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This paper explores dilemmas facing social work in England in providing anti-oppressive services for Travellers, particularly those who lack secure sites. A context is provided by outlining the conflict between Travellers and the majority society, and its expression in oppressive legislation, policy and practice. The implications of the corporate local authority role for relationships between Travellers and social services, and the specific history of Travellers and welfare, are also explored. The remainder of the paper draws on findings from a Nuffield-funded study of policy and provision by English social services departments for Traveller children and families. Provision is undermined by mutually difficult relationships between Traveller communities and social services, and competing demands on social services in relation to professional values and support of Travellers’ rights, and their simultaneous contribution to local authority control of unauthorized camping. However, newer developments in some social services departments may be able to generate more positive relationships with Travellers, to promote their individual and cultural rights, and build partnerships with voluntary agencies which have a significant role in work with Travellers. The implications for social services departments wishing to develop their policies and practice with Traveller families are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the concepts underpinning the reasoning processes of social worker's decision‐making provides important insights into how social work practice is undertaken. This paper examines one of the major discourses used by social workers in decision reasoning in a non‐governmental organization child protection context in Aotearoa/New Zealand: family maintenance. This study found that family maintenance as a concept was strongly privileged by social workers. This resulted in attempts to preserve families and created a hierarchy of preferred decision outcomes. A preference for family maintenance was supported by legal, moral, psychological and Māori cultural concepts. This pattern of constructs underpinned the ‘weighing up of harms’ when considering removal, and generally reflected a child welfare orientation. In addition to this, it was found that ‘family’ was broadly defined, and could include people who had a relationship with the children, or Māori definitions of extended family, in addition to legal ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Parental mental illness, substance misuse and domestic violence are common risk factors for the maltreatment and neglect of children. Safeguarding children is everyone's responsibility, including professionals working primarily with adults. In the UK, Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) were established to ensure that all agencies work together to safeguard children. Many LSCBs developed multi-agency joint protocols to enhance collaboration, but there is limited evidence of their effectiveness. This paper reports findings from a cross-sectional survey of practitioner self-reported experiences of joint protocols, which was conducted in one inner London borough, to evaluate their impact on professional practice. A self-complete questionnaire administered to all professionals in adult mental-health and children's social care services in the borough yielded a response from 119 practitioners. The survey found that the protocols had been widely disseminated and provided clear guidance to practitioners. Practitioners perceived that they had increased awareness of the risk factors for safeguarding children and some had used the protocols to help them gain access to services for their clients. Practitioners also perceived that they had improved inter-agency working between children's social care and adult mental-health services. However, respondents indicated that positive interpersonal contact with practitioners from other agencies was equally important in promoting joint working and inter-agency collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT As the number of Latino children in public child welfare continues to grow, it is necessary to understand how their mental health is faring. The paper examines emotional and behavioural needs among Latino children who had contact with the public child welfare system. The purpose of this longitudinal study was twofold: to examine the severity of emotional and behavioural problems, and to assess the predictive role of generation status and Latino origin. Latent growth models were completed using the National Survey on Children and Adolescent Well-Being. The predictive model for the externalizing CBCL scale revealed that generation status and Latino origin were significant predictors. At baseline, Puerto Rican children exhibited higher rates of externalizing problems compared with Mexican children. Over time children who were first/second generation tended to have lower scores compared with the third-plus generation children. Implications for practise are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the work of three Action Learning Sets – two groups of child care social workers and one group of health visitors. Given the substantial investment in child care research and its dissemination, we wanted to examine barriers to effective practice from the vantage point of workers themselves. Our core question was: ‘What can we do about the things that get in the way of effective practice?’ The method, based on that of ‘co-operative inquiry’, sought to engage front-line practitioners as active collaborators in the research. While several of the barriers can be seen as part of the common predictable experience of professionals working in large public sector organizations, a key message is the importance of re-invigorating models of supervision that can sustain high quality practice. What emerges is a contemporary picture of the pressures on child care workers and of the struggles to make sense of professional roles in different organizational landscapes. We are committed to evidence-based practice, practice that is derived from the best knowledge available. We would simultaneously stress the importance of ‘holding environments’ to promote effective learning. Our experience suggests that Action Learning offers a constructive method for encouraging such environments and facilitating better practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]