Social Work Practice with Children and Families
The book forms part of the SAGE Social Work in Action Series, edited by Steven M. Shardlow.
Social Work Practice with Children and Families
Carolyn Spray and Beverley Jowett
Carolyn Spray and Beverley Jowett 2012
First published 2012
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ISBN 978-1-4129-2178-7
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Contents
List of Figures and Tables
About the Authors
Carolyn Spray is a service manager with responsibility for Service Improvement in Sheffield City Councils Children, Young People and Families Service. Improving the quality of childrens social care in Sheffield is at the heart of her role and she also leads on recruitment, retention and the continuous professional development of social workers.
Carolyn has many years experience of social work practice and of managing operational services at different levels. Most of this is within local authority childrens services. Carolyn is also an adoptive parent and has experience of being a service user of post-adoption support services. This has informed her perspective of how multiagency support for children and their family should work in practice.
Beverley Jowett is a University Teacher in the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield. She teaches on the qualifying and post qualifying social work courses and is course leader for the MA in Professional Practice. Her teaching interests include Safeguarding Children, and law and policy relating to children and families.
Prior to moving to the University of Sheffield in 2008, Beverley had over 20 years experience as a local authority social worker, the majority of this being in children and families services. She has worked in a range of posts which have involved duty and access work to longer term involvement with children of all ages. Her most recent social work post was based in Sheffields maternity hospital, undertaking pre-birth assessments.
Preface
This book is about what enables good and effective practice in local authority field social work delivered to children, young people and their families. Field social work provides an assessment and care planning service to Children in Need and their families. This includes child protection services for children at risk of harm and accommodation for children who cannot live with their own family or kinship network.
Our aim is to appeal to a range of people with an interest in social work with children/young people and their families. Student and newly qualified social workers will find that it provides a helpful introduction to local authority social work as it offers an overview of social work as it exists today, as well as discussion of what enables effective practice. It will also, however, appeal to experienced practitioners who want to explore action research or create the space for reflective practice as part of their continuous professional development. Managers will be interested in what the organisation can do to support evidence-informed practice. Other professionals involved in supporting children and young people will also find this book useful as it describes what social work is and what social workers do in a local authority setting.
This book is about social workers effecting change so that children can continue to live successfully with their families and within their communities. Key issues involved in the practice of social work, are reinforced through the use of learning points at the beginning of each chapter. Three detailed case studies are employed to assist the reader understand the process of assessment, planning, intervention and review (APIR) as applied by local authority childrens field social work services. They describe how social workers assess and support Children in Need, children in need of protection and children who need to be looked after in public care. The case studies also consider what happens to these children and their families at different points of the APIR process, as change is effected. They are woven into towards the end of the book. Each chapter concludes with a list of recommended further reading to assist the reader to easily explore any area of particular interest.
Finally, two glossaries have been included: one that details the legislation that is relevant to working with children and their families and the other that explains acronyms and defines terminology often used in the world of childrens social care. When taken all together, the reader will find that this book comprehensively describes and discusses both the context for and the reality of effective social work practice with children and their families.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their appreciation to Vicki Bennetts and Ruth Mason for their support and contribution to the development of this book.
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 rsum of the relationship between social policy and social work and the impact child deaths have had upon legislation concerned with safeguarding children.
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
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 peoples 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.
