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Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of at-risk youth (n = 593), this article reports on the analysis of factors that enabled these youth to succeed at school. It considers the impact of three baseline factors (age, gender, ethnicity) and a number of time-dynamic factors [positive school environment, additional educational support, positive peer and parent relationships, exclusion/expulsion from school, depression and externalising individual risk, as well as the involvement of a range of services (mental health, justice, welfare)] upon educational progress. Over time, the educational status of this group of youth deteriorated. Differences were observed for indigenous, older and male youth who had poorer outcomes on average. Positive peer groups and a positive school environment predicted better outcomes, while the use of harsh disciplinary practices such as expulsion was the strongest predictor of poorer educational outcomes and had a pervasive negative impact on all three educational progress measures. Formal services did not make an appreciable difference to educational outcomes, while the provision of additional educational support only contributed to keeping youth enrolled in educational programmes but did not appreciably improve their educational outcomes. Improving educational outcomes for at-risk youth requires a pan-system response, whereby schools reduce the use of expulsion and create a positive school climate, other professionals support schools to retain challenging students at school and the positive resources generated by pro-social peer groups are harnessed.

Social workers around the globe are seeking to better understand the needs of people living with mental health challenges. Drawing on learning from social work practice and support partnerships, this article explores current thinking on recovery processes and the factors that contribute to effective support for people living with mental health challenges. The article presents a framework for practice which is informed by current thinking on recovery and support and draws on the key elements of transformative social work practice. Transformative practice involves support at an individual level and interventions at multiple levels (organisational practices, community contexts, and policy development) to enhance capability and achieve sustained and enduring change. Relational approaches are a cornerstone of transformative practice which promote respectful and trust-based partnerships that enable people living with mental health challenges to create meaning in their lives and receive meaningful support and resources. Central to this practice is critical reflection; social workers reflect on their practice and their role in challenging the systems and practices that prevent people living with mental health challenges from determining their own recovery pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers across the globe are being challenged to provide meaningful support to young people who face multiple challenges. Drawing on the findings of a longitudinal study of vulnerable young people's transitions to adulthood, this article explores the key elements of effective social work practice with vulnerable young people. The young people (aged between 12 and 17 at the first interview) had experienced chronic exposure to adversity from an early age (violence, poverty, addictions, mental health issues and exclusion from school). They were clients of statutory and non-governmental services: child welfare, youth justice, remedial education, and mental health services. This article draws on the qualitative phase of the study (n = 107); young people and a trusted other participated in three annual qualitative interviews. Interviews focused on young people's experiences of services, transitions, relationships, and the strategies they used to locate resources and support. The article presents young people's perspectives on services and support and identifies the elements that constitute practice which can be transformative for young people. Central to this practice are relational social work practices which underline the significance of authentic and respectful helping partnerships in realising positive change and futures for vulnerable young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the globe, tightened borders and introduced self-isolation strategies as a response to containing the spread of COVID-19. Topics include the views of Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, on the same; and social workers has an important role on the ‘front-line' by providing needed emotional and practical support.

Drawing on the findings from a longitudinal study of vulnerable young people's transitions to adulthood, this paper explores the ideas of shame and recognition. The young people, aged between 12 and 17 years at the first interview, had experienced chronic exposure to adversity from an early age (abuse, violence, mental health issues, addictions, and expulsion from school). They were clients of statutory and non‐governmental services: child welfare, juvenile justice, remedial education, and mental health services. This paper draws on the qualitative phase of the study (n = 107); young people and a trusted other, nominated by the young person, participated in three annual qualitative interviews. Interviews focused on young people's experiences of services, key transitions, their relationships, and the strategies they used to locate support and resources. Experiences of shame, misrecognition, and seeking recognition emerged as dominant themes in the young people's accounts, and these are explored in this paper. The paper concludes with a discussion on responsive social work interventions that generate a deeper understanding of young people's experiences of shame and misrecognition. Central to this practice are critical and relational social work practices that actively support young people to achieve recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the reforms of child protection legislation that have occurred since the 1980s as a backdrop, this paper considers young people’s perspectives on the factors that facilitated their engagement with child protection services and the barriers they perceived to effective service delivery. Drawing on findings from a New Zealand study of young people’s experience of multiple service use (child protection, mental health, youth justice and remedial education), the paper identifies that that rather than being ‘resistant’ or ‘hostile’ to statutory child protection intervention, young people reported a ‘conditional openness’. This conditional openness was characterised by three themes: communication; continuity and consistency; and contextual and cultural responsiveness. Interventions with these characteristics activated this conditional openness allowing effective interventions to occur. Using a series of case studies, comprising interviews and agency case file records; the paper considers the experiences of 109 young people (12–17 years) as well as those of the ‘person most knowledgeable;’ an adult nominated by young people because they knew the young person’s situation well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This article explores young people’s experiences of service use and their life experiences, including exposure to harmful events and environments, such as abuse, violence, addictions, disengagement from school and mental health issues. It draws on the findings of a New Zealand study that used a mixed methods approach to investigate young people’s (aged between 13 and 17) experience of service use. These young people were multiple service users of statutory and non-governmental services including: child welfare services, juvenile justice services, remedial education services and mental health services. The first phase involved the administration of a survey (n = 605) and the qualitative phase (n = 109) used a semi-structured interview schedule to explore the service use experience of these young people. The qualitative interviews took place over 14 months which reflects the time it took to locate the young people and complete interviews. This article briefly reports on the quantitative phase and then focuses on a key finding from the qualitative phase, service engagement. Findings The findings identified the resources and strategies young people used to mitigate the effects of harmful events and environments in order to achieve their goals. The study produced rich accounts of service encounters: what was positive in these encounters and the barriers to successful engagement with services. Key themes focused on what happens for young people when there is confusion about service provision and when provision is intermittent. The findings emphasise the important role of social workers in creating positive service encounters for young people. Applications The findings underline the importance of the relationship between social workers and their clients as a foundation for successful interventions. It reiterates the need for social workers to take the time to understand young people’s contexts and how young people make sense of these contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the qualitative phase of a New Zealand study of young people who had been exposed to "risky" environments from a young age. These young people had experienced traumatic events such as abuse, violence, addictions, mental health issues, and many had been excluded from school. The young people (aged between 13 and 17) were users of multiple services (statutory and nongovernmental services including: child welfare, juvenile justice, remedial education, and mental health services). Qualitative interviews (n = 109) explored young people's experiences in their families, communities, education, and their perspectives on support provided by services and their own support networks. Three thematic clusters emerged as central motifs in young people's experiences and are the focus of this article: navigating "risky" environments; services and support; and, working to find different pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on findings from a mixed-methods New Zealand study of young people’s experience of service use. It focuses on young people’s experiences with mental health services. The youth (aged 13 to 17) were multiple users of statutory and nongovernmental services: mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice, and remedial education. The research explored their life experiences including exposure to harmful events and environments (such as abuse and neglect, violence, and substance abuse) and of particular interest was how services contributed to better outcomes for this vulnerable group of young people. This article explores the components of mental health services that contribute to effective practice. It underlines the key role for services in supporting young people to seek out resources that have the potential to enhance their health and wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on the findings of the qualitative phase of a New Zealand longitudinal study on vulnerable young people’s transitions to adulthood. The young people were aged between 12 and 17 years at the time of the first interview. The paper focuses on one key finding, how youth enact agency through their relationships with significant others: families, social workers, teachers and care workers. These youth had experienced sustained exposure to harm including abuse, violence, addictions, disengagement from school and mental health issues. The qualitative interviews focused on young people’s experiences with services (child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health and education support services) their key transitions, and the strategies they used to locate support and resources. The thematic analysis of the interviews indicated that a search for agency was a central motif in young people’s experiences. This was reflected in three thematic clusters: making sense of the world, having a voice and acting on the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the experiences of at-risk young people. Based on a mixed-methods study of young people (n = 605) aged between thirteen and seventeen who used multiple services (child welfare, youth justice, education support and mental health), this article focuses on their processes of identity negotiation and construction. These young people had experienced sustained exposure to harm including abuse, violence, addictions, disengagement from school and mental health issues. The article considers how services worked to support positive identity development. Three key themes emerged as being significant in contributing to positive identity development: seeking safe and secure connections; finding opportunities to test out identities; and building a sense of agency. The research findings delineate a key role for social workers in supporting young people to mediate their social worlds and create meaning which is at the centre of identity negotiation and construction processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For adults with learning disabilities, becoming a parent can fulfil childhood dreams to take their place in society through a highly valued social role. Recent research aimed at describing the experience of parents with a learning disability suggests that there are barriers to successful planning for both pregnancy and parenthood. However, with the right support, these parents can provide a secure and loving environment for their child. Enabling informed decisions about becoming a parent could increase the number of parents who successfully raise their own child. In this article, stories that highlight the experiences of six parents are used to illustrate issues relevant to informed decision-making, including knowledge of contraception, the development of parenting skills and the importance of social support. Through their contrasting stories, a combination of family support and appropriately responsive services was identified as critical to the development of a positive parenting context. This finding highlights the need for professionals and support people who work with young people with a learning disability to ensure that they educate and support them to make informed decisions about contraception, pregnancy and parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the way in which Maori cultural frameworks have influenced mainstream social work practice. Using the example of indigenous practice developed by Maori social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand, the paper explores five sets of constructs that have provided a framework for thinking in mainstream social work practice. These constructs bring a richness to practice which encourages practitioners to critically reflect on the philosophies and practice knowledge that inform their work with clients. Of particular significance is building an understanding of the ways in which context shapes experience and the implications this has for practice. These emerging perspectives in mainstream practice have the potential to create practice that is more responsive to diverse populations and that recognises the central place of cultural frameworks in effective social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The relationship between social work practice and attachment theory has been longstanding across decades. While much attention has been paid to the use of attachment theory within specific social work practice settings, less attention has been focused on the use of attachment theory to guide the social worker in their practice based reflections. This article explores the potential relevance of attachment theory for use within a reflective practice setting. This exploration is based on key findings from a recent study conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand. A proposed beginning framework of attachment theory informed reflective practice is offered for practitioners to explore in their reflective practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the experiences of a group of marginalized young women with two groups that remained socially engaged. Drawing from a qualitative study of young women aged between 13 and 15 years, we identify four areas (understandings and experiences of well-being, use of space, making wishes, and emotional and household labour) that illuminated the ways in which marginalized young women articulated their experiences differently from those young women who were still engaged in mainstream social life. Drawing on Ungar's work we consider the ways in which marginalized behaviours, which are typically interpreted as socially disruptive and troubled, can also be read as efforts by young women to create a consistent set of social meanings in their lives and to cement reliable relationships around them. Rather than wholly negative, we suggest that these socially disruptive and troubled behaviours should be understood as having health-enhancing qualities, given the wider contextual challenges the young women faced, and as being the best choices they could make given their circumstances. Social work and support that assists young women on the margins needs to actively engage with these health-enhancing qualities and to come to a sensitized understanding of the way in which these young women understand their interpersonal worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, the combination of early childhood education and parent support and whānau/family development initiatives are recognised as having the potential to improve child outcomes and overall whānau/family wellbeing. This paper considers the experience of a community organisation that has successfully blended these two service components. The paper highlights some of the benefits of this programme, which developed from a playgroup and a counselling service in the 1990s into a fully developed community centre and licensed early childhood centre in 2004. The paper also considers some of the challenges the current policy environment poses for services that blend early childhood and parent support initiatives. Two related areas of tension are identified - the perceived emphasis on staff qualification as a key marker of a high-quality programme, and the funding model for early childhood care and education programmes - an unintended consequence of which may be to disadvantage services that have high levels of parent engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the implications for social and community work training and education of the findings from a study that considered the experiences of young women in relation to social exclusion. In particular, it draws attention to the ways in which young women enacted their marginality and their particular experiential pathways as they progressively removed themselves from mainstream institutions and processes. It is derived from a qualitative study of young women aged between 13 and 15 years that explored the meaning of wellbeing and its relationship with different sorts of social, emotional and material conditions. Discussion draws out the implications of the research findings for social and community work education paying particular attention to the need to work with students to enable them to understand the meanings of marginalisation and to understand how they might be effective as social and community work practitioners with those groups who experience exclusion and marginalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is the second in a series where the results from a national survey of social work supervision practice are presented. The survey was the first phase of an ongoing doctoral study into social work supervision undertaken by the first author and supervised by the coauthors. The article explores what's best about social work supervision from the perspective of members of the ANZASW by discussing their responses to an open-ended question. The 399 statements made by the 204 respondents were categorised and analysed according to frequency and theme. It was found that: • the portrait of the best things in supervision ranged across the areas of practice, environment, relationship, and the qualities, attributes and abilities of the supervisor; and • there were marked frequency differences across the practice and supervisor response categories between those who participated in supervision as both supervisors and supervisees and those who were solely supervisees. The implications of these results for supervision practice are discussed with regard to development towards best practice guidelines, a model of 'best' supervision and an evaluation tool for supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on and discusses the preliminary findings of the first national survey conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand concerning social work supervision practices. The findings reported include: demographic information about supervisors and supervisees; the forms and focus of their supervision; the specifics of their supervision contract and contacts in terms of frequency, content and emphasis placed; and the theoretical concepts and models used in supervision. Discussion of these findings considers the implications for the evolving professionalisation and the expressed bicultural nature of social work and supervision practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the development of the social work degree at Massey University in New Zealand. The beginnings of the social work program at Massey University signals the importance of a number of key players. Among them is Merv Hancock, the first director of the program and a member of the working party charged with the development and establishment of the degree. The study of sociology was to be a core subject in the social work program, especially as those teaching it were located within the Department of Sociology. Strong links were developed between the staff in the social work unit and their colleagues in the sociology program. A key focus was to develop social work as an academic discipline in its own right, but one which draws on a range of social science subjects best taught each within their own discipline. Sociology has a key role to perform for social workers for not only does it enable to examine the complexities of society but it also enables to explore how the collective is present in the interactions of organizations, communities, neighborhoods and households. Sociology in all its manifestations has, and will continue to have, a central role in informing social work practice and education.

This paper discusses the impact of contract-based purchasing on the delivery of social and health services to families in New Zealand. The paper arose out of research conducted by the authors into the effectiveness of certain human service interventions. It begins with an outline of the agency in which the research took place. It presents a brief overview of the development of contracting and then considers four key issues raised by this development from both the international literature and from the authors' experience of researching a social service agency. These issues are: defining what is to be purchased, accountability mechanisms, specificity/fragmentation and partial funding. The paper identifies that central components of the first two issues are informational, the third is about control and the fourth is about reducing government spending and extending state control over the activities of the not-for-profit sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces key themes that arise throughout the history of social work education and are central to the education of social workers today. Curriculum and the goodness of fit between agency demands and professional standards, accreditation, provision of social work courses, and more recently, the competency movement, have constantly been significant, albeit in changing forms. In New Zealand, cultural awareness and knowledge of indigenous models for practice together with re-organisation of social service delivery systems have implications for social work education. Managerial devices such as the purchaser/provider split and risk/case management approaches to social work and their impact on social work education and practice are discussed. The role of the national accrediting body and the ensuing tensions around accreditation are discussed. A discussion of opportunities and concerns for the future considers relationships between those who teach social work, those who practice it, their employers and the role of Industry Training Organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]