Search

This paper reports on the findings from a systematic review of parenting interventions used by social workers to support vulnerable children in the United Kingdom. The study focused on children from birth to 11 years and 11 months based on Munro's rationale for early intervention. From the 423 papers initially identified, twelve met the inclusion criteria for this review. Four common themes were identified: developing relationships, the effectiveness of parenting interventions, societal impact on families and health and psychological concerns. The importance of effective relationships between parents and social workers was identified as key to effective parental interventions but there was limited evidence of improved outcomes for children despite this. A common factor in the studies was the level of parental deprivation which in many cases was associated with a range of mental health issues frequently seen in association with drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence. The review identified a number of successful outcomes across a range of parenting interventions. However, what was surprising was the limited input from the children themselves within this review. Applying our findings to practice, the authors recommend a number of ways to contribute to the development of parenting interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Childhood disability can heighten risk of neglect and abuse and may also impinge upon the parenting task. Even so, a gross deficiency of published literature on social work parenting capacity assessment for disabled children is evident. This paper provides a critical commentary on approaches to assessments of the capacity of parents of disabled children. International review of literature on this subject matter is enacted across three themes. Findings: Themes refer to limitations to the uptake of disability-specific parenting assessment tools, use of existing generic frameworks and supplementation of generic frameworks, respectively. Throughout, a composite conceptual frame is taken up, entailing the conventions of a seminal social model of disability, extended through an affirmative non-tragedy lens. The intention is to contest articulations of disability grounded in tragedy and melancholia, otherwise instantiated by links between disability with child maltreatment in this paper. Applications: Application of insights from this paper within professional social work practice can enhance evidence-informed parenting capacity assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically discusses the limitations of theorising social work from psychological and sociological perspectives and argues that phenomenology offers more opportunity to understand the embodied experiences of service users and social workers themselves. The paper argues that psychology and sociology have a limited analysis of being-in-the-world, which ought to be social work's primary consideration. The paper offers an overview of the sociology of risk before embarking on an extensive description and discussion of Heidegger's and Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology applied to the lived experience of child protection social workers working within risk society. The argument is put that phenomenology is a useful tool for understanding the lived experience of social work practitioners. Findings: The authors conclude that embodied social work practice containing fear and anxiety can be thought of as akin to taking part in extreme risk sports and that this is an unhealthy experience that is likely to skew decision-making and adversely affect the lives of social workers and service users. Applications: The authors argue that phenomenology can enhance understanding of practice and decision-making and offers insights into the lived experience of social workers. Phenomenology is useful for helping social workers negotiate risk-saturated environments, through a focus on meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Drawing on historical constructions of Indigenous peoples, this paper analyses the continued impact of settler discourses of Indigenous families, parenting, and children on child welfare policy in Canada today. Findings: In this work, two provincial children's Advocate reports on the deaths of Indigenous children in care, Tina Fontaine and Alex Gervais, are critically assessed in order to explore the processes through which these colonial constructions operate to create adverse outcomes for Indigenous people. Through this analysis, a number of contemporary colonial narratives are made visible, including the belief that Indigenous parents are inherently incapable of caring for their children, and the gendered construction of Indigenous men and boys as criminal and deviant and Indigenous girls as sexually exploitable. Application: These findings suggest that greater critical reflection is needed when working with Indigenous peoples, including greater awareness of the ongoing impact of settler colonialism and the necessity of engaging in anti-colonial work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The sustaining argument advanced in this paper is that postconventional analysis offers a constructive theoretical lens to contemplate identity in child protection and welfare assessment. Critical application of abridged postconventionalism considers how identity and biodiversity in children and young people, operating across lines of racial, disability, gender and other identity markers, can be understood during informed assessment of needs. Findings: In the context of transformative postmodern influences, the intention is to provide an aid to students and practitioners who are increasingly impelled to think about traditionally biological-based identity categories, across more abstract lines of social, lingual and cultural construction. Four themes for professional development are presented. First, the complex origins of identity must be appreciated. Second, criticality and openness to the meaning of identity is preferable. Third, progress lies in courteous, sensitive and inclusive practice. Fourth, practitioners should acquire knowledge competency in identity categories. Applications: Overall, acceptance of the somewhat fluid and socially contingent nature of identity, without marked rejection of its embodied aspects, can promote more sensitive and inclusive ways of working with children and young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Summary: This paper explores how medical knowledge in child protection practice operates, in conjunction with social work knowledge and legal knowledge, as a social process of constructing meaning as 'maltreatment' (or not) in which the physical body of the child and perceived abnormalities represent 'evidence'. Through discourse analysis of two case studies, this paper makes explicit and problematizes the social processes by which meanings are given by medical practitioners, social workers, police and parents to material experience, the preference given to some meanings over others, and the consequence of particular meanings for children and families and social work practice. • Findings; Medical, social and legal knowledge are not neutral but embedded in power relations. The case studies show, through a sociological analysis of professional practice in child protection, how preferred versions of knowledge and meaning may override or dismiss alternative meanings, with particular consequences for parents and children and for practice outcomes. • Applications: The case studies offer opportunities by which critically to engage with child protection knowledge, policy and practice in keeping with contemporary approaches that advocate dialogue, critical reflection and reflexivity, so that professional knowledge and professional power may be deployed constructively rather than oppressively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The informational context in which social work has been operating over the past decade has gained much more significance. In this context, Electronic Information Systems are often implemented with the aim of being responsive to the needs of children and families. However, research has critically identified some major concerns with using Electronic Information Systems in ways that tend to reduce social work to a technical practice. As a result, practitioners and managers are using their discretion to shape and bend regulations precisely in order to achieve responsive social work practice. In this paper, our aim is to capture the meaning of these strategies for the development of responsive social work. To do so, we interviewed social practitioners working with Electronic Information Systems on a daily basis. Findings Our results show how practitioners develop a diversity of strategies to recreate the relational aspect of social work, thereby challenging the hypothesis that this was curtailed by the use of Electronic Information Systems. Applications By fleshing out the meaning of the strategies practitioners use in their daily practice, we aim to contribute to the contemporary debate about the use of these strategies in social work practice. At the same time, it is also important to understand the meaning of these strategies in relation to the development of responsive social work as this development cannot be reduced to a mere relational practice where principles of justice, equality and solidarity are not equally considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper describes the findings from the evaluation of a UK initiative which engaged social work students as community partners within an educational-based family intervention programme. Fourteen social work students in the first year of a BA (Hons) were placed in the programme to meet the volunteering requirements of their ‘Community Project’. By engaging with the community-based family programme at an early stage in their education, students experienced the benefits of interventions, focussing on sustainability, citizenship and parent participation. We describe the approach and discuss the evaluation outcomes to illustrate the potential of utilising co-learning with families in social work education. In taking up the role of community partners, students observed first-hand the value of incorporating horizontal relationships into their learning and experienced direct knowledge exchange with service users at an early stage in their training. Findings The findings suggest that this experience enabled students to connect with conceptualisations of macro alongside micro practice in their professional development as social workers. Further, connecting critical social theories with the direct experience of families promoted the learners own empowerment and conscientisation. Application This provided a means of embedding social work values and aspirations towards social justice in their future practice orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Permanency decisions in child welfare are recognised as being challenging. Nevertheless, society and the profession expect that professional judgements should be of the highest quality, consistent, reliable, fully justified and informed by evidence of what works, particularly where decisions are potentially life-changing. However, barriers to knowledge acquisition and utilisation exist, preventing practitioners from gaining the full range of knowledge they require, leading to permanency decisions being interventionist and protectionist in orientation (author, 2020). Think-aloud protocols and semi-structured interviews, in conjunction with a vignette, were used with social workers (N = 17) in statutory services to explore barriers to knowledge acquisition and utilisation in permanency decisions for children in state care. Findings: The main barriers to knowledge use were (1) misunderstanding or misuse of theory, (2) limitations in training and learning and (3) organisational issues. Applications: By developing a real-world understanding of the barriers and listening to the views of the professionals themselves, we can begin to realistically inform policy and practice, with the aim of decreasing the barriers to knowledge acquisition and utilisation in permanency decision-making. If we appreciate the barriers to knowledge acquisition and utilisation in permanency decision-making more fully, then perhaps we can reduce them, thereby facilitating more fully informed decisions that best serve the individual needs of children and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Summary: Although many ‘Anglophone’ countries now host significant linguistic diversity, minimal attention has been paid to language policy in social work. This paper examines how language policy in both its overt and covert forms infiltrates social work via three ‘orientations’ to linguistic diversity: language as a problem; language as a right; and language as a resource. The utility of this framework for viewing linguistic diversity in social work is explored with reference to an exploratory study that canvassed the views of overseas-born bilingual social workers practising in Australia. • Findings: The participants strongly identified with a problem orientation to language, where a lack of English constitutes a significant barrier to participating in the social, economic and political domains. While a rights orientation to language was endorsed, it was seen to have limitations in terms of the inadequacies of legislation for challenging ‘monolingual’ language attitudes. All informants supported a resource orientation to language, but claimed that linguistic diversity is often devalued in English-dominant locations. • Applications: Rather than privileging one particular lens on language, the study concludes that a flexible framework that allows for movement between different language orientations is necessary given the context-dependent nature of language use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Intense conflicts are prevalent in families receiving child welfare services. Research in the field of family interventions usually focusses on dyadic conflicts within the limits of the nuclear family unit, ignoring the larger social context of families. Therefore, this study analyses effects on interpersonal conflicts in personal networks of parents during a family intervention. The theoretical framework is based on the family systems theory, which highlights the role of mutual trust for conflict resolution. This research applied ego-centric network analysis in combination with a longitudinal design. The sample consists of 46 parents who were enrolled in a home-based family intervention in Switzerland. Findings: The results show that development of mutual trust between practitioners and the network members of parents is associated with significant decrease in conflict density and conflict reciprocity. Hence, network members experience fewer interactions that are associated with conflict as well as less intense conflicts in the medium term. However, no effects were found on the centrality of parents in interpersonal conflicts. Applications: The results of this study suggest that practitioners in family interventions must establish mutual trust with not only parents but also other individuals to promote a less stressful family environment. This emphasizes the importance of a network perspective on interpersonal conflicts in child welfare interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: • Summary : In England, the reason why most families have a social worker is because their children have been identified as having suffered or being at risk of suffering significant harm from abuse or neglect or requiring a statutory service for another need. Research has shown that positive relationships between social workers and families are essential. A study to evaluate Signs of Safety (Sofs) provided the opportunity to explore the quality of this relationship through the perceptions of 270 families who were in contact with children's social care (CSC). Over half were satisfied with the relationship, and many of the remaining families were able to identify what had stood in the way of it developing. • Findings : The areas which were of most concern was the high turnover of social workers with the attendant lack of consistency, poor communication, a failure to provide services which families had been promised and the withdrawal of support too soon. Most dissatisfactions stemmed either from parents believing they had not been shown sufficient respect or, that while they had been drawn into a statutory intervention, they had not been provided with sufficient support to address their problems. • Application : While some of the difficulties were connected to limited resources and overstretched services, others came about as a result of poor practice. The views expressed by these parents provide the basis for reflection amongst social workers, their managers and strategic leads on how improvements may be achieved and, in doing so, strengthen relationships with parents and potentially reduce future demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times the production of research linking childhood experiences with later life outcomes has had the effect of producing new understandings of child development, with increased attribution given to this stage in the life cycle as being foundational for future outcomes. In turn, this has generated the development of models which combine physiological, psychological and social impacts of adversity to challenge services to deliver interventions which are trauma aware and consequently designed to either prevent the occurrence, or ameliorate the effects, of childhood adversities. In this article we examine the implications of these developments for services delivered at community, familial and individual levels. While there have been attempts to incorporate advances in research with respect to what is harmful to children, the space for action remains limited both by structural constraints and the lag in the development of an evidential base supportive of interventions designed to make a positive difference in the lives of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: More than 50% of children who depart foster care will experience a permanency placement after being involved in the child welfare system. The struggles faced by children and families during the transition into the home and community setting following foster care are well-known and often result in child welfare re-entry. Presently, little is known about preparation for permanency placements or appropriate supports to aide in this critical transition period. This includes understanding the perspectives of key stakeholders such as foster parents, who are essential to the transition. This descriptive study begins to address this need by examining the perspectives of foster parents (N = 60) on: (a) transition planning, (b) the importance of specific supports and services critical during to transition period, and (c) availability of supports during the transition period. Findings: Results indicate that the most frequently addressed areas during transition planning process were family, medical/physical health, and education. Participants rated mental health and safety as the most important supports for youth. Most respondents indicated being unsure about the availability of nearly all supports. However, of those reported as available, safety and mental health supports were identified most often. Application: Findings have practical application for service provision and transition planning for youth and their families departing foster care to permanency placements. Specifically, a continued focus on mental health and an increase in educational supports during the transition process. These are discussed in depth as well as implications for practice. Limitations and future research are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Competence is an essential part of any decision-making process. In child protection, it is challenged by the controversial nature of child removals and the vulnerable situations which children and parents experience therein. This article examines how and on what grounds social workers view parents and children to be competent to give their informed view in care order proceedings and what they do if doubts about competence arise. The analysis is based on 30 interviews with social workers in Finland. Findings: The professional ethos and ethics of social work were embedded in the social workers' descriptions of children's and parents' competence. The social workers were confident that the parents and children (of certain age) were competent to give their informed view about whether to consent to the care order proposal and the proposed substitute home. When they spoke about competence ascribed with hesitation, they described the vulnerability of service users, as well as their attitudes and withdrawal from contact. In the cases, social workers emphasized a strength-based view of children and parents and aimed to 'talk more' with them and to 'give them more time' to support their right to give an informed view. Applications: Social vulnerability and competence should be explored reflectively in relation to decision-making in child protection. A better understanding of their interrelation makes social workers more competent to support the service users' right to be included in decision-making. Critical awareness is needed to recognize when 'more talk' is not enough to realize children's and parents' rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Social workers fulfill vital roles, servicing clients from vulnerable populations and maintaining their welfare. As a result of frequent interaction with clients who have often experienced trauma, these workers are susceptible to experiencing burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and vicarious trauma. This study aimed to identify if purpose in life is a protective factor for adult/elder protective services (AEPS) and child protective services (CPS) workers. A comprehensive search of AEPS and CPS agencies resulted in more than 500 agencies throughout the United States. Three multiple regressions were run, with purpose in life as the independent variable, controlling for social workers' years of experience, ethnicity, average of number of hours worked per week. Findings: A sample of 292 participants ranging in age from 18 to 58 years of age, with a mean age of 42.03(12.34), participated in this study. Of the 292 social workers, 126 reported being CPS workers and 166 reported being AEPS workers. In all three linear regressions, higher purpose in life resulted in lower rates of vicarious trauma (F (3, 263)=10.364, p<.001), secondary traumatic stress (F (3, 263)=16.548, p<.001), and burnout (F (3, 263)= 23.912, p<.001) when controlling for number of hours worked per week and years of experience. The amount of variance explained by these models ranged from 11 to 21%. Post hoc correlations between study variables were conducted, including the association between purpose in life and CS. Applications: This study provides evidence necessary to warrant an intervention for protective services workers, specifically targeted toward increasing purpose in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Child maltreatment is under-reported despite its high prevalence. It ranges from one-third to one-half lifetime exposure to violence. This points out to the issue of laypersons' perceptions of what is child maltreatment and at what severity should it be reported. The current study sought to examine children and youth versus parents' perceptions of child maltreatment. Following ethical approval, 259 children and youth between the ages 9 and 14 and 229 parents were administered anonymous questionnaire that included demographics and The Perception of Child Maltreatment Severity Scale. Statistically significant differences between children and youth, and adults in perception of child maltreatment in general were observed. Findings: Results indicated that the groups differ in the severity attributed to emotional abuse and sexual abuse. In addition, unlike parents, children and youth perceived exposure of embarrassing photos via Internet and silent treatment by peers to be severe whereas parents perceived sexual molestation to be most severe behavior. Applications: The study findings were discussed in light of the cultural gap between children and parents. Practically, the gap between parents' and children's perceptions of child maltreatment indicates the need for parents and professionals to look beyond their own perceptions and be alert to experiences of victimization a young person may have. This might assist professionals in developing an intervention program to increase children's awareness of violent behaviors and decrease the gap between generations in terms of the perceptions gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative international data on patterns of inequality in child welfare interventions, for example, the proportion of children about whom there are substantiated child protection concerns or who are in out-of-home care, are far less developed than data about inequalities in health. Few countries collect reliable, comprehensive information and definitions, methods of data collection and analysis are rarely consistent. The four UK countries (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) provide a potential 'natural experiment' for comparing intervention patterns. This study reports on a large quantitative, descriptive study focusing on children in contact with children's services on a single date in 2015. It found that children's chances of receiving a child protection intervention were related to family socio-economic circumstances, measured by neighbourhood deprivation, within all four countries. There was a strong social gradient which was significantly steeper in some countries than others. Ethnicity was another important factor underlying inequalities. While inequalities in patterns of intervention between the four countries were considerable, they did not mirror relative levels of deprivation in the child population. Inequalities in intervention rates result from a combination of demand and supply factors. The level and extent of inequity raise profound ethical, economic and practical challenges to those involved in child protection, the wider society and the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined communication between 51 transition-aged foster youth and their social workers as related to perceived relationship quality and satisfaction with care receipt/provision. Youth–worker dyads were audio-recorded during a requisite monthly meeting and completed assessments of perceived relationship quality and satisfaction with social services. Communication was rated in a 5-minute excerpt across full audio-recorded speech, verbal transcribed content, and nonverbal content-filtered tone. Findings: Ratings of workers' communication in transcribed content most closely reflected workers' reported perceptions of their relationship with the youth. In turn, youth's perceptions of the relationship and satisfaction with care were most strongly linked to the content of workers' communication. Similarly, youth's communication in full speech and content most closely reflected their reported perceptions of their relationship with the worker and their satisfaction with care, and workers' perceptions of the relationship and satisfaction with care were most strongly linked to these channels of youth communication. Applications: Findings suggest that foster youth and social workers may communicate their authentic beliefs and expectations differentially by communicative channel. Further, both communication partners appeared selectively attuned to the most authentic speaker channels. These findings can inform case planning and intervention work focused on leveraging the power of the worker–youth relationship to improve key service outcomes for foster youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Stress and satisfaction have long been topics of research and interest in public child welfare, particularly in relation to their links with retention. Fewer studies have focused on specific facets of stress and satisfaction among public child welfare workers. In this sample of 160 retained specially-trained former students, sources of stress and satisfaction were examined three and five years after the conclusion of the students' work obligation. Findings With regard to stress, paired t-tests revealed that while workload stress increased from Year 3 to Year 5, child-related stress went down. The same downward movement was also noted for the work–life flexibility aspect of job satisfaction from Years 3 to 5. Additionally, regression analyses indicated that higher workload stress at Year 3 was predictive of diminished satisfaction with client relationships. Applications The findings suggest that even among retained staff, workload stress can be caustic, diminishing job satisfaction with client relationships. Implications for public child welfare agencies, and the importance of going beyond retention as a final measure for worker success are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Due to the focus of micro-practice interventions on clinical outcomes and macro-practice interventions on structural outcomes, limited research exists on the clinical benefits resulting from clients’ involvement in macro therapeutic interventions (i.e. structural interventions that target community, organizational, systems, and/or policy-level change and which also have clinical benefits to clients or consumers). In response to this knowledge gap, the authors present four case studies of macro therapeutic interventions in the areas of social enterprise creation, community-based participatory research, transformative organizing, and community-based partnerships. Findings Collectively, these interventions draw from community, economic, and social development theory, empowerment theory, feminist theory, and critical theory. The authors synthesize the key intervention components across case studies that contribute to clinical and collective empowerment outcomes. Applications The authors then offer recommendations to the social work profession for developing, implementing, and evaluating macro therapeutic interventions within clinical practice settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Many decisions in the child welfare arena revolve around the concept of ‘children’s best interests’, but determining what they actually consist of is contestable and subject to conflicting criteria. This article describes the content of ‘children’s best interests’ discourses used by social workers and parents as part of decision-making rationales. Findings This study found that the construction of children’s ‘best interests’ was underpinned by concepts related to children’s needs. Needs were framed as emotional needs best met by family relationships, and theorised primarily using attachment theory. This resulted in decisions that tended to favour stability over change, as children’s distress on separation, indiscriminate affection, and difficult behaviours were interpreted as evidence of attachment problems that should lead to decisions to retain stable caregiving arrangements. The use of attachment theory was not straightforward, and illustrates the uneasy juxtapositions of conflicting discourses impacting on child welfare decision-making, particularly the influence of policy orientation. Applications These conflicts highlight the contested child welfare domain, and the contextualised interpretations required of attachment theories in decision-making contexts in order to make sound decisions for specific children. Implications for practice and education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child welfare and protection agencies play an important role in bringing concerns about children and young people to public attention. The press release is a key tool within this. This article reports on findings from an analysis of press releases from selected UK child welfare and protection agencies in 2012. It demonstrates that the information contained in press releases is neither neutral nor dispassionate. Instead, press releases are found to be political artefacts, whose purpose is to galvanise and shape opinion and garner support for a particular standpoint, campaign or the agency itself. In this respect, they must be understood as ‘claims-making’ activities. Because of this, they should, it will be argued, be subject to the same critical scrutiny that we would expect to bring to the presentation of all ‘evidence’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The evaluation of the specific level of family risk is a central topic to better understand the diversity of families assisted by Child and Family Protection Services, and also to design and address effective social interventions. Professionals of these services tend to have a great amount of knowledge and experience that has been rarely taken into account in research about at-risk families. In this study the level of family risk, according to data reported both by practitioners and mothers receiving family preservation intervention, is analyzed in a sample of 106 mothers assisted by state Child and Family Protection Services in Huelva, Spain. Findings A frequent profile of poor and multi-assisted families was found, but there was also an important level of heterogeneity in the level of risk, suggesting that these families are not a homogeneous group. The global valuation of family risk informed by professionals was significantly related to data reported by mothers using a standardized tool of family risk factors. Analyses presented also show significant relations with both the family socio-demographic profile and data of the case history involving protection services: higher levels of family risk were mainly associated with higher levels of economic, educational, and labor precariousness, and with more complex and complicated case indicators. Applications Implications of these results concerning both the importance of incorporating systematic evaluations of family risk by means standardized tools to practice and considering practitioners as a relevant source of information in family research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary In the United States and the United Kingdom supervisory neglect of children is premised on a construction of childhood which characterises children as essentially vulnerable and in need of constant care and protection by parents. This Western conception has been transmitted to the countries of the sub-Sahara via the Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, the socio-economic and cultural context of African countries differs significantly from those of the United Kingdom and the United States. The incorporation of a Western hegemonic idea of childhood into the national laws of African countries creates fundamental contradictions in the application of criteria for adjudging the adequacy of parental supervision in the sub-Sahara. Drawing on secondary data, this article explores these contradictions and proposes alternative considerations in the conceptualisation and assessment of supervisory neglect. Finding The combined effects on households in the sub-Sahara of economic conditions, ascribed gender roles and the reciprocal duties held by children to assist their families, contest established indicators and thresholds for supervisory neglect. The concept of societal neglect together with the application of the Haddon Matrix provides a more apposite framework for reducing the risk of significant harm to children. Application All African countries, excepting Somalia, have introduced the Convention on the Rights of the Child through domestic legislation. The findings of this study are pertinent to policy-makers and social workers in the sub-Sahara. They also invite Western scholars to critically engage with dominant notions of supervisory neglect and re-appraise its applicability in cross-national contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The present implementation study compares therapists’ workplace ratings of collective efficacy, collaboration, and teamwork in Norwegian child welfare and child psychiatric agencies. Participating therapists were trained in Parent Management Training Oregon model (PMTO) as part of a nationwide implementation of the program. Participating therapists (N = 83) worked in 67 Norwegian social service agencies. Respondents were part of three conditions: (1) PMTO therapists working in agencies with no other PMTO therapists (n = 45), (2) two PMTO therapists working together in the same agency (n = 23), and (3) three therapists working together in the same agency (n = 15). Findings Therapists working in clusters of 3 rated their workplaces more positively than therapists who worked in agencies with 1 or 2 PMTO interventionists, β = .29, p = .03; Cohen’s d = .80. The result was independent of agency size, leadership quality, service population, and therapist education. There was no difference in workplace ratings between PMTO therapists working in agencies in pairs (2 PMTO therapists) and those working in agencies alone (1 PMTO therapist), p = .45. Applications PMTO therapists working in clusters of three appeared to have better experiences with their workplace than therapists with no other PMTO colleagues, and those with only one other PMTO colleague. This result suggests that clustering therapists together in groups of at least three may create a better work environment for therapists using newly-implemented interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the increased number of child maltreatment incidents reported to Child Guidance Centers in Japan more than three fold since 2000. It tackles the societal factors contributing to child maltreatment (CM), the development and design of the Japanese child welfare system, and the prevalence of CM. It cites a variety of factors that worsen maltreatment in the country which include low paternal involvement in childrearing and the decline of extended familial supports.

The article presents information on a study conducted on the professional identity of child protection social workers in Great Britain. Sociologist Eliot Freidson recognized that the professional's attitude and commitment to their career became that of their own identity because they represent their profession through who they are and the activities they perform. The study involved interviewing of eight child protection social workers.

The article presents an analysis of workforce development study used in the change of services for children in England. Topics discussed include the study on workforce development, the use of survey and case study methods to determine a diverse range of research activities, and the research contributes to a creative culture of inquiry that shapes change processes particularly if both practitioners and children are involved.

The article reports on study regarding the implementation of children's welfare in Ghana. It states that legislation and institutions of the children's rights were achieved but the actual implementation were not given proper attention. It also mentions that the implementation of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) needs to organize more trainings on child rights to all professional people working directly for and with children in Ghanaian Society.

• Summary: The purpose of this article is to explore the tensions that emerge when two very different discourses – the ‘democratic’, participatory discourse of FGC and the legalistic, bureaucratized discourse of conventional child welfare practice – attempt to integrate. We present the findings of a qualitative study, where we conducted 74 interviews, involving 26 adult family members/caregivers (three youth); six child protection workers; and three FGC coordinators. By listening to the voices of participants, we explore the complexities and tensions that exist at the nexus of (at least) two competing discourses, when the FGC process takes place within the child protection bureaucratic structure.• Findings: Our findings show how participants’ voices were co-opted by the more forceful child protection discourse, itself shaped by legal, bureaucratized, and neoliberal discourses. This research shows how in each case participants’ experience of power was subjugated, even though, in each instance, the case was perceived to have had a successful outcome by the social worker and FGC coordinator.• Applications: If those involved in administering and delivering family group conferencing continue to at least be aware of how power operates in this context, then the possibility exists to realize FGC's broader social justice and transformative goals. Further, a reflective practice (Schön, 1991) can mitigate the possibility of cooptation from particular bureaucratic, legal, and neoliberal discourses which dominate at different times, and which are incompatible with the inherent values and objectives of the FGC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• Summary: This article reports findings from an evaluation of the Volunteers in Child Protection (ViCP) pilot study commissioned by Community Service Volunteers (CSV) and conducted in two English authorities. The study examined expectations, experiences and identified benefits for three stakeholder groups – families, volunteers and social workers; and offered an opportunity to explore the implications of developing an expanded role for volunteers, within child protection services. The study sample comprised the first 14 families in the two authorities to be matched with a volunteer, and including the respective social workers and volunteers, in all 21 individuals were interviewed at two points in time.• Findings: Conclusions to be drawn are that the ViCP project was successful at recruiting and mentoring volunteers to work with families with complex needs; and their contributions suggest that local authority social work could draw on such initiatives to provide support functions. Its inputs could mitigate the negative effects of frequency of change of social workers, and help reduce the increasing dominance of a narrow model of child protection.• Applications: 1) There is an inevitable inter-dependent relationship between the culture of local authority children’s services departments, including the point at, and frequency with which, social workers can access supplementary family support services, from a voluntary sector agency such as ViCP. 2) A ‘shared ownership’ model of social work (Laming, 2009) is explored whereby mentored volunteers help to broaden and enlarge the evidence-base on families to enable improved decision-making and risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Summary: This article investigates how newspapers in the Republic of Ireland are delivering 'social work news' during a period of professional flux and evolving economic crisis. Findings: Many citizens in the Republic are currently experiencing serious economic hardship partly related to the global recession. It is important to understand the shape which the crisis is taking and to try to ascertain how this is impacting on social work. The article refers to an unpublished study of newspaper coverage of social work between January 2006 and January 2008. In this context, in the second part of discussion, particular attention will be devoted to the interventions of The Irish Times columnist, John Waters. Also, to accounts of 'high profile cases', particularly those appearing to highlight the urgent need to establish a national emergency or 'out-of-hours' social work service. Here, the work of the social affairs correspondent, Carl O'Brien, will be discussed. Applications: Social workers and social work academics need to strive to understand, and politically situate, newspaper accounts of social work and related forms of activity. Moreover, social workers should seek to intervene and shape newspaper accounts of their work. The article suggests that a recent report produced in England may aid social workers deliberations and actions in this respect (Social Work Task Force, 2009). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 parents from New Zealand who had adopted Russian born children. The aim of the research was to explore the ways in which parents establish and build their parenting and attachment relationships with their 'new' children. Findings: Findings revealed the immense commitment, child-centred focus, and conscious parenting of parents. The range of strategies used to build relationships and attachments included: quality time, play, touch and holding, and communication. Parents' high levels of commitment were established through preparation to adopt, especially the acquisition of knowledge about and understanding of attachment issues. Support groups, notably other adoptive parents were also critical to enhancing relationships between children and their adoptive parents. Fathers were actively engaged in the process of building attachments. Applications: Intercountry adoptive parenting is a special kind of parenting, especially because of the challenges presented by children often neglected or abused prior to adoption. Helping prepare parents for both the rewards and challenges of intercountry adoption and supporting them post-adoption still needs to be improved by professional social work services. Acknowledgement of parents' and children's resilience and strengths that the/ bring to the new relationship will help create realistic expectations on the part of professionals and would-be adopters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Summary: While UK social work’s core purpose in children’s services continues to invoke the ready virtues of universal care, protection from significant harm and a child rights led approach as foundational to effective intervention, there is a ‘real-world’ context of organizational practices that inevitably mediate who gets what services and why. This was ever thus. What has changed however is not so much the claims by social work to a virtuous purpose (the ethic of care offers a durable discourse from which to cast service users as worthy and our efforts as honourable) but that new risk-reduction technologies are exposing a worrying gap between the rhetoric of a humane-oriented project of care and the actionable decision-making of professionals drawing upon administrative targeting systems that seek to reduce organizational exposure to error, blame, reputational damage and unwanted external scrutiny.• Findings: The article exposes a gap between core values and risk management by examining the erosion of trust in professional social work and consequent shift towards new information technologies which intend to generate system confidence, such as the Integrated Children’s System (ICS) which seeks to provide a more accountable management of contingency. Drawing on data from our recent multi-method research of frontline practice funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, we challenge the view that the uncertainty and ambiguity of risk-immersed social work can be more safely moderated by computer-based technologies for reporting and decision-making.• Applications: The findings of this study suggest the need for significant reform of the ICS system. Our explorations in front line decision-making suggests that the IT workflow systems that channel and shape the way need is responded to in order to make actions and their often distributed ownership transparent and justifiable, have the unintended potential to obscure risk. We outline ways in which risk in its institutional and personal contexts in children’s services may become less evident and tractable to moderation by the ICS systems that seek this very purpose. In doing so we consider the balance between professional trust and system confidence and consider whether the time has come to shift the balance back to the former if we are to re-engage more fully with the occupation’s humane mission. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• Summary: This article reports on a study funded by the Criminology Research Council, Australia, investigating the intersection between the child protection and criminal justice systems and the extent to which children before the Melbourne Children’s Court on child protection matters, during the study period June to December 2006, had a parent currently in prison, awaiting sentencing or previously in prison. This article focuses on what associations there might be between parental imprisonment and its impact on family life and the care of children.• Findings: Magistrates identified 156 children as meeting these criteria during the study period for whom there were concerns about physical and emotional harm, child development, or the parent’s incapacity to provide care for the child; concerns about parental substance abuse, mental health, family violence and transience. The instability in these children’s lives was linked to the parents’ offending and was reflected in the reasons why the children came to the attention of the court, and the child protection concerns expressed about them. Yet, there was no co-ordinated response by the child protection and justice systems to managing these children’s situations.• Application: Early intervention for children affected by parental offending, and the development of child protection service protocols with the corrections system about children when their parents enter prison is essential, to better address the instability and disruption in care these children experience, their vulnerability as adults to mental health and relationship problems, and their reduced education and employment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• Summary: A concern amongst policy-makers to identify high cost and low productivity populations has created a new interest in identifying those who experience adversities across the life course. This article outlines the development of conceptual understandings of families whose children experience multiple adversities and links this with later poor outcomes in adult life and examines some of the research challenges in establishing such linkages.• Findings: It is argued that current thinking with regard to these issues reflects historical domains within which services to children and to adults are located. The challenge to domain thinking is both horizontal and vertical, policy being required to address the horizontal axis by co-ordinating planned approaches to multiple needs across services, and policy being necessary to address the vertical cleavage between children’s and adult services in ways which join up services across the life path; conceptually and practically acknowledging the links between child and adult experiences.• Applications: Such policy developments will inevitably require social work to develop alternative paradigms for understanding the needs of children and adults and designing services to effectively meet these. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• Summary: Over the past two decades, research on social work practice has experienced substantial growth in the United States, indicated by both the establishment of the Society for Social Work Research in 1994 and increased funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Recently, this growth has carried an increasing emphasis on research to establish the evidence base for social work practice and an emphasis on understanding dissemination and implementation of evidence-based interventions or practice models in usual care settings within service systems that have historic and professional linkages to the social work discipline, such as child welfare and mental health.• Findings: This article illustrates this growth and emphases on evidence-based practice in the social work research areas, child abuse and neglect, child welfare and child mental health through the two-decade experience of a large-scale and multi-disciplinary research center in San Diego County, California, the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center (CASRC). Evidence for understanding and improving care in these two service systems served by social work practice has been developed through center studies of clinical epidemiology, mental health services, effectiveness of evidence-based interventions, and the dissemination and implementation of these interventions in usual care settings.• Applications: This evolving research agenda was shown to be well linked to the NIH Roadmap initiative and highly competitive for NIH funding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Summary: In Britain, the Laming Report has provided a lengthy exploration of the circumstances surrounding the death of Victoria Climbié and highlighted the failure of social work, health and police services to safeguard the child. However, the Report fails to engage in a satisfactory way with issues related to `race' and `place'. Findings: It is maintained that the Report's approach to 'race' is cursory and problematic. Furthermore, it is argued that 'place' and, more specifically, transnational migration is a core, but insufficiently examined, dimension to the tragedy. Important also, in terms of the Report's limited engagement with these issues, is the evolution of a neo-liberal order in which migrants to Britain are viewed with suspicion and are the focus of legislation and policy discourses which are increasingly punitive. Applications: The article seeks to promote debate on the issues raised and emphasizes the significance, for social work and associated child welfare professionals, of issues related to 'race' and 'place'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Summary: Historically, insufficient resources and assistance have been provided to young people leaving state care. This article provides a case study of the campaign for leaving care services in Victoria. • Findings: Young people leaving care experience homelessness, early parenthood, loneliness, depression, poverty, and involvement with the juvenile justice system. Attention is drawn to the key arguments for after-care supports for young people leaving care, the consumer and provider lobby groups that have driven the policy debate, the outcomes of existing services, and the bathers (particularly in Australia) to the creation of effective services. • Applications: Supports and services that are needed to ensure improved outcomes for care leavers are identified. These include the provision of stable and supportive placements with a positive attitude to education, maintenance of links with either family members or community supports, a flexible and functional process for graduating from dependence to interdependence, the active involvement of young people in the leaving care planning and decision-making process, the availability of a range of accommodation options, and ongoing support as required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article briefly outlines the development of risk assessment instruments in a social work context. This is followed by an analysis of the initial stages of analysing the presence, absence and consideration of identified risk factors within one English local authority child protection context using initial cases conference minutes. The article then examines the relationship between risk factors identified from the conference minutes with outcome measures for each child four years later. Findings: Many of the risk factors identified in the literature were not routinely recorded in conference minutes making risk assessment in general and the application of a risk assessment tool, in particular, problematic. There was some weak association between severity of abuse and subsequent social work intervention for a number of children, but there appeared to be little correspondence in respect of the majority of cases. There was support for Farmer's (1999) concerns about children not being registered when at risk of abuse or being deregistered when the risk of abuse remains high. Applications: The need to routinely gather and record information on identified risk factors during the assessment process is highlighted. Though still at an early stage, the intention is to develop an empirically tested risk assessment tool, which can be used to evaluate potential risk more accurately and more consistently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

* Summary: This article reports on research carried out into the nature and position of social work in the child protection and welfare system in Ireland. Employing a methodology of a history of the present, this research sought to critically examine the nature and position of social work within the social as a `psy expert'. * Findings: Selected findings relating to the genealogical and archaeological construction of social work discourse in Ireland are provided to illuminate how its particular historical pathways both enabled and constrained its development. It was found that, to some extent, conceptualizations of social work in the context of its space within the social were applicable to the Irish context. However, it was also found that a number of other factors were also significant, implying the need for problematization of existing theories of the social. * Applications: Although some of the findings relate directly to the particular spatial context of Ireland, others are transferable to the UK and international contexts. The research asserts that, while social work represents a diffuse and complex activity, enabled and constrained by its genealogical context, the potential exists in the profession for greater attention to be paid to its archaeological construction. In light of contemporary neo-liberal conditions of governance, the need for such attention is emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The author argues that the history of Native-non-Native relations enables us to understand how the enactment and implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act, passed in 1978 by the United States Congress, is an example of how Indian families have succeeded in persevering despite 350 years of political maltreatment. Findings: The realities of past wrongs and the pain associated with remembering them are as vivid a memory now as they were then: memory is a key source of self-destructive behavior, as well as of cultural resilience. This explains why, despite Indian poverty and powerlessness, the persistence of anger against non-Indian governments enabled Indian families to cling to their ancestry, and finally, to be vindicated in their resistance by the enactment of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Applications: The arguments presented reinforce the conclusion that by manipulating culture American society almost succeeded in destroying the Native American. That American society has not succeeded in this venture is at once a condemnation of ethnocentric bias, an acknowledgement of the essential role played by culture in political development, and a tribute to democratic process as an antidote to laisser-faire capitalist development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]