis no evidence of a long-term downward trend. Examination oftrends in Europe and North America show that there are no consistentpatterns in fluctuations in child homicide rates, and in particular,no evidence that fatality statistics have been influenced bythe rapid expansion in child protection efforts.     

Professionalism and the Adoption of Black Children

Correspondence to Paul Stubbs, Visiting Research Fellow, University of Lancaster, Department of Social Administration, Fylde College, Lancaster LA1 4YF. Summary This article poses certain issues about the effects of professionalismin policy and practice in the adoption of black children. Bylocating the practice in its historical context, recent debatesabout ‘bans’ on the adoption of black children bywhite families can be discussed more clearly. This is followed by case studies based on original researchin two London boroughs, examining professionalism in child careand adoption practice, before certain conclusions and alternativesare addressed.     

The Functions of Child Care Reviews in Scotland A Preliminary Investigation

Correspondence to Dr A. J. Kendrick, Research Fellow, Department of Political Science and Social Policy, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, Scotland. Summary In this second article based upon the first stage of a researchproject on statutory child care reviews in Scotland we explorethe perceptions of the functions of reviews. We identify a numberof primary functions which can be viewed together as elementsin a rational model of decision-making. With certain provisosthis model allows us to distinguish analytically the explicitpurpose of child care reviews. We show that although a numberof other functions take place in reviews these are not perceivedas necessary to reviews and as such can be considered secondaryfunctions.     

The Chairperson of Child Care Reviews in Scotland: Implications for the Role of Reviews in the Decision Making Process

Correspondence to Dr A. J. Kendrick, Research Fellow, Department of Political Science and Social Policy, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland. Summary This article is based upon the first stage of a research projecton statutory child care reviews in Scotland and explores therole of reviews in the decision-making processes for childrenin local authority care. We have argued that the position ofchairperson of reviews has an important role in locating childcare reviews in the organïzational structures of the SocialWork Departments. The designation of the chairperson also hasimplications for the objectivity of the child care review. Thenature of conclusions of child care reviews is also exploredand we show that this is a complex issue reflecting the childcare review's relationships to other decision-making bodiesand the manner in which the delegation of authority for thechairing of reviews is structured. While this research is basedupon the twelve Scottish Social Work Departments we believethat the issues discussed have a general relevance.     

What Makes for Successful Groupwork? A Survey of Agencies in the UK

Summary This paper reports the findings of a survey of Social ServicesDepartments, Probation Services and the major voluntary agenciesin the UK. The survey aimed to shed light on the factors whichpromote successful groups in social work and probation agencies.The survey did not attempt to map the extent of current groupwork.A questionnaire was piloted in a Social Services Departmentin northern England with social work and social care practitionersparticipating in ‘The Groupwork Project’, a trainingand development programme which continues to have as its aimthe establishment of a groupwork service in a mainstream socialservices agency. The survey was designed to be illuminativeand exploratory rather than conclusive. In this paper, the authorsreflect on the research process and on the findings of the survey.These findings point to the complexity of factors consideredsignificant to the success of a group, and to the importanceof contextual factors in establishing and sustaining a groupworkservice.     

Openness and Contact in Adoption: A Child-centred Perspective

Correspondence to Beverley Hughes, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, School of Social Work, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Summary This paper reports the findings of a study on the views of birthparents on openness and contact and, in the light of the findings,examines the current trend towards a presumption in favour ofdirect contact between birth parents, child and/or adopters.It argues for a child-centred approach which must discriminatemore clearly between the implications for the child of differentpost-adoption arrangements. The assumptions underlying a presumptionin favour of direct contact are critically reviewed.