scholarly journals Recenzje/Reviews

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-242
Author(s):  
Vincent Helbig ◽  
Beatriz Gonçalves ◽  
Marta Kamińska
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
The Third ◽  
East German ◽  
Unique Approach

In permanently introducing this new section to our periodical, we wish to call the reader’s attention to a unique approach we are consciously taking. In a desire to identify impending foci in our field, we have invited the youngest of our colleagues – MA and PhD candidates in social work – to act as our reviewers. Furthermore, considering the vast multitude of scholarly articles published annually, we have asked our students to primarily focus on this segment which is more likely to reflect the most recent findings. That said, we have not set a strict date range in the hope that our reviewers will freely discover or recover studies which might have been overlooked heretofore. Flack J., Lechevalier A., Wielgohs J. (2013). Cultural Distinction and Example of the “Third East German Generation”, in: A. Lechevalier, J. Wielgohs (eds.), Borders and Border Regions in Europe – Changes, Challenges and Chances. Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld. Reviewed by: Vincent Helbig Collins S. (2008). Statutory Social Workers: Stress, Job Satisfaction, Coping, Social Support and Individual Differences. “The British Journal of Social ork”, 38, 6: 1173–1193. Reviewed by: Beatriz Gonçalves Ferguson H. (2017). How Children Become Invisible in Child Protection Work: Findings from Research into Day-to-Day Social Work Practice, “The ritish Journal of Social Work”, 47, 4 (20170601): 1007–1023. Reviewed by: Marta Kamińska

scholarly journals Containment: Exploring the concept of agency in children’s statutory encounters with social workers

Childhood ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Morrison ◽  
Viviene Cree ◽  
Gillian Ruch ◽  
Karen Michelle Winter ◽  
Mark Hadfield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Children’S Agency

This article examines children’s agency in their interactions with social workers during statutory encounters in a child protection context. It draws from a UK-wide ethnographic study. It finds that much of social workers’ responses to children’s agency in this context are best understood as a form of ‘containment’. In doing so, it offers an original and significant contribution to the theoretical understanding of children’s agency, as well as its application in social work practice.

Recruiting and Engaging Men as Fathers in Social Work Practice

2014 ◽  
pp. 235-260
Author(s):  
Joseph Fleming ◽  
Andrew King ◽  
Tara Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Engaging Men ◽  
Current Knowledge Base

Evidence in the research literature suggests that men are usually not engaged by social workers, particularly in child welfare and child protection settings. Mothers also tend to become the focus of intervention, even when there is growing evidence that men can take an active and important role in a child's development in addition to providing support to the mother and family. Whilst there have been some promising developments in including men in social work practice internationally, there remains a gap in the research regarding the engagement of men as fathers in Australia. Given the growing relevance of the topic of fathers, the purpose of this chapter is to add to the current knowledge base, to support social work students and practitioners to engage with men in their role as fathers, and to offer an evidence-based practice model that may assist social workers in their work with men as fathers.

scholarly journals Embodied Social Work Practice Within Risk Society

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 673-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Smeeton ◽  
Patrick O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Extreme Risk

This paper critically discusses the limitations of theorising social work from psychological and sociological perspectives and argues that phenomenology offers more opportunity to understand the embodied experiences of service users and social workers themselves. The paper argues that psychology and sociology have a limited analysis of being-in-the-world, which ought to be social work’s primary consideration. The paper offers an overview of the sociology of risk before embarking on an extensive description and discussion of Heidegger’s and Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology applied to the lived experience of child protection social workers working within risk society. The argument is put that phenomenology is a useful tool for understanding the lived experience of social work practitioners. Findings: The authors conclude that embodied social work practice containing fear and anxiety can be thought of as akin to taking part in extreme risk sports and that this is an unhealthy experience that is likely to skew decision-making and adversely affect the lives of social workers and service users. Applications: The authors argue that phenomenology can enhance understanding of practice and decision-making and offers insights into the lived experience of social workers. Phenomenology is useful for helping social workers negotiate risk-saturated environments, through a focus on meaning.

scholarly journals Digital social work: Conceptualising a hybrid anticipatory practice

2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110036
Author(s):  
Sarah Pink ◽  
Harry Ferguson ◽  
Laura Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
New Concepts

While the use of digital media and technologies has impacted social work for several years, the Covid-19 pandemic and need for physical distancing dramatically accelerated the systematic use of video calls and other digital practices to interact with service users. This article draws from our research into child protection to show how digital social work was used during the pandemic, critically analyse the policy responses, and make new concepts drawn from digital and design anthropology available to the profession to help it make sense of these developments. While policy responses downgraded digital practices to at best a last resort, we argue that the digital is now an inevitable and necessary element of social work practice, which must be understood as a hybrid practice that integrates digital practices such as video calls and face-to-face interactions. Moving forward, hybrid digital social work should be a future-ready element of practice, designed to accommodate uncertainties as they arise and sensitive to the improvisatory practice of social workers.

scholarly journals THE VOICE OF THE CHILD: AN ANALYSIS OF THE CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEM IN LITHUANIAN FAMILY SOCIAL WORK

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 45-55
Author(s):  
Julija Eidukevičiūtė ◽  
Roberta Motiečienė ◽  
Rasa Naujanienė
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Intervention Process ◽  
The Voice

This paper explains the current practices of the child welfare system in the context of Lithuania. In Europe, research on child welfare has a long history; however, the child welfare situation in Lithuania has not been systematically studied, nor has it been provided with the research-based knowledge necessary for the development of the system. Based on qualitative research results, the paper sheds light on how the voice of the child is heard in Lithuanian child and family social work practice. The research participants in the present study were children and family social workers. The research results indicate that adult-centered family social work practices are dominant and the voice of the child is misleading in the intervention process.

scholarly journals Regulation and inspection of social work: costly distraction or stimulus to improve?

Social Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 37-58
Author(s):  
David N. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitals ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Experiential Knowledge ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Safety Considerations ◽  
Work Method

Has social work practice changed so much in the last fifty years that it is no longer recognisable as social work? This question is discussed and illustrated by accounts of personal experience. There has been a retrograde move from theory-based to policy-based practice, with accompanying proceduralisation, and a concentration in child and family social work on child protection, with a similar narrowing-down of work with adults to assessment. Foregrounding of safety considerations in descriptions of what social workers do has accompanied increasing numbers of care orders and formal admissions to psychiatric hospitals. On the other hand, more, although by no means enough, attention is now paid to the experiential knowledge of service users. There have been various positive developments in social work method, perhaps as reactions to the perception that previous methods were too much influenced by psychoanalytic theory. These include task-centred practice, which both requires and engenders a collaborative user-worker relationship. In the C21st there has been a shift from a deficit-based to a strengths-based approach. What has remained constant is the commitment of so many social workers to practise in accordance with the values of their profession. Whether or not collective activity and campaigning can form part of practice itself, they are greatly needed.

Who's left holding the woman?: Practice issues facing hospital social workers working with women who have infants removed at birth by NSW Department of Community Services

2009 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Wickham
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Community Services ◽  
Hospital Social Workers ◽  
Hospital Social Work ◽  
Supportive Counselling

Over the past three years, there has been a significant change in the focus of hospital social work intervention with pregnant women–from supportive counselling relating to motherhood, to systems advocacy within the child protection context.Hospital social workers in this field have frequently been faced with the inevitable conflicting interests of supporting parents and protecting infants. However, the recent changes have thrown up various ethical questions, and issues of integrity and advocacy, in what is a complex area of practice.This paper seeks to examine some of the current practice issues for social workers in this area. By examining the current context and literature, several practice themes will be considered and explored. In examining this issue at both the micro level of current hospital social work practice and the macro level of legislative and systemic issues, several best practice suggestions are considered within the context of the author's current workplace.

The Dynamics of Secondary Victimization: When Social Workers Blame Mothers

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 515-523
Author(s):  
Andrea Fleckinger
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Secondary Victimization ◽  
Starting Point

The article describes the main results from a qualitative research project, which analyzes the relations between mothers exposed to gender-based violence and child protection social workers, looking at the risk of secondary victimization. The issue emerged from 10 years’ experience as a social worker at a women’s shelter where I was required several times to mediate the difficult relationship between child protection social worker and mother. The starting point was a preliminary field research with peers (staff members of women’s shelters) and women who had been blamed for the violence by their child protection social worker. These results formed the basis for the interviews held with child protection social workers. The analysis shows how victim–offender dynamics might also influence social work practices and illustrate the connections between dynamics of secondary victimization and the expectations regarding mothers and victims. Furthermore, some positive examples of support emerged which could be used as a basis for developing targeted methods for social work practice.

scholarly journals Social work and families in child welfare in Malawi

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Memory Jayne Tembo ◽  
Siv Oltedal
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Professional Discretion ◽  
The Family

This article discusses professional discretion in relation to placing a child outside the family, as understood by Malawian social workers. The article is a product of an exploratory study covering different aspects of social work practice with children and families in Malawi. It is based on focus group discussions with practicing social workers that were conducted using a vignette. This article describes how social workers handle child protection cases, in which a child has to be placed outside the home or family. The article points out different solutions and the reasoning behind certain decisions on placing children outside their home. The study explores issues of patriarchy, intervention methods into families and the cooperation between social workers, community members and other professionals when helping families. The study found that a number of different factors affect the decision of placing a child outside the home. Social workers in this study put an emphasis on the importance of helping children within the immediate- and extended family to help cope with the lack of financial resources that would provide alternative options.

scholarly journals Changing practice: The possibilities and limits for reshaping social work practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhan E Laird ◽  
Kate Morris ◽  
Philip Archard ◽  
Rachael Clawson
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Family Practice ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Intensive Training

Since 2010, the United Kingdom has witnessed a number of initiatives that shift away from reliance on performance management to improve social work with children and families, towards a renewed interest in practice models. This study reports on the evaluation of a local government programme in England to introduce and embed systemic family practice through the roll out of intensive training to social workers and frontline managers. It was anticipated through the programme that child protection social workers would undertake more direct work with families and build more positive relationships, resulting in a fall in the number of child protection plans and children experiencing repeat periods of care. The evaluation adopted a mixed-method approach encompassing an online survey of social workers, interviews with team managers and family members, a case audit and statistical analysis of local level metrics. It found limited employment of systemic family practice or improvement due to the programme. Adopting the 7 S framework, this study examines the barriers to and facilitators of successful change and identifies generic considerations for change programmes in child protection social work.

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