Social Work Practice with Children and Families

Carolyn Spray, Beverley Jowett

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781412921794, 9781412921787
• eBook ISBN: 9781446292372
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

Carefully researched and highly readable, this textbook explores what enables good and effective practice in local authority field social work delivered to children, young people and their families.

The book sets the context for local authority social work practice and then chapter-by-chapter takes the reader carefully through the social work process. Detailed case studies work really well in embedding the legal and theoretical context firmly within the practice challenges of safeguarding children. Overall the book is about social workers effecting change so that children can continue to live successfully with their families and within their communities.

Key features include:

" Strong links between theory and practice;

" Core themes relevant to training and practice- assessment, decision-making, interprofessional collaboration and reflective practice;

" Accessible and jargon-free, also includes a useful glossary of relevant legislation;

" Learning points and case study exercises in each chapter.

Written in a lively and engaging style, students and newly qualified social workers will find this book provides a helpful introduction to children and families local authority social work as it exists today. It will be invaluable for students taking courses in child and family social work and child protection. The book will also appeal to experienced practitioners who want to explore action research or create the space for reflective practice as part of their continuous professional development. It will help other professionals involved in supporting children develop insight into the practice of social workers.

Chapter 1

Setting the Scene: The Historical, Policy and Legislative Basis of Local Authority Children and Families Social Work

Introducing local authority social work

The intention of this introductory chapter is to set the scene for social work practice in an English local authority. This will provide a brief résumé of the relationship between social policy and social work and the impact child deaths have had upon legislation concerned with safeguarding children.

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Learning points

• The impact of the welfare state upon neglected and abused children
• Different trends in practice and their translation into legislation
• The impact of child deaths
• The cause and effect of the Every Child Matters initiative
• Baby Peter and Social Work Reform

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First let us consider how one of the most remarkable characteristics of child welfare is that the same issues arise again and again. Questions such as have been answered differently at different times. This is because people’s opinions, beliefs and judgements change. Much of contemporary legislation and social work practice relating to children and families has come about as a consequence of how such questions were answered in the past.

• What are parental rights and responsibilities?
• What rights do children have?
• Whose rights take precedence?

For those social workers who choose to work with children and young people in a local authority setting, it is important to have an understanding of the history of children’s social care and the social policy context. Both have impacted on the legislative framework and the way the profession has responded to some complex issues, such as the rights of parents when in conflict with the needs and rights of children. Lorraine Fox Harding (1997) in her seminal text Perspectives in Child Care Policy characterises the different values that permeate childcare policy at different times as

• Laissez faire and patriarchy – leaving the family largely free of state interference
• State paternalism and child protection – legitimising authoritarian state interference and minimising the rights of parents
• Defence of the birth family and parents’ rights – state intervention is legitimate but has as its focus the preservation of the family unit
• Children’s rights – child is an independent person with individual rights

From Children’s to Social Services Departments (1948–1971)

Before the Second World War, child welfare had been the responsibility of the Poor Law Guardians, local education authorities and voluntary organisations. Post-war Britain, however, was a time of economic and social reconstruction that witnessed the creation of the welfare state. As new state welfare services were established, a whole new set of relationships between the state, the market economy and the family began to emerge (Parton 1999). In this context, and partly in response to the death of Dennis O’Neill in foster care in 1945, the 1948 Children Act established new local authority Children’s Departments. These were designed to provide a service for children in public care deprived of ‘normal’ family life. During this post-war period the major institutions of work and family went largely unchallenged and it was accepted that the role of the welfare state was to ensure that anyone on the margins of these institutions was helped back into the main body of society (Parton 2006). Over the next two decades the emphasis within Children’s Departments shifted towards keeping children out of care in the first place or, when not possible, to rehabilitate children back into the care of their natural families.

By 1970 it had became apparent that there would be considerable advantages in bringing the different branches of social work together to form one generic profession, based on a common training qualification (Stevenson 1999). The Seebohm Report (1968) concluded that by redrawing the boundaries between services, more effective family and community services could be provided. This led to the establishment of Social Services Departments in 1971 and the responsibility for childcare transferred from the Home Secretary to the Secretary of State for Social Services. The establishment of unified local authority Social Services Departments heralded a new era for social work as a profession and during the early 1970s personal social services came out of the policy debate shadows (Hill 2000). With the family as its focus, the profession confidently sought to deliver a personalised service based on preventative principles.

By 1973, however, it was becoming clear that the era described by Jock Young (1999) as the ‘Golden Age’, a period that was both consensual and inclusive, was coming to an end. Two major social changes were becoming evident: globalisation and individualism. Globalisation wrought changes in the labour market, which became increasingly characterised by stratification, mobility and the presence of women, particularly married women. The poorest and most deprived, with the least flexibility, were left in concentrated pockets of housing. It was these pockets that often had to absorb families arriving from other countries, seeking asylum or greater economic security.

Hobsbawm (1994) argued that one of the institutions most undermined by the new emphasis on individualism was the family. As individualism became more pronounced the structures that kept men, women and children together in families were to some extent dismantled. The family was now seen as constituting individuals and in this context children began to be viewed as autonomous beings with rights and interests distinct from the family unit itself (Parton 2006). The scene was being set for a more antagonistic and conflictual relationship between parents and social workers as the interests and rights of children and their parents were no longer viewed as one and the same.

As the impact of economic instability and recession during the 1970s began to be felt, the difficulties in sustaining the welfare state became a central focus of public and political debate. The consensus on which it was based was subjected to increasing questioning and criticism. In this context it is hardly surprising that by the mid 1970s this new professional confidence was severely dented, as an unremitting series of child death inquiries led to increasing public disquiet about social work practice.

The impact of child deaths and the Cleveland Affair (1973–1987)

The death of Maria Colwell in 1973 at the hands of her stepfather, together with the growing evidence that children were spending longer in care as they waited for reunification plans to take effect (Rowe and Lambert 1973), led to the 1975 Children Act and to the 1976 Adoption Act. This effected a shift away from parental rights towards the welfare of children (Daniel and Ivatts 1998) and introduced a new emphasis on fostering and adoption. The 1975 Act also made provision for an independent social worker to ensure the best interests of the child within court proceedings and thus established the new professional role of guardian ad item, now called the child’s Guardian. The public inquiry into Maria’s death published in September 1974 concluded that, although individuals had made mistakes, it was ultimately the system that had failed her. This led to the introduction of a new child abuse management system intended to ensure that all professionals involved in supporting children were familiar with signs of child abuse and that mechanisms were established for inter-agency communication and coordination (Parton 2006).

Parton and Thomas (1983) noted how, after the Maria Colwell Inquiry, social work practice was no longer seen as a private activity between social worker and client but as a legitimate arena for public scrutiny. Here the media took on a key role in raising issues previously mostly hidden from public view. Criticism of the nature of social work interventions reached new heights during the 1980s, with a succession of child abuse inquiries. The most well known of these are the inquiries concerning Jasmine Beckford (London Borough of Brent 1985), Kimberley Carlisle (London Borough of Greenwich 1987) and Tyra Henry (London Borough of Lambeth 1987). The emphases in the recommendations of the 30-plus inquiries published between 1973 and 1987 was on social workers using their legal powers more effectively to protect children, on improving their knowledge of the indicators of abuse and on the need to improve collaborative processes between all professionals involved with children (DHSS 1982; DH 1991b). The concept of ‘child abuse’ was defined, redefined and then enshrined in government guidance during the 1970s. By the 1980s it included physical, emotional, sexual abuse and neglect, focusing not just on very young children but on all children and young people up to 18 years of age (Working Together under the Children Act 1989, DH and the Home Office 1991).

The events in Cleveland in 1987 introduced a new dimension into the controversy surrounding the work of social workers with children and their families. This focused on the removal of more than 100 children from their families by social workers, subsequent to a diagnosis of sexual abuse by two paediatricians, based in a hospital in Middlesborough. For the first time the issue of abuse publicly impacted upon middle-class families, and disadvantaged and poor families could no longer be seen as the sole source of child abuse. However, the Cleveland Affair also appeared to demonstrate the failure of both social workers and paediatricians to protect the rights of parents, as well as the use of draconian powers to remove children prematurely from their families. Social workers were now routinely represented in the media as either ‘fools and wimps’ or ‘villains and bullies’ (Franklin and Parton 1991).

Social workers now seemed to represent all that was wrong with post-war welfarism. It was not therefore surprising that the third term of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative administration, which was centrally concerned with reforming welfare provision, turned its attention to reforming legislation pertaining to the welfare of children.

The Children Act 1989

Though the Children Act 1989 can be seen as the culmination of a period of controversy both about welfare policy and the role of social workers in the lives of children, drawn up at a time of ‘New Right’ dominance (Packman and Jordan 1991), it was in fact a further piece of consensus legislation.

The Act was informed not just by child abuse public inquiries, but by research and a series of respected official reports during the 1980s, particularly the Short Report (Social Services Committee, 1984) and the Review of Child Care Law (DHSS, 1985) and was subject to careful civil service drafting and management and exhaustive consultation with a wide range of professional groups and interested parties. (Parton 1999: 15)

Those responsible for drawing up this Act were seeking not only to get the balance right between the families’ right for privacy and autonomy but also between the responsibilities of all the agencies involved in supporting children and how they exercised those responsibilities.

The Act therefore had three primary aims. First, it set about forging a new set of balances between children, parents and the state. It introduced the concepts of parental responsibilities and working in partnership and gave a new emphasis to the views of the child. Secondly, it sought to unify public and private law relating to children. Thirdly, it aimed to bring together all services relating to children, including children with disabilities. This act also broadened the concept of prevention, from simply preventing children from entering public care, to one of preventing family breakdown through the duty to provide services whenever a child was deemed to be in need. Further information about some its key provisions can be found in the Legislation Glossary at the end of the book.

Problematically, the Act was implemented in 1991 in an economically, socially and politically hostile climate. The combination of Conservative government reforms in relation to health, housing, social security, education and community care and the impact of recession had a particular impact upon children. In 1979 1.4 million (10%) children lived in poverty. By 1993 this had increased to 4.3 million children (one-third) (DSS 1995). This was an increase far greater than the population as a whole.

During the early 1990s a number of other trends can be identified. Social work managers, as opposed to practitioners, became the brokers between the purchaser/provider relationship engendered by the Community Care legislation. The combination of both the Community Care Act 1990 and the Children Act 1989 resulted in the generic social worker increasingly being replaced by the specialist social worker. Moreover social workers working with children became almost exclusively involved in child protection and the management of risk.

The impact of institutional abuse

In 1997...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• About the Authors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 Setting the Scene: The Historical, Policy and Legislative Basis of Local Authority Children and Families Social Work
• Chapter 2 Social Work in a Local Authority Setting
• Chapter 3 Working with Children and Their Families
• Chapter 4 Good Assessments: Preparation and Information Gathering
• Chapter 5 Good Assessments: Analysis and Decision Making
• Chapter 6 Intervention and Planning
• Chapter 7 Looking to the Future
• Case Study 1 Elizabeth and Peter
• Case Study 2 Maya and Ajay
• Case Study 3 Charlie
• Glossary of Legislation Concerned with Safeguarding Children
• Glossary of Acronyms and Terms
• References
• Index