scholarly journals Maintaining the Connection. Reflections of a Family Therapy Clinic on Working Online at the Time of the Covid-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cinzia Taffagli ◽  
Katy Agnew ◽  
Julia Tropiano ◽  
Dominique Khoo ◽  
Julian Wild
Keyword(s):  
Family Therapy ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Therapy Clinic

The article follows the journey of a family therapy clinic members set within a local authority's Children's Services, at the time of the UK lockdown due to the covid-19 pandemic. It focuses on each team member’s reflections and dilemmas in working online, but also on the impact that this new way of working was going to have on the team and the families we worked with.  

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.

The special measures school and the ‘c’ word: A case study of the role of conformity, compliance chimera, and the power of community and context in a special measures secondary school in northern England

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-113
Author(s):  
Diann Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
Economically Deprived ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Methods Of Reconstruction

This article explores the relationship between capital and education through the experiences of a British secondary school following a grading by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills that placed the school into special measures, considering the underlying assumptions and inequalities highlighted and obfuscated by the special measures label. The formulaic and ritualistic manner in which operational and ideological methods of reconstruction were presented as the logical (and only) pathway towards improvement is examined in an effort to disentangle the purpose of the ‘means-to-an-end’ approach within prevailing hegemonic structures, requiring a revisit to contemporary positioning of Gramscian concepts of ideology through the work of Gandin. The decontextualisation of schools from their socio-economic environments is probed in order to expose the paradoxes and fluidity of resistant discourse. The ambiguities between a Catholic ethos, neo-liberal restructuring and the socio-economic context of the school and the greater demands to acquiesce to externally prescribed notions of normativity are considered as a process that conversely created apertures, newly formed sublayers and corrugations where transformation could take root. Unforeseen epiphanies and structures of dissent are identified and will enrich the narrative of existence and survival in a special measures school in an economically deprived northern town in the UK.

Abuse and children’s services in the UK

2018 ◽  
pp. 101-139
Author(s):  
Julia Davidson ◽  
Antonia Bifulco
Keyword(s):  
Children's Services ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
The Uk

‘[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 Taking social pedagogy forward: Its fit with official UK statements on promoting wellbeing

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pat Petrie
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Projects ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Short Account ◽  
Social Pedagogy ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Social Pedagogues

This article indicates the range of government interest in wellbeing, briefly describes the emergence of social pedagogy in the UK generally and indicates the part played in it by the UK governments since 2000. This is followed by a short account of the principles of social pedagogy and the profession and education of social pedagogues. There follow descriptions of pedagogy practice, accompanied by examples of government statements (focused on England) that are compatible with these. The article goes on to consider examples where social pedagogy has been introduced into English and Scottish children’s services, drawing on Claire Cameron’s overview of evaluations of demonstration and pilot projects. These evidence some congruence between the practice reported – and its effects – and the recommendations of government on promoting wellbeing. Finally, the article considers the conditions necessary for the continuing growth of social pedagogy, and social pedagogic approaches in the UK.

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.

Are Looked after Children Socially Excluded?

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Axford
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Looked After Children ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Socially Excluded

The concept of social exclusion has become ubiquitous in the discourse of children's services in the UK over the last ten years. But is it a useful concept? Nick Axford sets out a definition of social exclusion and examines the extent to which it applies to looked after children, since they are commonly referred to as being ‘excluded’ or ‘vulnerable to exclusion’. He discusses the implications for how service providers define and help these children and for how childhood social exclusion is studied.

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.

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