From communication to co‐operation: Reconceptualizing social workers' engagement with children

Abstract

Communicating and engaging with children is a foundational component of child care social work practice, but all too frequently, in the wake of serious incidents, it is the focus of criticism. Drawing on findings from a large‐scale ESRC‐funded research project conducted in the four U.K. nations, this paper explores, through a psychosocial analytic lens, how social workers anticipate, enact and reflect on their encounters with both children and their families. Close analysis of what social workers said about their practice alongside what they were observed to do in practice revealed perceptions, patterns and processes of communication that, first, minimize emotions and the complexity of the professional task and second, overly privilege verbal interaction. Drawing on Sennett's (2012) ideas this paper offers a reconceptualisation of this professional task, from a communicative to a co‐operative one. It affords and creates a space in which social workers can develop more attuned communicative practices that include rituals, gestures and the minimal use of force. The theoretical insights and evidence‐informed practice recommendations arising from this research have conceptual significance for the social work discipline and practical significance for the child care social work profession, across national and international contexts.

Being child‐centred: Factors that facilitate professional judgement and decision‐making in child protection

“…As outlined in the figure, organizational practices, relational decision‐making and availability of reflective spaces also influenced child‐centred decision‐making and professional judgement (Leonard & O'Connor, 2018; Ruch et al, 2020). Organizational practices can include access to resources and the use of procedures, tools and artefacts such as policies, whereas relational decision making, and reflective spaces included and enabled access to time and a commitment to the values and principles of child‐centred practice.…”

Facilitating children’s in-session involvement in child and family therapies: A dynamic framework of clinical practices.

“…Linguistic devices, such as hedging (mitigating language, e.g., Tables 4 and 5), are also documented as part of goal-related processes in successful therapies (Oddli et al, 2021). In emotionally loaded situations, the soothing function of mitigating language can also protect practitioners and enable them to reconcile complex situations (Ruch et al, 2020). As a result, mitigating language may adjust intensity to meet the needs of both children and practitioners, thereby facilitating the involvement of both.…”