Anxiety and child protection – implications for practitioner–parent relations

Abstract

A B S T R AC TSocial work practitioners face powerful existential threats in child protection. Core aspects of anxiety and their significance for practitioner-parent relations are identified. Social and psychoanalytic theories are utilized to suggest that the production of anxiety in child protection stems from multiple sources and that insufficient attention has been paid to the social context of poverty and disadvantage. Menzies' core analytic categories of primary and secondary anxiety are applied and extended to take account of specific dimensions of the social and organizational context of child protection practice for social work. Processing the anxiety is central to practitioner-parent relations that lie at the heart of the protection of children.

The “Good Enough” Parent: Implications for Child Protection

“…Social workers need to be able to engage with the emotional content of the service user's life and circumstances and also recognise the impact this may have on themselves and their practice (Ingram, 2012;Morrison, 2007). Add to this the pressure of workloads, potentially dangerous practice, public scrutiny and the uncertain nature of the work, it can be seen that workers have to be able to respond to a variety of internal and external emotional issues in order to practice effectively (Waterhouse & McGhee, 2009;Ingram, 2012).…”

“…Not only are social workers dealing with these anxieties directly from individuals, but they are also prime candidates for the projection of society's anxieties regarding anti-social behaviour or sexual abuse panics (Taylor et al, 2008;Ferguson, 2005;Clapton, Cree & Smith, 2013). It is not a surprise then that previous research has found that social workers have expressed a range of emotions, in addition to anxiety, such as, fear, embarrassment, guilt and vicarious trauma, (Taylor et al, 2008;Goddard & Hunt, 2011;Smith et al, 2003;Waterhouse & McGhee, 2009). However, the extent and source of these emotions still appear to be under explored and it is by discovering the prevalence and root of these emotions that further knowledge of the lived experience of child and family social workers may be gained.…”

“…Recent developments such as the College of Social Work (officially launched in January 2012 to represent and support the social work profession in England) closing down in 2015 due to lack of government funding, as well as Prime Minister David Cameron and other government officials believing social workers should be jailed for failing to protect children, have left the profession questioning whether it is valued (Wintour, 2015;McNicoll & Schraer, 2015). For child and family social workers with a child protection remit, who are already having to make challenging decisions and work within high stress environments, these developments can adversely influence the work they do on a day to day basis and have been much written about (Ferguson, 2005;Waterhouse & McGhee, 2009;BASW, 2012;Parton, 2011;Clapton, Cree & Smith, 2012).…”

Practitioner–mother relationships and the processes that bind them

“…The mothers she interviewed like almost all mothers needed to preserve their identity as good mothers and protect it from being spoiled (p. 449). Waterhouse & McGhee (2009) suggest that in the 'conversation-like' encounters between parents and child protection social workers tension surfaces creating, what Goffman (1963) calls an uneasy unanchored interaction. This partly lies in any parents desire to communicate information in ways that will not discredit themselves or their parenting.…”

The implications of neoliberalism for social work: Reflections from a six-country international research collaboration

“…The importance of relationships to effect change in social work is well documented (Maiter et al, 2006;Ruch et al, 2010;Waterhouse and McGhee, 2009). However, the development of market solutions in countries such as England, as leading advocates of marketization, have resulted in social workers being recast as a 'care manager' under the National Health Service and Community Care Act (DH, 1990).…”