Family participation in child protection practice: an observational study of family group meetings

Over the past two decades, child protection authorities internationally have begun to implement models of family participation in child protection decision‐making. Debate exists about the extent to which these models promote family involvement in decision‐making. While a significant body of research on family and professional experience and perceptions of models of family participation in decision‐making has emerged, there has been little observational research of these approaches. In this paper, we report on observational data from 11 family group meetings (FGMs) in a child protection context in Queensland, Australia. Under Queensland child protection law, these meetings are referred to as an inclusive process for child protection decision‐making and planning. We draw on observational data to analyse how family inclusion in child protection decision‐making is facilitated, or limited, by the FGM process. We consider tensions in the realization of a participatory ethos in child protection services systems and discuss what practitioners can practically do to enhance family participation in child protection decision‐making.     

Introduction to the Issue

Gordon Willard Allport was born more than 100 years ago on November 11, 1897. In honor of the centennial of his birth, this issue of the Journal presents a collection of articles on the social psychology of prejudice and intergroup relations—the field that Allport pioneered with his classic 1954 book, The Nature of Prejudice. The articles provide insights into both perpetrators and targets of prejudice and the conflict that often takes place between members of different societal groups. In the tradition of Gordon Allport, these articles demonstrate that it is possible for social science to make theoretical, empirical, and practical contributions to the understanding and resolution of social problems. This introductory article high-lights Allport's contributions to the social psychology of prejudice and intergroup relations. Overviews of the articles in this issue are also provided, and the recurring theoretical and methodological approaches are considered.     

The Personal/Group Discrimination Discrepancy

This article extends Allport's (1954) analysis of targets of discrimination by examining why minority group members perceive more discrimination directed at their group than at themselves. Two studies were conducted to explain this personal/group discrimination discrepancy by focusing on the role of stereotypes, which allow people to process information faster. Women (Study 1) and African Americans (Study 2) made ratings of personaland group discrimination while a computer recorded the time it took them to respond. Both took less time to make ratings of group discrimination than personal discrimination. Moreover, the less time it took for them to respond to questions about group discrimination, the larger the discrepancy was between their ratings of personal and group discrimination. These results suggest that the personal/group discrimination discrepancy emerges when minority groupmembers are using a stereotype in which discrimination encountered by their group is believed to be high.     

Colored Property: State Policy and White Racial Politics in Suburban America

Norman Cohn, Europe's Inner Demons (1975), xiv+302 (Chatto‐Heinemann for Sussex University Press, £4.50).

Eugene Kamenka and R. S. Neale (eds), Feudalism, Capitalism and Beyond (1975), viii+147 (Edward Arnold, £3.95, paperback £1.95).

David G. Hey, An English Rural Community: Myddle under the Tudors and Stuarts (1974), 260 (Leicester University Press, £5.80).

Enid Gauldie, Cruel Habitations: A History of Working‐Class Housing 1780–1918 (1974), 363 (Allen &; Unwin, £5.75, paperback £3.00).

Lee Holcombe, Victorian Ladies at Work; Middle‐Class Working Women in England and Wales, 1850 to 1914 (1974), x+253 (David and Charles, Newton Abbot, £4.95).

Bo Öhngren, Folk i rörelse. Samhällsutveckling, flyttningsmönster och folkrörelser i Eskilstuna 1870–1900 (1974), 414+26 pp. English summary (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Historica Upsaliensia No. 55, Uppsala). (People on the Move. Social development, migration patterns and popular movements in Eskilstuna 1870–1900)

Michelle Perrot, Les Ouvriers en Grève: France 1871–1890 ( 1974), 2 volumes, 900 (Mouton: Paris and The Hague, Dfl 149). (Workers on Strike: France 1871–1890)

J. E. Knodel, The Decline of Fertility in Germany, 1871–1939 (1974), xix+306 (Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., £7.60).

Kenneth D. Brown (ed.), Essays in Anti‐Labour History: responses to the rise of Labour in Britain (1974), viii+409 (Macmillan, £10.00).

Bob Jessop, Traditionalism, Conservatism and British Political Culture (1974), 287 (George Allen and Unwin, £4.65).     

Coming Together: New Taxonomies for the Analysis of Social Relations

In previous work, we have noted a certain rigidity in sociology's approach to the topic of social relations (Cerulo 1997; Cerulo and Ruane 1997; Cerulo, Ruane, and Chayko 1992). With few exceptions, literature on the subject dichotomizes social relations with reference to the scope of the interaction (small group versus large group) and the mode by which social actors connect (direct connections versus mediated connections). Further, many researchers implicitly rank the social value of each relational form. Sociologists typically identify a society's primary and most valuable relations as the result of direct, physically copresent exchange, exchange involving relatively few interactants. In contrast, secondary relations often are characterized as faceless, impersonal, ingenuous, and fleeting–the result of large-group exchange established via mediated or mechanized connections. Cerulo (1997) suggested the need to reformulate any definition of social relations built upon the small group/large group or the direct/mediated dichotomies. She presented several critical elements upon which new definitions could be built. In this piece, we configure those elements, building six new analytic taxonomies–tools we hope will provoke a richer discussion of connecting, interacting, and resulting forms of social relations.     

Sociological Perspectives on New Communication Technologies

The technological leaps of our day, especially those in the communications area, touch issues at the very heart of sociological discourse; new communication technologies problematize the definition of interaction, the nature of social ties, and the scope of experience and reality. In light of such developments, one might guess that sociologists would be very busy. Yet, our voice on these matters registers as a mere whisper in comparison to many of our sister social sciences: communications, psychology, and anthropology. (Cerulo 1995, at annual American Sociological Association meetings)