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Funders of social interventions that address complex child and family welfare concerns for highly vulnerable populations are increasingly seeking cost-effective and rapid mixed method evaluations of their services. This paper describes a mind mapping approach that was used to collect valid and reliable qualitative data from large numbers of informants across two separate evaluation projects. The mind mapping approach provided a rapid, credible solution to the need to extract and summarize views from a diverse range of informants, and to gain consensus agreement on themes arising from the data. Through the use of two case studies to illustrate the application of the technique, we explore the advantages and disadvantages of the method and reflect upon the utility of mind mapping for quality improvement evaluation within the human services.

In Australia, there are more than 46 000 children in out‐of‐home care (OOHC). Most of these children have been in OOHC for more than 2 years. Similarly, there are more than 407 000 children in the United States and over 80 800 in England who are 'looked after' with approximately one third of these children being in OOHC for more than 2 years. This paper concerns 'looked after' children's rights to contact with their birth parents. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) requires child protection systems to recognize the rights of children to maintain contact with their families except where this is not in the child's 'best interests'. In this paper, we report on a qualitative study conducted in Australia exploring legal and family support practitioners' perceptions of barriers to contact between children in OOHC and their birth parents. The thematic analysis identified four themes: These were as follows: a focus on systems driven responses; lack of cultural recognition and responsiveness; carers' disconnection from birth parents; and parents' exclusion. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding and recognizing children's right to contact with birth parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the application of Constructivist Grounded Theory (C-GT) methodology for social work research. First, it argues that C-GT methodology is well aligned with social work as the two value the individual in the context of their environmental influences. Both also prioritise the importance of respecting and valuing the participant or individual, seeing their perspective as unique and significant. Finally, this research methodology's systematic yet flexible guidelines align with social work ethics, which also focus on the importance of professional integrity. The paper then provides an example of a C-GT PhD study in relation to an area of social work practice, that is, stability in statutory kinship care in Queensland, Australia. The paper details the specific recruitment and sampling of participants, data collection and coding analysis examples from the PhD study. The examples evidence the relevance of C-GT methodology and its application for research in the area of social work practice, specifically statutory kinship care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing skills are an essential component of social work practice. Writing skills include both reflective writing skills, that is writing about one's practice, and professional writing skills, that is writing in practice. The latter includes emails, letters, reports, referrals and applications for resources. Classroom-based simulations are intended to promote holistic competency and provide an ideal context for the development of both reflective and professional writing skills. In this paper, we report on a scoping review undertaken to examine how writing skills are included in classroom-based simulations. We identify that despite substantial growth in scholarship on classroom-based simulations, very little of it refers to the written components of the simulations. Where written components are included, they primarily refer to reflective writing rather than professional writing skills. The marginal status of writing skills is further evidenced in the perceived expendability of written activities in the context of resource or time constraints. We propose ways forward to develop classroom-based simulations by extending the concept of holistic competence to include professional writing skills and greater clarity about the nature of reflective writing activities that may accompany simulations. We also suggest that scholarship on classroom-based simulations could be enhanced by studies designed to produce stronger forms of scientific evidence and also studies critically exploring the political and ethical dimensions of practice within classroom-based simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]