Performing 'Initial Assessment': Identifying the Latent Conditions for Error at the Front-Door of Local Authority Children's Services

Broadhurst, Karen; Wastell, David; White, Sue; Hall, Christopher; Peckover, Sue; Thompson, Kellie; Pithouse, Andrew; Davey, Dolores

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn162

Cited by 217 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This in turn raises the thresholds for eligibility and leads to work that is fragmented and reactive, with emphasis on documentation and control rather than on support in a long-term perspective. A more dynamic client service is time-consuming so the risk is that families with complex problems that do not fit into the narrow categorisations get sorted out (Broadhurst et al, 2010;Munro, 1996). In the original study, an analysis was also done for factors associated with intervention/support (Ö stberg, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using 'Consensual Ideology': A Way to Sift Reports in Child Welfare

Östberg

2012

British Journal of Social Work

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using 'Consensual Ideology': A Way to Sift Reports in Child Welfare

Östberg

2012

British Journal of Social Work

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“…However, in practice, professional groups such as social workers are dependent on regulations and routines formulated by organizational executors (Bergmann 1988) and therefore have to combine organizational and professional knowledge to succeed. Professional decision-making in social work has also been found to deviate considerably from rational thought (Broadhurst et al 2009;Shaw et al 2009), to resemble more of a trial-and-error, intuitive process because of the ambiguity, incompleteness and contradictions of the available information (Klein 1998;van de Luitgaarden 2009), and to depend on the collective memory of the professional group (Forkby & Höjer 2011). In Swedish child protection, we also see another ingredient in decision-making, namely the political system, in the presence of laypersons on child protection committees.…”

Section: Theorizing Governance and Decision-makingmentioning

confidence: 95%

Making sense of common sense: examining the decision‐making of politically appointed representatives in Swedish child protection

Forkby

Höjer

Liljegren

2013

Child & Family Social Work

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A B S T R AC TA distinguishing feature of Swedish child protection is the direct and indirect influence on decision-making in individual cases by representatives appointed by their elected political parties. As members of local committees, they take the most interventionist and costly decisions themselves, informed by care proposals submitted by professional social workers. Other decisions are delegated to professional social workers. In direct decision-making, they are supposed to act as laypersons using their own judgement and experience, not as politicians. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse these committees, their role and responsibilities, and possible influence of politics on child protection. A mixed method was used, with a survey sent to 467 representatives, structured interviews with 99 secretaries of local committees and data drawn from national statistics. The Swedish model is discussed as a hybrid system influenced not only by professional, bureaucratic, political and market governance logics but also by laypersons. One conclusion is that although child protection is directly influenced by politics, the reverse is also true. By exposing politicians to the difficult life circumstances and societal shortcomings experienced by vulnerable children, the system can, in turn, have an impact on politics at the municipal level.

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“…Not only did such systems seem to increase the range and depth of state surveillance of children, young people, parents and professionals (Parton, 2006;2008a;Anderson et al, 2009) and undermine individual and family privacy (Roche, 2008) they did not work seem to work as intended. In particular they seemed to have the effect of: deflecting front line practitioners from their core task of working directly with children, young people and parents (Hall et al, 2010); increasing the bureaucratic demands of the work (Parton, 2008b;Broadhurst et al, 2010a;2010b); and catching practitioners in an 'iron cage of performance management' (Wastell et al, 2010).…”

Section: Baby Peter and The Re-discovery Of Child Protection And Socimentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Protection and Safeguarding in England: Changing and Competing Conceptions of Risk and their Implications for Social Work

Parton

2010

British Journal of Social Work

132

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This paper critically reflects on policy developments and debates in England in relation to child protection and safeguarding over the past twenty years. It argues that the period from the early 1990s to late 2008 saw policy change in significant ways. The state developed a much broader focus of concern about what constituted risk to children and what the role of professionals should be in relation to this; increasingy the emphasis was upon 'safeguarding' rather than 'child protection'. However, the period since late 2008 has not only seen the focus shift more centrally to child protection but there has been a renewed official priority given to social work. These developments have been given an added impetus with the election of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition government in May 2010. The paper concludes by considering the current state and possible future directions for child protection and safeguaring in England and the role of social work in this.Keywords: child protection; safeguarding; risk; social work. 2 Child Protection and Safeguarding In England: Changing and Competing Conceptions of Risk and their Implications for Social WorkThe purpose of this paper is to critically reflect upon policy developments and debates in England in relation to child protection and safeguarding over the past twenty years. I will argue that the period from the early 1990s until 2008 saw policy change in

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Performing 'Initial Assessment': Identifying the Latent Conditions for Error at the Front-Door of Local Authority Children's Services

Cited by 217 publications

References 19 publications

Using 'Consensual Ideology': A Way to Sift Reports in Child Welfare

Using 'Consensual Ideology': A Way to Sift Reports in Child Welfare

Making sense of common sense: examining the decision‐making of politically appointed representatives in Swedish child protection

Child Protection and Safeguarding in England: Changing and Competing Conceptions of Risk and their Implications for Social Work

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