Working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices

Practice theories to support child protection social work in the United Kingdom, as in the United States and Australia, are being squeezed out by a focus on performance targets and procedural timescales. This study examines an innovative programme designed to reverse this trend initiated by an Engli...

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Main Authors: Laird, Siobhan E., Morris, Kate, Archard, Philip, Clawson, Rachael
Format: Article
Published: Wiley 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40509/
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author Laird, Siobhan E.
Morris, Kate
Archard, Philip
Clawson, Rachael
author_facet Laird, Siobhan E.
Morris, Kate
Archard, Philip
Clawson, Rachael
author_sort Laird, Siobhan E.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Practice theories to support child protection social work in the United Kingdom, as in the United States and Australia, are being squeezed out by a focus on performance targets and procedural timescales. This study examines an innovative programme designed to reverse this trend initiated by an English local government authority. The programme aimed to embed systemic family practice in situations where children are deemed to be at risk of harm. The findings, derived from an analysis of a case file sample, indicate that social worker interaction with family members is predicated on who is living with the child in conjunction with the risk status of the case file. Conversely, practitioner interactions with family members are divorced from family structure and the lived experiences of kin relationships. This study concludes by examining why, despite training in systemic family practice, it was problematic for social workers to integrate it into their encounters with families.
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spelling nottingham-405092020-05-04T18:29:20Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40509/ Working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices Laird, Siobhan E. Morris, Kate Archard, Philip Clawson, Rachael Practice theories to support child protection social work in the United Kingdom, as in the United States and Australia, are being squeezed out by a focus on performance targets and procedural timescales. This study examines an innovative programme designed to reverse this trend initiated by an English local government authority. The programme aimed to embed systemic family practice in situations where children are deemed to be at risk of harm. The findings, derived from an analysis of a case file sample, indicate that social worker interaction with family members is predicated on who is living with the child in conjunction with the risk status of the case file. Conversely, practitioner interactions with family members are divorced from family structure and the lived experiences of kin relationships. This study concludes by examining why, despite training in systemic family practice, it was problematic for social workers to integrate it into their encounters with families. Wiley 2017-01-27 Article PeerReviewed Laird, Siobhan E., Morris, Kate, Archard, Philip and Clawson, Rachael (2017) Working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices. Child and Family Social Work . ISSN 1365-2206 family child protection kin social work fathers child abuse child maltreatment http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cfs.12349/abstract doi:10.1111/cfs.12349 doi:10.1111/cfs.12349
spellingShingle family
child protection
kin
social work
fathers
child abuse
child maltreatment
Laird, Siobhan E.
Morris, Kate
Archard, Philip
Clawson, Rachael
Working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices
title Working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices
title_full Working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices
title_fullStr Working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices
title_full_unstemmed Working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices
title_short Working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices
title_sort working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices
topic family
child protection
kin
social work
fathers
child abuse
child maltreatment
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40509/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40509/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40509/