Parental Participation in Child Protection Case Conferences: The Social Worker's View

Correspondence to Dr Ann Macaskill, Health Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, 36 Collegiate Crescent, Sheffield S10 2BP Summary This article reports the findings of a questionnaire surveyof 118 local authority social workers' attitudes towards parentalparticipation in child protection case conferences. Argumentsfrom the professional literature both in favour of and againstparental participation were presented. Overall social workerswere found to be largely supportive of parental participationalthough aware of the potential problems. Other professionalgroups involved in case conferences were perceived as beingless enthusiastic about parental participation. The implicationsof these findings are discussed and some training needs identified.