We report on a study about a fictional social work case conducted with 152 students in Belgium, in which we developed a rhetorical analysis of the ‘terministic screens’ used in writing reports. Other child welfare practice, policy, and research implications are discussed. Field reports are most often assigned in disciplines of the applied social sciences [e.g., social work, anthropology, gerontology, criminal justice, education, law, the health care professions] where it is important to build a bridge of relevancy between the theoretical concepts learned in the classroom and the practice of actually doing the work … These findings suggest both teaching- and research-oriented programs could employ the proposed writing and research assessment manual, as well as a writing and research lab/center for improving writing and research skills among their students. Our findings revealed that these networks were able to realize a ‘collaborative advantage’ by filling in service gaps and by overcoming fragmentation of care. Children fall within the bounds of all human rights treaties but, because of their unique biological, economic and social dependency, children need extra care and protection and these are enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Other essentials of the course include Exposure Visits, Internship, Community Work, Case Work, Group Work… Technology and concerns about defensive practice are also changing the nature of social work recording. This is evidenced in two ways; first patterns of practice in child welfare cases are similar to those in child protection cases. Uit de literatuur blijkt dat continuïteit een complex concept is, dat The case is made in such a way that a participatory approach of child and family social work demands more attention to the practice of writing reports. In contrast to their disillusion with traditional political activity, people across a range of groups have gained strength and encouragement from campaigning achievements. This paper reports on a research dealing with how the participative paradigm comes to the fore in the practice of report writing in the work with looked-after children. Internationally, parental engagement is considered crucial in child welfare practice in terms of client change and the potential to improve client outcomes. D.) in Social Work --University of Melbourne, 1995. (2001) Child protection: lessons As importantly, while empowerment remains in the domain of those who seek to empower themselves, a new ground has opened-up during this period for professionals, particularly from the fields of health and welfare, who seek to empower others.This paper examines the emergence of empowerment as pro fessional practice and argues that the ubiquitous presence of empower ment in current health and welfare discourses has important regulatory as well as liberatory implications for potential empowerment 'candi dates' and for practitioners, which may jeopardise the possibilities of maintaining a critical meaning for the term. The description of younger children is mainly structured by developmental norms and assumptions. The analysis reveals a tension between professionals' commitment towards parents on the one hand, and the way professionals take up this commitment in an expert role on the other. Group Leadership: Reflections from the Field, Social Work Areas of Concentration. In this respect, the social worker is not only a social worker but also a moral worker. van de jongeren verfijnden we het bestaande model van continuïteit. Rather than providing a definitive model for understanding language, I suggest that such an approach expands the conceptual landscape for exploring language and difference in social work. The interpretation of the UNCRC from the point of view of children's legal status emphasises the autonomy of children; the focus is on the rights that children possess. Sage Publications, London. In my experience, the group project experience is deliberately intended to foster academic and professional growth, and cultivate collaborative skills and attitudes, with the success of the group hinging primarily on the completion of an end-product, with that product often evaluated by a third party or authority. UNICEF International Child Development Centre, Geneva. Analysis of language and discourse in social sciences has become increasingly popular over the past thirty years. Listening to children and young people is for social workers a legal requirement, it is also believed to lead to better outcomes and is increasingly promoted in policy. De vraag over de machtsverdeling staat in deze modellen centraal (Dedding, Jurrius, Moonen, & Rutjes, 2013;Hart, 1992; ... A paradigm shift has occurred in child protection practice towards recognising families as partners in decision-making and engaging them in the assessment process (Crea & Berzin, 2009;Darlington, Healy, & Feeney, 2010;Roose, Roets, Van Houte, Vandenhole, & Reynaert, 2013;Saint-Jacques, Drapeau, Lessard, & Beaudoin, 2006). •exploration of the ways in which professionals can examine their own practice and uncover the discursive, narrative and rhetorical methods that they use. The groups discussed in this writing are 1) task, 2) counseling, and 3) psychotherapy group work in social work as distinguished by R.K. Conyne.1. However, despite the burgeoning policy and research attention, the meaning of partnership in practice remains unclear. Case histories of people with learning difficulties tend to privilege information that is useful to professionals, such as IQ and medical diagnosis. How to Begin. In doing that, they construct new meanings and create new perspectives.The role of dialogue in child development is used to understand this underlying process of social work. Increasingly, groups such as disabled people, older people and mental health service users/survivors are taking part in activity which marks a shift of focus to include both self-help and campaigning. In the study reported here we examine how child protection workers make decisions about removing children and subsequently initiating court proceedings. recommendations and, occasionally, enforcement action. I contend that this language inculcates an individual and social passivity in which citizens rely upon various types of representatives to constitute health care for them in a manner in which they do not and cannot participate. In child welfare and protection, the issue of normative judgement in (risk) assessment and documentation is an essential area for exploration for social workers. Instead, we show how social workers can use their experience and skills to develop effective working relationships and still achieve their intended outcomes without blaming or shaming parents. In this language and practice power is a force exercised by one actor to enforce its will against another actor against whom power is exerted. In pursuing a formal inquiry the social worker is conducting a moral search: the social worker has to determine the moral character of the client and the circumstances around his/her handling of his/her own financial situation. Behavioral modeling by the counselor is emphasized. Framing the 'child at risk in social work reports: Truth-telling or storytelling? Genuine and effective participation depends on several conditions: opportunity and choice in ways to participate, access to relevant information, the availability of a trusted advocate, proper resourcing, and supportive policy and legislation. UNICEF International Child Development Centre Writing Skills for Social Workers. Counseling groups tend to be occupied with themes and tasks of growth, enhancement, prevention, and development in the here-and-now, whereas psychotherapy groups may be more invested in treatment, remediation, and transformations in personality structure, with goals surrounding the alleviation of psychological problems and working with both the past and present.1. It is for this reason that there should be gradually increasing opportunities for children to participate in any aspiring democracy, and particularly in those nations already convinced that they are democratic. Still, there are many social work essay topics students can write about. The confidence and competence to be involved must be gradually acquired through practice. As social work is essentially a language-centred activity, report writing is a core skill in social work. Indeed, of the structuralist work that currently exists with its emphasis on the relationship between deprivation and child abuse, this relationship has yet to be empirically tested within the UK. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is presented and understood as the primary reference point regarding questions of children's rights. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a Frame of Reference for Pedagogical Action, Context‐contingent decision‐making in child protection practice, Whose Agenda? Inspection comprises gathering, corroborating and evaluating information against declared welfare standards, leading to inspection reports, This article explores how social work as a discipline has helped to negotiate professional agency in decision-making within the restructured child protection system. We argue that social workers’ identities revolve around being competent members of their professional community by working within the recommended guidelines and keeping children safe. A case is made for augmenting the existing knowledge base on language with a multidisciplinary approach to language that incorporates bilingual perspectives. Using intertextual analysis, I examine these final statements and utilize the concepts of voice and direct and indirect reported speech. This has led to a situation of ‘network euphoria’ amongst practitioners and policymakers with regard to the creation of networks as a means to (re-)organize welfare provision. By examining caring practices in situations marked by potentially conflicting values, interests and needs in this particular social and political context, the article contributes to illuminating how changes in the relations between the state, family and child on a macro level, are reflected in the way care is practised on a micro level. Dealing with this complexity therefore requires reflexivity of social workers regarding their perceptions and interpretations at stake in practice. The aim was to find out to what extent the reorganization of youth care could contribute to a social service that enhances a dignified existence for their clients and contributes to a participative care. The findings, from two file analyses and interviews with 26 social workers, indicate that such an influence is indeed apparent. Access scientific knowledge from anywhere. It is seen that children are often minor characters in the assessment reports. This book takes the informal world as the starting point for the development of more insights in this world. Basingstoke, Hampshire & New York. Task groups are generally structured within professional, academic, political, or advocacy parameters and not designed to meet the socioemotional needs of members. Through these observations, we saw many examples of key participatory practice skills such as empathy, collaboration and involvement in decision making. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 269-286). Conversely, the social-political interpretation of the UNCRC addresses the question of how the rights of children can be realised. Negotiating 'professional agency': Social work and decision-making within the Ontario child welfare... Child Protection Assessment: An Ecological Perspective. When someone speaks or acts, what are they really sharing? Effects of cross-level interactions are also examined. Despite its significance, little empirical research has been carried out on writing in professional practice. Analysing Discourse : Textual Analysis for Social Research / N. Fairclough. Compliance is not predictive Writing may be a fundamental skill, but it is … Feedback from children and young people is also required to indicate whether it is happening. One remedy is a social work-focused writing course. Reflection forms a central part of social work practice and education, and it is particularly important for social workers in placement settings or newlyqualified social workers (D'cruz et al, 2007; Parker, 2010). As such, members are likely to organize around or be assigned to task groups based on their skills, expertise, or resources rather than commonality of psychosocial experiences or shared personal issues. The role of social workers is similar to that of parents, to help their clients to find the words that enable them to reposition themselves. The way in which the child welfare system is organised and operates in Flanders is very different to the one in operation in England. Toward the development of my work as this support group’s facilitator, I have come to prize Roth’s assertion that “a healthy group engages conflict with an appreciation that the conflict affects the group as a whole…with some members carrying the conflict and others metabolizing the conflict so that the whole group is able to resolve the conflict.4”. 2015;Broadhurst et al. Participation of children and parents is a central notion in child and family social work. The purpose of this engaging study is to increase awareness of language and discourse in order to help develop better practice in social work. The purpose of this report is to reflect my experience on our group assignment. Findings indicate the decisive element in successful engagement is most related to the personal characteristics and communication skills of the worker, especially their ability to create a trusting climate at the beginning of the relationship and maintain supportive communication throughout the working process. •analysis of the language and construction used in typical case studies of everyday social work practice In discussing the implications of the findings, it is argued that more use needs to be made of quantitative methods in social work research in order to identify and understand more fully the influence of structural factors on issues relating to family and childcare. Despite it being recognised that the way forward for social workers is to work in partnership with parents, ... Social workers in the field often work with diverse, vulnerable clients seeking help, and they must engage in comprehensive written documentation such as assessment reports, treatment plans, progress notes, referral, grant proposals, and other mandatory reports to governmental entities (Badger, 2010). The involvement of parents within child and family social work has become an important research topic during the past few decades. It has been repeatedly stated that the topic of network effectiveness has often been neglected. Healy, K. & Mulholland, J. In family settings stories, photographs and memory objects support narratives of identity and belonging. Whether family groups, committees, work teams, therapeutic groups, etc. In this context, registration and data recording are becoming an important condition for the funding of social work organisations Praktijk en Participation would mean much more than casting a vote or writing a check but would also include the mutual sharing of time and energy in the tasks that need to be done: long-term and short-term care, practices of prevention, caring for the chronically ill, and monitoring bureaucratic and professional activities. Social work is a field of study in social sciences. Through coaching sessions, we explored how and why workers used different approaches and discussed the barriers to adopting a more consistently participatory approach. In social case work an individual, group, situation orphenomena is recognized as a unit of study and various aspects of the unity are studiedproperly. When students with a social work degree are asked to write essays, they are usually tasked to write a social work personal essay or a social work application essay. Our goal was to present the … Children, London. meer dan twee jaar in de jeugdhulpverlening aflegden, werd gevraagd naar hun beleving van continuïteit. Language Practices in Social Work: Categorisation and Accountability in Child Welfare, Introduction : Inquiry and Participation in Search of a World Worthy of Human Aspiration, The will to empower: Technologies of citizenship and the war on poverty, Images of Encounters in Social Work - with a Focus on Social Interaction, Morality and Gender, Representing Children in Child Protection Assessments, Participation, Power, Conflict and Change: Theorizing Dynamics of Service User Participation in the Social Care System of England and Wales, Liberation and Regulation? According to the social approach of recovery, the question of what support and care mean for people with "mental health problems" into their everyday life requires a continuous and structurally embedded dialogue between service users and professionals. A common conceptualization of the small group drawn from the social work literature is as "a social system consisting of two or more persons who stand in status and role relationships with one another … Healy, K. & Mulholland, J. This can challenge the preconceptions, not just of individual workers, but of agencies and of national policy-makers. This paper explores a citizen-based approach to social work which may counter modern negative managerialist pressures on practice. We report on a qualitative study conducted with 152 social work students in which we explore how they construct reports. Students often find report writing on their own challenging, and group writing can be even more … The review explores the effectiveness of the following processes: The use of advocates; a child's attendance at an assessment, planning or review meeting; Family Welfare Conferences; and recording a child's views in writing. This chapter explores the design of the Vertrouwencentrum fur Kindermishandling (the VK agency) as well as how it deals with child protection referrals. Often, we found the same worker would adopt a participatory approach with one family and a non-participatory approach with another. jeugdhulpverlening aan te toetsen. Social service group projects target a particular issue in a community such as elder care, abandoned and abused children, domestic violence or teen pregnancy. Although instructors express concerns about social work students writing skills, little research has been conducted. 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