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Purpose: This paper aims to argue that contextual safeguarding complements existing theoretical models and approaches. Its successful integration with dominant thinking and practice in safeguarding potentially offers new insights to improve system-wide practice. Design/methodology/approach: A theory synthesis design was used to purposively identify, summarise and compare selected safeguarding theoretical models and approaches to establish both convergence and divergence. Findings: The arguments provided in this paper suggest that synthesising theory offers a confluence of perspectives that promise to develop a more eclectic and holistic approach to safeguarding practice. The paper demonstrates how contextual safeguarding can be integrated with existing theoretical models and approaches. Research limitations/implications: This is a conceptual paper and therefore is not based on empirical data. Practical implications: This paper's conceptual insights include that integrating contextual safeguarding with existing theoretical models and approaches can broaden the knowledge base to whole system-wide safeguarding practice in the UK. The paper also confirms that the methodology used is feasible, although more work is required to test its efficacy on a larger scale. The conceptual paper argues for synthesis of contextual safeguarding and commonly used child safeguarding theoretical models and approaches to deal with both intra and extra familial forms of risk of harm to children effectively. Social implications: The neglect and abuse of children is a topical issue; hence, this paper has social implications regarding understanding of how the issue child abuse and neglect in the UK and globally should be dealt with. Originality/value: There is a dearth of studies that have gone beyond binary comparisons of contextual safeguarding and other theoretical models and approaches, which leaves a significant knowledge gap that has prompted the purpose of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a youth work model of participatory research practice which utilises a range of methods within non-traditional research settings, highlighting the importance of trust, risk-taking and the creation of mutually respectful and non-hierarchical relationships. The paper suggests that such methods enable the development of new insights into previously intractable challenges when working with adolescents needing a safeguarding response from professionals. Design/methodology/approach: The paper reflects on the challenges and successes of a project which brought police officers and young people together to develop solutions to improving safeguarding responses to young people affected by sexual violence and related forms of harm in adolescence. In particular, this paper focuses on a residential held in October 2016 in the Lake District involving 7 officers and 15 young people. Findings: Despite a number of ethical challenges throughout the project, this paper makes the case that potentially high-risk participatory research projects can be supported and managed by university research centres. However, for these to be successful, staff need to work in trauma-informed ways, and possess high-level expertise in group work facilitation. Transparency, honesty, constancy and a range of different and creative activities, including mental and physical challenges, all contributed to the success of the project. Originality/value: By detailing the empirical steps taken to develop, support and realise this project, this paper advances a youth work model of participatory research practice, filling an important gap within the methodological literature on participatory work with young people affected by sexual violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Young people who are looked after by the state face challenges as they make the transition from care to adulthood, with variation in support available. In the past decade, funding has been directed towards organisations to pilot innovations to support transition, with accompanying evaluations often conducted with a single disciplinary focus, in a context of short timescales and small budgets. Recognising the value and weight of the challenge involved in evaluation of innovations that aim to support the transitions of young people leaving care, this paper aims to provide a review of evaluation approaches and suggestions regarding how these might be developed. Design/methodology/approach: As part of a wider research programme to improve understanding of the innovation process for young people leaving care, the authors conducted a scoping review of grey literature (publications which are not peer reviewed) focusing on evaluation of innovations in the UK over the past 10 years. The authors critiqued the evaluation approaches in each of the 22 reports they identified with an inter-disciplinary perspective, representing social care, public health and organisation science. Findings: The authors identified challenges and opportunities for the development of evaluation approaches in three areas. Firstly, informed by social care, the authors suggest increased priority should be granted to participatory approaches to evaluation, within which involvement of young people leaving care should be central. Secondly, drawing on public health, there is potential for developing a common outcomes' framework, including methods of data collection, analysis and reporting, which aid comparative analysis. Thirdly, application of theoretical frameworks from organisation science regarding the process of innovation can drive transferable lessons from local innovations to aid its spread. Originality/value: By adopting the unique perspective of their multiple positions, the authors' goal is to contribute to the development of evaluation approaches. Further, the authors hope to help identify innovations that work, enhance their spread, leverage resources and influence policy to support care leavers in their transitions to adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose There are often calls for more focus on outcomes in Children’s Social Care yet there is little consensus on what these outcomes should be. Key challenges include who should decide what outcomes should be measured and the sheer range of issues that social workers deal with. The purpose of this paper is to provide a reflective account of approaches to measuring outcomes that the author has used in recent studies in order to illustrate the complexity involved in understanding what the purpose of Children’s Social Care is and therefore how outcomes might be measured.Design/methodology/approach A review of and reflection on lessons from recent research studies carried out by the author and colleagues.Findings The results are used to illustrate and support an argument that Children’s Social Care performs multiple functions and that this has implications for thinking about outcomes. Helping children and parents is one element of the work, but assessing risk across large numbers of referrals and identifying those that require involvement is equally important. Furthermore, the social work role requires complex considerations around liberty and the rights of parents and children. One consequence of this is that the quality of the service provided is important in its own right.Research limitations/implications It is suggested that the evaluation of Children’s Social Care involves four types of outcomes: measures of the quality of the service provided; assessment of whether the “right” families are being worked with; client-defined measures of change; and the development of appropriate standardised instruments. Examples of approaches in each area are discussed.Practical implications The theoretical considerations suggest that we need to have a multi-dimensional approach to evaluating, inspecting and leading Children’s Social Care services. In particular, the importance of the quality of delivery and appropriate targeting of the service are emphasised, as well as considering various approaches to measuring outcomes.Originality/value The paper proposes a combination of qualitative and quantitative measures of process, assessment and outcomes for evaluating outcomes in Children’s Social Care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect on development in children’s social work over 35 years from the perspective of someone who has worked in the field as a practitioner and director.Design/methodology/approach Interview.Findings The paper provides insights into implementing the Reclaiming Social Work model and how systems can better support social work practice with children and families.Originality/value The paper offers a unique perspective on developments in the field and implications for the future of children’s social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the aspects of social work for children, primarily in England.Design/methodology/approach It is based on reflections on research undertaken by the author prior to 1995 and after 2015.Findings The paper explores the interaction between people – effective leaders and practitioners – and systems.Research limitations/implications It is an opinion piece, and does not present findings from a single study.Practical implications It urges systems that do not restrict the capability of practitioners.Social implications The value of social work services at times of significant social disadvantage demands strong public policy attention.Originality/value The study draws on several research and case studies in over 20 English local authorities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to describe coal-face challenges to making services in the UK work to ensure the mental and physical health, safety and wellbeing of children. Design/methodology/approach – After briefly referring to some challenges to effective joined-up service provision, it describes examples from the first author's experience of problems, during 30+ years as an NHS clinical child psychologist, and some solutions. It then describes two challenges that underpin many of these problems: lack of understanding of, or training in, evaluating evidence for interventions and a more general lack of knowledge about effective behaviour change principles. Findings – The paper concludes with recommendations about how to achieve effective joined-up services. Common themes emerging from the research are discussed, including choosing evidence-based programmes, providing adequate training to staff, and increasing people's understanding of behavioural principles. Originality/value – Having effective joined-up services would mean better services for parents and their children, and would be more cost-effective for the NHS. The ideas presented in this paper could also be applied to other services within the NHS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Children who enter the care system in England and Wales are among some of the most vulnerable children in society, often presenting with high levels of need. Ensuring that the children's workforce has the skills and knowledge to meet the challenges of caring for this group of children has been at the forefront of policy agendas over the past two decades. This paper aims to report on an educational initiative to develop the capacity of residential childcare staff to work therapeutically with children. Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes the origins and nature of the Foundation Degree in Therapeutic Childcare and documents the reflections of tutors responsible for delivering the programme on their experiences. Comments from a small student sample are included to highlight the student perspective in studying for the Foundation Degree. Findings – The paper concludes that while some barriers exist in delivering the Foundation Degree to residential child care workers, programmes designed to develop knowledge and understanding of working therapeutically with children should be promoted. Originality/value – The paper highlights some of the issues and challenges associated with educating the children's workforce and reports back on one of the first Foundation Degrees in the UK focusing on residential and foster care workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to chart the history of personal social services for children and families in the UK and examine the factors that have influenced it. Special attention is given to changing perceptions of rights, the impact of scandals and the contribution of child development research.Design/methodology/approach Analysis of historical documents and research reports using four methods: a timeline of milestones, demarcation of distinct developmental periods, trends in policy and practice and comparisons of children’s needs and experiences at different times.Findings The evolution of services has not been linear. In policy, there have been reform and retrenchment, amalgamation and differentiation. Practice has been shaped by the emergence of new problems and the disappearance of old ones as well as by legislation, extreme events, research and finance, all occurring in specific political, moral and economic contexts.Originality/value An analysis of developments in children’s services in their political, economic, moral and research contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a view about the future of children’s social work from the perspective of a frontline practitioner.Design/methodology/approach Reflections of a frontline practitioner are based on his experience of practising social work with children and families.Findings The professional task of assessment and intervention in order to protect the nation’s children from significant harm is probably one of the most complex in modern society. However, a focus on gathering too much information and the need for certainty can be detrimental to analysis and judgement. Further, the most complex and challenging part of the social work task, namely, direct work in the family home, is rarely subject to formally structured analysis or feedback. There is insufficient analysis of good practice, and the organisational conditions that will promote and sustain it, but there are alternative models, including outside local government and including from other countries, that appear promising.Originality/value The study offers the perspective of a frontline children and families social worker on issues facing the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect on progress and lessons in improving the social work system in England in the interests of children and families.Design/methodology/approach Based on an interview with the author by Michael Little (one of the Guest Editors of this edition).Findings Social work is best placed to lead the child protection system given its ability to manage risks in a challenging social and political environment. However, there is a need to address common concerns about the system, for instance to give social workers more autonomy, and to improve the quality in the workforce, especially at the senior level. The best authorities are practice focused, led by practitioners who are part of a stable team, and do well at a systems level.Originality/value Offers the perspective of the Chief Social Worker for Children in England on the process of reforming the social work system for children and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to argue for the need to move away from a sole focus on assessing and dealing with individualised risk factors in order to more fully engage with and understand the social determinants of many of the harms that are manifest in families.Design/methodology/approach It draws from a number of research studies being conducted by the authors and a literature on psycho-social approaches to social suffering.Findings It highlights the evidence on the contribution of poverty and inequality to many of the problems encountered within families. It explores how hurt, shame and loss are experienced by those who are marginalised and struggling to live well and care safely for themselves and others.Practical implications It highlights the practice implications of adopting an approach that engages with both the social and the psychological and understands their inter-relationship. It offers some thoughts on how the social in psycho-social might receive the attention it deserves, a situation which does not pertain currently.Originality/value It offers an original contribution to thinking in the area of child protection where the focus is primarily on individualised risk factors. It highlights the importance of understanding the social determinants of many of the harms experienced in families and offers some pointers towards thinking and practising differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper seeks to consider the inter-connections between law and child development, particularly in the areas of child custody and child protection, in both the USA and the UK.Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on analysis of US and UK legal systems and child developmental research.Findings - Although the two legal systems have much in common in their approach to safeguarding children's welfare, there are also notable differences between them in terminology and in concept. Whereas the USA places a greater emphasis on the rights, particularly autonomy rights, of both parents and children, the UK justifies its laws affecting children largely in terms of parental responsibility and child need.Originality/value - The paper argues that each of these legal regimes has something to learn from the other and a reader interested in thinking about the relationship between child welfare and law will profit from considering the distinctions, as well as the commonalities, between the two regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to critically examine the idea that devolution in Wales, compared with England, brings a decisive shift in the delivery of children's services and, by extension, challenges our assumption that the Children Act 1989 remains as a primary unifying force in child welfare legislation.Design/methodology/approach - The paper primarily addresses those matters pertaining to public law under parts III-V of the Act that give force to core functions within the personal social services in Wales and England. It looks at the Act from the viewpoint of devolution in Wales.Findings - The evolution of services, new policy frameworks and changes to the UK political architecture since the implementation of the Act have transformed the delivery of children's services. The 1989 Act remains prominent but such changes have brought a very different shape and purpose to the occupational world in which the Act was first launched in Wales and England.Originality/value - The paper shows that it is much less clear if the 1989 Act can be "read off" today - as perhaps it could when it was first enacted - as an inclusive encoding of what local authorities and their partners should and must do for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author offers a look at some papers involving the contribution of research to child welfare and services in Great Britain, published in the October 2006 issue of the "Journal of Children's Services." One paper highlights how reforms have emphasized the requirement for agencies to assess the needs of children in local areas. Another research provides understanding of how children and families come into and leave the system and what happens to them in between.