Child &amp; Family Assessment in Social Work Practice

Holland, Sally

doi:10.4135/9781446288580

Cited by 71 publications

(102 citation statements)

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“…The formation of this judgement takes place along a continuum between intuitive (or 'gut feeling') and analytical reasoning which Munro, (2008: 2) Although these two types of reasoning are often presented as polar opposites, Munro (2008) argues that both have an important role to play in the processes of assessment, judgement formation and decision making. This view is shared by a number of commentators (Reder & Duncan, 2004;Helm, 2010;Holland, 2011;O'Sullivan, 2011), it being argued that both approaches need to be integrated and balanced to enable workers to reason effectively. For example, Brannan (2014: 163) argues that overly intuitive approaches lack rigour whereas overly analytical approaches may lack action; "…the so-called paralysis by analysis.…”

Section: Professional Decisions and Confirmation Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

In and out of home care decisions: The influence of confirmation bias in developing decision supportive reasoning

Spratt

Devaney

Hayes

2015

Child Abuse & Neglect

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The aims of this study were to identify the themes Social Workers regard as important in supporting decisions to remove children from, or return them to, the care of their parents. To further elicit underlying hypotheses that are discernible in interpretation of evidence.A case study, comprising a two-part vignette with a questionnaire, recorded demographic information, child welfare attitudes and risk assessments, using scales derived from standardised instruments, was completed by 202 Social Workers in Northern Ireland. There were two manipulated variables, mother's attitude to removal and child's attitude to reunification two years later. In this paper we use data derived from respondents' qualitative comments explaining their reasoning for in and out of home care decisions.Some 60.9% of respondent's chose the parental care option at part one, with 94% choosing to have the child remain in foster care at part two. The manipulated variables were found to have no significant statistical effect. However, three underlying hypotheses were found to underpin decisions; (a) child rescue, (b), kinship defence and (c) a hedged position on calculation of risk subject to further assessment.Reasoning strategies utilised by social workers to support their decision making suggest that they tend to selectively interpret information either positively or negatively to support pre-existing underlying hypotheses. This finding is in 2 keeping with the literature on 'confirmation bias'. The research further draws attention to the need to incorporate open questions in quantitative studies, to help guard against surface reading of data, which often does not 'speak for itself.'

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Section: Professional Decisions and Confirmation Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

In and out of home care decisions: The influence of confirmation bias in developing decision supportive reasoning

Spratt

Devaney

Hayes

2015

Child Abuse & Neglect

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“…They argue from the research evidence that effective child and family assessment 'needs to move beyond the simple collection of information (that is, a record of what happened) to a consideration of why…it requires the social worker to understand and analyse the information' (p. 101). Such analysis can be enhanced by applying theoretical frameworks (Brandon et al, 2008); different types of reason (rational and intuitive) (Reder and Duncan, 2004;Munro, 2010); and reflective evaluation (Holland, 2010).…”

Section: Implications For Child and Family Social Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a critical ecology of child development in social work: aligning the theories of Bronfenbrenner and Bourdieu

Houston

2017

Families, Relationships and Societies

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Bronfenbrenner’s model of bio-ecological development has been utilised widely within the social sciences, in the field of human development, and in social work. Yet, while championing the rights of marginalised families and communities, Bronfenbrenner had under-theorised the role of power, agency and structure in shaping the ‘person–context’ interrelationship, life opportunities and social wellbeing. To respond to this deficit, this article first outlines Bronfenbrenner’s ‘person, process, context and time’ model. It then seeks to loosely align aspects of Bronfenbrenner’s model with Bourdieu’s analytical categories of habitus, field and capital. It is argued that these latter categories enable social workers to develop a critical ecology of child development, taking account of power and the interplay between agency and structure. The implications of the alignment for child and family social work are considered in the final section.

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“…This guidance, known as the 'Orange Book', remained in place until the publication of the (DH et al, 2000) which followed the introduction of the Children Act 1989. The new assessment framework (AF) was explicitly 'evidence-based', drawing extensively on research findings (DH et al, 2000;Holland, 2010) and was designed to 'provide a systematic way of analysing, understanding and recording what is happening to children and young people within their families and the wider context in which they live ' (DH et al, 2000: 8).…”

Section: Social Work Assessment In England and Norway: Structures Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An international literature review by Stewart and Thompson (2004) regarding human decision making in the child protection system, stressed social workers' faults and errors in reasoning, corresponding with Tversky and Kahneman's classic work on errors in reasoning (1974). Even the best professional is a "victim" of human heuristics: thinking in categories, over estimating individual features of cases, remembering new experiences more clearly than older ones, etc (see also Holland, 2010). Taken together, these points perhaps suggest that practice might be better served by reliance on more 'scientific' or actuarial approaches.…”

Section: Professional Judgement: Comparing Two Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of professional judgement in social work assessment: a comparison between Norway and England

Samsonsen

Turney

2016

European Journal of Social Work

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Child & Family Assessment in Social Work Practice

Cited by 71 publications

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In and out of home care decisions: The influence of confirmation bias in developing decision supportive reasoning

In and out of home care decisions: The influence of confirmation bias in developing decision supportive reasoning

Towards a critical ecology of child development in social work: aligning the theories of Bronfenbrenner and Bourdieu

The role of professional judgement in social work assessment: a comparison between Norway and England

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