Family Group Conferences: Partnership in Practice

1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray Ryburn ◽  
Celia Atherton
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Family Group ◽  
Family Group Conference ◽  
Model Based ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Uk

The quality of relationship between families and professionals is clearly crucial to the development of good social work practice, especially where the care and protection of children are concerned. After tracing the origins of the Family Group Conference in New Zealand, Murray Ryburn and Celia Atherton describe the procedure and explain how this model, based on a commitment to partnership, is being adapted and used in the UK.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deanna Edwards
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Family Time ◽  
Care Child ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Uk

This introductory chapter provides an overview of family group conferences (FGCs) in the UK. FGCs have been used in the UK since the early 1990s and are now used worldwide following their inception in New Zealand in the 1980s. FGCs belong to an area of social work practice often known as ‘strengths based approaches’ because they seek to utilise the existing and developing strengths of the family and reduce or eliminate concerns. They are used in a wide range of social care child welfare situations from early intervention onwards, but recent use has focused upon their use in child protection, pre-proceedings, and proceedings cases. Ultimately, they seek to empower families: their key principles include the family as primary decision maker, the use of private family time, and the independence of the FGC coordinator.

The value of recognition theory to Family Group Conferencing and child-care and protection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Family Group ◽  
Family Group Conferencing ◽  
The Family ◽  
Recognition Theory ◽  
Identify Formation ◽  
Just Society

Abstract Much has been written over the past thirty years within the international social work literature on Family Group Conferencing as a process of decision making. Yet, the theories that frame our understanding of how Family Group Conferencing contributes towards family outcomes are less distinct. This article makes an original contribution to this literature by proposing the use of recognition theory as a beneficial lens for understanding the Family Group Conferencing process. The recognition theory contends that social relations acknowledge and validate personal existence and are pivotal to identify formation; a just society is therefore one where everyone gets due recognition. A retrospective qualitative study will be used to exemplify how Family Group Conferencing can create the conditions within which participants can experience different forms of recognition: care; respect; solidarity and, as such, experience a level of social justice (or not). It is argued that recognition within the Family Group Conferencing process can influence the identity and relationships of those involved in social work services. This article has significance beyond those with an interest in Family Group Conferencing as the recognition theory can shed light on the nature of relationships in social work practice more generally.

scholarly journals Animals and social work: An emerging field of practice for Aotearoa New Zealand

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 24-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Walker ◽  
Jenny Aimers ◽  
Claire Perry
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Social Work Educators ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Human Animal Bond ◽  
Human Animal

Social work is traditionally human-centered in practice, even though for many the bond between humans and animals is the most fundamental of daily-lived experiences. The intent of this paper is to reflect on the predominant humanistic basis of social work and to consider the growing evidence for developing a wider perspective to incorporate the human-animal connection into social work practice. Joanne Emmens (2007:9) observes that the human-animal bond is considered by some as ‘…too mainstream (in the sense of being lightweight, cliché or sentimental), or as not mainstream enough…as substantial material worthy of study.’ In this article we argue that the human-animal bond is neither sentimental nor fringe and that our attitudes toward this relationship is based on a construction of western thought. To support this we offer a review of literature that provides evidence of good practice that can move social work beyond a purely humanistic approach to a more holistic view resulting in a more comprehensive toolkit for practice. We explore the literature and practice surrounding the place of animals in social work, both in New Zealand and internationally. In addition, we identify some of the ways the human-animal bond is currently utilised in rehabilitation, therapy, as animal assistants and as an indicator of domestic violence within New Zealand. We argue that this area of research and practice is highly relevant for social work as evidence-based practice. The paper con- cludes by offering some suggestions for discussion within the social work profession, and considerations for social work educators, researchers and theorists. 

scholarly journals Incorporating community development into social work practice within the neoliberal environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Aimers ◽  
Peter Walker
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Community Work ◽  
Core Subject ◽  
Work Education

Community development is a core subject in social work education, yet social work discourse often places community development at its margins (Mendes, 2009). This article considers the location of community development and community work within the current neoliberal environment in New Zealand and how such practice can be sustained by social workers in the community and voluntary sector. Community development is a way of working with communities that has a ‘bottom up’ approach as an alternative to State (top down) development. Over recent years, however, successive New Zealand governments have embraced neoliberal social policies that have marginalised community development. In addition the term ‘community work’ has been used to describe activities that have little to do with a bottom up approach thereby making it difficult to define both community development and community work. By applying a ‘knowledge intersections’ schema to two New Zealand community and voluntary organi- sations we identify where community development and social work intersect. From this basis we challenge social workers to consider ways in which community development can be embedded within their practice. 

Lessons from filial piety: Do we need ‘memorial social work’ for the dead and their families?

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Jae Park
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Filial Piety ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Cultural Importance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Ageing Parents

Death is often a taboo topic and, consequently, there is a reluctance to address matters such as the cultural importance of after-life reputations and ancestor remembrance in the social work field. Reflecting on filial piety studies with Korean participants, this article aims to call attention to such death-related issues and their implications for end-of-life, palliative social work practice and research. The term ‘memorial social work’ is used to help practitioners broaden the scope and quality of social work associated with people who have died and their surviving families. The discussion in this paper includes issues related to filial piety and attitudes towards ageing parents, ancestor honour and remembrance and family continuity. The areas to which memorial social work are particularly pertinent are suggested for further development.

Social Work and Its Complexity in Aotearoa New Zealand

2020 ◽  
pp. 16-36
Author(s):  
Shahul Hameed ◽  
Anthony Raman
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Chaotic Nature ◽  
Developed World

The Social workers need to call on a broad range of sources of bodies of knowledge and respond to the complexity and its chaotic nature of situations arising in social work profession. There appears to be dire need to consider the use of (a) the theoretical knowledge into practice by being more caring and supportive with the aim of (b) disentangling the various elements of a complex system and enhancing the resilience both of the people involved and the social and organizational systems that they are inter-twined with people lives. The current acknowledgement of the bi-cultural framework by the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) is no doubt a positive move towards infusing indigenous practice frame work into dealing with the chaotic nature and complexity of the social work profession in New Zealand but still remains to be seen in actual social work practice .The purpose of this chapter is to attempt to explore the potential of infusing Indigenous bodies of knowledge into practice against the background of the complexity nature of the social work profession in a developed world like New Zealand.

Time and change: UK social work and comparative European welfare policies since 1990

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-42
Author(s):  
Linda Bell
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Background History ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Work Education

This chapter gives a brief contextual background history to ‘social work’. It emphasises the years after 1990. This period encompasses many policy and political changes and theoretical developments in the UK and internationally, which affect social work practice and education. This is the time period encapsulating the author's involvement with social workers and social work education. The chapter presents some comparative geographical locations partly to reflect aspects of this involvement with social work and contacts with social work and social workers in those places, as well as to reflect different kinds of welfare regimes and to indicate some different kinds of welfare professionals.

Life Span: Parenting

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne S. Cain ◽  
Terri Combs-Orme
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Parent Child Relationship ◽  
Child Placement ◽  
Child Relationship ◽  
Significant Research ◽  
Quality Of Parenting

Parenting is a key part of social-work practice and research, particularly in the child welfare arena. Despite significant research and theory in other disciplines about the importance of the parent–child relationship to the quality of parenting, the focus of social work appears to lie in narrow goals such as the prevention of abuse and child placement and to employ interventions that lack significant evidence of effectiveness. This entry summarizes social-work practice and research in the area of parenting and reviews the state of the art overall in research and knowledge about parenting.

‘I Never Felt like an Illegal Immigrant Until Social Work Turned up at the Hospital’: No Recourse to Public Funds as Necropolitical Exception

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Farmer
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Public Funds ◽  
Critical Scrutiny ◽  
The Uk

Abstract This article argues that the notion of ‘illegality’ has become a dominant aspect in social work practice for those who are subject to immigration control and have no recourse to public funds (NRPFs). Drawing together conceptual tools from the theoretical work of Giorgio Agamben and Achille Mbembé, necropolitical exception in social work will be explored to analyse how this has impacted upon racialised bodies within the UK immigration system. The findings presented in this article are based upon Ph.D. research conducted between July 2017 and October 2018 in Glasgow, Scotland, and includes ethnographic qualitative data from case studies with the Asylum Seeker Housing Project. It focuses on interviews that explore the lived experiences of those categorised as ‘illegalised’ migrants to examine the implications of necropolitical exception for those with NRPF, third sector caseworkers and statutory social workers. In framing those with NRPF as ‘illegal’, this article demonstrates that social workers have become drawn into agents of necropolitical exception that demands critical scrutiny.

Gender, Parenting and Practices in Child Welfare Social Work? A Comparative Study from England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Nygren ◽  
Julie C Walsh ◽  
Ingunn T Ellingsen ◽  
Alastair Christie
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
The Uk

Abstract This article explores ways in which gender equality, family policy and child welfare social work intersect in four countries: England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Over time, conditions for gender equality in parenting have improved, partly due to family policy developments removing structural barriers. These changes, however, vary between countries; Sweden and Norway are considered more progressive as compared with the UK and Ireland. Here, we draw on focus group data collected from child welfare social workers in England, Ireland, Norway and Sweden to compare these different contextual changes and how these are reflected in related social work practice decisions. The focus group discussions were based on a vignette, and thematic analysis was applied. Overall, welfare social workers are aware of the need to support gender equality in parenting, there is a heavy focus on mothers in child welfare practice decisions, and fathers are largely absent. Uniquely, we show that this is influenced by both a strong child-centred perspective, and a gendered risk perspective, in which fathers are seen to pose more risk to the children than mothers.

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