Policy and Professional Responses to Forced Marriage in Scotland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khatidja Chantler ◽  
Nughmana Mirza ◽  
Mhairi Mackenzie
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Forced Marriage ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Level Ii ◽  
Structural Competency ◽  
Scottish Government ◽  
Professional Responses ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors

Abstract This article draws from our mixed methods study of forced marriage (FM) in Scotland focusing on policy and practice responses to FM in Scotland using the concepts of candidacy and structural competency. Through an analysis of FM policy in six case-study areas, interviews with Child or Adult Protection Leads and twenty-one interviews with a range of welfare professionals, we discuss the conceptual, emotional and practical challenges of responding to FM. Despite a standard Scottish Government policy and statutory framework, the varied policy and professional responses to FM across local authorities demonstrate a need for practitioners to be fully cognisant of the ways in which structural inequalities play out in individual lives. The four key themes explored in this article are as follows: (i) patchy ownership of FM policy at a local level; (ii) ‘race anxiety’; (iii) event versus process-based understandings of FM and (iv) the challenges of protecting adults experiencing FM who have capacity. These themes are highly relevant to social work practice and offer a significant and original analysis of the ways in which structural, social and cultural factors shape practitioner understanding, response and support of victims of FM.

Social Work Practice Outcomes

2014 ◽  
pp. 166-185
Author(s):  
Colin Pritchard ◽  
Richard Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Psychosocial Development ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Child Homicide ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Beneficial Impact

The key issue in all human services is outcome. The authors report on a series of four mixed methods research studies to conclude that good social work can bring about positive measurable differences to inform policy and practice. The first focuses on how effective Western nations have been in reducing Child Abuse Related Deaths (CARD); the second explores a three-year controlled study of a school-based social work service to reduce truancy, delinquency, and school exclusion; the third examines outcomes of “Looked After Children” (LAC); the forth re-evaluates a decade of child homicide assailants to provide evidence of the importance of the child protection-psychiatric interface in benefiting mentally ill parents and improving the psychosocial development and protection of their children. These studies show that social work has a measurable beneficial impact upon the lives of those who had been served and that social work can be cost-effective, that is, self-funding, over time.

Social Work and Youth Justice in a Global Context

2014 ◽  
pp. 149-165
Author(s):  
Bill Whyte
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Global Challenges ◽  
Social Work Practitioners ◽  
International Obligations

Social work in youth justice is directed by international standards based on an implied socio-educative paradigm that conflicts with the dominant criminal justice paradigm in operation in most jurisdictions. This creates global challenges in establishing “child-centred” policy and practice for dealing with young people under the age of 18 years in conflict with the law. Social work practitioners, directed by international imperatives and professional ethics, operate between shifting and often conflicting paradigms. It is essential they are familiar with international obligations and operate as “culture carriers” providing an ongoing challenge to systems of youth justice. This chapter examines these issues and, in the absence of consensus or of a shared paradigm for social work practice across jurisdictions, considers what a socio-educative paradigm for practice might look like.

scholarly journals Social Innovation and Social Work: A Case Study of the Early Intervention Support Service

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Winter ◽  
Laura Neeson ◽  
Daryl Sweet ◽  
Aimee Smith ◽  
Sharon Millen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Early Intervention ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Support Service ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Child And Family Services ◽  
Set Up

Abstract In a national and international context where there is a concern about the effectiveness of social care services for children and families to address chronic, enduring social problems and where there are finite resources available, the concept of social innovation in social work policy and practice to address need in new ways is receiving increased attention. Whilst an attractive term, social innovation in child and family services is not without its challenges in terms of conceptualisation, operationalisation, implementation and evidencing impact. This article reports on the development and evaluation of the Early Intervention Support Service (EISS), a newly designed family support service in Northern Ireland set up as part of a government-supported innovation and transformation programme that aims to deliver a voluntary, targeted, flexible and time-limited service to families experiencing emergent problems. Using the EISS as a case study, the challenges, benefits in terms of addressing policy imperatives and future direction of social innovation in social work practice are reflected upon.

Building Collaboration with Child Protection and Domestic and Family Violence Sectors: Trialling a Living Lab Approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Wendt ◽  
Carmela Bastian ◽  
Michelle Jones
Keyword(s):  
Family Violence ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Cultural Safety ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Living Lab ◽  
Competing Priorities ◽  
Future Work

Abstract Collaboration across child protection and domestic and family violence (DFV) sectors have long been sought despite the competing priorities found in these practice fields. This article describes a research partnership that aimed to explore the competing priorities by focusing on how workers interact across child protection and DFV specialist agencies. Using a Living Lab Approach, enabled twelve focus groups with child protection and DFV social workers (n = 100). Thematic analysis was conducted, and it was found that diverse understandings of DFV created tensions when trying to form collaborations. These tensions were often amplified when other intersecting issues were present in family lives such as drug and alcohol and mental health problems. Understandings of Aboriginal cultural safety, and religious and culture impacts for cultural and linguistically diverse families were unintentionally sidelined. However, practitioners also formed common understandings of opportunities to progress and sustain collaboration across the sectors. The Living Lab Approach facilitated the development of a policy and practice guide for child protection to support future work. This has implications for social work practice because the Living Lab Approach enabled a call for a consistent approach to DFV that should be gender sensitive, trauma informed and culturally safe, and collaboration at practitioner, team and organisational levels.

From ‘no further action’ to taking action: England’s shifting social work responses to extra-familial harm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlene Firmin ◽  
Jenny Lloyd ◽  
Joanne Walker ◽  
Rachael Owens
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Case File ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Protection Systems ◽  
Taking Action

In 2018, England’s safeguarding guidelines were amended to explicitly recognise a need for child protection responses to extra-familial harms. This article explores the feasibility of these amendments, using quantitative and qualitative analysis of case-file data, as well as reflective workshops, from five children’s social care services in England and Wales, in the context of wider policy and practice frameworks that guide the delivery of child protection systems and responses to harm beyond families. Green shoots of contextual social work practice were evident in the data set. However, variance within and across participating services raises questions about whether contextual social work responses to extra-familial harm are sustainable in child protection systems dominated by a focus on parental responsibility. Opportunities to use contextual responses to extra-familial harm as a gateway to reform individualised child protection practices more broadly are also discussed.

scholarly journals Pressure drop: Securitising and de-securitising safeguarding

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David McKendrick ◽  
Jo Finch
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Work Values ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Social Work Values ◽  
Critical Consideration

INTRODUCTION: This article explores how securitisation theory is mobilised in contemporary social work discourse, policy and practice. We draw on recent child protection research to support our claim that a new practice issue, described previously as securitised safeguarding, has emerged.APPROACH: We demonstrate its emergence using securitisation theory as a conceptual mode of analysis to describe how a securitised safeguarding response depicts particular families as an existential threat which, in turn, prompts a response characterised by forms of muscular liberalism.CONCLUSIONS: We argue that this emerging practice issue requires critical consideration and suggest it will have a significant impact on social work – one that is unlikely to be beneficial for the profession and, more importantly, families being worked with. By describing a process of de-securitisation, we offer an alternative and more nuanced approach that perceives families holistically, and mobilises a welfare safeguarding model. This more closely resembles traditional social work values of emancipation, liberation and empowerment within social work practice.

Recognising transnational social workers in Australia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika Papadopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Policy And Practice

Analysis of the Australian policy and professional approach to migrating social workers shows how recognition of qualifications across borders both enables, and is constitutive of, internationalised social work practice, with processes governing recognition also serving to define what is acknowledged as social work practice. Enfolded in procedural requirements are standards and practice modalities that comprise the Australian understanding of what ‘legitimate’ social work looks like, and against which migrant social workers’ experience and knowledge are compared. Recognition by receiving countries of the capabilities of transnational social workers is a key dimension of the development of internationalised practice and a process that has significant ethical import. Policy and practice challenges arising from the current processes are identified.

Understanding Federal Law and State Regulations Relevant to School Social Work

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Annette Johnson ◽  
Giesela Grumbach ◽  
Maureen van de Water
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
School Social Work ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Restorative Discipline

This chapter discusses the interconnectedness between education policy and practice and provides an overview of historical and emerging policies vital to school social work practice. The chapter covers milestones such the Brown v. Board of Education case, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Title XI of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, and the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. New and emerging policies, including gender and LGBTQ+ rights, social-emotional learning standards, mental health supports, and restorative discipline are explored. Finally, given the elevation of virtual schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic, the chapter highlights emerging policies around technology, privacy, and confidentiality.

Social Work Practice Outcomes

2019 ◽  
pp. 501-521
Author(s):  
Colin Pritchard ◽  
Richard Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Psychosocial Development ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Child Homicide ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Beneficial Impact

The key issue in all human services is outcome. The authors report on a series of four mixed methods research studies to conclude that good social work can bring about positive measurable differences to inform policy and practice. The first focuses on how effective Western nations have been in reducing Child Abuse Related Deaths (CARD); the second explores a three-year controlled study of a school-based social work service to reduce truancy, delinquency, and school exclusion; the third examines outcomes of “Looked After Children” (LAC); the forth re-evaluates a decade of child homicide assailants to provide evidence of the importance of the child protection-psychiatric interface in benefiting mentally ill parents and improving the psychosocial development and protection of their children. These studies show that social work has a measurable beneficial impact upon the lives of those who had been served and that social work can be cost-effective, that is, self-funding, over time.

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