R. A. Parker - Decision in Child Care: A Study of Prediction in Fostering

Volume 27

DECISION IN CHILD CARE

R.A. PARKER

First Published in 1966 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

This edition first published in 2022

by Routledge

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1966 By George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-03-203381-5 (Set)

ISBN: 978-1-00-321681-0 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-03-206813-8 (Volume 27) (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-03-206818-3 (Volume 27) (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-00-320399-5 (Volume 27) (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003203995

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BY
R. A. PARKER

with a Foreword by
D. V. DONNISON

Professor of Social Administration in the University of London

first published in 1966

second impression 1969

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers.

George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1966

sbn 04 362016 7

printed in great britain

by Photolithography

unwin brothers limited

working and london

I would like to express my thanks to a number of people who have generously given assistance and advice in the course of this study. I am indebted to the Childrens Committee of the Kent County Council for allowing me to conduct the research in their area and to have access to the necessary case records. In particular I would like to thank the Childrens Officer, Miss D. E. Harvie, and the many members of the department who gave me a great deal of help.

I am very grateful too for the advice and help given me throughout this study by Professor D. V. Donnison and for the encouragement of Professor R. M. Titmuss. I have also appreciated the advice of Mr L. T. Wilkins and Dr M. H. Quenouille in regard to the statistical aspects of the enquiry. Robin Huws Jones read the draft and amongst other things, helped me to avoid including several passages which were not clear. Of course I alone am responsible for any shortcomings or inaccuracies which may appear in the book.

The research would never have been completed had it not been for the aid of a generous grant from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust and for this I am especially grateful. They have also contributed generously to part of the cost of publication. Thanks are also due to the London School of Economics who awarded me a research bursary; to the University of London Central Research Fund and the department of Social Administration at the School of Economics for grants for certain specific expenses.

BY PROFESSOR D. V. DONNISON

I t has for years been said that social work cannot develop effectively and humanelylet alone claim the status due to a responsible professionuntil a more systematic and reliable body of knowledge has been accumulated about its working methods, its achievements and its guiding principles. The research so far carried out in this field consists mainly of historical narratives dealing with particular branches of the profession, general surveys describing particular services or districts, and case studies of various kinds. Informative, perceptive and thought-provoking though much of it has been, a more careful selection of strategic research questions and more rigorous analyses of accumulated experience will be required before social workers can be given the help which they have a right to expect from research.

It has also been said for years that social workers already possess within their files a rich store of experience and observation that could be of enormous value to their profession and to social scientists generally. But research workers have seldom made effective use of this material. Often lacking first-hand knowledge of social work, they have generally preferred to start from scratch with inquiries of their own rather than dig deep into the records.

More recently it has become fashionable to say that the problems to be studied in this field are so complex that they can only be effectively explored by full-time, inter-disciplinary teams of highly qualified specialists, backed by the generous funds that such operations demand.

It is against this background that Dr. Parkers study assumes a pioneering stature. He asks a basic question which social workers up and down the country must every day endeavour to answer: what are the factors that go to make a successful placing for a foster child? He examines the answers that others have given to this question, but deliberately adopts no assumptions or hypotheses of his own. Thanks to the help of the Kent County Childrens Department, he then brings to bear on this question all the evidence available in this authoritys files. In the course of the sophisticated analysis that follows, he shows how the outcome of a foster home placement can be predicted, demolishes a number of popular illusions, and considers the implications of his findings. He insists throughout that research can never replace the skill and judgement of those who must actually take decisions about foster children and assume responsibility for their welfare. But it can furnish them with the lessons to be derived from a mass of experience far greater than one person could accumulate, and pose more clearly the questions which can be answered only with the aid of a trained and sensitive judgement.

Dr. Parker would be the first to remind us that his study deals only with one aspect of one field of social work, and takes our knowledge of it only a short step forward. But the example he sets is an impressive one, which can be followed by othersvirtually single-handed, like himselfwithout waiting for the more massive resources that will also be required in this field.