scholarly journals Storytelling among child welfare social workers: Constructing professional role and resilience through team talk

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 968-986
Author(s):  
Laura L Cook
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Professional Role ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Child Welfare Social Workers ◽  
Public Scrutiny ◽  
Cautionary Tales

Child welfare social work is emotive and demanding work, requiring highly skilled and resilient practitioners. In a context of austerity, increased public scrutiny and accountability, defensive practice has been identified as a feature of professional practice. However, little is known about the processes through which social workers develop resilience or come to adopt a defensive stance in managing the demands of their work. This article focuses on professional storytelling among child welfare social workers. It examines how social workers construct their professional role through team talk and the implications of this for our understanding of professional resilience and defensiveness. Drawing on an in-depth narrative analysis of focus groups with social work teams, eight story types are identified in social workers’ talk about their work: emotional container stories, solidarity stories, professional epiphanies, professional affirmation stories, partnership stories, parables of persistence, tales of courageous practice and cautionary tales. Each story type foregrounds a particular aspect of child welfare practice, containing a moral about social work with vulnerable children and families. The article concludes with the implications of these stories for our understanding of both resilience and the pull towards defensiveness in child welfare social work.

Practising attachment theory in child welfare

2019 ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Sue White ◽  
Matthew Gibson ◽  
David Wastell ◽  
Patricia Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Attachment Theory ◽  
Local Authority ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Medical Opinion

This chapter discusses how attachment theory is used, or not, in professional practice and decision making. Attachment theory is now a standard subject on social work qualifying programmes and many employers provide training for their social workers in attachment theory, ensuring that most practitioners are familiar with the theory. As the discourse of attachment theory has influenced medical opinion and doctors have the power and privilege to diagnose children, a range of ‘attachment disorders’ has been created and these disorders are used to categorise children. Afforded with greater power and status, such diagnoses by medical practitioners feed into the attachment theory knowledge base of social workers, influencing and framing how social workers think about the children and families they work with. The chapter then considers Matthew Gibson's recent study, which took place in the child and family social work service in an English local authority.

scholarly journals The Occasional Evil of Angels: Learning from the Experiences of Aboriginal Peoples and Social Work

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy Blackstock
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
White Noise ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Negative Outcomes ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Noise Barrier ◽  
Aboriginal Children

This paper explores how the propensity of social workers to make a direct and unmitigated connection between good intentions, rationale thought and good outcomes forms a white noise barrier that substantially interferes with our ability to see negative outcomes resulting directly or indirectly from our works. The paper begins with outlining the harm experienced by Aboriginal children before moving to explore how two fundamental philosophies that pervade social service practice impact Aboriginal children: 1) an assumption of pious motivation and effect and 2) a desire to improve others. Finally, the paper explores why binding reconciliation and child welfare is a necessary first step toward developing social work services that better support Aboriginal children and families.

scholarly journals Construction of Reflexivity in Social Workers Working with Vulnerable Children in the Czech Republic

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Kateřina Glumbíková
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Situational Analysis ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
The Impact

Social work in the Czech Republic is confronted with the impact of global neoliberalism, which is manifested by privatisation of social services, individualisation of social risks and economisation. Reflexivity of social workers working with vulnerable children and their families has the potential to lead to a higher quality of social work, strengthening of social workers' identity, and empowering social workers to promote changes in everyday practice. Meeting this potential requires an understanding of constructing reflexivity by social workers, which is the objective of this paper. We used a qualitative research strategy, particularly group and individual interviews with social workers and their analysis using current approaches to grounded theory. Concerning data analysis, we found out that constructing reflexivity (nature and subject of reflexion) derives from the perceived roles of social workers (social worker as an ununderstood artist, social worker a as mediator between social and individual, social workers as an agent of a (society) change, social workers as an agent of normalisation and reflexive professional). The acquired data, within the situational analysis, was inserted into a position map on the scale of holistic and technical reflection. The conclusion discusses the implication for practice and education in social work.

Research to Consider While Effectively Re-Designing Child Welfare Services

2021 ◽  
pp. 104973152110500
Author(s):  
Richard P. Barth ◽  
Jill Duerr Berrick ◽  
Antonio R. Garcia ◽  
Brett Drake ◽  
Melissa Jonson-Reid ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Child Welfare Services ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Welfare Services ◽  
New Policies

An intense appetite for reforming and transforming child welfare services in the United States is yielding many new initiatives. Vulnerable children and families who become involved with child welfare clearly deserve higher quality and more effective services. New policies, programs, and practices should be built on sound evidence. Reforms based on misunderstandings about what the current data show may ultimately harm families. This review highlights 10 commonly held misconceptions which we assert are inconsistent with the best available contemporary evidence. Implications for better alignment of evidence and reform are discussed.

scholarly journals Evidence-based practice in social work: Who are the critics?

2020 ◽  
pp. 146801732095513
Author(s):  
Joakim Finne
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Evidence Based Practice ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Social Sector ◽  
The Social

Summary The aim of this study is to analyse attitudes towards and the utilisation of evidence-based practice among social workers in Norway. The data were collected in 2014–2015 from social workers in four Norwegian counties. The sample consists of 2060 social workers registered as members of the Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers. Findings The main findings in this study indicate that social workers in child welfare are generally less critical of evidence-based practice than those within social welfare. Higher education and knowledge about evidence-based practice are seen as predictors for less critical attitudes towards the concept. The findings further suggest that social workers who use manuals and standardised procedures are less critical of evidence-based practice. Applications Understanding social workers’ attitudes towards evidence-based practice is important in order to facilitate the best possible practices. This study emphasises the importance of increasing knowledge of evidence-based practice in the social sector, and the need to further investigate how research methods and evidence-based practice concepts are translated into practice.

Meditation, Mindfulness, and Social Work

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadye L. M. Logan
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Change Agents ◽  
Spiritual Disciplines ◽  
Helping Professionals ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Contemplative Practices ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Effective Change

Research has shown that social workers and other helping professionals can make use of the contemplative practices from religion and spiritual disciplines. These practices can be utilized as tools that help social workers become more intentional and effective change agents as helpers in their work with individuals, families, children, and communities. This entry discusses the evolution and emergence of the practices of meditation and mindfulness within the helping context, starting with the historic roots in different religions to its usage in the early 21st century with children and families. Additionally, it addresses the limitations and benefits of meditation and mindfulness as practice tools.

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.

Balancing in the role of a professional family assistant – from a distanced concern to an institutional trap

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 59-78
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Szpunar
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Professional Role ◽  
Family Assistance ◽  
Social Pedagogy

The article unveils the complexity of the professional role of a family assistant as well as areas close to other social professions. In addition, it shows the character of social work, which has its roots in the assumptions of social pedagogy of the 60s of the 20th century, as well as, in a similar scope, in the current expectations for social workers. The statutory requirements of family assistance, practiced and desirable work styles of assistants in Poland are described. The article presents the situations and activities of an assistant when working with families. Emphasis is placed on the multidimensionality of assistants’ work. A family assistant, like a social worker or social educator, balances his/her professional role from an empathic attitude through a distanced care to the institutional trap. These dilemmas and paradoxes together with their types and areas are described. Moreover, the article shows examples of moral dilemmas and paradoxes of family assistants’ professional actions.

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