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There is a range of theoretical approaches which may inform the interface between child protection and adult mental health services. These theoretical perspectives tend to be focused on either child protection or mental health with no agreed integrating framework. The interface continues to be identified, in research, case management reviews and inquiry reports, as complex and problematic. This article proposes that more positive, integrated approaches to service user engagement, risk assessment and management may lead to better outcomes in working with families experiencing parental mental health problems and child protection concerns. It is proposed that the recovery approach, increasingly used in mental health services, can inform the processes of engagement, assessment and intervention at the mental health and child protection interface. The article provides a critical overview of the recovery approach and compares it with approaches typifying interventions in child protection work to date. Relevant research and inquiries are also examined as a context for how to more effectively respond to cases where there are issues around parental mental health problems and child protection. The article concludes with case material to illustrate the potential application of the recovery approach to the interface between mental health and child protection services.

This paper examines the findings from a recent study investigating how children's interests and their rights are safeguarded through the representation of social workers in reports prepared for Court following parental separation disputes. A small-scale research study describes the views of family and childcare social workers on how children's wishes and feelings are reflected in Court-directed assessments in a large Health and Social Services Trust in Northern Ireland. The research employs a multi-data collection methodology involving the use of a focus group, postal questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The data were thematically analysed in relation to representing the voice of the child, and examined both the social work task and the role of training as a form of support for social workers in this demanding area of work. The findings demonstrate that social workers do seek and represent the views of the child within Article 4 reports, but identify factors that impinge on the accuracy of representing children's views and promoting their rights. These factors relate to Trust and Court priorities, lack of therapeutic intervention for children, variation in social work practice, lack of training for social work staff in this area and, consequently, the need to increase confidence and support for social work staff undertaking this work. As a result of these findings, suggestions are proposed for informing practice and improving service delivery in this key area of family and childcare social work practice. (Contains 2 figures, 4 tables and 1 note.)

A recent judgement in February 2005 by the Lord Chief Justice in Northern Ireland that a Health and Social Services Trust had breached a parent's Article 8 Right to Family Life in the process used to take a young child into care has stimulated major debate about the interface between the Human Rights Act (1998) and professional decision-making in child protection work in Northern Ireland and across Europe. This article examines the interface between the Human Rights Act and the paramountcy principle in the Children (NI) Order 1995 in relation to statutory interventions to protect children. It explores the increasing sophistication required of social work recommendations to courts in complex situations involving conflicting rights and considers the impact of adopting a structured model of explicit argumentation. (Contains 1 note.)

This article presents findings from an exploratory in-depth qualitative research project with seventeen child welfare professionals exploring their permanency decisions with regards to Looked after Children. Thinking aloud-protocols and semi-structured interviews, in conjunction with a specifically constructed vignette were used to explore the permanency decisions of child welfare workers. Findings from this innovative research suggest that different decisions were taken by participants based on viewing the same vignette. However, even though the decisions differed, they clustered around the more interventionist options with most favouring adoption and foster care despite viable alternatives offered. There was broad consistency related to the rationale for the decisions taken, but this did not translate into a consistent permanency option being chosen. Possible reasons to account for this are that the decisions were heuristically constructed, idiosyncratic to individual inclinations and influenced by factors other than the individual needs of the service user. The implications of this are that children and families do not get a consistent and reliable response to their permanency needs. We therefore recommend the greater use of structured decision-making tools in permanency decisions to increase their objectivity and consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the topics discussed within the special edition of the publication is presented, including the changing cultural environment of Northern Ireland following the introduction of the Children Order, the identity of families whose children are at risk of poor outcomes, and the efforts by the Courts and Child Welfare system in Northern Ireland.

The importance of establishing effective inter-agency working between adult mental health services and child care services in order to safeguard children has been repeatedly identified by research, policy, inquiries and inspection reports. This article reports on the evaluation of an initiative in one health and social care trust in Northern Ireland that aimed to facilitate joint working and so improve service provision and protection for children and families. The Champions Initiative involved identifying a Champion in each multidisciplinary community mental health team and in each family and child care team that would have responsibility for providing information, promoting joint working and identifying any obstacles to better cooperation. The evaluation of this Initiative assessed levels of experience, training, confidence, understanding and awareness in the Champions and their team members at baseline. The Champions and their Team Leaders were then followed up after six months to obtain their qualitative views of the impact of the initiative. The results include comparisons between mental health and child care staff, and crucially, views about whether the initiative has had any impact on working together. This study also generated recommendations for further service development in this complex and important area of practice. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problems often faced by social workers and their supervisors in decision making where human rights considerations and child protection concerns collide. High-profile court cases in the United Kingdom and Europe have consistently called for social workers to convey more clarity when justifying their reasons for interfering with human rights in child protection cases. The themes emerging from these case law decisions imply that social workers need to be better at giving reasons and evidence in more explicit ways to support any actions they propose which cause interference with Convention Rights. Toulmin offers a structured approach to argumentation which may have relevance to the supervision of child protection cases when social workers and managers are required to balance these human rights considerations. One of the key challenges in this balancing act is the need for decision makers to feel confident that any interventions resulting in the interference of human rights are both justified and proportionate. Toulmin's work has already been shown to have relevance for assisting social workers navigate pathways through cases involving competing ethical and moral demands and more recently to human rights and decision making in child protection. Toulmin's model takes the practitioner through a series of stages where any argument or proposed recommendation (claim) is subjected to intense critical analysis involving exposition of its strengths and weaknesses. The author therefore proposes that explicit argumentation may help supervisors and practitioners towards safer and more confident decision making in child protection cases involving the interference of the human rights of children and parents. In addition to highlighting the broader context of human rights currently permeating child protection decision making, the paper will include case material to practically demonstrate the application of Toulmin's model of argumentation to the supervision context. In this way, the paper adopts a strong practice approach in helping to assist practitioners with the problems and dilemmas they may come up against in decision making in complex cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]