Showing papers in "British Journal of Social Work in 2002"

Rethinking Empowerment: A Postmodern Reappraisal for Emancipatory Practice

Abstract: This article is concerned with the implications of the postmodern challenge to critical theory for the practice of empowerment. How do we conceptualize empowerment from a postmodern perspective? It is argued that the modernist concept of power upon which empowerment rests, can have unintended disempowering effects. By conceptualizing power as a commodity, identities are forced into a powerful–powerless dualism which does not always do justice to diverse experiences. Thus we can sometimes contribute to dominance in spite of our liberatory intentions. It is argued that social workers need to become more aware of the self-disciplining and self-regulatory processes involved in professional work to address the social relations of power embedded in professional practices. Foucault's analysis of how marginalized knowledges are affected by dominant cultural practices suggests a redefining of empowerment as the insurrection of subjugated knowledge. The implications of this redefinition for practice is illustrated by reference to work with indigenous people in Australia.

A Code of Ethics for Social Work and Social Care Research

Abstract: This Critical Commentary is the final product of the Economic and Social Research Council sponsored seminar series, Theorising Social Work Research to appear in the BJSW. The special edition of the British Journal of Social Work published in August 2000 carried several key papers arising from the seminar series as well as reports of some of the events themselves. The responsibility for drafting the Code of Ethics for Social Work and Social Care Research fell to me and although discussed at the Luton Seminar and at the final conference in Manchester, the text presented here is much as it first appeared. This is simply to reaffirm that it has no particular status and is reproduced in the Journal as a prompt to further discussion, precisely the purpose it was to serve for the seminar series. Before reproducing the Code, it might be helpful to revisit some of the main points which were raised in the paper presented at the Luton Seminar which set the context for the Code (Butler, 2000).

Virtue Ethics and Social Work: Being Lucky, Realistic, and not Doing ones Duty

Abstract: Summary This article argues that in a complex socio-political world, social work ethics needs to re-cast the moral identity of the social worker in terms of virtue ethics. We review virtue theory’s Aristotelian foundations and criticisms of Kantian and utilitarian theory and show how they apply to social work. Subsequently we offer an account of a virtuebased social work that questions the validity of several models of practice currently fashionable. Virtue theory emphasizes the priority of the individual moral agent who has acquired virtues commensurate with the pursuit of a revisable conception of the good life—the well-being of all in a defined community. The virtues are the acquired inner qualities of humans—character—the possession of which, if applied in due measure, will typically contribute to the realization of the good life or ‘eudaimonia’. The role of the virtuous social worker is shown to be one that necessitates appropriate application of intellectual and practical virtues such as justice, reflection, perception, judgement, bravery, prudence, liberality and temperance. This ‘self-flourishing’ worker,

Social Work: Gender, Care and Justice

Abstract: This article, in examining gender and justice, seeks to examine the relationship between feminist theory and social work. Specifically it reviews writings on social work ethics and suggests that little attention has been paid to feminist scholarship that resonates with social work practice. Focusing primarily on community care, it demonstrates how debates within feminism have become more complex and have problematized understandings of both care and justice. It argues that for social work it is unhelpful to dichotomize justice and care; we should aspire to just social work practice.

Poverty, Social Work and Social Justice

Abstract: Summary The concept of social justice has become a common part of the political lexicon in recent years, with New Labour identifying it as a key goal of its social strategy. In this article, I set out my understanding of what the elements of a social justice programme should look like and apply it to the performance of the New Labour government in the policy area which has traditionally presented a major challenge to social workers, the issue of poverty. Finally, I raise some questions about what this analysis means for the future role of social work shaped by values of social justice.

Paedophiles, Pornography and the Internet: Assessment Issues

Abstract: Summary As yet, little is understood of the potential problems and benefits associated with Internet use, and the resulting social outcomes that may arise. This article examines issues that emerged out of a subset of nine interviews with social workers and probation officers, namely the feelings by such practitioners that they did not understand the function of the Internet for adults with a sexual interest in children. The analysis of these data is not examined in detail, rather an attempt is made to address the issues raised through a discussion of the role of child pornography, how it is accessed through the Internet and what implications this might have for assessment. The data are drawn from ongoing research by the COPINE (Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe) Project. For the last five years the COPINE (Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe) project at University College Cork, Ireland, has been engaged in research on child pornography on the Internet and its use by adults sexually interested in children. The project has very close links with the law enforcement community in both Europe and North America. A more detailed overview ofthe project and its research in relation to child pornography can be found in Taylor et al. (2001a). As part of that research, both offenders and practitioners (probation officers, social workers and police) have been interviewed and the ensuing transcripts analysed within a qualitative framework. This ‘applied’ discourse analysis (see Willig, 1999 and Wood and Kroger, 2000 for further discussion of this approach) was also informed by Hollway and Jefferson’s (2000) guidelines for both interviewing and analysing data with defended subjects. The work is ongoing, but this paper focuses

Managing Human Services in a Market Environment: What Role for Social Workers?

Abstract: International research suggests that the market reform of human services is leading to reduced opportunities for social workers to achieve organizational management positions. This paper explores the future of social workers as managers of human service organizations. It examines the tensions between the social justice principles that guide social work and the emerging contexts of social welfare management. The exploration draws on in-depth interviews with thirty-four social welfare managers working in the non-profit sector in Australia. These managers were identified by their peers as progressive, that is, as championing social justice values such as access, equity and social inclusion. This paper will report on their approaches to social welfare management and their perceptions of the threats and opportunities for progressive management practices in a climate of public sector reform. The paper will consider how social work educators can better prepare service professionals for social welfare management positions

The Social Construction of Street Children: Configuration and Implications

Abstract: Summary This article analyses the literature on street children, and identifies patterns of descrip tions, characterizations and explanations of the origin of the phenomenon. It is argued that the discourses on street children naturalize social deprivation and stigmatize poor families and children. Street life is presented as the outcome of an organic and linear chain of adverse factors including migration, economic hardship, family dysfunction and child abuse. Street children and their families are portrayed as displaying socially unacceptable attributes which place them outside mainstream society. It is also argued that the social construction of street children prompts interventions which sustain the status quo of social inequalities. It is suggested that a potential way to move forward is to employ these arguments along with other perspectives in a communal reflexive exercise, as the foundation for the co-creation of a new future for children and adoles cents.

New Labour, Social Justice and Children: Political Calculation and the Deserving‐Undeserving Schism

Abstract: Summary Within a context of national prosperity and relative economic strength, poverty and inequality is rife in the UK. This paper considers the broad contours of such social injustice, before sharpening the focus to examine the specificities of child poverty. The New Labour government has made an 'historic pledge' to end child poverty within a generation. The paper traces the key policy initiatives that are being directed to this end and, by drawing on the latest research evidence, it attempts to assess their early impact. Whilst it is acknowledged that the government's social justice agenda has made some progress in 'tackling' child poverty, it is further proposed that a more rigorous redistributive approach is required if substantial and sustainable improvements are to be made. Furthermore, it is argued that the social justice agenda is conditioned by wider political calculations, which limit its scope. In this way the imperative to be seen to be 'tough on crime' has meant that policy responses to children in trouble have taken a distinctive and increasingly punitive form. By developing the argument that New Labour's electoral ambitions have led it to re-engage with a specious 'deserving' 'undeserving' conceptual dichotomy, the paper assesses the implications for the treatment of child 'offenders' in particular, and the broader social justice project more generally.

Taking Rights Structurally: Disability, Rights and Social Worker Responses to Direct Payments

Abstract: Summary This article examines the link between a justice and rights discourse and disability policy and practice. Specifically, it considers social worker responses to direct pay ments, a policy which has been linked to a discourse of social justice and rights. The article initially considers the nature of justice and rights, arguing that these can plausibly be seen to be grounded in the idea of autonomy and that a rights or justice based social policy and practice must be grounded in the protection, enhancement and development of the capacity for autonomous action. The article then presents partial findings of a research project, which sampled social workers' views and attitudes towards direct payments in three local authorities. The findings suggest that social workers are aware of the link between direct payments and autonomy and are generally very supportive of the move to a rights based approach to policy and practice as evidenced by programmes such as direct payments. The paper also concludes that structural constraints limit social workers' ability to fully function from a rights based approach to disability.

Social Work and Social Justice in Northern Ireland: Towards a New Occupational Space

Abstract: Summary This article considers the concept of social justice by reference to the experience of social work in Northern Ireland during the past forty years of communal, paramilitary and state violence. It notes the contested nature of the concept and its chequered history within the professional ideology of social work generally and its absence as a significant explanatory and motivational concept for social workers in Northern Ireland to date. It argues that in the emerging post-conflict situation social work as a profession needs to operationalize a view of social justice that acknowledges social and cultural diversity in order to redefine the profession itself and direct its relationship to both the state and civil society.

Adolescents Who Sexually Abuse and Residential Accommodation: Issues of Risk and Vulnerability

Abstract: This article, arising out of quantitative and qualitative research studies conducted by the authors, begins with a brief overview of current knowledge about male adolescent sexual abusers and associated policies, procedures and services. A particular concern raised by professionals and welfare agencies, who are struggling to develop appropriate responses to young sexual abusers, concerns the circumstances and problems of young people who are placed in residential accommodation as a result of their sexually abusive behaviour, often where there are also child victims of sexual abuse. The vulnerability of young sexual abusers and the risk they pose to others is considered in the light of the findings of qualitative research by one of the authors into the construction and control of children and their sexualities in residential children's homes. This research suggests that the inadequate ways in which sexual behaviour in children's homes is perceived and managed, serves to compound the problems of both the sexually abusive and non-abusive adolescents placed there. The findings from both authors' research are then theorized within broader conceptual frameworks about the nature of childhood, childhood sexuality and institutionalization and its links with peer sexual abuse.

The Changing Conditions of Social Work Research

Abstract: This paper seeks to make a contribution to the current debate about the changing nature and purpose of social work research. It identifies several approaches to social work research evident in the UK and further afield and, in particular, examines different ways of engaging with research participants in the research process. The changing role and relations of research arising from the use of more inclusive practices are then considered; first in terms of the relevance of research for practice, and secondly, in relation to knowledge claims in the development of social work theory and practice. With the ever-growing developments in information and communication technologies, where Western ideas and initiatives continue to dominate in relation to both models of social work and research approaches, an argument is made for dialogue throughout the research process, the centrality of negotiating skills and reflexivity, and a more creative use of conventional research skills. Dialogue, in the form outlined here, provides a means of encouraging a ‘connectedness’ between research, practice and theory, at all levels—the particular location where the research takes place, the wider national context and the international or global stage.

Where Does it Begin? A Comparative Perspective on the Professional Preferences of First‐year Social Work Students

Abstract: Dr Idit Weiss is a lecturer at the Bob Shapell School of Social Work at Tel Aviv University. Her primary fields of interest are the links between social policy and the social work profession, the development of social work in Israel and the professional ideologies of social workers and social work students. She is currently co-ordinating an international study of the professional preferences and ideologies of social work studies in different countries. E-mail: iditweis@post.tau.ac.il Dr John Gal is a lecturer at the Baerwald School of Social Work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His primary fields of interest are social policy in Israel and a comparative perspective. In recent years he has undertaken research on issues relating to comparative social security, unem ployment, poverty and various aspects of social policy in the Israeli welfare stae. Dr Gal has published widely in scholarly journals and has edited a number of books on social policy in Hebrew and in English. His latest volume, co-edited with Dr Asher Ben-Arieh, is entitled Into the Promised Land: Issues in the Welfare State and is published by Praeger. E-mail: msjgsw@mscc.huji.ac.il Professor Ram A. Cnaan is an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work. Dr Cnaan is the author of The Newer Deal: Social Work and Religion in Partnership (Columbia University Press, 1999) and is working on a second book The Invisible Caring Hand: American Congregations and the Provision of Welfare (Rutgers University Press). He is the Director of the Program for the Study of Organized Religion and Social Work at the University of Pennsyl vania School of Social Work. He is also Associate Director of CRRUCS (Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society), University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences. Rea Maglajlic is a Ph.D. student at the Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge, England. The theme of her Ph.D. dissertation is 'Cross-national Co-operative Inquiry in Social Work Education . She is currently working as a project manager for a Tempus project in Bosnia Herzegovina on Community Mental Health. E-mail: reima-ana.maglajlic@zg.tel.hr

Creating Spaces: Exploring the Role of Cultural Knowledge as a Source of Empowerment in Models of Social Welfare in Black Communities

Abstract: Summary Research data continue to indicate that black communities are disproportionately rep resented across social welfare statistics. The Macpherson Report (1999) considered the impact of institutional racism and the various ways in which these contingencies affect the life chances of black families and individuals. Black community-based organizations have responded to these challenges through culturally constructed interpretative frameworks in shaping and defining social welfare activities. Through a critical reading of cultural elements and products they have utilized cultural knowledge as a source and means of empowerment. These are important sites of empowerment that reject deficit approaches to embrace culturally affirming models located in cultural know ledge and lived experiences. In this way, black communities have engaged in an active process of revitalization, cultural renewal and regeneration. This article explores models of social welfare in black community-based organizations and draws on a research study conducted by the author, which examines the role and saliency of cul tural knowledge in shaping social welfare delivery. Research findings reveal the ways in which black agency is sometimes located in culturally constructed ways to reflect on daily lives and experiences. Cultural knowledge acted as a vehicle in framing action orientated communal strategies for social and educational change.

Closing the Circle: Social Workers' Responses to Multi‐Agency Procedures on Older Age Abuse

Abstract: Summary This paper reports findings from a project which examined how inter-agency proced ures on older age abuse in domestic settings were used in one local authority. Observa tions about the use of procedures and about practice with older people who had been abused are placed in the context of national policy developments and are reviewed alongside the available literature. The research questions the extent to which guidance is effective in providing direction for practitioners who encounter older age abuse, and how well guidance and practice combine to protect victims.

Caring for Citizenship

Abstract: Summary Official articulations of caring are socially constructed by their emergence from particu lar contexts. As a consequence, the political positioning of caring has the potential to vary in accordance with changes in welfare regimes. In Britain, a paradigm shift has occurred. In the social democratic welfare state, caring was a taken-for-granted resource to which social services were added. Following the community care reforms of the early 1990s, caring is the core resource and is seen as requiring management by social workers. Caring arrangements in households are actively identified, publicly negotiated, carefully organized and subject to formal agreements about the scope and nature of the care provided, often with the goal of averting service provision. This paradigm shift was an integral component in the formulation of the community care reforms by the New Right. It emerged from a concept of citizenship in which depend ency was to be avoided and support by informal carers came to the fore. New Labour has consolidated the shift and refined its ideological basis. Caring is an expression of citizenship obligation. What carers do should be properly recognised. Carers should be able to take pride in what they do. And in turn, we should take pride in carers. I am deter mined to see that they do—and that we all do. (Prime Minister, in HM Government 1999, p. 4) At first sight, this quotation is an example of Tony Blair preaching with energy and integrity about an ethical issue to 'the British people'. His statement implies that carers simply exist, that caring is a natural state of affairs and that caring is waiting to be accorded wider recognition by a consensus of all right-thinking people. The stance taken in what follows is somewhat different. . Such articulations of caring are socially constructed. They are embedded in and emerge from particular contexts. The political positioning of caring, and the subject position of carer, has the potential to vary with changes in welfare regimes. Rather

The Role and Achievements of a Professional Association in the Late Twentieth Century: The British Association of Social Workers 1970–2000

Abstract: Malcolm Payne, Professor and Head of Applied Community Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, is a founder, and continuing member of the British Association of Social Workers He has worked in probation, social services and the national and local voluntary sector He is the author of many books and articles, most recently Modern Social Work Theory (2nd edn, Macmillan, 1997), Teamwork in Multiprofessional Care (Macmillan, 2000) and, among his publications associ ated with BASW, What is Professional Social Work? (Venture, 1996) and Anti-Bureaucratic Social Work (Venture, 2000)

Yes Minister: Reviewing the ‘Looking After Children’ Experience and Identifying the Messages for Social Work Research

Abstract: The heavily promoted Looking After Children: Good Parenting, Good Outcomes (LAC) project continues to exert a powerful influence on social work in the UK and elsewhere. Despite the repeated assertions that the documentation associated with LAC is embed ded in 'objective' research, this not sustainable on account of the failure of the researchers to interrogate their own normative assumptions and judgements. Specific criticisms can also be levelled at the 'community study' connected to the evolution of the Action and Assessment Records (AARs) which are the key part of the scheme. The system should also be viewed in the context of wider pre-occupations about 'out comes'. In addition, the project needs to be politically situated and the researchers' relationship with the Department of Health should be more fully explored. In conclu sion, it is suggested that the LAC experience contains important 'messages' for the future of social work research.

The 1998 Children's Act: Problems of Enforcement in Ghana

Abstract: Summary In Ghana during 1998 the Children's Act passed into law. This legislation was imitative of Britain's 1989 Children Act, to which it bears a close resemblance. However, due to the very different socio-economic and cultural context of Ghana, implementation of the 1998 Children's Act is problematic. This paper examines the similarity in the provi sions between the British and Ghanaian Acts and explores the social, economic and cultural factors most immediately impacting on child welfare in Ghana. Consideration is then given to the criticisms of African scholars in relation to rights based approaches to intervention. Finally, alternative courses of action to protect children and maintain their welfare are considered which are more consonant with the specific socio economic and cultural setting of Ghana.

What Lies Underneath? An Inter‐organizational Analysis of Collaboration between Education and Social Work

Abstract: This paper draws upon qualitative data from a study that examines inter-professional and inter-agency collaboration in special educational needs assessments. It is shown that, despite the attempts of a number of government policies to intensify and enhance such interactions, collaborative activities in this field continue to be limited in extent and poor in quality. A number of possible explanations for these findings are explored and analysed within an inter-organizational theoretical framework. Although effective and frequent inter-agency collaboration has proven to be difficult, it is argued that this is not an unattainable goal, and recommendations are offered in the last section.

The Experience and Practice of Approved Social Workers in Northern Ireland

Abstract: Roger Manktelow, is a lecturer in social work at the University of Ulster, Magee College, Derry; Phil Hughes is an assistant principal social worker with lead responsibility for mental health train ing in Homefirst and Causeway Trusts, Co Antrim; Frank Britton is an approved social worker and senior social worker in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh; Jim Campbell is a lecturer in social work at the Queens University Belfast; Bernadette Hamilton is a senior social worker and coordinator of the approved social work training programme in Northern Ireland; George Wilson is now M.S.W. Course Co-ordinator at Queens University Belfast and was an assistant principal social worker and lead trainer in mental health in the Southern Health and Social Services Board at the time of the research.

Developing a Sensitive Practitioner Research Methodology for Studying the Impact of Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract: Summary This paper outlines the methodology of a research study which used unstructured life story interviewing to explore the impact of child sexual abuse on the lives of seven young men aged between 15 and 24 (see Durham, 1999). In approaching this research, a theoretical relationship was established between ethnography (particularly a life story approach), feminist praxis, anti-oppressive research and social work practitioner research. Researching experiences of child sexual abuse is stressful for all concerned, and requires a methodology which establishes a safe environment, which facilitates an expression and discussion of painful and fearful feelings and experiences, and provides appropriate on-going support. In setting up this environment and providing support, before, during and after the data collection phase, the value and importance of social work practitioner research was established. The potential influence of this on the nature of data collected was acknowledged, both as a potential cost, in terms of objec tivity, but also as a benefit, in creating a climate for the production of sensitive know ledge. It is concluded that a life-story practitioner research approach, incorporating the principles of anti-oppressive research practice, is an appropriate methodology for the study of the experience and impact of child sexual abuse, producing knowledge of substantial depth.