Author: Andre Coleman

The literature looks previous and existing literature on how effective the local authorities are at promoting the needs of black African children and their families who are involved in the child protection system. In previous years there have been deaths of African children such Victoria Climbie and khyra Ishaq. There have also been deaths of other African children in Britain linked to witchcraft. A theme echoed by the majority of the literature is that if social work practice and policy is to prevent these tragedies there is need to understand and acknowledge different contexts of culture and diversity. The main theme is how to provide social work interventions and family support that are culturally sensitive and competent to both children and their families who are at risk of significant harm. There is need for social work professional to understand parenting practices in African families and protect children hence every child matters was implemented. The laming report (2009) set out challenges faced safeguarding children such as, training and workforce issues still need to be resolved and data systems need to be improved and there is still need improve knowledge and skills to understand children and their family circumstances. Also the laming report noted that despite the progress in inter-agency working there are still problems of day to day reality of working across organisational boundaries and culture, sharing information and lack of feedback when professionals raise concerns about a child.

In this literature review I will be focusing on black African children and their families analysing their experiences of the child protection system that have come to live in united kingdom and how the children are protected in the child protection arena. I will be paying attention to key themes and debates in research, validity and generalisability of data, gaps in research and future implications to practice. I will be using the term ‘black African’ throughout the review of literature; however I recognise that there are different races in Africa who share the same culture and beliefs.

Literature search

Material used for the literature reviewed varies; I included journals searched online, books from the library and articles from the internet and material published by the government. As I searched the online journals and books I discovered there was little material about my chosen topic and scarce research on the topic of the needs of black African children and child protection children. Most studies and literature focused on black and minority ethnics and mixed parentage children hence the proportion of black African children can be over-represented in these studies and the data cannot be generalised easily to the wider population. There is need for professionals to have knowledge about the identity and diversity of black African children and their families because Britain has seen an enormous growth of African people due globalisation and other environmental factors such as war, famine and work opportunities. However not all children from African families get involved in the child protection system.

Review of the literature

Research data and statistics on African black children are not constant and highlight mis-representations. According to the 2001 census the population of black African people was 0.8%. However, these statistics are from 2001 and the populations could have increased due to migration and the 2011 census will offer more up to date statistics. Also not everyone registers for the census especially black and minority people who are isolated and who do not have any immigration status might shy away from the census in fear of deportation. The department for education and skills (2006) estimated the number of African children in need to be 8000 in 2005. ‘this accounted for 3% of the overall total- an over-representation compared with the 2001 census in which African children made up 1.4% of the population’. Research highlights the over-representation of the African children and their families involved in the child protection system for example, data of African children is combined with afro-Caribbean children and ethnic minority children- statistical data from British children represented 5% of the children on the child protection register in 2005, but census data 2001, ‘black or black’ children made up 3% of the total population (national statistics, 2003). Research data continues to indicate that black communities are disproportionately represented across social welfare statistics (graham, 2006; barn et al 1997).

Britain has experienced a massive increase in population due to people coming into Britain for better lifestyles, escaping war, famine, torture and looking for better job opportunities. Britain has experience a rise in the number of people claiming asylum and some of them are unaccompanied asylum seeking children. When looking at experiences of black African children and their families and how to offer them appropriate intervention it is important to acknowledge diversity in terms of religion, culture, language and beliefs (Bernard and gupta 2008; gibbs and huang 2003; robinson 2007).

Research has shown that black families black African communities and ethnic communities are likely to live in poverty. There is well documented literature on social exclusion and poverty experienced by black African children which also is inclined to impact on the parenting abilities of parents. Also looking at histories and backgrounds of black African families is which add to poverty is also highlighted in research, (Bernard and gupta 2008; gibbs and huang 2003; robinson 2007). Research has shown some of the factors that affect African children and their families such as private fostering and asylum seeking, HIV/AIDS, poverty- highlighting grief, loss and separation, (Bernard and gupta 2008).

Review of the research suggest that black African children are almost twice as likely to be looked after, however some of these children will be accommodated under section 20 of the children act 1989 due to being unaccompanied asylum seeking children (Bernard and gupta 2008; robinson 2007; barn 1993). Jones 2001, highlights the conflict between the children act 1989 and immigration legislation and policy and Jones argues that ‘social work profession singularly failed to provide critical scrutiny on the status and relationship of immigration and child care law and the erosion of children’s rights’. The number of refugee children arriving in uk is arising annually and the vulnerability of refugee children has legal, emotional and practical aspects (woodcock, 2003; chase, 2009). There is substantial evidence to indicate that many refugee children and young people from different cultures manifest symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems (Hodes, 2000, 2002; Ehntholt and Yule, 2006; Dyregrov and Yule, 2006).Research on social work with unaccompanied children is limited (kohli and mather 2003). Research also states that there is risk of alienating black children in care by not meeting their emotional and psychological needs due to no contact with community with same culture, family and lack of black workers (bran et al 1997 pg 9). However, available research data paint a complex and contradictory picture and data is combined with other minority ethnic children

Analysis of literature draws attention to that the way black African families parent their children and their daily lives had been neglected in many studies in child welfare literature and there is little empirical evidence especially about African parenting in Britain (Bernard, 2002 graham 2006). Research has looked at cultural values and how they influence parenting in African families involved with the child protection system (brophy et al 2003). Literature highlights that there is need to look at kin-ship and extended families. Family structures have been changed due to globalisation, war and other social factors. There is few research data on impact of culture, gender ideology, socio-economic status and religious belief influencing parenting and also notions of what constitutes harmful behaviour. The few data that exist states that; cultural practices appear to play some part in African children being involved in the child protection system, (mama 2004). Barn et al 2006 challenge popular myth and stereotype that some cultural groups have more punitive punishment practices. They found no significant differences between ethnic groups with regard to physical punishment of children-thoburn et al 2005 pg 83 agree. Nobes and smith 1997’s study of physical punishment by parents found physical punishment was universal in the 99 two parent families and Thompson et al 2002 found that 67 mothers in new forest are of England reported diverse behaviour management tactics and mothers who used physical punishment reported less behavioural problems in their children than mothers used reasoning. This supports the challenge the stereotypes that cultural groups have more punitive punishment practices because the majority of the above studies involved parenting by white culture in the United Kingdom. Studies on parenting by other black and ethnic cultures are scarce and there is need for research. A growing body of literature emphasises the importance of appreciating the social contexts of parenting and lived experiences of African children for making sense of child maltreatment (Holland 2004, Robinson 2007).

Black perspective is based on the notion of common experiences that black people in Britain share and it is critical of oppressive research paradigm and theoretical formulations that have a potential oppressive effect on black people, (Robinson 2007). An understanding of black frame of reference will enable social work professionals to come up with more accurate and comprehensive assessments of African black children involved with the child protection system, (Robinson 2007).

Ecological perspective is important in analysis of impacts of poverty, discrimination, immigration and social isolation on black and minority children (gibbons and huang 2003 pg 3). However there is the danger of over-generalisation and stereotyping because individual members of a culture may vary greatly from the pattern that is typical within that culture (Robinson 1998)

Research argues that postmodern theories have gained a strong foothold in the profession of social work (pease and fook 1999; learnard 1997). However Their tenets have been strongly contested by those demanding a more complex understanding of identity, i.e., one that links the personal with the structural or collective elements of human existence alongside the individual ones (Dominelli 2002; graham 2002) and those drawing on the idea that what holds people together are what they share in common or their sameness (Badiou 2001). The lack of appropriate preventative suppoirt servives and lack of understanding of cultural of black families often result in social work operating against the interests of black children (barn 1993, graham 2002)

Anti-discriminatory perspectives and incorporation of knowledge from service users

Social workers contribute to the perpetuation of oppression through their practice by directly or indirectly engaging in structural oppression – its institutional and cultural forms that are integral elements in the ways in which social relations in a globalising world have been organised, (dominelli 2007). Key to eliminating structural forms of racism is that of addressing the issue of binary dyads that reaffirm racist dynamics rather than challenging them. Nonetheless, resistance to its perpetuation is evident in many of the responses by service users and practitioners. Social work educators and practitioners have much more to contribute to the elimination of oppression. (dominelli 2007). Social work has operated within a problem oriented framework which is characterised by deficit and dysfunctional theories of black families (Robinson 2008). Dominelli (1992) argues that black children and families are over-represented in the controlling aspects of social work and under-represented in the welfare aspects of social work.

Problems with communication and working in partnership have been highlighted in literature. Fifty-four young people participated in the research. Chase, 2009 study-The majority (80 per cent) of participants were identified through a single London local Authority, Young people often described complex relationships with social workers and other social care professionals and were also more mistrustful of the interplay between social care and immigration services: Hellen, from Ethiopia, said:

Sometimes they don’t understand you when you are sad. They keep asking you questions. It makes me angry, it makes me want to shout. It makes me remember all the bad things and they don’t understand that. If they ask me (questions) I will suffer for months. The positioning of social workers within the asylum system is a difficult one to negotiate. They are expected to apply social care principles such as ‘the best interests of the child’, yet work within very clear organisational boundaries and regulatory codes-frequently dictated by resource and funding limitations.

The Climbie inquiry (laming 2003) highlights the challenges faced by local authorities when developing information-sharing indexes for keeping insight of the children who are on the margins of society and whose lives are characterised by transitions. Literature highlights some of the challenges for social work assessing and making decisions about African children and families whose cultures differ from the majority white population (brophy et al 2003, laming 2003)

The fear of being seen as a racist combined with cultural stereotypes can lead to a failure to make judgements and intervene appropriately regarding practices that are harmful (burman et al 2004 study)

Whilst their views should form part of policy related discussions on current topics, respect for children’s rights may still be lacking. Meanwhile, such notions challenge us to take children seriously and to appreciate their contribution to social reproduction and change (Aubrey and Dahl 2006). Lots of research appear to focus on empowerment through cultural knowledge inviting new thinking about the challenges faced by black communities

Relevance to policy and practice

The complex social circumstance experiences by many African families pose challenges for parents, children and social work professionals working to safeguard and promote children’s welfare

The framework for assessment of children in need and their families (DoH, 2000) based on the ecological approach places a requirement on workers to consider families histories and social circumstances and literature of anti-oppressive practice stresses the importance if consideration being paid to power relationships (dlrybple and burke 1995). There must be some understanding of the links between people’s personal experience of pressing and structural reality if inequality pg 123

In order to safeguard and promote welfare of African children acknowledgement of sources of discrimination and oppression, a commitment to human rights and social justice must be met. Through developing effective relationships with African children and families can professionals begin to understand their individual, emotional as well as practical needs. Global mobility and consequent changing nature of communities require local authorities to be proactive in gathering information and developing services including interpretation services that are responsive to the needs of African and minority ethnic families. Several authors have critically analysed the evidence on service provision for black families in general. A pathologising approach to black families may lead to unnecessary coercive intervention and on the other hand a cultural relativist approach may lead to a non-intervention when services are required (dominelli 1997, chand 2000). Either way appropriate intervention is not provided for black and ethnic minority children. The quality of services in black communities is a focus for debate and raises important issues about the lack of policy initiatives based upon needs and aspirations of local communities (graham 2002)

Subjecting cultural practices to scrutiny is a necessary party of the assessment process of professionals are to achieve better outcomes for children. A balance must be struck between sensitively challenging claims that certain types of behaviour are the norm in African families whilst at the same time not losing sight of children’s welfare needs. By drawing on strengths perspective professionals can illuminate how parents draw on cultures a s a resource to parents in circumstance of adversity whilst not excusing behaviour that is harmful to children. The issue of punishment is one of the most controversial areas relating to black families, child abuse and social work (chand 2000 pg 72)

Conclusion

This review has highlighted that multiple social, environmental and parental factors interact in complex ways to bring black African children into the child protection arena. Thus, making professional judgments regarding thresholds of concern for African children poses a major set of challenges and, ultimately, practitioners need the skills, knowledge and conceptual tools to distinguish between the styles of parenting that differ from those of the majority culture, but which are not necessarily harmful, and parents who seek to justify abusive and neglectful behaviour by drawing on cultural explanations to justify their actions.

This project is based on a foster care assessment of a prospective carer undertaken as a student social worker. It gives an overview of my assessment from allocation to closure due to concerns. Although immediately allocated another more fruitful assessment, I have chosen to look at this unsuccessful assessment as I believe it taught me more as a student about my practice.

An agency description is firstly provided to give the reader a picture of the team which should put my role into context. This is followed by the background and objectives of my work. The main text follows the natural progression of my work from planning to evaluation. I will analyse my work identifying the social work themes, issues and theories that guided my practice. Reflection acknowledges that we are part of what we are experiencing (Schon, 1983); looking at our relationships with service users beneath the surface (Payne, 2002). I will therefore reflect throughout this project, rather than purely at the end, as this is what I naturally did in my practice. This will lead to a reflective evaluation of my practice and the implications it had for both me and the service user.

The agency I was placed with was a statutory foster care team within the local authority’s children’s services. Although the team works more directly with foster carers it serves children in need between the ages of 0 and 16 and is therefore classified as a Tier 4 service as shown below.

Fostering services in this local authority were originally integrated amongst other service user groups, regulated by the Boarding-Out Regulations (1955). These regulations caused ambiguity by encouraging foster carers to treat foster children as their own (Triseliotis et al., 1995). In the 1970’s, with the changing emphasis to the professionalisation of fostering, the team gradually became a separate division. The 1955 regulations were eventually updated with the Boarding-out of Children (Foster Placement) Regulations (1988) which were subsequently absorbed into the Children Act (1989) regulations. Only a few years later the Foster Placement (Children) Regulations (1991) were introduced which changed the focus of assessment from households to individual foster parents. However, what both regulations were lacking was met in the establishment of the Fostering Services Regulations (FCR) (2002) and National Minimum Standards (NMS) (Department of Health (DoH), 2002). These come under sections 22 and 48 and 23 and 49 of the Care Standards Act (2000) respectively. This changed the regulation of the agency from the local authority itself to the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC). The NCSC inspects how the agency recruits, assesses, supervises and trains foster carers. These four areas describe my role as a supervising social worker within the team.

Background to the Case

Monica is a 55 year old female who had contacted the fostering agency with an interest in becoming a foster carer. The process from public interest to approved foster carer is complex and thorough. Each local foster care service will have a similar but slightly different procedure and the team I was placed with used the process shown in figure 1.

Initial Interest
Initial Home Visit
Application form sent and completed by Applicant
Full Assessment by Social Worker leading to Fostering Panel
Approved Foster Carer is allocated a Social Worker and begins fostering

Figure 1: The Fostering Assessment Process

When trying to visualise the assessment process for the reader, I felt a pyramid was the most appropriate. This is firstly because the wideness represents the greater personal investment a prospective carer must put into the fostering process and secondly the deeper into their life a social worker will and must go. At each stage a prospective candidate may have a different social worker. The initial home visit with Monica was conducted by another social worker. The purpose of this visit was to get a snap shot of Monica’s suitability and motivation to foster. The social workers report is then presented to senior staff with recommendations and a decision is made as to whether an application form should be sent. Once returned, the next step is to go through a process that combines elements of assessment and preparation (McColgan, 1991). This is where my involvement with Monica began.

Objectives of the Work

‘As well as strong attachments to family members, foster carers or residential care workers are really important for children in care, as these are the people who have the most impact on their day-to-day experiences’ (DCSF, 2008, p.11)

‘Foster carers are central to many children and young people’s experience of care. It is essential that we value and support them and ensure that they are properly equipped with the necessary range of skills’ (DfES, 2007, p.8-9)

When assessing Monica I held the two statements above firmly in my mind to use in times of uncertainty but also lucidity. It is well known that the recruitment and retention of foster carers has been consistently problematic for local authorities (Association of Directors of Social Services, 1997; Bebbington and Miles, 1990; Colton et al. 2008; Hill, 2000; NFCA, 1997). Despite this, Quality Protects (DoH, 1998) and the government’s launch of Choice Protects in 2002 (see everychildmatters.gov.uk) continually attempt to raise the quality of fostering provision to improve placement choice and stability. The green paper ‘Every Child Matters’ (DfES, 2003) and more recently ‘Care Matters’ (DfES, 2007) argue that foster care services need carers with the skills to look after vulnerable children.

In some countries, such as Australia, the selection of foster carers still has no empirical base beyond criminal record checks and suitable accommodation (Kennedy and Thorpe, 2006). This was the past picture in the UK, however the National Foster Care Association (NFCA), now called The Fostering Network (TFN) introduced the ‘Codes of Practice’ (NFCA, 1999a) and ‘National Minimum Standards’ (NFCA, 1999b) for assessing foster carers. My assessment of Monica would consider her skills, experience, values, knowledge and overall suitability to foster children for the local authority. This was based on assessing her on four competencies (caring for children; providing a safe and caring environment; working as part of a team and own development) broken into 18 units (Appendix A).

More recently the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) has developed 7 standards for foster carers (2007) (Appendix B). The team had only begun using these alongside the competencies (NFCA, 1999a, 1999b) when I started Monica’s assessment. The standards support a three stage training framework for foster care (pre-approval; induction and foster carer development). Pre-approval was my objective with Monica linked to section 27(1) of the FCR (2002) (Appendix C), and other relevant legislation (Appendix D). Although the FCR (2002) are the legislative force, it was the NMS (DoH, 2002) under section 17 which gave me a more detailed understanding of the areas (caring ability, sexual boundaries, religion etc) needing assessing with Monica (Appendix E).

Brown (1992) observes that a fostering assessment has two interrelated aspects: (a) Evaluation of prospective carer’s strengths and weaknesses and (b) the assessment of their capacity to learn, adapt and change. These objectives are still relevant to assessing foster carers today. Whilst I was assessing Monica on the competencies and CWDC standards, there is no standardised way of obtaining the evidence for these. I therefore felt I had a lot of discretion in my assessment. I decided multiple knowledge sources (research, intuition and experience etc) would guide my assessment. Webb (2001) argues that Evidence Based Practice (EBP) cannot work in social work as the parting of facts and values inherent in EBP undermines professional judgement and discretion. I disagreed and felt the use of both evidence and my own intuition was needed to obtain an accurate assessment of Monica. For example, research states a need for carers committed to training after approval (Hutchinson et al., 2003). However, I knew that just because a carer agreed to training after approval that my intuition or practice wisdom (Stepney, 2000) may tell me otherwise. Further, Sinclair’s (2005) research emphasising the need for improvements in foster carer selection, I felt, justified my use of multiple knowledge sources to reach my objectives with Monica.

Planning for the Work

When first allocated the assessment of Monica, I was in the first week of my placement and admittedly had little understanding of what actually made a good foster carer beyond my own common sense. This lack of knowledge and understanding left me feeling out of my depth and anxious. I therefore decided that before making any contact with Monica I would gather all available information and use my existing knowledge base to see how it fitted with the fostering assessment. Brown (1992) suggests that when approaching a fostering assessment we should ask ourselves a range of questions. The three I found myself asking were: what knowledge do I need; is the assessment discriminatory or oppressive and what skills and values do I need.

Knowledge Gathering

Assessment is at the centre of all good social work practice (Bartlett, 1970; Milner and O’Byrne, 2002) and therefore my planning was crucial as ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’ (Trevithick, 2005, pg.140). I wanted to use Monica’s initial home visit report as my starting point, as assessments are rarely, if ever, value free (Rees, 1991). Therefore before I understood any more about the fostering process I wanted to identify and check any bias I may have that could affect the assessment undertaken (Clifford, 1998). However I was surprised by the reports lack of detail and therefore spoke to the social worker who completed it. He couldn’t give me any additional information which frustrated me as the report, in my opinion, failed to give the intended snapshot of Monica.

This didn’t help relieve my anxiety, however reading the guidance ‘Assessing foster carers: A social workers guide to competency assessments’ (NFCA, 2000) increased my confidence of what I was expected to achieve in my assessment with Monica. Using this guidance coupled with the NMS (DoH, 2002) and colleague information placed the assessment of Monica in my mind as task centred practice (Doel, 1994, 2002; Reid and Epstein, 1972). This was because the tasks involved were not just activities but held meaning because of what they represented overall (Coulshead and Orme, 2006); the fostering of vulnerable children. As fostering assessments vary in length, typically between 4 months and a year, I saw the assessment as a continuous process (Hepworth et al., 1997). Therefore although my assessment visits would be based around specific tasks and information gathering, my assessment of Monica would follow the ASPIRE model (Sutton, 1999). This was because during my assessment I would continually plan, intervene, review and evaluate the assessment with Monica.

Oppression and Control

From all available information sources, one issue rose within me. This was how intrusive the fostering assessment appeared, and how for me, it epitomised the care vs. control dichotomy. Triseliotis et al., (1995) believe that nowhere else are such questions asked with greater persistency than in the assessment of prospective foster carers. They acknowledge that ways are being sought to make the process less intrusive and fairer to applicants. Although I saw the competencies and standards as one way of achieving this with Monica, I still felt that I had a lot of power in her assessment. Davis et al., (1984) believe that the unequal power relationship between social workers and applicants may promote the development of ‘a relationship of dependence’ rather than the type of open partnership required in fostering today.

I viewed this open partnership as being based on Monica’s self determination which to be met began with Monica voluntarily accepting my intervention (Spicker, 1990). My original thinking was that oppression only applied to vulnerable groups. However, I knew I should avoid complacency as oppression could happen to anybody, including Monica. In fact Monica had begun a ‘Skills to Foster’ preparation group and I had asked the facilitator of the group for some feedback. She described Monica as ‘an interesting one’ commenting that she looked like she was about to drop dead. I discovered this judgment was based purely on her use of a walking aid. Understating the impact of labelling (Becker, 1963; Lemert, 1972), I didn’t want this judgment to impact on me as I wanted to go into Monica’s assessment with an anti-oppressive, non judgmental and accepting attitude (Biestek, 1961).

Reflecting on my skills and values

Central to our knowledge base is the need to know ourselves (Dominelli, 2002; Crisp et al., 2003). Effective assessment depends on the deployment of key skills such as Engagement (Egan, 2002), communication, negotiation, decision making (Watson and West, 2006) and administrative skills (Coulshead and Orme, 2006). I felt I already possessed the skills needed and found it was my values in relation to this assessment that were more difficult to pinpoint.

As already stated, I didn’t want to label Monica but I did see her as an ‘expert by experience’ rather than a ‘service user’, which is descriptive not of her as a person but of our relationship (McLaughlin, 2009). Although participation in social work is determined by context (Kirby et al., 2003; Warren, 2007) I saw our relationship as reciprocal. I found the exchange model (Smale et al., 2000; Fook, 2002) of assessment was particularly relevant in assessing Monica’s ability to foster children, as she would obviously be more of an expert on her abilities. This actually made me feel quite anxious and powerless. This was, on reflection, because as a man with no children, I questioned my ability to assess an experienced ex-childminding mother. I took this to supervision and through discussion I understood that my virtue ethics (McBeath and Webb, 2002) based on judgment, experience, understanding, reflection and disposition; coupled with staying client centred and respecting Monica as an individual (Dominelli, 2002; Middleton, 1997) would guide my assessment. I saw myself as a hermeneutic worker acting in a reflective interpretative process between myself and Monica (Gadamer, 1981).

Direct Work

I had telephoned Monica and arranged to meet at her home. As the majority of my visits would be two way conversations between me and Monica I saw them as interviews with a ‘specific and predetermined purpose’ (Barker, 2003, p. 227).

Eyes of a child

When undertaking Monica’s assessment, I tried to see everything not only from the eyes of a professional but also that of a child. I understood that children in the care system would have diverse needs and backgrounds (Schofield et al., 2000) with possibly a complex history of moves (Ward et al., 2006). However I also knew that care can be a ‘turning point’ and opportunity to lift children, enabling them to fulfil their potential (Rutter, 1999; Schofield, 2001; Schofield and Beek, 2005). Young people have commented that it is a foster carer’s personality that makes the difference (DfES, 2007b). Therefore by thinking like a child, I wanted to feel confident that by recommending Monica to the fostering panel I could see she would be of great comfort and benefit to vulnerable young people.

Upon arrival at Monica’s I was greeted by two aggressive dogs jumping and barking at the door. A tall stocky man, who I later learnt was her son, appeared from the garage and asked what I wanted. When asking for Monica he replied ‘who wants to know’. This hostility was soon alleviated when I explained who I was, upon which he opened the door, called for Monica, and left me with both dogs jumping up at me. I felt that a child entering Monica’s home was likely to be experiencing a range of emotions, including anxiety and from the eyes of a child this would be scary. Despite not the best of starts, I was determined not to make a judgment at a superficial level (Lloyd and Taylor, 1995) and to keep an open mind about Monica’s assessment.

Building a rapport

Aware of the care and control dichotomy I wanted Monica to feel relaxed with me. I therefore invested time in getting to know about her as a person before explaining the assessment process. Although genuine rapport can be questionable (Feltham and Dryden, 1993) I felt my interest in Monica was non-tokenistic, as I admired and respected her for wanting the challenging role of fostering (Kant, 1964). I believe this was transmitted to her an enabled her to trust me.

Monica talked about her family including the separation from her husband. She also spoke about caring for her sick mother that caused her serious back problems. Monica explained that she had a spare room and couldn’t think of any better use then for children in need of a loving home. Interestingly she went on to add ‘well they might not want to come here, I’m a mad lady and they might ask: how would I fit into her world’. I found this expression strange but following a gut feeling decided not to explore at this point. I did this firstly because I didn’t want to appear authoritarian but secondly I felt my assessment would later provide sources of information that my intuition would be tested against (Munro, 1996).

I explained the fostering assessment process to Monica including the competencies (NFCA, 1999a) and standards (CWDC, 2007). I used a mixture of interpretative, descriptive and reason giving explanations (Brown and Atkins, 1997) to ensure Monica was clear of our future work together. I commented ‘you might be thinking how a young man without children of his own can can assess me in looking after children’. This elicited laugher from both Monica and me. As Kadushin and Kadushin (1997) explain ‘laughter is an equalizer. It deflates pomposity. Workers’ capacity to laugh at themselves without embarrassment or shame communicates genuineness in the relationship’ (pg. 225). I also believe it served a social purpose (Foot, 1997) to shift power to Monica and make my next statement easier to deliver. I explained that in the fostering assessment it was expected that prospective candidates were as open and honest about their past experiences. I explained about confidentiality and that whilst not everything would be included in the fostering panel report, I couldn’t guarantee absolute confidentiality (Evans and Harris, 2004; Millstein, 2000; Swain, 2006). I explained I would always inform her if I needed to disclose information and that personal information with no relevance to her fostering ability would remain confidential. I believe this explanation built the required trust (Collingridge et al., 2001) essential for our relationship to progress (Leever et al., 2002).

General Task

Due to being my first visit, no specific tasks had been set to discuss. Therefore reflexively I thought about the group facilitators earlier comments about Monica ‘dropping dead’ as I had noticed her walking aid. I wanted to reflexivity challenge how I made sense of Monica’s fitness (White, 2001) by creating more knowledge about this (D’Cruz et al., 2007) and keeping the power balanced towards her. We therefore completed a required medical questionnaire. Monica stated, ‘this is the bit I was worried about’. Homing in on this anxiety and understanding that she may feel criticised (Lishman, 1994), I used reassurance to display respect (Clark, 2000). I explained that I was not trying to categorise her as either eligible or ineligible (Fook, 2002) but a medical was expected of all carers. Monica explained that she was diabetic and was controlling this without her medication and GP’s knowledge. I explored this with Monica and the potential impact for a vulnerable child, stating I would need to discuss with my supervisor. Whilst going through the medical questionnaire Monica didn’t mention her mobility problem and therefore I probed about this. This achieved its desired effect (Egan, 2002) as I learnt that Monica was registered disabled and hadn’t been able to work for two years. Monica exclaimed ‘that’s it now isn’t it’. I really valued Monica and thanked her for being honest with me. I stated that I was actually more concerned about the diabetes then her disability. My own values were that as long as a child was safe, then any person regardless of disability should be able to foster. I set Monica the task of constructing her chronology to discuss in our next visit and left her home.

Supervision

Supervision is not only to aid practitioner’s development (Hawkins and Shohet, 2000) but also the needs of service users (Pritchard, 1995). I raised my concerns surrounding Monica’s diabetes. I also raised concerns surrounding the general state of Monica’s home which was extremely run down, covered in dog hairs and had particularly poor air quality. Using the hierarchy of heeds (Maslow, 1954) I saw how important the house would be in meeting the child’s basic needs and therefore its potential impact on a child reaching self actualisation. Risk has assumed increasing importance in social workers daily activities (Webb, 2006) and I found my supervisor and senior practitioner recommending we close the assessment based on risk. However I viewed the situation from a preventative risk perspective (Corby, 1996) and felt that with work and support Monica could still foster.

I put my case to the team manager from a Disability Discrimination Act (1995) and Equality Act (2006) perspective, stating that there is a dominant ideology of disability where services tended to focus on incapacity (Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, 2005; Thompson, 2001). However I saw potential in Monica due to raising her son independently and her childminding experience. I was granted to continue with my assessment if Monica could address her health and household issues. Dalrymple and Burke (2006) believe that critical debate about personal, professional and organizational values is essential in dealing with ethical dilemmas. Although colleagues will have different viewpoints (Watson, 2006), I felt my colleagues were acting habitually seeing Monica’s assessment as unworkable. However I saw my role as also ‘moral worker’ (Hyden, 1996) and felt, with the care vs. control and anti-oppressive practice in my mind, that Monica deserved the opportunity to make the necessary reasonable adjustments.

Discussion around issues

On the second visit I discussed the issues surrounding Monica’s diabetes and she agreed to visit the GP and begin to control this again. Her acknowledgement that she was ‘just being stubborn and thought she knew best’ I believe showed that my actions were with her best interests in mind. I also raised the subject of the cleanliness of her home. Monica didn’t feel there was an issue as she and her son had lived there with no concerns. At first I questioned my values and whether I was imposing them upon her. I reflexively began thinking about the Human Rights Act (1998) Article 8 ‘Right to Respect for Family and Private Life’. However I also thought about how I felt when I had left after the first visit and again took my viewpoint from a child who would potentially be less healthy than me. Under Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) ‘children have the right to a standard of living adequate to their physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development’.

I explained to Monica that I was not trying to impose my values and believes upon how she lived and using motivational interviewing (Miller and Rollnick, 2002) asked her to compare her house with her friends homes. I had used this method in my first placement and believed its use in identifying discrepancies was transferrable. My use of this method obtained its acquired affect as Monica stated that she knew her house could be a lot cleaner but because of her disability she couldn’t maintain it. Exploring this with problem solving (Howe, 2007) identified the need of her son to help maintain the home, but Monica stated she didn’t want to inconvenience him. I was having difficulty understanding how Monica’s son fitted with her fostering. From a systems theory perspective (Goldstein, 1973; Specht and Vickery, 1977) I saw this as important to Monica’s assessment as he was her main support and therefore his behaviour would impact upon both her and children placed with her. When thinking about the assessment of foster carers we should be addressing whether or not the family system is ‘closed’ or ‘open’ (Shaw, 1989). An open family system is one that is accepting of change and more likely to offer successful placements. Monica explained her son was indifferent but supportive of her fostering. I explained that I would need to interview him separately to address this issue at a later point in the assessment.

Chronology

I had asked Monica to complete her chronology which provides a history of significant events in her life (Parker and Bradely, 2007). This was to assess one of the competencies looking at how our own experiences can affect us (NFCA, 1999a). Monica discussed her life events but nothing from her childhood. I asked her about her childhood and she said it wasn’t important. I used challenging to aid further self reflection and understanding (Millar et al., 1992). Monica asked me about my comments in our first meeting about being open and honest and whether I needed to know everything. I stated I only needed to know things that would impact on her ability to foster.

Monica began crying and started to explain to me that she had been sexually abused in childhood by her uncle. The information elicited took me by complete surprise and made me anxious. I sat and listened to understand, empathize and evaluate what Monica had disclosed (Smith, 1997). Counselling techniques can be used across many social work situations (Seden, 2005) and I felt I demonstrated the core/basic counselling skills (Rogers, 1951; 1961) required of social workers (Thompson, 2002). However with something so entrenched and deep I felt I wasn’t in the position to explore this. Monica stated she wanted to continue and I therefore asked Monica her it’s impact on her current life. She stated she still had the occasional ‘black’ day where she couldn’t get out of bed. Care Matters (DfES, 2007) states that we need carers who can ‘stand in the child’s shoes’ (p.46) to help them regulate their feelings. Monica positively identified that she could empathise with a sexually abused child but then worryingly said that by talking to a child about their issues would help block out her own depressing feelings. Anxiety can enrich the identity of social work practice (Miehls and Moffatt, 2000). On quick reflection this anxiety I felt enhanced the understanding between me and Monica (Ruch, 2002) and empowered her to tell me that she still had her own issues to address. Monica acknowledged that she hadn’t thought about the abuse for forty years believing her disability caused her depression. I talked with Monica whilst waiting for her friend to arrive to ensure she was safe before I left and stated I would soon be in touch.

Endings

After the visit I compiled my notes using a funnel approach to refine my information (Parker and Penhale, 1998) into a report for senior staff. I used theory to offer accountability to all involved, including Monica, in my decision to close her assessment (Payne, 2005). This was based on standard 6.1 of the NMS (DoH, 2002) in making available ‘carers who provide a safe, healthy and nurturing environment’ (p.11). My colleagues supported my decision and said to send Monica a closing letter which I found insensitive and unacceptable. I wanted a more moral face to face closure with Monica rather than a procedural closure (Lloyd, 2006) as Monica had disclosed something extremely personal to me and I respected her for this. Endings are planned from the beginning (Kadushin and Kadushin, 1997). The natural ending would have been presenting Monica’s assessment to the fostering panel. Instead our ending was on different terms in which I provided Monica with a range of local agencies that could offer help or counselling to address her own issues.

Reflective Evaluation

As stated at the beginning of this report, I decided to choose this unsuccessful assessment to analyse rather than my later successful assessment. This may seem strange to the reader as the latter carers are now approved and fostering. However although I could write in equal length about the more successful assessment, it was Monica’s that taught me more about social work and about myself.

I felt Monica’s assessment demonstrated the acquisition and deployment of my knowledge, skills and values over the past two years. The broad range of literature presented in this report pulls on old and new resources, demonstrating the need to consistently update my knowledge in an ever changing profession. Without this knowledge I would never have been able to work with Monica. I believe my assessment, communication and interpersonal skills demonstrated my competence (O’Hagan, 1996). This ensured a natural, almost unconscious, use of the ASPIRE model (Sutton, 1999) throughout and meant I could adapt to the situation and respond eclectically to Monica’s situation due to its complexity (Cheetham et al., 1992). Integrity (BASW, 2002) has been the most significant value throughout my training. I believe it incorporates all values such as Biestek’s (1961) principles. My integrity ensured that I fought for the continuation of Monica’s assessment at one point; working anti-oppressively, non-discriminately and fighting against social injustices (BASW, 2002).

However despite my strengths, I appreciate that self knowledge is central to becoming a reflective practitioner (Dominelli, 2002); requiring an openness and ability to be self critical (Trevithick, 2005). With Monica’s assessment I was reminded of how practice isn’t straightforward and can constantly change (Parker and Bradley, 2007). I went into this assessment feeling that everything would be clear-cut because Monica had been seen by another social worker and therefore she must have been a certainty for fostering. However my complacency and reliance on other workers judgements didn’t prepare me for the information I was later to receive. Uncertainty is an inevitable part of human interaction and decision making (Roy at al., 2002) and is something I need to appreciate more and continually address within myself. I feel another area that I could have improved upon was focusing more on Monica’s strengths as she demonstrated an inner resource in responding to the daily challenges in her life (Kisthardt, 1992). I feel that although my decision would not have changed, in future practice I need to keep a firm grip on service user strengths to appreciate that there is room in assessment to focus on the cognitive skills, coping mechanisms, interpersonal skills and social supports that can be built on as strengths (Pierson (2002).

Although the assessment hadn’t gone as planned for Monica, I still believe it had some positive impact upon her. Monica’s childhood had been traumatic and I viewed this afterwards using the Johari window (Luft and Ingram, 1955) in figure 2 below. At first I had wondered whether Monica’s abuse was just an aspect of her hidden self. However what struck me afterwards was that Monica stated ‘I haven’t thought about that in over forty years’. I hadn’t attached any significance upon this statement, probably due to the emotiveness of the situation. However upon reflection I feel that Monica’s childhood abuse was part of her unconscious self that

The aim of this assignment is to show how a Social Worker would apply a Behavioural Method as an understanding and intervention on the case study supplied. I will do this by explaining what Behavioural Social Work is, how it is used in practice, how it meets the needs of the service user and identify personal challenges along the way. I will try to challenge my own views and ideals on the service user, and how these can be challenged for Anti-Oppressive Practice.

Most of what makes us truly human, most of what makes us individuals rather than ‘clones’, most of what gives us a discernible personality – made up of characteristic patterns of behaviour, emotion and cognition – is the result of learning (Sheldon and McDonald, 2008). The Behavioural Perspective focuses on the individual and the relationship between stimuli in an environment and how it determines behaviour through learning (Westen, 2001). This is also how Behavioural Social Work is executed, by focusing on behaviour that is observable and changeable. Like other forms of social work methods it has been adopted from other disciplines, and in particular Psychology, but has been adapted to achieve measured outcomes and effective practice for Social Work (Watson and West, 2006).

There are four main Theories that are relevant and used in Behavioural Social Work;

The first behavioural theory is Respondent Conditioning, first introduced by Ivan Pavlov, who used experiments on dogs to discover how to condition a response after the presence of a certain stimuli has been removed.

The second major behavioural theorist is B.F Skinner and his Operant Conditioning, he observed that the behaviour of organisms can be controlled by environmental consequences that either increase (reinforce) or decrease (punish) the likelihood of the behaviour occurring (Westen, 2001). He claimed that the outcome of behaviour was voluntary and goal directed, and always controlled by the consequences the behaviour would lead to.

The next behavioural theory identified is Social Learning Theory, which extends behavioural ideas and claims that most learning is gained by copying others around them, rather than them being reinforced as skinner claimed. That behaviour is shaped by observing others and interpreting it (Payne, 1997).

The fourth behavioural theory is Cognitive Learning Theory and was introduced by Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck in the 1960’s, this is a theory that focuses on the way people perceive, process and retrieve information (Westen, 2001). A perception of the environment from previous experience.

It was during the 1980’s that Social Work adopted behavioural theory as a method of working with service users, part of the reason for this was the ability of the theory to achieve realistic outcomes (Watson and West, 2006). The learning theory used in social work is a combination between all four theories listed above; Respondent Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, The Social Learning Theory and Cognitive Learning. These are used to enable the social worker to observe behaviour and therefore intervene appropriately (Watson and West, 2006). The importance of behavioural social work is that the behaviour is learned and can therefore be unlearned. Cognitive learning theory focuses on this specifically and its engagement with cognitive processes which produce thoughts and feelings (Sheldon, 1995). Behavioural social work allows the service user to modify and change their behaviour through a process of reinforcement, both positive and negative, to produce a likeliness of a wanted behaviour occurring (Watson and West, 2006).

There have been criticisms of this form of social work as it involves deciding what ‘normal’ behaviour is. This may lead to discriminatory and oppressive practice, as a perception of ‘normal’ behaviour can come from a range of sources, such as, personal and professional values (Trevithick, 2000). Another criticism is that the social worker may be seen as having significant power in deciding a future for the service user, which may in turn lead to further problems. To overcome these criticisms for an affective and constructive service for users, social workers have to be aware of empowering skills to help the service user help themselves. Informed consent and active participation is also a significant part of behavioural social work (Watson and West, 2006).

How is Behavioural Social Work Used in Practice?

Some of the reasons a behavioural method was chosen for intervention is because it mainly targets problem solving, and anger management, which are some of the problems faced by the family in the case study.

The first stage of Behavioural Social Work is the process of Assessment. This will begin by identifying the service user’s problem(s) (Howe, 1998). It not only identifies the problem behaviour, but how it manifested to begin with, and what can be done to change it.

The first stage of assessment and intervention is to establish the behaviour to work with (Watson and West, 2006). Within the case study, the problem is the behaviour of Jake who is increasingly violent and aggressive towards his parents and siblings. To establish the intensity and occurrence of his aggression it should be recorded and written down. This will provide clarity and understanding of the nature of the violence, which person(s) are present when he does it and what are the consequences of his behaviour (Watson and West, 2006) The problem behaviour has to be described in terms that are observable and measureable (Howe, 1998). To ensure an accurate documentation of behaviour, partnership should be used with the parents and social worker for empowerment (Watson and West, 2006). A contact either written or verbal can be useful in establishing aims and goals for sessions, and an overall aim for behaviour (Howe, 1998).

Operant conditioning is one of the main theories used in Behavioural Social Work; this is put into practice by the ABC Assessment, which uses the identification of Antecedents, Behaviour and Consequences to help shape wanted behaviour (Hudson and Macdonald, 1998 cited in Watson and West, 2006). The Antecedent – what precedes the behaviour, The Behaviour – in this case aggression and violence, and the Consequence – What happens immediately after the violence i.e Is the behaviour being reinforced? Once all the assessment has been carried out and all the information gathered, the social worker and the service user (parents) must work together to plan a method of intervention which promotes a wanted behaviour, this will be a baseline for intervention (Watson and West, 2006)

The next stage in the process of behavioural intervention is the implementation of the plan to change the unwanted behaviour. For this method to be effective it needs partnership of both parents and the social worker to establish roles, tasks and responsibilities (Howe, 1998). The main task for all involved is to develop appropriate strategies to implement within a certain time frame (Watson and West, 2006), which will enable the social worker to evaluate the process and respond by either changing the strategies or the method implemented. In the case study Jake’s behaviour deteriorated after the new baby was born, so the strategies that could be implemented would involve activities and more contact with his mother, and the rest of the family. Consequences of his bad behaviour should be consistent and happen immediately after an event (Watson and West, 2006). The main aim of Behavioural Intervention and Operant Conditioning is to focus on positive reinforcement rather than punishment, this is to positively change behaviour and motivate Jake to complete goals (Watson and West, 2006).

How Does Behavioural Intervention Meet the Needs of the Service User?

Behavioural Social Work is effective in meeting the needs of the service user as it is specific, simple and structured. It works in partnership with the parents and gives them an understanding into why their son behaves the way he does, and that Jake’s behaviour is the problem and not Jake. Behavioural intervention is also cost effective and doesn’t rely on financial help, therefore can be used immediately to help and support Jake’s parents, as well as Jake’s behaviour. One of the reasons why this method is widely used is because it is time limited; this allows the social worker to assess if the method is effective and if it is not it can be easily altered or changed.

This method is specifically relevant to the case study as Jake’s behaviour is the problem, which has been learned through time. A positive to this is that it can be unlearned with the help of his parents. To avoid oppressive practice this has to be a method that includes Jake, both his parents and the Social Worker. This will ensure empowerment to Jake’s parents; a less likelihood of powerlessness over Jakes behaviour and a more effective outcome.

Some of the negatives of this method if intervention is that it does not tackle the underlying problems to Jake’s violence, but by using skills, values and knowledge the social worker can talk and support Jake to discover other underlying issues.

Challenges working with this service user

Some of the challenges I would face being a social worker for this case is helping Linda and Michael become more involved in changing Jake’s behaviour. There is a new baby in the home and one other sibling besides Jake, and getting time to respond to Jake’s behaviour may be difficult. There is also no other social support outside the home and Linda is very stressed and “at the end of her tether” with Jake, so getting time to spend with Jake alone may also be complicated. Another problem is that Michael is already threatening about having Jake removed from the home as his behaviour is so bad, so Michael’s patience to assess and implement a behavioural intervention may be limited. To resolve these challenges I would have to use skills such as empathy and active listening, as well as appropriate questioning to gain a full awareness of the situation. The next step would be to involve both parents in trying to understand that Jake’s behaviour is a result of learning and can therefore be unlearned in time, to show both parents that I am there to help and support both them and Jake for the sake of the family.

Some personal challenges I would face as the social worker is trying to understand what it must be like to have three children under the age of ten, and being at a crisis point with one of them. To be so stressed that your husband is threatening to put one of your children into care because of his behaviour towards the rest of the family. I can’t help but feel “how could anyone, through choice, want to put their child into care”. Can things get that terrible that some parent’s cannot see any way out rather than this? I couldn’t help but think that Michael is saying this because he is Jake’s step father and not biological father, but then, I do not have children and therefore have never had a child with behavioural difficulties. But I do understand what stress can do to a person, and how it can seem like there is no way out. I must challenge these stereotypical views on Michael and realise he has raised Jake from six years old, and probably knows a lot more about Jake’s behaviour and the family dynamic than I do, as a Social Worker.

Conclusion

A behavioural method for Social Work was chosen for this case study. It enables the social worker and the service user to work in partnership which is fundamental for a behavioural method to succeed. It includes a step by step process with defined roles and responsibilities to alter behaviour. Operant Conditioning is mainly used as its emphasis is reinforcing positive behaviour, but with punishment which should be consistent and applied immediately. Behavioural Intervention provides the Social Worker with a method which can be implemented swiftly, but can also be evaluated after time for its effectiveness. This provides the social worker with the knowledge to alter a method or implement and new one. Values such as anti-oppressive practice and empowerment are vital to implement this method as they provide the service user with choice, roles and responsibilities. By challenging stereotypical views, a social worker can make informed decisions and support the service user effectively. Over all a behavioural intervention is used to alter behaviour, as it is the behaviour that is the problem, not the person.

The purpose of this essay is to offer the reader examples of my understanding in personal and professional development. The discussions of two ethical dilemmas, offered by comments on ways of dealing with them are included. It will further conclude with an evaluation of my support and supervision during the practice placement setting.

My self-awareness resulted through childhood difficulties. In the gradual process of maturing I have become more conscious of my inner feelings, attitudes and thoughts, and through relating more to myself I have become a well-informed person. Individuals entering Social Work choose this career because similarities exist with other people, service users. However, to practice I should not dwell on personal experiences (Lishman, Adams, Dominelli & Payne, 2009), and should move into brushing up my skills. Having natural ability is good, but in an ever changing world and reform of Social Services growing new awareness’s and understandings is good.

The process of professionally developing derived from learning my own internalisation, absorption and the way in which I accepted a certain situation. For example, I observed another worker meet a mother and during the gathering of information she delivered her questions and explanations clearly. This was acceptable to the mum; she appeared relaxed and had no need to ask for further confirmation. My approaches seemed complicated and unsatisfactory at that point. I wanted change and felt motivated to try this workers method. In a different meeting conducted only by me I adopted the approach and incorporated it within my interaction. This was a better way to conduct an interview. I relayed my experience to the manager and through speaking to him I finally realised the connection between personal and professional development.

In realising that I gained professional development through observing another I found myself wondering where else I could develop. Without trying I went into another colleague’s office to pass a message onto her and by chance I noticed an aspect of her office organisation to be a better than mine. In an unconscious and instant comparison I realised my office organisation was not as well set out. My rearrangement of office resulted out of an unplanned observation. I was not only able find inspiration in others, but to find it when not expecting too surprised me. In adopting this better way I was able prioritise my workload by viewing what was in front of me, plus by pinning my notes on a desktop board I could write my notes without wading through paperwork.

Enhancing my professionality through conscious and unconscious internalisation processes it has allowed me to replace the once known displaced professional work related knowledge and skills to a newer and even more superior professional work related knowledge and skills. By growing I have learnt to reducate myself and by updating my beliefs and values I can be proactive, overcome faults, weaknesses and insecurities.

Part 2

Social Workers work relentlessly toward enhancing all people’s wellbeing, offering a large focus on meeting needs and empowering the vulnerable, oppressed and those suffering from poverty. Modern day professionals must observe environmental forces as they can make, and add to pressures already endured by clients. To end discrimination, oppression, poverty and social injustices Social Workers implement a Code of Ethics throughout all working practices. The embracing of core values, ethical principles and ethical standards assists Social Workers to make decisions and behave accordingly when faced with ethical dilemmas.

During the practice placement a child required support. He was experiencing behavioural problems resulting from sexual abuse. To provide support for this child I was required to meet with the mother and do a screening report. During contact I presented an information sharing form, an explanation of the service, its purpose and usefulness. This was to inform the mother of her rights and allow for an insight into the charity, and its services. The child was asked to be absent as I wanted to get the mum’s perspective on things. In gathering background information Mum disclosed that her son was partially blind and required specialist Braille books.

On return to the service and disclosure of my findings to the Children Service Manager I was told we had no reading materials suitable for this type of disability, therefore the provision of services could not be offered. It was felt that we could not meet his needs and a more specialised service should be found. This did not sit well with me. The child was being discriminated against because we did not have specialised materials.

To reduce any possible conflict I let the conversation die down before approaching the subject again. Meanwhile, I thought of ways in which the child could be included within the service. In another meeting with the CSM I recommended that we ask to borrow a selection of materials from the mother. The CSM agreed. In a phonecall the mother agreed. She was elated. The child went on to have non-directive play and I was later informed that through use of the books brought from his home he had felt comfortable enough to disclose some of his bad memories. The service believed this to be a worthwhile cause and later purchased materials, staffs have signed up for new training.

Another instance, Social Workers may often be oppressed within an organisation. I found myself within such a scenario. My placement began with an allocated Practice Teacher/Link Supervisor and our relationship begun to develop positively. Sadly a staff member died and shock hit the team. I briefly knew the woman, but for others they worked closely with her for years. I distanced myself and waited on the grieving process beginning, but it never appeared. “Healing from a loss involves coming to terms with the loss and the meaning of the loss in your life” (Family Doctor.org, 2009). The effects of losing the valuable team member and friend caused my Practice Teacher/Link Supervisor to withdraw from the group, she became quiet and non-engaging!

I had to learn, but with no experience in working with children I too found myself lost in the process and did not know which way to turn. The Practice Teacher/Link Supervisor was my first port of call and whilst empathising with her situation I had approach her. She acted coldly, therefore any further approaches made me feel awkward and stressed. This continued for a fortnight and something had to give.

In understanding the relationship between and among people change is sometimes required. I met with the CSM and aired my concerns. I believed I was not being treated fairly, nor respected. The CSM emailed all staff with the Five Step Programme Personal Life Changes. I put my head down and got on with my work, but still the atmosphere did not change. If anything the once friendly attitudes from everyone changed. Being in this situation I fully understand how one person can influence others and how group dynamics can change. The conflict was not resolved and for workers to forget their roots in practice says a lot. This example has taught me to remember the Code of Ethics when working with clients, but also to incorporate them into my work when working with colleagues.

Part 3

Planned informal and formal supervision did not occur during the infancy stages of my learning. It can be argued that poor management was to blame. Once structures were in place it was time to explore my practice, my time to learn, a time to facilitate my growth. During preparation for supervision a requirement to select experiences for discussion scared the hell out of me, and in not having supervision previously what would I take? Armed with a planned agenda I entered what seemed to be the war zone (1st formal supervision).

Encouraged to discuss my experiences I slowly began, during explanations there appeared to be an unsettling period. My own experiences were surfacing which resulted in an awkward fidgetiness. When quizzed I denied the reason. I did not want to appear incapable of my job. I breathed deeply and moved on. Confidence returned and I finalised my explanations. Achieving what could have been disastrously resulted in my first attempt to separate personal from professional experiences.

Standing as a professional in other supervisions I reflected on experiences. It was like looking in a mirror, strengths and weakness became visible. Strengths were praised, but weakness required work, one weakness meant the return to literature. Applying knowledge to practice is one thing, but to understand what that knowledge is can be another thing. To apply my understanding I put my evidence into written pieces of work.

During the review of my work it led to judgement. I was told ‘work situations can be complex at times, but only if you allow them to be. Keep things clear and simple’. My recognition of this phrase meant that I was being coached to identify thought processes and move from being ignorant to understanding. Feedback like this was good because not only was I learning to reflect, but I was also motivated to alter my future thinking.

The contribution of support and supervision proved to be valuable, despite it being offered half through the placement. I recognise that self-awareness is part of the reflective process. To have my values and beliefs heard allowed me to become a happier worker; it also allowed change in the way I practised. With the willingness to accept positive and negative feedback I was able to adapt the way in which I thought. Nearer the end of placement it benefitted my practice and reduced the amount of support that I once required.

To progress in a professional manner I will take forward all feedback and my skills developed during supervision. The important thing to capture is the experience and to learn from it. I will look at the bigger picture and through evaluation I can break down my strengths and weakness, and in recognising my weakness I can self as a better Practioner. This process has helped me to achieve a rewarding experience, and one I am keen to continue with into practice. It can benefit not only to me, but clients and colleagues also.

Social Work is a helping profession which promotes the well being of people while human rights and social justice are highly stressed (IFSW, 2000). The primary mission of social work on the NASW webpage is stated that it is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs with special attention to vulnerable and oppressed people (NASW, 2007). When the topic “Vulnerable group” is discussed, women, children, handicapped and aged people are mainly under discussion and the issues of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual and Transgender population (LGBT) are less discussed.

The LGBT population is one of the vulnerable minority groups since the population takes only a small proportion of the whole population. It takes approximately 10 percent of the population (Hilda, H et al. 1988). Also because of the facts that being lesbians or gay in the society was regarded as mental disorder and homosexuality was labeled as a sexual deviation over the early past decades (Hilda, H et al. 1988). The LGBT populations had suffered discrimination based on sexual orientation depending on different geographical area. Exclusion is what the population was brought up with and equity is what they had been struggling for.

Although people became more and more aware of LGBT issue nowadays, the population is still discriminated and marginalized by the majority. The perceptions, attitudes, values and stereotypes of people are the major barriers for LGBT to be socially included. As social work professional who is supposed to promote human rights, social justice and to help the oppressed and vulnerable groups, these influence factors limiting the social work practice are needed to be emphasized. At the same time, persons who are going to help this population need to be competent in this specific field of helping. There are many challenges and difficulties to help this population because of personal and environmental factors.

In this paper, I will try to bring this issue to my own local context: elaborate the situation in Myanmar regarding LGBT, brainstorm how they can be helped applying social work practice and most important of all, I will try to examine and explore how my own perceptions, attitudes, values, experiences, emotions and stereotypes may interfere my ability of social work practice with this specific issue. Moreover I will try to find out how social work practice can be done to help the sexual minority in my local context.

In chapter 2, I would explore how the issue of LGBT came into existence and what is the significant literature about this issue for the better understanding of this population. In chapter 3, I would try to relate the issue to my own local context: explaining the values, cultural norms, perceptions and stereotypes in Myanmar and why gay persons are significant to study. In chapter 4, would make a personal reflection. I would also try to examine myself regarding my own personal values, perceptions and attitude towards this issue. I would also discuss environmental factors in this chapter. In chapter 5, I would conclude with the description of my personal plan while I am in MSW. Potential intervention plan in three levels of social work intervention would also be discussed.

Chapter 2

Literature Review

2.1 History of Homosexuality

Homosexuality had long existed in human history and it can be seen in different culture in different settings. It had made a long way and still making its way ahead.

Wormer et al. (2000) stated that people were morally against homosexuality since ages ago although the term became to be popular in the 1980s. People accepted that homosexuality is morally unacceptable and the attitude of people towards homosexuality is mainly based on strong religious beliefs. Homosexuality was regarded as a sin, a crime, a sickness in the Roman Empire times and it was also legally forbidden (Wormer et al. 2000).

Even in the modern times, homosexuality or same sex relationship and marriage take a controversial topic in debates. It is controversial when discussion comes for rights talk and legal issues. There are some parts of the world where homosexuality or same sex relationship is legalized while in some parts it is illegal and strongly forbidden.

2.2 Homosexuality

Wormer et al. (2000) explained that “Homosexuality refers to sexual attraction between members of the same gender, often but not always accompanied by sexual behavior.” It implies that both male and female who are sexually attracted are covered in the term Homosexuality although males are referred as gays and females as lesbians.

2.3 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people

This term, also abbreviated as LGBT usually refers to homosexuality while bisexual talks about sexual attraction to members of both sexes. However, in review of the literature, bisexual and transgender are not as commonly seen as lesbian and gay are. Mallon (2009) mentioned that there had not been many researches on the two important populations besides gays and lesbians and the terms and bisexual and transgender were added into research literature only after 1998.

2.5 LGBT and Social Work

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) had been working on the LGBT issues since 1970s. The National Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender issues was formed in 1982 with 8 specific objectives in which promoting social justice and defending the rights of persons who are suffering oppressions and discrimination based on their sexual orientation NASW (2010).

Chapter 3
Situation in Myanmar
3.1 Situation of LGBT persons in Myanmar

There is no specific study and literature about LGBT persons in Myanmar. The issue is not published nor does not take media coverage despite of its existence. Yuuki (2009) complained that there have not equal rights or opportunities for LGBT in Myanmar even though there is no apparent discrimination towards the population (para. 1). There is very little knowledge about LGBT in Myanmar and they are only regarded as the carriers and distributors of HIV/AIDS.

As cited in The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans and Intersex Association of Asia (2009), the Penal Code, Act 45/1860, Revised Edition, Section 377 states

“Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animals shall be punished with transportation for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall be liable to fine.” (Ottosson, 2007). The law is in fact not very clear whether or not all LGBT persons who have sexual relationship to same sex. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans and Intersex Association of Asia (2009), only states that male to male sexual relationship is illegal (p. 1).

There have not much concern on LGBT persons in Myanmar. Only gays; male to male sexual relationship has been concentrated regarding the distribution of HIV/AIDS. It has been only a decade or so that the LGBT issues involved in public chat and gossips with the celebrities who had come out of the closet and with the popularity of sex change operations in neighboring country, Thailand. People in Myanmar hardly know about Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender but gays. When LGBT is discussed, gays would be the major discussion.

3.2 Values, Culture norms and stereotypes in Myanmar

Myanmar, being one of the Asian countries holds and practices Asian values. Buddhism is the national religion and the culture is not different from other Asian countries. Masculinity is accepted as superior, being male is believed as natural gift which is related to the good deeds one had done in the previous life according to Buddhism belief. Only males can be monks and become God.

As seen all over the world, gender stereotypes can also be seen in Myanmar. Men are supposed to be the bread winners while women are responsible for the household chores. Men are socially looked down if they can not be able to support the family. Similarly, women are looked down if they can not be able to perform the child care and house works. Min (2010) explained that males have to behave like males and if a boy or girl behaves like a different gender, they would be scolded and punished by the elders. He also told the media that it is a shame to express one’s gender identity whether gay or lesbian and people dare not come out to their real gender identity since they are afraid of discrimination.

3.3 Discrimination against LGBT in Myanmar

Although obvious discrimination against gays was not made public in Myanmar, there are similar situations in the society. The head of the Human Rights Education Institute of Burma reported to a media that there is discrimination against gays. Min (2010), reported that “Although several Asian countries have discriminatory laws against homosexuality, it is illegal in Myanmar. Discrimination against gays and lesbians is traditionally rooted in our societies and the society does not tolerate homosexuality.” (p. 1).

In a few years ago in Myanmar, a gay person who expressed himself as gay and engaged a same sex marriage was expelled from his society after he identified as being gay. He was a strong member of that artist society before he expresses himself as gay but soon after, he suffered sexual prejudice. Irrawaddy (2010) reported that some commented on the case that the Myanmar society should understand gays and allow them to enjoy their rights, including marriage, but some believe that gays should be shunned because it is thought they spread the HIV virus (p. 1).

There are similar cases of discrimination against gays in Myanmar, in a wide society, in the community and even in families. People have little knowledge and misconception about gays by the value, norms and stereotypes.

Chapter 4
Social Work Practice with LGBT in Myanmar
4.1 Personal reflection

In reviewing myself, I do not seem to accept gays as normal. I did not have good experience with gays and I found it difficult to deal with them. The first time I recognized gay persons was in my adolescence. They appeared to be different from other boys that I disliked the way they behave since they do not behave like boys but girls. I see them as cowards and when I encounter those who have sexual relationship with same sex, I used to regard them as persons who are against the religious teachings and law. Although I came to know more about the gay persons, I observed myself that it is still hard for me to deal with them.

4.2 Personal factor contributing the difficulty for social work practice

Since social workers value dignity and worth of a person, my own perception and attitudes towards gay persons would be a barrier in social work practice with them. The factor that I had bad experience with gay persons where I began to dislike them might also contribute the difficulty. It would be difficult for me to bring about equity and change to them because transference and counter transference issues may interrupt my ability to perform social work practice.

More importantly, I do not feel comfortable talking with gay persons and when I examine myself regarding my hesitation dealing with them, the reason behind is that I had the experience in which I was approached by some gay persons. Thus it is very much likely for me and I easily tend to stereotype other gay persons that they would approach me as well. It can also be said as pre judgment which contradicts to social work practice. Again, my perception and attitude towards gay persons is that they are shameless and immoral because they approach and sexually harass the same sex. These personal factors are the barriers that may influence my ability to perform social work practice.

4.3 Environmental factor contributing the difficulty for social work practice

In Myanmar, the cultural and social norms are strong and conservative that there are misconceptions and social exclusions for gay persons. A person who works with the gay persons is likely to be seen as someone strange since the society tends to dislike gay persons. People have very little knowledge about LGBT and tend to label and stigmatize them. One of the comments post on the case of a gay person who was expelled from his society goes as mentioned in Irrawaddy magazine (2010):

Anyone who is neither woman nor man is alien or guest. So, real man and woman have to defend their homeland from invasion of aliens. By common sense, alien or guest should follow the requirements of host. If they do not agree with the terms and conditions of the host, they must go somewhere else. (p. 1).

It shows that despite of the educational level, many people do not accept nor tolerant the LGBT population in Myanmar. The factors that the issue is illegal and no right of expression may also result the isolation of the LGBT and they would not come out of the closet.

Chapter 5
Conclusion
5.1 Personal plan for social work practice with LGBT

During in the MSW program, for better social work intervention practice with the LGBT, especially with the gay persons in Myanmar, I would try to study more on social work practice with diversity. I will try to explore more about the oppressed and vulnerable population: what are the needs and how best intervention can be brought. To change something, I believe that it is important to change one self first. Thus, I would reflect my own personal perceptions, values and attitudes to try to be aware of myself in every situation of social work practice.

5.2 Possible social work intervention for sexual minority in Myanmar

In terms of micro level intervention, with the proper knowledge on the specific subject and by applying social work values, the LGBT population can be helped to adapt with the environment. Empower them as good contributors to the society to receive good image.

In mezzo level, awareness raising for the family members can be done so as all the family members are acknowledged the LGBT subject and the ways they can help their LGBT family members. LGBT group work can also be implemented so that there will be sharing among them for mutual support and coping with the difficulties they face.

In macro level intervention, public awareness can be raised regarding the subject by means of using palm flats, banners and through media so that many people will be acknowledged the know how on LGBT issues.

Now that I am aware of my personal weaknesses that interferes my ability to work with the sexual minority, I am sure that after intensive study while I am in MSW program, I can work with the population efficiently under limitations of my personal values, perceptions and attitudes.

A kinship care arrangement is an agreement that is commonly made between the parent of the child, the local authority and a close relative such as a grandparent or aunt on a short or long term basis, the kinship carer must be approved by Warwickshire Fostering Panel. Where the child is accommodated by the local authority that is often subject to an Interim Care Order the kinship agreement is reviewed under the Child in Need procedure s (Warwickshire County Council 2009).

There is a six week timescale to complete the kinship assessment. The fostering team has the responsibility for completing this within the timescale set out in line with the Fostering Regulation’s 2002. A Viability Assessment which is Schedule 3 of the fostering regulation 2002 requires that there is a detailed report complete with references be submitted to the Fostering Panel for approval (Warwickshire Fostering Services 2002). As part of this assessment I had to complete a two part Health & Safety Checklist Part One during initial visit and Part Two during the actual assessment, which is updated annually as part of the Foster Carer review. I was required to complete the initial 6 week Kinship Assessment on Arthur and Joan to be submitted to Warwickshire Fostering Panel approval, followed by submission to a Finding of Fact meeting in court.

Jane is a 6 year old dual heritage female who lived close to Nuneaton centre with mother, Ruth 28 white female unemployed recovering heroin addict and her current partner Jason 35 year old unemployed white male with offending history for violence.

The local authority have been involved with Ruth and her child since 2008 the police contacting social services to advise them that Ruth’s partner had been arrested for having indecent images of children on his computer and serious abuse of babies. Ruth was advised of this but did not appear to recognise the risk he presented to Jane. The courts ordered that Ruth should only have supervised contact due to this.

Warwickshire Council convened a child protection conference which concluded that Jane be made subject of a child protection plan. Whilst the investigation into the neglect was ongoing, Jane stayed with her maternal grandfather Arthur and Joan his partner. Arthur is 58 year old football coach and Joan is a 62 year old retired book keeper and they live in a 3 bedroom house close to Ruth. A kinship referral was received by the Fostering Team to complete a viability assess Arthur and Joan’s ability to meet Jane’s needs as temporary carers.

Jane is still subject of a child protection plan, as well as Looked After Child procedures and is subject of an Interim Care Order made in December 2009. The responsibility for completing the kinship assessment was given to the fostering team that I am on placement with and I was then asked to complete the assessment under supervision. This is the type of assessment that is completed when a child is looked after and placed on a statutory order.

Jane is currently experiencing problems at school with bullying because of her skin colour and is in a minority. Jane is being teased because her hair is not the same as other children. I feel that Jane has not recognized that her mother is white and her father black. Arthur has stated that although she is not white she is his granddaughter and he doubts whether Jane even recognises her skin colour as significant.

It is important for the Fostering Social Worker to have access to all case files relating to the child when completing the viability assessment so that the assessment demonstrates the level of commitment the grandfather and his partner have and have had to the child (BAAF, 2009).

Farmer and Moyers (2005) suggest:

Kinship care occupies an uneasy position on the boundary between the public and private spheres of caring and this leads to a situation where some kin carers struggle to care for needy children with low levels of support and financial help.

Jane’s maternal grandfather has shown incredible commitment including being willing to give up his fulltime job to be able to meet Jane’s needs. This is causing tension in the relationship between Arthur and Joan as this will significantly reduce their income. She has also expressed concerns at not always being able to cope with the high demands of Jane and how this has brought her relationship with Arthur to breaking point at times. When child’s behaviour is causing a disruption, kinship carers (as opposed to foster carers) tend to be more willing to persevere with the difficulties faced by the child (Broad and Skinner, 2005, Colton et al, 2008: 38).

It is important that when examining Kinship Care that the outcome for the child is measurable, this could be in terms of regular contact with the birth parent with less supervision. Legislation has a propensity towards securing long term placements, children who were placed with their grandparents were the least likely to experience disruption when compared with other family or friends (Hunt et al, 2008). Some placements continued with little monitoring or supervision from the social worker. In other instances social workers had allowed professional standards to fall well below what would have been acceptable to another child. This can cause the child rights to be compromised as they will not receive a service that they are entitled to (Farmer & Moyers, 2005).

An assessment involves assembling full and accurate facts about a service user’s circumstances and it is essential during the assessment process that person being assessed is fully engaged with the assessment and as the assessor I am in continuous consultation with my supervisor. The information collected must be recorded in a systematic way to give a clear and accurate understanding of needs and a possible plan of action (Smale & Tuson, 1993).

The viability assessment must pay close attention to the circumstances around the reason why the kinship arrangement is needed. Arthur and Joan realise that if they do not take on the role of carers then Jane is likely to be placed with unrelated foster carers. The assessment includes the family to look at creating a kinship arrangement that will at best be acceptable to the child, the local authority should consider the child’s extended family as an alternative to the mainstream fostering system when completing the assessment.

The Children’s Act 1989 directs that where the child is looked after by the local authority the child should be placed with a relative, friend or significant other (www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk accessed 16/01/2011) if this is a viable option. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 directs that relatives must be considered in care proceedings and in line with Public Law Outline which emphasizes the importance of robust judicial case management. The Children and Young Persons Act 2008 has led to developments that promote the child’s welfare and are likely to increase the use of placements with family members. Over a 15 year period from 1989 to 2005 there has been a gradual increase in the numbers of children in care that are fostered with family and significant others, from 6 per cent to 12 per cent of looked after children in England (Department of Health, 2006; DfES, 2004). If a child is looked after by the Local Authority and is placed with a family member or significant other for a period exceeding 6 weeks then the carer should be approved as a foster carer by the Local Authorities Fostering Panel (Warwickshire Council 2009). The Local Authority must have a clearly defined role in enabling the parent of the child to have some input in the care arrangements of their child in accordance with section 20 of the Children’s Act 1989.

‘Where the local authority places children in kinship care arrangements they also must assess the kinship carer(s) in line with existing legislation that applies to unrelated foster carers therefore have responsibilities to ensure that the kinship carers receive financial support in line with boarding out regulations’ (Warren-Adamson, 2009).

The ‘Munby judgement’ in 2002 set a precedent that local authorities must treat kinship carers in the same way as non related foster carers. This means that Warwickshire County Council must assess Arthur and Joan as kinship carers even though they may well already be looking after the child at the point the assessment starts.

The difficulties I experienced as the Fostering Social Worker completing the assessment was mainly around the support, training and payment of Kinship Carers. The research also found that Kinship Carers are unlikely to challenge parents legally for the kinship of the child because it can have a negative impact on the parent’s relationship with the Kinship Carers. One of the implications highlighted by the research document was that Kinship Carers are unlikely to go for Special Guardianship Orders due to the reduced payments and support. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) research found that ‘ kinship carers may resent the intrusion the assessment process will entail into their lives by statutory services and feel they are being monitored and placed under surveillance’ (JRF, 2002). The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) found that unsatisfactory placements with family and friend lasted significantly longer than with unrelated carers (Farmer & Moyers, 2008).

Local Authorities are required under the Children’s Act 1989 to operate a policy of ‘less intrusive intervention’ when intervening with families. Argent (2009) draws attention to the assumption that social workers from non ethnic backgrounds tend to assume that families from Black Minority and Ethnic groups would rather manage the kinship without outside help or they do not understand the process. Argent highlights that some minority groups have a strong sense of kinship without any legal or statutory intervention.

There are four types of kinship care these are determined by the legal status of the child that is being accommodated Fostered with a family or friend; Residence Order; Living with family and friends and a Special guardianship order. The viability assessment I undertook was to assess whether Arthur and Joan were suitable to go on to the next stage of the assessment, the Special Guardianship Order. Special Guardianship Orders were introduced in the Adoption and Children Act 2002 to encourage flexibility with regards to the length of the placement. This order recognizes that long term fostering or adoption might not be an option and that this type of order gives parental responsibility until the child is 18. At present there is not a legal requirement for Warwickshire Council to explore Kinship but the legal framework implies that it is a preferred option to private fostering. A family group conference is called with a view to exploring the potential of a family member becoming a kinship carer (Hunt et al, 2008).

The aim of the Viability Assessment is to make certain that Jane’s needs remain central to the assessment (Hunt et al, 2008). Milner and O’Byrne (2002) suggest that assessments can be divided into a number of stages:

Preparation: I gathered information from case notes and other reports that have previously been written, in consultation with the Jane’s social worker we agreed on who to interview with regards to people that are a part of the extended family or wider support network and would be in contact with Jane. Preparing for the interview I ensured that I had the essential questions and an explanation of the interview purpose along with timescales for the viability process.

Collecting data: I checked on sources of written information for factual accuracy.

Weighing the data: I identified gaps, consulted colleagues and began to identify any key facts or themes.

Analysing the data: I considered relevant research evidence and theory.

Using the data: I analysed the data and formed an opinion as to whether Jane’s needs would be met by Arthur and Joan.

The outcome of the above process was to make a recommendation to the court.

Along with the viability assessment was the health and safety of the property that the child will be living in also had to be assessed. .

I had to think about how the separate pieces of information interlink and about their impact on the grandfather. It has been suggested it is important to avoid subjectivity and not to dismiss information that does not fit with preconceived assumptions:

Taking information for granted and not checking. Getting ‘stuck’ with one perspective, and failing to recognise alternative explanations. Stereotyping situations and solutions to them. Making assumptions about age, culture, disability or any aspect of a service user’s life. ‘The way it’s done here’ approach – fitting service users into the routine response of the agency instead of focusing on the client. Using the assessment process to ration resources or disguising their absence, in other words, assessment becomes resource-led rather than needs-led (Milner and O’Byrne, 2002).

Smale and Tuson (1993) propose three models of assessment:

aˆ? The questioning model: where the worker is seen as expert and follows a set format of questions

aˆ? The procedural model: in which the worker gathers information in order to see if agency criteria are met

aˆ? The exchange model: in which the service user is seen as expert in his or her own situation and the worker helps to provide resources and seeks to maximise potential.

In conclusion, I realise that people change and as a social worker I need to be aware that new information may emerge that causes situations change, so I have to consider the impact it has on the assessment. Although the assessment is often viewed as a separate stage to the intervention, it is also a continuous process and there is a need to constantly re-assess throughout the intervention (Milner and O’Byrne, 2002). I used a Task Centered Model for completing the Viability Assessment as it was a short term (6 weeks) problem solving approach with a clear beginning, middle and end, and has a specific timeframe to complete the assessesment and submit it to the court. I adopted a Solution Focused approach in my intervention as it worked with Arthur and Joan to help them to look at their strengths and to find their own solutions to challenges they may face. A Solution Focused approach enables people to see better futures, it can be used to focus on the positives whilst also accepting that their strengths which are Arthur and Joan’s commitment to meeting Jane’s needs for as long as she needs them and fact that this can be used as a platform for future long term planning.

In practice I found it difficult to choose a single model as I realized I would be using all three in this case. Firstly, the Viability Assessment for kinship involved me in the role of expert with a set format of questions, and secondly, I was conscious of the criteria for kinship to enable me to ask appropriate supplementary questions but lastly, I feel that the exchange model reflects the values of anti-oppressive practice in that Arthur is placed in a position of control and so that the process meets his expectations as well as mine as the assessing social worker. However, as social workers operating within a statutory setting we must recognize that there are pressures to conform to questioning or procedural models. To work in an anti-oppressive manner is to incorporate necessary questioning, schedules and scales into an assessment that respects Arthur’s expertise in caring for Jane (Smale and Tuson, 1993).

In this essay I will be focussing on Looked After Children (LAC) as my service user group and identify relevant laws relating to the service user group and then identify recent policies which underpin this aspect of practice, and discuss the values which underpin the law in this area of practice and finally relate these legislation to my placement practice.

Definition of the term ‘looked after’?

The term ‘looked after’ was introduced by the Children Act 1989 and refers to children who are subject to care orders and those who are voluntarily accommodated. Wherever possible, the local authority (LA) will work in partnership with parents (Pierson and Thomson, 2002).

Many children will have been affected by distressing and damaging experiences including physical and sexual abuse and neglect. Some may be in care because of the illness or death of a parent. Others may have disabilities and complex needs. The majority of young people in care come from families who experience difficulties and are separated from them because their family was unable to provide adequate care. Vulnerable unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the UK may also become looked after (Department of Education and Skills, 2004).

The main pieces of legislation underpinning social services for children and young people are the Children Act 1989, the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and the Adoption and Children Act 2002.

Local authorities have specific legal duties in respect of children under the Children Act 1989 including:

To safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their area who are in need Provided that this is consistent with the child’s safety and welfare, to promote the upbringing of such children by their families, by providing services appropriate to the child’s needs , to make enquiries if they have reasonable cause to suspect that a child in their area is suffering, or likely to suffer significant harm, to enable them to decide whether they should take any action to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare(Brammer, 2007).

Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 places responsibilities on local authorities to provide greater support to young people living in and leaving care. These include:

A duty to assess and meet the needs of young people aged 16 and 17 who qualify for the new arrangements, the provision of a personal adviser and pathway plan for all young people aged 16 to 21, or beyond for those who qualify for the new arrangements ,a duty to assist those leaving care, including with employment, education and training (the duty to assist with education and training and to provide a personal adviser and pathway plan continues for as long as a young person remains in an agreed programme, even beyond the age of 21(Brayne and Carr (2005)).

Adoption and Children Act 2002

This act aligns adoption law with the Children Act 1989 to make the child’s welfare the paramount consideration in all decisions to do with adoption. It includes:

Provisions to encourage more people to adopt looked after children by helping to ensure that the support they need is available. A new, clear duty on local authorities to provide an adoption support service and a new right for people affected by adoption to request and receive an assessment of their needs for adoption support services .Provisions to enable unmarried couples to apply to adopt jointly, thereby widening the pool of potential adoptive parents .Stronger safeguards for adoption by improving the legal controls on intercountry adoption, arranging adoptions and advertising children for adoption .A new ‘special guardianship’ order to provide security and permanence for children who cannot return to their birth families, but for whom adoption is not the most suitable option and a duty on local authorities to arrange advocacy services for looked after children and young people leaving care in the context of complaints (Department of Education and Skills,2004).

The other key aspect of the duties of LA’s in relation to children looked after by them is the provision of education. Every Child Matters (2000), the Children Act 1989 (s.22) (3)(a) (and amended by section 52 of the Children Act 2004) have stressed and reinforced the importance of the local authority’s duty to promote LAC’s educational achievements.

In order to do so, a care plan needs to be produced, which would include a Personal Education Plan (PEP). The PEP would look at the child’s developmental needs in terms of his/her education and, as states by Every Child Matters (2000), should be reviewed regularly. Here, partnership and inter-professional/agency work is again reinforced in order to meet the child’s needs. Further, there is a need for LA’s to encourage LACs to have health examinations, particularly regular checks by GP’s, dentists and opticians. At the same time to acknowledge that a child can refuse this – having regard to his/her age and understanding (Children Act 1989)(s.38)(6).

The value of the child welfare is incorporated in the every child matters (2003) policy which emphasise that looked after children must be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve in life, make a positive contribution to society and achieve economic well being (Department of Education and Skills,2004).

My second placement was with an organisation who deals with Children and Adolescents who suffer from Mental Health and also have difficulties with their status in UK. The team specifically worked with ‘looked after children’ (LAC) who were suffering from emotional and psychological behavioral problems.

Whilst on my placement, s31 were used most often. The social workers had to make certain that they had all the necessary documents in place before any action was taken. If a social worker interfered, without authorised documents from the courts, the birth parents could take court action against the local authorities.

Legislation may at times be helpful or unhelpful for LAC. A positive aspect of legislation is that the local authority has a obligatory responsibility to make sure a care plan is in place, in accordance with the 1989 Children Acts, s26 (2) and s31A plan, within ten days of the individual being placed with the local authority. This will make sure that the individuals’ needs, views and wishes are taken into consideration when decisions are made. The child’s parents or whoever holds parental responsibility, foster careers and an independent advisor may also be present when the care plan is been drawn up. The care plan should include factors such as the individual’s education and health needs, how often contact should be made with parent/siblings.

During my placement, I attended a review meeting, to discuss child x who had just been placed in a foster home. The foster carer was discussing the troubles she encountered with him, for example his challenging behavior and him missing his siblings. Following the meeting the social workers decided to speak to child x, to identify reasons for his behaviour.

However, there are certain aspects of the legislation that may at times be harmful to LAC. The Children Act 1989 s22 (3) places an importance towards family stability. This may not always be in the child/young person’s best interest. Kinship care may not always be suitable due to factors such as family dynamics, if the child was taken away because of abuse or neglect or there could still be contact with the birth family. The above could have a unfavorable effect on the child/young person’s well being.

Section 22(5) of the Children Act 1989 states that all local authority, have a duty, to consider a child’s cultural and ethnic background, when placing them with foster carers. However, this may not always be possible, for service users who are from the black and ethnic minorities, due to the lack of black and ethnic minority foster carers

(Colton et al, 2001). According to Colton et al (2001) there are a high proportion of black and ethnic minority children and young people, especially dual heritage service users, who are looked after.

In today’s society, children who are ‘looked after’ are considered to be amongst the most at risk (Every child matter, 2004). Numerous having experienced hardship may be naive of their entitlements and therefore may not get their requirements met. The language often used within social work is judge to be very complex and confusing for service users, especially children and young people. Therefore Local authorities and social workers need to work in partnership with LAC, their families and agencies in order to protect and look after service users. Legislation needs to be used fittingly in order to empower service users. Research has shown when local authorities and parents work together the outcomes for the child/young person, have a higher chance of working (Thoburn et al, 1995).

Social workers hold a vast amount of authority when carrying out their work therefore it is vital that they do not misuse this status. Social workers work within the restraints of policy and procedures trying to meet the needs of service users. (Allen, 1998). Good social work practice is working in partnership with all concerned. This may however cause an imbalance between the service users/family and local authority. For example, if the local authority has to remove a child due to abuse, the family may not always agree. By having awareness and working in a reflective manner, with regard to one’s own personal prejudices, values and attitudes will enhance safe social work practice with service users. Legislation at times may discriminate either on a personal, cultural or structural level (Thompson, 2001). It is the duty of all social workers to be aware of this and challenge it, on all levels. In the Children Act 1989, s22 (5), tries to support anti discriminatory practice by given ‘due consideration to LAC religious and cultural needs, before placing them with foster carers (Allen, 1998).

It is important that social workers, who work with LAC and their families hold fast to the

Children Act 1989.Understanding of the law is extremely important. Also social workers need to be alert and be aware of the challenge that they may meet when working within the legal framework. It is of utmost importance that social workers receive regular training to be kept informed with legislation and necessary skills, which will help to improve their current practice. Social workers need to make sure their practice is anti-discriminatory, as to empower service users and promote their autonomy.

Reference
Allen, N. (1998) Making sense of the Children’s Act (3rd edition), John Wiley & Son
Brayne, H. & Carr, H. (2005) Law for Social Workers. (9th Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Colton, M.; Sanders, R.; and Williams, M. (2001) An introduction – Working with children, a guide for social workers, Palgrave.
Pierson, J & M, Thomson (2002) Dictionary of Social Work. Harper Collins Publishers.
Brammar, A. Socail Work Law,2007(2nd edition),Pearson Education Ltd.
Thompson, N. (2001) Anti-Discriminatory Practice (3rd edition), Palgrave
Thoburn, J.; Lewis, A and Shemmings, D. (1995) Paternalism or Partnership Family Involment in the Child Protection Process, Blackwell.
Every Child Matters (2000) Guidance on the education of children and young people in public care 2000. [Online]. Available from: http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/files/9E18CB7F9306BA85A821C24BBCE18082.pdf (Accessed 4/5/2007).

Alcoholism results in long lasting and negative effects on the entire family. Family therapy can help the entire family whether they are the alcohol abuser or the abused family members. Including the entire family in therapy sessions can help keep the alcohol abuser out of denial when he or she hears how their alcohol abuse affects the entire family. The family members have the same chance to heal and to be heard when they might not otherwise get that chance without being included in therapy sessions. Considering that the family members are often told to keep the alcohol abuseraa‚¬a„?s behavior a secret, therapy can empower them when they talk about their experiences openly and receive much-needed support. Because the psychological effects of alcoholism can last a lifetime for the entire family, it is important to treat every person in the family, where they can learn to feel safe while revealing their feelings, fears, and disappointments. Everyone in this type of family needs help healing from the alcohol abuse and how it has affected each individual in a personal way. Because family therapy includes every member, it can mitigate some of the devastating and ongoing effects alcoholism has on each member, especially the children.

Keywords: alcoholic, family therapy, empower

Alcoholism and its Effect on the Family

The devastating effects of alcoholism on families and children have been well documented. When alcohol disrupts the normal functioning of a family in a home, a clinical diagnosis of alcohol abuse can be made (Ripley, Cunion, & Noble, 2006). There has been recent progress in the treatment of alcohol abuse with family therapy (Ripley et al., 2006). Some problems, which alcoholism can lead to in a family, might include risky behaviors such as love affairs, unplanned pregnancies, problems with the law, reduced inhibitions, and social nonconformity (Ripley et al., 2006). Family therapists usually support using family therapy as a first-line treatment for alcoholism; although in some circumstances, where there is violence or psychosis, the entire family is not always present (Ripley et al., 2006). Therapy for the entire family can make an important difference in the lives of family members, especially the children who can grow up to become adults with serious adjustment and psychological problems as a result of living with an alcoholic during their childhood.

Parental Alcoholism and Family Life

A recent ten-year study has shown a significant increase in American alcoholism (Johnson & Stone, 2009). The number of children that have been exposed to alcoholism or alcohol abuse in their homes is estimated to be 28.6% or 1 in 4 children (Johnson & Stone, 2009).

Children and families can experience many damaging effects from alcohol abuse, some being angry outbursts, physical abuse, and notable decreases in caring or warmth (Johnson & Stone, 2009). In an alcoholic home, there is increased distress for the spouse, and the spouse suffers much greater psychological upset and health problems than in a non-alcoholic environment (Ripley et al., 2006).

In alcoholic families there is frequent fighting with angry scenes of arguing and blaming. In addition, children are frequently elevated to a parental role, becoming caretakers for parents or siblings, confusing appropriate parental/child boundaries (Johnson & Stone, 2009). When looking back on their lives, adult children of alcoholics tend to remember their families of origin as less healthy than adults who did not have an alcoholic family member. Research has also shown alcoholic families to have been less able to function as a healthy unit due to the effects of frequent drinking (Johnson & Stone, 2009). There is less cooperation, problem solving, and communication with alcoholic families than with non-alcoholic families (Ripley et al., 2006).

Other negative effects of alcoholism on children include divorce and becoming alcoholics themselves (Johnson & Stone, 2009). Children in alcoholic families experience more traumatic events and are at a higher risk of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Neglect is also a risk for children who grow up with an alcoholic parent (Johnson & Stone, 2009). Family functioning decreases when there is unpredictability, abuse, or lack of parent involvement in the lives of their children (Johnson & Stone, 2009).

Fathers’ Alcoholism and Infant Attachment

The decrease in family functioning can be evident in children up to 12 months of age who showed less attachment to parents than children of the same age in non-alcoholic families (Edwards, Eiden, & Leonard, 2004). Studies have suggested that there is a connection between infants who have difficult temperaments and alcoholic parents. The father’s mental health issues that usually accompany alcoholism such as avoidant behaviors and antisocial behaviors negatively affect the father-infant attachment (Edwards et al., 2004).

Infant attachment is negatively affected also when the mother has mental health issues. Depression has a strong effect on the mother-infant relationship, especially when the depression goes on long term (Edwards et al., 2004).

Another effect of alcoholism on an infant is that there is a strong association between marital animosity, alcoholism, and the parent-infant relationship. The marital relationship directly influences parent-infant attachment (Edwards et al., 2004).

Children and Acting out Behaviors

As the infant gets older, children of preschool age who have alcoholic fathers have more behavior problems and act out more than other children (Eiden, Edwards, & Leonard, 2006). Behavior problems starting this early have been linked to antisocial behaviors leading to substance abuse in older children (Eiden et al., 2006). Sons of alcoholic fathers showed more deviant behavior as toddlers than other children without alcoholic fathers. Daughters of alcoholic fathers showed more fear, anxiety, and uncontrolled compliance as toddlers than other children (Eiden et al., 2006).

Psychological Adjustment of Children in an Alcoholic Home

Besides children having fear, anxiety, and deviant behavior, research has shown that a father’s heavy drinking affects his children’s psychological and social adjustment over a period of time (Andreas & O’Farrell, 2007). Fathers who entered into treatment for their alcoholism, and remained in recovery, had children who showed a decrease in their adjustment issues while fathers who continued and increased their drinking had children who had an increase in their adjustment issues (Andreas & O’Farrell, 2007).

Because children in alcoholic homes have increasing adjustment issues as well as a multitude of developmental problems, being a child of an alcoholic is a high risk factor for having developmental and adjustment issues (Andreas & O’Farrell, 2007).

Children of alcoholic fathers who demonstrated having adjustment issues showed improvement when their fathers entered treatment and drank less. When these fathers returned to their heavy drinking behaviors, their children also returned to exhibiting coping and behavioral problems as before (Andreas & O’Farrell, 2007).

Children and Self Control

Children respond to their parent’s drinking behaviors and successful self control is thought to be learned and internalized by the quality of parenting. A mother’s warmth, sensitivity, and discipline have a significant role in learning self regulation (Eiden et al., 2006). Studies have shown that a mother’s responsiveness at 13 and 24 months predicted self control at 6 years old. It has also been shown that a mother’s emotional availability has a significant effect on self control. Mothers, who are warm and positive, have children who have lower levels of hostility, acting out behaviors, and higher levels of self control (Eiden et al., 2006). Alcoholic families, in which the father is the alcoholic, are less sensitive to their children’s needs for warmth, attention, and time and do not have as many positive play interactions with their children (Eiden et al., 2006).

Parental Depression and Alcoholism

Mothers who are depressed are less emotionally and verbally responsive to their children and have poor parent-child interactions. Children become more negative and irritable as a result of their parent’s depression starting as early as 3 months old (Eiden et al., 2006). With parental depression, mothers and fathers are less involved in interacting with their children, show less physical affection, and are easily aggravated and frustrated, and use more negative discipline (Eiden et al., 2006).

Family Violence and Alcoholism

Together with depression and neglect, alcoholic parents are more likely to use harsh physical punishment than non-alcoholic parents. Family violence is common within the alcoholic environment and approximately 1/3 of abused children in the alcoholic home develop PTSD (Sher et al., 2005). Research has shown that there is a significantly higher degree of verbal and physical violence in alcoholic homes when compared to non-alcoholic homes (Ripley et al., 2006).

Effects of Alcoholism as an Adult

The abusive way of life in an alcoholic home, including verbal and physical violence, depression and neglect, can directly affect the child when he or she becomes an adult (Johnson & Stone, 2009). Some adults who have experienced a childhood alcoholic home along with emotional abuse struggle with social issues, mood problems, anxiety, and are also at risk for drug and alcohol use themselves (Johnson & Stone, 2009). Adult children of alcoholics have shown less satisfaction with their lives and relationships and tend to have negative attitudes than those who are not adult children of alcoholics. They will often marry another adult child of an alcoholic and have more divorces and less satisfaction with their own children and marriage. Adult children of alcoholics will tend to be more controlling of others and their lives (Johnson & Stone, 2009).

Sense of Self as an Adult

Other affects of living in an alcoholic home suffered by adult children of alcoholics are that they tend to react to their environment with more emotional lability, can be hyper-sensitive, and do not have a clear idea of who they are. They also tend to have difficulty with trust and intimacy and tend to be avoidant people (Johnson & Stone, 2009). Adult children of alcoholics will tend to avoid and be disconnected from their families, or overinvolved when there is more family health and cohesion (Johnson & Stone, 2009). Studies have shown that adult children of alcoholics who experienced verbal abuse were less fused to their families and more cut off from their families of origin (Johnson & Stone, 2009). Studies show that if adult children of alcoholics saw more physical violence between their parents, they ended up showing less ability to know who they were along with not being good at making their own decisions and standing by them. The longer a child lived at home with alcoholic parents, the more emotionally reactive they tended to be as adults (Johnson & Stone, 2009).

Antisocial Behavior and Alcoholism

Other abnormal behavior by alcoholic parents may be antisocial behavior, which can be linked to alcoholism. It can manifest as angry, aggressive behavior in the home as well as having a possible genetic link to temperament (Eiden et al., 2006). There is a correlation between alcoholics, impulsivity, and sensation-seeking behaviors (Ripley et al., 2006).

Psychopathology and Alcoholism

A family history of alcoholism is a risk factor for the development of many mental illnesses, in addition to antisocial behaviors, which include alcoholism, substance abuse, major depression, conduct disorder, and aggressive behavior (Sher et al., 2005). Studies show that people with a family history of alcoholism report a higher rate of physical and sexual abuse make more suicide attempts with more intent to die when compared to depressed subjects without a family history of alcoholism (Sher et al., 2005). Females who have a family history of alcoholism are more likely to develop major depression than males who have a family history of alcoholism. There is also a higher degree of depressed people from alcoholic homes who develop PTSD (Sher et al., 2005).

Genetic and Environmental Factors

The family members who are at greater risk for the mental illnesses associated with alcoholism and develop mental illness are more impaired by their mental illness than people who do not have a first-degree relative with alcoholism. This impairment is most likely due to genetic as well as environmental factors. Genetics may contribute to alcoholism as well as suicidal behavior in a family with alcoholism. Serotonin imbalance is implicated as a factor in alcoholism, depression, and related illnesses. Sons from alcoholic families who do not become alcoholics have been shown to be deficient in serotonin (Sher et al., 2005). Other biological differences have been found in families with a history of alcoholism (Sher et al., 2005). Because people are influenced by their environments, this has to be considered as well as biological predisposition when considering the effects of alcoholism in the home. Both biological and environmental factors work together to cause a higher rate of developing alcoholism in people with a family history (Sher et al., 2005). Other environmental issues that contribute to alcoholism include poverty or lack of opportunities (Ripley et al., 2006). The continued abuse of alcohol can cause additional health problems due to the health risks caused by the alcohol consumption (Ripley et al., 2006).

Treatment Approaches to Alcoholism

Treatment of the possible health risks associated with alcoholism is an important first step in order for the client to be healthy enough to participate in therapy. After this, the initiation of family therapy can be considered. Some evidence shows that family therapy is a superior treatment for alcoholism while other evidence shows no difference in treatment of the alcoholic as an individual versus family therapy (Ripley et al., 2006). Family therapy as the treatment approach for alcohol abuse makes sense as the primary treatment modality because everyone in the family suffers the effects of the substance abuse. If the alcohol abuser is a child, parents will suffer with worry and wait up for their child to come home at night. If the abuser is a spouse, he or she will try to hide evidence of drinking, hiding bottles, avoiding work and friends. Children of alcoholics will be affected by guilt and often be elevated to a position of adult, dealing with responsibility they are not prepared for. Adult children of alcoholics will often suffer the effects of alcoholism throughout their lives being unable to stop suffering the memories of their past and finding themselves in unhealthy relationships that mimic their past. Alcoholism can affect immediate families as well as generations of families.

The way in which families interact with each other can contribute to the continuation of alcoholism with the substance abusing member. Without realizing how alliances and enabling behavior within the family can help support unhealthy behavior, the family will not be able to change. Alcohol abuse can be missed and even unknowingly encouraged by other family members. If the family is willing to participate in therapy, and the alcohol abuser is not, change can still begin by unbalancing the family system when the other members engage in new behaviors, possibly causing the alcohol abuser to also participate in therapy and admit their problem.

When the problem of alcohol abuse is addressed as a family issue all members have responsibility for the issue. In the beginning of therapy, helping the alcoholic to stop drinking and maintain sobriety should be the highest priority. Research has shown that the alcoholic can maintain sobriety longer if the entire family is involved in problem resolution following a relapse (Ripley et al., 2006). This would be easier when the entire family is aware of the problem and willing to do whatever it takes to help the alcoholic remain sober. Any type of enabling behavior can be addressed and stopped at this time also making it more difficult for the alcoholic to rely on previous methods for getting others to help with alcohol consumption, allowing it, and tolerating addictive behavior.

Stabilizing the Family

After an alcoholic stops abusing alcohol, the changes in that person are often difficult to tolerate by other family members. Family members feel the person is different and they can feel lost and depressed. Their old enabling roles are disrupted and they do not know what to do or what to expect. These family members can feel a sense of emptiness and a feeling of being without direction. Families have been known to sabotage the alcoholic’s attempt to remain sober by providing alcohol and causing temptation. In family therapy, if a relapse does occur, the family therapist can bring up the question of who is to blame for the relapse. Because relapse can be complicated and contributed to by others in the family, it is addressed in family therapy as a family problem rather than the alcoholic’s problem alone. If a crisis of relapse occurs, this can be addressed and other family issues can be brought up to improve relationships, receive healthy support, and improve the intimacy between couples.

Behavioral Therapy for Families as a Preferred Treatment

Behavioral therapy used in family therapy is thought to be the most effective treatment for alcoholism (Ripley et al., 2006). Behavioral therapy for families focuses on determining what current situations in the family contribute to maintaining drinking, what the family thinks is the positive effects of alcohol, and consequences of drinking (Ripley et al., 2006). Behavioral therapy for families works on changing the motivation for drinking, working on the alcoholic and spouse to make needed behavior changes, teaching positive reinforcement for not drinking, and to help the alcoholic and spouse regarding new cognitive and behavioral skills for maintaining sobriety (Ripley et al., 2006). Behavioral therapy for families has been shown to cause significant reduction in alcohol use as well as improve the relationship between the alcoholic and spouse (Ripley et al., 2006).

Family Systems Therapy

Family Systems Therapy focuses on the family system in which the alcoholism is the problem rather than the individual. In the beginning stages of therapy, the alcoholic is not pressured to stop drinking. The therapist operates as a consultant until the family decides what their goal is regarding the problem drinking in the family. A goal might involve changing interactions that might contribute to maintaining drinking behavior in the family (Ripley et al., 2006). Studies have shown this approach is no better than other treatment approaches; however, other treatment modalities may use this approach as part of another approach (Ripley et al., 2006).

Structural-Strategic Family Therapy

Another family therapy modality is Structural-Strategic Family Therapy which is concerned with problems in substance abuse. It is action-oriented and this produces results because of this. This approach has been shown to be a good option for adolescent alcohol abusers.

The Johnson Intervention

Before beginning family therapy, initially the Johnson Intervention can be used to educate the family of an alcoholic regarding the preparation for a confrontation and intervention. The goal of this intervention is to help the alcoholic to overcome denial and to encourage him to enter treatment. Studies have found that this intervention technique helps the alcoholic to begin treatment, but has not made a significant difference in getting alcoholics to stay in treatment (Ripley et al., 2006).

Conclusion

Alcoholism is a problem that affects the entire family. Some of the effects last through years and even generations. Treating this as a family issue allows the family to work as a unit to bring about change for the alcoholic, and to also get help for themselves. Spouses can be affected by problematic behaviors such as physical and emotional violence, sexual affairs, and loss of jobs and income. Children of alcoholics can live through devastating scenes of physical violence and yelling. They can suffer sleep deprivation while waiting up for their alcoholic parent to come home from the bars. Adult children of alcoholics are known to continue dealing with the lasting effects of living with an alcoholic in their families of origin. Adult children of alcoholics can suffer from post traumatic stress, anxiety, fear, depression, and not knowing who they are or what their purpose is in life. These long-term psychological effects can be debilitating. Treating alcoholism as a family can bring help to every member and possibly stop the cycle of alcohol abuse. Children can express their fears, worries, and hopes for the future. Spouses can not only express their fears and worries, but can also find ways to help the alcoholic maintain a sober existence. Cooperation by every member is crucial, and if the entire family commits and agrees to therapy, the alcoholic has a greater likelihood of recovery. By having the entire family present for therapy, the alcoholic is not only offered a solution to the drinking problem, but the rest of the family has an opportunity to heal from the effects of living with the alcoholic. If this is successful, the alcoholic can stop abusing alcohol and become a contributing member of his or her family, the spouse can heal and lead a healthier and happier life, and the children can heal from their traumatic past and subsequently look forward to a more positive future.

I have chosen to focus my essay on lone parents and poverty. Lone parents are a growing group in Great Britain and elsewhere, and one with high rates of poverty and receipt of social assistance. This paper will analyse the current Government’s policy objectives and their vision that it is right to expect people to make every effort to get themselves ready for work, as well as raising expectations within society.

employment, or employment on low earnings (Millar and Ridge 2001). This means that many lone parents have to rely on state benefits which are often set at low levels.

To this list we might also add low rates of receiving child support from ex-partners (the father of any children), and relatively low rates of child support even among those receiving any (Marsh et al 2001). It is widely accepted that poverty is a consequence of lone parenthood. But poverty is itself also a cause of lone parenthood, particularly for single (never-married) lone mothers.

In previous years in Britain lone parents with children below the ages of 16 had a right to seek paid work or not without any risk of sanctions from the Government or other Government bodies (Rafferty and Wiggan, 2011). This was further pointed out by by the Freud Review (2007) of the welfare to work provisions as well as the green paper on welfare reform published in the same year – In work, better off: next steps to full employment.

This was seen as a critical phase in the development of social poilicies within the area, it saw a new social agreement and view that sought to reinforce lone parents’ oblihations to seek paid work (Department for Work and Pensions 2007).

The subsequent December 2007 White Paper, Ready for work: full employment in our generation, while acknowledging that many respondents to the Green Paper did not support the proposal to require lone parents to seek work on the basis that they should be able to choose to stay home to look after their children full-time, pointed towards evidence of the negative long-term effects for parents and children of long-term economic inactivity.

Under the old labour Government, lone parents with a child under 16 who were not in full-time work could claim Income Support. However, from November 2008 most lone parents with a youngest child aged 12 or over were no longer eligible for Income Support. Those deemed able to work were instead able to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance, provided they were ‘available for and actively seeking work’.

The age threshold for the youngest child was then progressively lowered, so that by October 2010 most lone parents with a youngest child aged seven or over were subject to the JSA regime and this was further extended in the Budget 2010 to those whose who’s youngest dependent child being ¬?ve or over (Great Britain, Parliament, Her Majesty’s Treasury, 2010).

The Government’s intentions are for those who find work to benefit from higher income and improved wellbeing. They are committed to halving child poverty by 2010-11 and on the way to eradicating it by 2020. Currently there are 2.9 million children living in poverty. In addition to making families better off, paid work has other important benefits including improving the health and well-being and future prospects of both parents and children.

There are also fiscal benefits behind the idealisms, with a lower benefit burden the Government estimates that this policy change will affect approximately 100,000 single parents in 2011 and make saving of ?380m between 2011 and 2015 (Tickle, 2010) there is also wider social gains with reduced adult and child poverty through increased employment (DWP, 2008).

Lone parents feel that their concerns have been disregarded; that being a parent is a full time job and there are insufficient flexible, ‘family friendly’ jobs available (Woods, 2011). Gordon (2002) stated that there was an uncertainty about how to get benefits reinstated quickly if a job did not work out well for the lone parent and it was another barrier in the way of seeking employment as well as the loss of Housing Benefit and changes in their Working Tax Credit.

This is reinforced by the Policy Studies Institute (1997) which found that many out of work lone parents say they are unable to take paid jobs, even if they could find affordable childcare and the biggest reason given was that their children were too young and needed their mother at home.

On 26 October 2009 Gingerbread published a report, Signing on Stepping up? Single parents’ experience of moving on to Jobseeker’s Allowance, which presented the findings from a qualitative study based on interviews with 34 lone parents both before and after their move to JSA, carried out between January and August 2009.

Before the move, parents expected to feel under considerable pressure to find work once they were on JSA. Once they were on JSA many parents did indeed feel under pressure and some were applying for jobs that would not really be suitable. In general the increase in pressure was not accompanied by more support to find a job; once on JSA many parents said that they had not had any support or advice about job hunting apart from hurried fortnightly sign-on appointments.

Many parents said that they felt the Jobseeker’s Allowance is more stigmatised than Income Support, and parents felt embarrassed about signing on at the Jobcentre. The change to fortnightly payments also was very unpopular and caused problems for many parents.

There was evidence that parents are not getting enough clear information about the change to JSA. Some parents did not know well in advance when their benefits would change, others were worried that their JSA might be stopped if they didn’t find work, and many did not understand the conditions and flexibilities around JSA.

Many of these parents had health conditions or other responsibilities that would make it difficult for them to work, and many had children with health issues or problems at school. Channel 4 News (2011) broadcast this as the new welfare reforms for single parents coming into force, and that lone parents are being set up to fail by the new proposals. (Gingerbread, 2011).

Gordon went on to state that older policies that had been pushed through and pursued by the Conservatives in the 80’s and 90’s had resulted in a large increase in low-income households and families. This only changed when New Labour came to power in 1997 – they changed direction and focused their policies on making work pay by creating a liveable minimum wage and a welfare ideology within society, which emphasised the importance of maternal care.

They created the ‘making work pay’ strategy which they hoped would in the long term lower the numbers of people, including lone parents, who were welfare dependant. It was aimed at all groups who were seen as vulnerable and suffering under the older system and was especially helpful to lone parents as it included increased financially supported childcare and a specific ‘New Deal’ which started after the 1997 election.

The deal was a voluntary programme which offered help and support for lone parents who wished to return to work or make an attempt to do so. It included job search support and the training needed, along with personal support, to help lone parents attempt to adjust and prepare for the transition to work – however one of the flaws that developed was that there was limited opportunities for the training amongst lone parents.

Government policies that are designed to help vulnerable groups, including lone parents, get back into the working environment and reduce the levels of poverty within society ‘could had a profound difference and change the quality of life for lone parent families.’ (Gregg, Harkness and Smith, 2007)

It is obvious that Social Workers must be aware of lone paretns and their daily struggle with poverty and employment. It is a ‘current and big issue within socieity and poverty is a key and defining feature in the lives of many service users’. (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2008)

They go further by statting that sociology is a key component and skill for Social Workers to learn and understand so that they can use it in their practice to under pin the Codes of Practice set forth by the General Social Care Council. The same codes that state that all Social Worker’s must have appropriate knowledge and skills to provide social care and keep those skills and knowledge up to date. (GSCC, 2002)

Reducing welfare dependency for lone parents could result in reduced welfare expenditure and maximised employment rates along with ‘improved socio-political impact for women however the financial incentives for work has to be substantive and sustainable to reduce the risk of in-work poverty’. (Knijn, Martin and Millar, 2007).

Finch et al (2004) suggested that a lack of good childcare was one of the significant barriers to the governments target to increase the lone parent employment rate to 70 % by 2010.

In the budget address of 2010, George Osborne stated that the government expects lone parents to look for work when their youngest child goes to school. These changes were then implemented on 25 October 2010 and affected lone parents’ claiming income support.

The Job Seekers Allowance Regulations 2010 also changed the policy too making it that once children are of full time school age, parents who are able to work and are claiming benefits should be expected to look for paid work to support themselves and their family.

Gingerbread, is still calling on the Coalition Government to ‘implement plans to enable all employees to apply for flexible working, to ensure all jobs in the public sector are offered on a part- time or flexible basis and introduce a right to paid parental leave to help parents deal with time off when children are ill.’ (Ahrends, 2009)

Ahrends goes onto state that David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg all pledged to challenge prejudice against single parents in 2010 and the newly elected Coalition Government further stated that it was committed to introducing flexible working for all and launched a taskforce on children and families. Unfortunately 9 months later this same government has scraped regulations and introduced new ones which came into force April 2011 as part of a package of measures to reduce bureaucracy for businesses.

It means firms with fewer than 10 employees from all new “red tape” for three years as it subjects 21,000 pieces of regulation to an audit by the public. (Stratton and Wintour, 2011) This will see a shelving of the right to request flexible working for parents with children under 17 which will apply to all firms, not just small ones. It will also scrap the right to request time for training and education toward continuous professional development.

Single parents often want to work, but finding jobs to fit around the school day is very difficult; as is finding and paying for suitable good quality childcare before and after the school day. (Freegard, 2010). It is also important to note that family friendly’ jobs are still far too rare despite the Government requiring 100,000 single parents to seek work in 2011. (Woods, 2011)

There has also been calls for the Government to move faster on plans for flexible working hours for lone parents however ‘business case for flexible working has been proven with most employers agreeing that people work best when they have a work/life balance.’ (Weir, 2011)

However it is important to note that in terms of poverty eradication there has been an improvement. Single parents’ employment rate has certainly risen, from 40% in the early 1980s to 56.6% in 2009. (Giullari, 2009)

For the Government’s policies to work, there has to be ‘sustainable, flexible work for lone parents to be employed in. Under this welfare ideology one of the key assumptions is that all adults should be in work even if it means precarious employment’. (Lewis and Giullari, 2005)

Ahrends debates although successive governments have promoted work as the route out of poverty and that many single parents are better off in paid work this is not always the case: 21% of children whose single parent is in full time work still fall below the poverty line, as do 29 % of children whose single parent is working part time. 4 out of 10 children living in poverty are in a single parent household, and 9 out of 10 of them are mothers. More than 20% of women have persistently low incomes, helping, rather than forcing, these women is the answer.

Finch et al (2004) discusses that numerous studies have suggested that Britain’s parents are ‘failing, children are miserable and have poor moral, social and intellectual upbringing’. And it has been said that ‘children from single parent families are ‘worse behaved’, children raised by single mothers are twice as likely to misbehave as those born into traditional two-parent families’. (Paton, 2011)

When a lone parent starts work, there are many changes to daily life. and the lives of their families and other family members. ‘All of this including the social, work, carer and school settings are key elements to work sustainability; this has not yet been systematically explored in research.’ (Millar and Ridge, 2009)

Lone parents are a growing group in Great Britain and elsewhere and now represent one quarter of families with children (Haskey 2002). In the longer term, perhaps one half of British children will pass through a non-intact family at some stage in their childhood. Lone parents have been an important area of social policy study, given their high rates of receipt of social assistance. Their low incomes may be traced to low rates of economic activity, low rates of maintenance receipt, and relatively lower earnings when in paid work.

A lot of single parents do want to work and for good reasons such as the sense of financial independence they get but also to set good examples for their children – however with the current changes to the social policies surrounding lone parents and their benefits and the forthcoming changes mean that they feel isolated and vulnerable.

In conclusion lone parents are facing a changing environment due to the budget cuts and the reduction in services. ‘With the Coalition Government there has been a shift away from supporting lone parents being full time carers at home to an employment-based maternal model. There is a rhetoric focus and direction towards supporting employment and now the move to compulsory work-related requirements. Lone parents with children five years or over are treated the same as any other unemployed claimant.’ (Woods, 2011)

‘Family-friendly employment with a work/life balance are not now part of the government’s policies and without action from both the Government and employers, many single parents will remain in the poverty trap.’ (Woods, 2011)

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Physical abuse: This is any form of harm caused to the body, which may include one or more episodes of aggressive behavior, usually resulting in physical injury with possible damage to internal organs, sense organs, the central nervous system etc.

Sexual abuse: This is when a sexual act is carried out without the consent or understanding of the service user involved. This can include sexual penetration of any part of the body, touching inappropriate parts of the body without informed agreement, sexual exploitation and/or threats regarding sexual activity.

Emotional / psychological abuse: service users being bullied, controlled, intimidated or taken advantage of . Service users needs being ignored, reports of shouting, screaming, swearing, scared of raised voices, distressed, being teased, being humiliated, un respected, not being given choice, opinion, dignity, privacy, being undermined.

Financial abuse: This can be the case when a third party is controlling or spending a service users money. Not being made aware of their own finances, family controlling service users money and not making it available for the service user to use, control of their finances being taken away even if able to deal with them, sudden changes in the service users will, personal belongs going missing, unusual spending patterns, others moving into the service users property. |

Institutional abuse: This can occur in a care home, nursing home, acute hospital or in-patient setting and can be any of the following – For example, being made to do things not of the service user’s own free will, i.e. under duress, being forced into acts they are not compliant with (or being forced into behaviour they are not happy with) such as set meal times, set bedtimes, freedom restricted.

Self neglect: This is when a service user neglects their own basic needs, such as personal care – not eating/drinking, not taking medication, neglecting personal hygiene, neglecting appearance.

Neglect by others: This can occur when a third party neglects a service user, whether intentionally or via oversight. Neglect can involve not catering for the service user’s basic needs such as nutritional needs, healthcare/hygiene needs, leaving a service user without adequate finances, neglecting medication needs.

Identify the signs and/or symptoms associated with each type of abuse

The indicators or warning signs of abuse can be clues that something is happening in the life of the service user that should be looked into. Some indicators are obvious signs of abuse. Other indicators are subtle, requiring careful observation.

Signs/symptoms of:

Physical abuse – Bruises, Burns, Cuts or scars, marks left by a restraint, imprint injuries (eg., marks shaped like fingers, thumbs, hands, belts or sticks), missing teeth, bald spot in hair (from pulled hair) , eye injuries, broken bones ,sprains, abrasions or scrapes, sudden onset of psychosomatic complaints, sudden difficulty walking or sitting.

Sexual abuse – unusual sexual behaviour, blood or marks on underclothes, recurrent genital/urinary infections, loss of confidence, lack of interest in appearance, sleeping problems, feeling depressed, frequent complaints of abdominal pain.

Emotional/Psychological abuse – changes in the way affection is shown, sudden onset of nightmares, changes in sleep patterns, difficulty sleeping, sudden regression to childlike behaviors (i.e., bed-wetting, thumb-sucking), cruelty to animals, sudden fear of a person or place, depression, withdrawal, or mood swings – any unexplained change in behaviour.

Financial abuse – unpaid bills, no money for food, clothing, or medication, unexplained withdrawal of money from someone’s bank account, family member or representative refuses to spend money on the adult’s behalf, possessions disappear, family member or another person forces an adult to sign over Power of Attorney against their own will.

Institutional abuse – Inability to make choices or decisions, not being offered an advocate when needed, no awareness of own rights, agitation if routine broken, not person centred, care plans not available to service user, strict times for routines which MUST be adhered to, carer/company using policy and procedure as a reason for not doing something for the service user without making an effort to find another way to do it, lack of personal clothing or possessions, denial of visitors or phone calls, lack of privacy, lack of adequate procedures (e.g. for medication, financial management, controlling relationships between staff and service users, poor professional practice, high number of complaints, accidents or incidents. These are all signs that may be shown when institutional abuse is occurring.

Self neglect – Signs shown when self-neglect is happening to a service user are poor personal hygiene, no food in the cupboards or fridge, rapid weight loss

Neglect by others – When services users are being neglected by others signs that this is happening may be, they become ill, hungry, cold, dirty, injured, deprived of their rights and rapid weight loss may become evident.

Describe the factors that may contribute to a service user being more vulnerable to abuse

Vulnerable people may be more susceptible to abuse when carers have made changes to their lives that they are not comfortable with, when there is no family to support them, when they have more than one carer supporting them, when they do not know how/where to make a complaint, when they need more care than they are currently receiving, when their carers become dependent on alcohol or drugs, when living in housing which has no adaptations, are socially isolated or are not aware of their rights.

2. Know how to respond to suspected or alleged abuse

Explain the actions to take if there are suspicions that an service user is being abused

I would firstly observe the service user and if I became suspicious that he/she was being abused I would ask if they are okay. I would next inform my line manager of my concerns and discreetly document my concerns, but I would not ask the service user leading questions.

Explain the actions to take if an service user alleges that they are being abused

If a service user alleges that they are being abused I would need to stay calm, Listen very carefully, ensure that he/she is not in any immediate danger, call for emergency services if urgent medical / police help is required and be aware that medical and forensic evidence might be needed, encourage the person not to wash or bathe in a major incident of abuse as this could disturb medical/forensic evidence. I would next tell the person that they did the right thing in telling me, express concern and sympathy about what has happened, reassure that the information will be taken seriously and give information about what will happen next, let the service user know that they will be kept involved at every stage; that they will be told the outcome and who will do this. Give the service user contact details of somebody that is in a position to help further so that they can report any further issues or ask any questions that may arise. Next I would explain that I must tell my Line Manager, then inform my Line Manager of the situation immediately and explain what I have been told along with my concerns.

Identify ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved

I would begin by making a written record of messages (e.g. answer-phone) to ensure they are not lost (including the date and time and sign them), ensure written records (notes, letters, bank statements, medication records etc.) are kept in a safe place. If this involves physical abuse I would not tidy up, wash clothes, bedding, other items, or try to clear/tidy anything up. I would try not to touch anything unless I have to for the immediate wellbeing of the service user – if I have to I would then make a record of what I have done. If any sexual abuse has been committed I would discourage the service user from washing, drinking, cleaning their teeth or going to the toilet until the police are present. I would then try to ensure that no one else enters the premises (apart from medical staff or necessary people in positions of authority until the police arrive. I would contact my Line Manager to try to ensure that the alleged perpetrator does not have any contact with the service user, record any physical signs or injuries using a body map or hand drawing and write a description of any physical signs or injuries including size, shape, colour etc. I would lastly sign and date my notes and any other records I have made.

3. Understand the national and local context of safeguarding and protection from abuse

Identify national policies and local systems that relate to safeguarding and protection from abuse

No secrets (Department of Health2000)

Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults policy, (SOVA)

Care Quality commission (CQC)

Mental Capacity Act

Independent safeguarding authority (ISA)

National occupational standards

General social care commission

In safe hands

Local safeguarding children board

Explain the roles of different agencies in safeguarding and protecting service users from abuse

No secrets

Provides guidance to local agencies that have a responsibility to investigate and take action when a vulnerable adult is believed to be suffering from abuse. It offers a structure and content for the development of local inter-agency policies, procedures and joint protocols which will draw on good practice nationally and locally; and encourages partnership working between all statutory, voluntary and private agencies that work with vulnerable adults.

P.O.V.A List

The Care Standards Act 2000 introduced a list for the protection of vulnerable adults known as ‘the POVA list’ which listed care workers who were considered unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults. Section 82(1) of the Act provides that a person who provided care for vulnerable adults must refer a care worker to the Secretary of State if the provider had dismissed a care worker on the grounds of misconduct which harmed or placed at risk of harm a vulnerable adult.

Every child matter

Every Child Matters, the government’s vision for children’s services was published in September 2003 as part of the response to the death of Victoria Climbie. It proposed reshaping children’s services to help achieve the following five key outcomes for children and young people: Be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, achieve economic well-being. It focuses on supporting families and carers and prevent them reaching crisis point and prevent child abuse.

Care standards act 2000

The Care Standards Act 2000 came into effect in April 2002, replacing the Residential Homes Act 1984 and the Residential Homes Amendment Act 1991. The Act set up a new system of national minimum standards for services It established a major regulatory framework for social care to ensure high standards of care and will improve protection of vulnerable people. Implementation led to the establishment of the independent National Care Standards Commission (NCSC).

Quality Care Commission

Established through the Care standards Act, the care quality commission aim is to promote improvements in care via its triple functions of inspection, regulation and review of all social care services. It provides a comprehensive overview of social care in England and works at a local level, at a national level, and across all sectors. Regular reviews of social care provision are published.

General Social Care Council (GSCC)

The Care standards Act also established the GSCC, the first ever UK-wide codes of practice for social workers and employers were launched in September 2002. It is the regulatory body for the social care workforce in England. Their codes of practice provide a clear guide for all those who work in social work, setting out the standards of practice and conduct workers and their employers should meet. They are a critical part of regulating the workforce and helping to improve levels of professionalism and public protection.

Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) barring scheme

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) introduced a new vetting and barring scheme for those who work with children and vulnerable adults. The scheme was launched in autumn 2008 and replaced the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) arrangements. The scheme covers health and social care services. All new job applicants who will be working with children or vulnerable adults must have a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB disclosure) which gives prospective employers information about any criminal records history guiding their decision on the applicants suitability to work with children or vulnerable adults.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority’s (ISA)

role is to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults. We assess those individuals working or wishing to work in regulated activity that are referred to us on the grounds that they pose a possible risk of harm to vulnerable groups. There are two principal routes by which referrals are made to the ISA. Firstly, when a person applies for ISA registration, any convictions or cautions which are considered relevant would trigger a referral. The other way a referral would be made is where an employer or an organisation, for example, a regulatory body, has concerns that a person has caused harm or poses a future risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults. In these circumstances the employer or regualtory body must make a referral to the ISA.

Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB)

Under the Children Act 2004, each local authority is required to set up a Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB). The legislation followed concern over high profile instances of child abuse, such as the Victoria Climbie case. LSCBs are responsible for local arrangements for protecting children and young people. They provide inter-agency guidelines for child protection Where someone has concerns relating to anyone who holds a position of trust or responsibility for children or young people, these should be discussed with and reported to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).

3.3 Identify reports into serious failures to protect individuals from abuse

I have identified two separate reports into serious failures to protect individuals from abuse (below). The first is a link to the tv documentary Panorama and the second is an article reported in the daily mail on 23 November 2011.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011pwt6

The attached link from the BBC Panorama programme show how on the top floor of a special hospital, locked away from their families and friends, a group of men and women are subjected to a regime of physical assaults, systematic brutality, and torture by the very people supposed to be caring for them.

The victims are some of the most vulnerable in society – the learning disabled, the autistic, and the suicidal. In a Panorama Special, Paul Kenyon exposes the truth about a gang of carers out of control, and how the care system ignored all the warning signs.

Daily Mail – article printed 23/11/11 by Daniel Martin, Whitehall Correspondent
Cruelty of the carers: Damning report into home help for the elderly finds neglect so appalling some wanted to die
‘These small acts of cruelty are being enacted, possibly unthinkingly, every day’
Cancer victim, 76, had to struggle to kitchen to heat up a meal – because it was claimed health and safety rules meant home helpers could not operate a microwave
Another patient, her 90s, put to bed at 2.45pm

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2064957/Elderly-people-abused-carers-Neglect-bad-pensioners-wanted-die.html#ixzz23Xe5Hjrp

Identify sources of information and advice about own role in safeguarding and protecting service users from abuse

My company policies and procedures will outline my specific work role regarding safeguarding and protecting service users from abuse and the mandatory yearly ‘safeguarding of vulnerable adults training will make me aware of the legislations dedicated to abuse, and my role in safeguarding vulnerable adults.

4. Understand ways to reduce the likelihood of abuse

Explain how the likelihood of abuse may be reduced by:

Working with person centred values:

When taking a person centered approach the carer would be working with the service users, discussing their needs and preferences for care. This approach would enable the service user to gain trust in the carer, by having a caring person who they can talk to. The carer would then gain a deeper understanding of the service users preferences and beliefs. Thus, empowering the service user, upholding their rights and beliefs and reducing the risk for abuse.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_adopting_a_person_centred_approach_which_offers_choices_and_upholds_rights_can_empower_an_individual_and_help_to_reduce_the_likelihood_of_abuse#ixzz23u4FTLNw

Encouraging active participation

Encouraging active participation builds self esteem, therefore the service user will refuse to tolerate abuse and will be more inclined to report it. They are also around other people when actively participating, which will help to build friendships in which they can share things – they may tell one of these friends if abuse should happen, which could lead to the service user obtaining help.

Promoting choice and rights

Service users have a right to dignity and freedom from discrimination. They should be treated with respect and shown that their feelings are considered in the care they receive. Service users should be empowered by being given choices and encouraged to make their own decisions, in this respect the likelihood of being abused by a carer is diminished.

Explain the importance of an accessible complaints procedure for reducing the likelihood of abuse

Promoting choice and rights is also addressed by having an accessible complaints procedure. This may be included in a service user’s ‘welcome’ pack and backs up the service user’s rights, thus enabling the person to know who they can go to with a complaint or concern about any aspect of their treatment or care. This will give the person confidence in being able to file a complaint, who to complain to, the procedure to follow and what will happen when they have complained.

5. know how to recognize and report unsafe practices

Describe unsafe practices that may affect the well-being of service users

This can include a variety of practices, such as, carers not been properly/adequately trained for using equipment (eg hoists etc), carelessness, being too tired to carry out the role correctly, ‘cutting corners’ due to time restrictions, inexperience, faulty equipment being used.

Explain the actions to take if unsafe practices have been identified

If unsafe practices are identified they need to be reported to my immediate line manager so that the person identified can be retrained or the condition remedied to prevent further damage.

Describe the action to take if suspected abuse or unsafe practices have been reported but nothing has been done in response

The national minimum standards (NMS) calls upon all care providers to have whistleblowing arrangements (which my organization also has), which will protect me and my job when I report my concerns. Whistle blowing is about helping people working for an organisation, to raise legitimate concerns or worries about unsafe or bad practices. If my concerns are not acted upon or I feel they have not been dealt with correctly I can pass my concerns on to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and know that they will respond appropriately. Depending on the severity of my concerns I may feel it necessary to alternatively contact my Local authority safeguarding team or the police.