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PART 1
POLICIES AND THEORIES
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1
POLICY TO PRACTICE
LYNN KELLY, GILL WATSON AND SANDRA RODWELL
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Policy is intrinsically related to practice. Policies guide the direction and capacity of practice by setting out clearly expected standards of practice to meet policy outcomes. Health and social care policies are wide ranging and generally informed and developed from an eclectic evidence base, for example national and localised statistics, service user experiences, policy reviews and academic research.
Social welfare policies, encompassing health and social care, inform what are referred to as the universal services, commonly including health, social, educational services and law enforcement. The nature of policies addressing childhood and the family is subject to the changing philosophical, political and moral codes of the day, thus evolving over time to what society perceives acceptable at a specific point in history. The construction of childhood, adolescence and family life in society is frequently challenged within private, social and political arenas and remains the most heavily contested area of social welfare policy in the United Kingdom today.
Over the last 20-year period there has been increased media reporting of high-profile child deaths resulting from abuse and neglect. In many of those cases parental and organisational factors have been uncovered as contributing to child deaths. Organisational failings such as poor leadership and management and limited resources as well poor frontline practices have been identified as compounding vulnerable familial environments with poor outcomes for children.
Nonetheless, as child social welfare policies have evolved so too have the practices of frontline practitioners in both social and health care to reflect the changing status of children in society. Central to policy changes is the status of children as active citizens, actively contributing to decisions about their lives. It is important to consider the relationship between social welfare policy and healthcare practice and how this has influenced individual and inter-professional working in the provision of services for children.
This chapter will address the influences on the development of social welfare policy relating to child welfare such as the rights-based agenda, legislative and policy environment and evidence-based interventions. This chapter concludes by reflecting on emerging themes and challenges for the future.
AIMS OF THIS CHAPTER
Following a brief outline of the historical context in which social welfare policy has evolved, this chapter has two aims. The first aim is to consider the most significant influences on policy and practice, including international conventions and legislation. The second aim is to examine the public health approach used to deliver contemporary child social welfare policy and the preparation of practitioners and health and social care organisations to contribute to meeting policy outcomes relating to child welfare.
Learning outcomes
After reading this chapter and following a period of reflection the reader will be able to:
ā¢ Analyse critically the political and social context in which child social welfare and protection professionals operate in the United Kingdom.
ā¢ Reflect critically on the quality and adequacy of the response of individual practitioners, organisations and society to safeguarding and protecting children.
ā¢ Consider critically the use of the public health approach to delivering contemporary child social welfare policy.
ā¢ Analyse critically the preparation of all practitioners to fulfil their roles and responsibility to meet contemporary child social welfare policy.
Key words
child protection; child safeguarding; child welfare; interventions; legislation; policy; political ideology; public health
WHAT IS MEANT BY SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY?
Social welfare policy is the means by which national and local governments set out objectives to meet the welfare, sometimes referred to as social, needs of the population. Within the United Kingdom social policies address education, health, housing, social security and occasionally law and order (Marshall 1998). Much of social policy is organised around the social unit of the family who, until the last century, bore much of the responsibility for the provision of child welfare and protection. However, over the last 100 years, national and local governments have accepted greater responsibilities for child welfare.
The link between child welfare and child protection has not always been transparent. Indeed, until the start of the 21st century child protection was most often aligned to the justice system while child welfare was considered as something quite separate. Child protection was identified as a narrow field, disconnected from other aspects of childhood and the ecology of family life. More recently child protection was recognised as being nested within, and intrinsic to, the welfare of the child (Vincent 2010). Incorporating the welfare and protection of children as one concept by policy makers has widened understanding of the needs of children and increased the responsibilities of a wider welfare workforce to meet childrenās needs. It was at this time when safeguarding came to be viewed as the all-inclusive umbrella term given to the totality of child welfare and protection. It is important, however, to consider some of the principle historical milestones which have contributed to social welfare policy today.
HISTORICAL SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY MILESTONES IMPACTING ON CHILD WELFARE AND PROTECTION
The English Poor Law was established in 1601 but continued right through in one form or another until 1948. The Poor Law represented what is known as a āresidual modelā of welfare. That is, welfare provision for those with nowhere else to turn and no longer able to provide for themselves or their families. The Poor Law was intended to be punitive and to act as a deterrent. Later, an alternative perspective on welfare was considered that took the view that need and dependency were normal conditions in society. This model of welfare is referred to as the āinstitutional modelā (Spicker 2008). It is on the values of this institutional model of welfare that our present welfare state is based. The Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Social Insurance and Allied Services (1942), known more commonly as the Beveridge Report, was an influential document in the founding of the welfare state in the United Kingdom (Beveridge 1942). This report identified five āgiant evilsā in society ā squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease ā and went on to propose widespread reform to the system of social welfare to address these evils. This report is commonly acknowledged to be the foundation of the welfare state and subsequently the National Health Service as we understand it today. The focus of this report was to ensure that citizens were healthy enough to contribute to the economic growth of the United Kingdom. It is interesting to note that children were not viewed with any significance at this time.
Reflective activity
Reflecting upon the five āgreat evilsā identified by the Beveridge Report (1942), what are the āgreat evilsā facing us today? Are there any differences?
Following on from Beveridge (1942), two international conventions had a significant influence on contemporary child welfare policies: the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (1989) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) (1950). Together, these conventions have informed what is referred to as the rights-based agenda.
Rights-based agenda
In 1991 the government of the United Kingdom ratified and signed up to the UNCRC (1989). In the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) Article 19 sets out the duty of governments to protect children from all forms of violence and abuse by taking the required measures, be they legal, educational, social or administrative. This obligation applies to all children whether they are living with their parents, are looked after or are being cared for by some other arrangement. At the same time the UNCRC (1989) also promotes the importance of the family as the best form of protection for children. Providing appropriate support to families is proffered as a means of ensuring that the rights of children are respected (Henricson and Bainham 2005). While not denying the individual rights of the child, the underlying message to governments set out in the UNCRC (1989) is that policies should reflect the interdependency of families and consider the rights of children within this context and not in isolation (Henricson and Bainham 2005). There is, however, a danger that by focusing on the child within the family situation, responding to the broader issues that are impacting on the family situation may take precedence. In these situations the individual needs of the child may then be lost among the needs of the adults and the family as a whole (Henricson and Bainham 2005).
Within the United Kingdom, the government is also bound by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR 1950). The principles set out in ECHR (1950) are set out in the Human Rights Act (1998) in the United Kingdom (HM Government 1998). While the ECHR (1950) does not make specific reference to children, both adults and children have rights within this convention (Henricson and Bainham 2005). Article 3 states that āno one shall be subject to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishmentā (ECHR 1950), while Article 8 (which is in two parts) states that āeveryone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondenceā (ECHR 1950). The second part cautions against undue interference by the authorities unless for reasons stated in Article 8(2), which relate to national interest as well as situations when other individualsā freedoms and rights are compromised (ECHR 1950). The ECHR (1950) requires governments and service providers to perform a balancing act in order that they do not breach their obligations, particularly with respect to Articles 3, 8(1) and 8(2). Accusations of failure to protect, in line with Article 3, may be levelled at those who know that a child is in need of protection but are found to have not done enough to protect that child. Conversely, if efforts to protect a child are too zealous then an infringement of the human rights of parents may be the charge under Article 8(2); the rights of parents cannot be ignored (Henricson and Bainham 2005).
The rights-based agenda directed through two significant international conventions required governments, organisations and individual practitioners to undertake their duties with respect for the rights of families and individuals within families, be they parents, children or other family members, and not to interfere unduly (Roberts 2001, Lowden 2002, Henricson and Bainham 2005). It is important to note that the notion of what constitutes a family continues to be debated within legal, political and academic settings both within the European Union and the United Kingdom. The government however continues to emphasise the importance of the family with two parents being considered as the key source of welfare and care for children (Roberts 2001). This approach is in accordance with the UNCRC (1989), which also promotes support for the family as the main means of ensuring that the rights of children are upheld (Henricson and Bainham 2005).
Within the United Kingdom many organisations and policy documents focused on children draw on the series of wide reaching statements contained within the UNCRC (1989) and the ECHR (1950) as a means of giving authority to what they do (Foley et al. 2001). While reflecting concern for the welfare of children and issues pertaining to child protection, the principles laid out in the UNCRC (1989) are also aimed at giving children the status of citizenship. This move promotes and supports the view that children who are able to form and give an opinion should have the opportunity to express their views with respect to decisions which affect them, as stated in Article 12 of the UNCRC (1989). The United Kingdom sets out to meet its international obligations through the Human Rights Act 1998 and a number of legislative measures reflecting the principle of placing the welfare and best-interests of children and young people at the centre of policy and practice (Foley et al. 2001; Scottish Executive 2001; Department for Education and Skills 2004).
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE SOCIAL WELFARE AGENDA SINCE BEVERIDGE
The Thatcher government of 1979ā90 marked the period where United Kingdom turned away from the Beveridge vision of welfare back to a more āresidualā, also referred to as neo-liberal, model particularly in relation to social welfare, education, health and community care. At the core of this thinking was the belief that citizens should be responsible for ...
