Assessing the impact and implications for social workers of an innovative children’s services programme aimed to support workforce reform and integrated working

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Nigel Malin ◽  
Jane Tunmore
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Family Support ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
North East ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
The Impact

This article reports findings from an independent audit and evaluation of an innovative children's services programme (CSP) funded 2009-2011 by twelve Local Authorities under the auspices of the North-East of England's Improvement & Efficiency Partnership (NEIEP) to manage improvements and efficiencies across the children's services sector focusing upon messages for social workers. The overall purpose of the CSP was to make demonstrable progress in tackling the challenges of child poverty by delivering high quality support to the growing number of children with social care/health needs through regional improvement. The key objectives of the CSP included supporting workforce reform and integrated working; development of personalised services; family support to reduce the need for residential care; and provision of tools to aid commissioners with needs analysis. The audit identified key outputs, for example, improvements to best practice on Whole Family approaches, safeguarding and leadership training evolved through a skills framework; and included a regional model of social work supervision training along with a provision of options to increase the range and quality of foster care placements. The evaluation considered actions arising from the above findings, including demonstrated improvements to inter-disciplinary working and pooling resources to produce better outcomes for families; setting up a data-base to improve the balance between fostering, residential care and family support; and creating opportunities for social workers to explore the practical implementation of using personal budgets.

New Labour, children’s services and the third sector

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-34
Author(s):  
Alison Body
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Labour Government ◽  
Financial Investment ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Children’S Services

In chapter 1 we provide an overview of the concept of prevention within child welfare, particularly under the New Labour government (1997-2010). Coming to power in 1997, Labour placed considerable focus, and financial investment, on reducing child poverty and social exclusion, and increasing universal early intervention support and coordination between services. The role of the voluntary sector became mainstream in the provision of children’s services, with the launch of several high-profile initiatives. Focusing on the concept of ‘prevention’ within child welfare and building on these shifting understandings of childhood and the concerns for children, this chapter explores how social policy operationalised under the Labour government; from how Labour developed strategies to tackle issues surrounding children and young people who are considered disadvantaged, vulnerable or at risk and how they mobilised the voluntary sector within this response.

‘[Her] hostess … is anxious to have her back when she is cured’: The impact of the evacuation of children on wartime local services, England, 1939–1945

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-153
Author(s):  
Jonathan Taylor
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
National Policy ◽  
World War ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
North West ◽  
Looked After Children ◽  
Specialist Services ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
The Impact

World War II had a profound, but uneven, impact on the delivery of services designed to support the bodies and minds of English children. This article, which is based on a study of a rural local authority located in North-West England, explores the influence of World War II on children's welfare services. Drawing on detailed case files relating to individual children and reports published by local and national policy makers, the article advances three related arguments which together nuance existing understandings of the conflict and its longer-term consequences. First, the article argues that many of the problems associated with evacuees were already familiar to medical and social work professionals. This awareness has important consequences for how we conceptualise the wartime proposals that attracted policy makers’ attention. Second, the article shows that the arrival of evacuees into reception areas initially resulted in an expansion of children’s services. A fuller understanding of Britain's welfare state, however, must acknowledge that local authorities continued to wield significant influence over the delivery of specialist services once the conflict ended. As a result, the priorities of local officials could lead to the needs of looked after children being overlooked despite wartime improvements to children's services. Finally, the article argues that amidst the totality of World War II, the British state remained unwilling to intrude on the rights of parents to influence the care of their children. Closer examination of the implementation of evacuation and the experiences of individuals reveals that important tensions existed between the state appointed experts and the civilians they were tasked with supporting.

scholarly journals Considerations in the use of local and national data for evaluating innovation in children’s social care

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oli Preston ◽  
Rebecca Godar ◽  
Michelle Lefevre ◽  
Janet Boddy ◽  
Carlene Firmin
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Care ◽  
National Level ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Data Infrastructure ◽  
Related Data ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to explore the possibilities in using such national, statutory data sets for evaluating change and the challenges of understanding service patterns and outcomes in complex cases when only a limited view can be gained using existing data. The discussion also explores how methodologies can adapt to an evaluation in these circumstances. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines the use of data routinely collected by local authorities (LAs) as part of the evaluation of innovation. Issues entailed are discussed and illustrated through two case studies of evaluations conducted by the research team within the context of children’s social care in England. Findings The quantitative analysis of LA data can play an important role in evaluating innovation but researchers will need to address challenges related to: selection of a suitable methodology; identifying appropriate comparator data; accessing data and assessing its quality; and sustaining and increasing the value of analytic work beyond the end of the research. Examples are provided of how the two case studies experienced and addressed these challenges. Research limitations/implications • Quasi-experimental methods can be beneficial tools for understanding the impact of innovation in children’s services, but researchers should also consider the complexity of children’s social care and the use of mixed and appropriate methods. • Those funding innovative practice should consider the additional burden on those working with data and the related data infrastructure if wishing to document and analyse innovation in a robust way. • Data, which may be assumed to be uniform may in fact not be when considered at a multi-area or national level, and further study of the data recording practice of social care professionals is required. Originality/value The paper discusses some common issues experienced in quasi-experimental approaches to the quantitative evaluation of children’s services, which have, until recently, been rarely used in the sector. There are important considerations, which are of relevance to researchers, service leads in children’s social care, data and performance leads and funders of innovation.

scholarly journals A Qualitative Study on How Social Workers From Regional and Metropolitan Queensland, Australia Perceive the Impact of the National Prioritisation System on Hospital Discharge Planning: A Study Protocol

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 160940692097354
Author(s):  
Bernadette Dimla ◽  
Denise Wood ◽  
Lynne Parkinson
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Older People ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Study Protocol ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Discharge Planning ◽  
Home Care Services ◽  
Dissemination Strategy ◽  
The Impact

In 2012, the Australian Commonwealth Government introduced a series of reforms for the aged care sector including the implementation of the National Prioritisation System for a flexible, accessible and demand-driven approach to home care services for older people. Nevertheless, an increasing number of older people continue to wait for months to be assigned home care packages on the national prioritisation queue, a component of the National Prioritisation System. There is limited evidence on the impact of the national prioritisation queue on discharge planning practices of social workers in supporting older people returning home from hospital admission. The aim of the research described in this paper is to explore the perceptions of social workers from rural and urban health services areas on how the introduction of the national prioritisation queue has influenced discharge planning of older people who are still waiting assignment of home care packages. This study protocol establishes the need for this qualitative study and provides an overview of the theoretical framework underpinning the research; discusses and describes the methods for sampling/recruitment and data collection, the approach to be utilised for qualitative analysis and the planned dissemination strategy. Understanding how social workers respond to the perceived challenges to discharge planning posed by the national prioritisation queue and the implications arising from the research have the potential to inform the development of best practice approaches and further enhance social work response to identified issues.

scholarly journals User Outcomes and Children's Services Reform: Ambiguity and Conflict in the Policy Implementation Process

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Implementation Process ◽  
Green Paper ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Most Significant Change ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Partnership Approach ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Distinguishing Features

The reforms to children's services in the UK brought in by the Every Child Matters Green Paper and the subsequent Children Act 2004 represent the most significant change in this area of social policy since 1948. The policy approach has two distinguishing features – an ‘outcomes led’ approach rooted in the views of children and young people about what constitutes ‘wellbeing’ in their lives, and a partnership approach that recognises these outcomes can only be achieved through high levels of inter-agency and inter-professional working. This article suggests that the two features may be in tension, and that during the process of implementation there is a danger that user defined outcomes will be re-interpreted to fit in with other organisational and professional agendas. The analysis draws upon Rick Matland's framework for exploring the impact of conflict and ambiguity respectively upon the implementation process.

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