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Domestic Violence

Generalist Social Work

Generalist social work practice is the knowledge, skills, and value ethics to enhance human well-being and promotes social and economic justice. Dealing with domestic violence as a social worker you much network, gathering up all the information you would need to help the victim or the perpetrators.

Social workers provide services to victims and perpetrators. Direct services to victims of domestic violence include counseling and support through shelter programs, individual counseling through private setting, and social justice community organizing effort to prevent domestic violence from occurring. Social workers provide services to victims of domestic violence through shelter; the services provided empowerment and advocacy.

Victim population

Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior which involves violence or abuse by the person against another in a domestic context such as marriage of cohabitation. Domestic violence is use to gain or maintain power or control over their partner. Domestic violence can happen to anyone regardless of age, education, race, religious, gender, or sexual orientation; the problems of domestic violence is often overlooked, excused, or denied. One of the earliest conceptualizations of domestic violence was based on a cyclical conflict model known as Cycle of Violence, Cycle of Violence is a pattern often experienced in abuse relationship.

Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women. Studies suggest that

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up to 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence according to (Social Work and Family Violence page 36). Boys who witnessed their parents’ domestic violence when they grow older are twice as likely to abuse their spouse or significant other as those that did not witness domestic violence. Most domestic violence incident are never reported. According to Albert R. Roberts more than 60% of domestic violence incident happen at home.

Types of Domestic Violence

The types of domestic violence are physical, emotional, financial, identity, and sexual abuse which can turn into martial rape. Domestic violence often occurs when the culprit believes that abuse is justified and acceptable. Physical abuse is an act of another party involving contact intended to cause feelings of physical pain, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm. Examples are hitting, chocking, and biting, shoveling, arm twisting, slapping, kicking, and burning. Physical abuse also consent of holding your partner down preventing them from leaving, also smashing, damage, stealing, or

selling their possession.

I think everyone at some point of their relationship has been emotional abuse. Emotional abuse can be verbal or nonverbal. Emotional abuse is undermining an individual sense of self-worth; any use of words, voice, action, or lack action use to control, hurt,or demean another person. Some examples of emotional abuse include name calling, humiliation, screaming, controlling where the victim goes and what they do, and harassing. Another type of abuse is financial abuse. Financial abuse is any type of behavior that maintains power and control over finances. Examples of financial abuse are

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controlling financial assets and effectively putting them on an allowance, damaging their partner credit score, preventing the victim from working, and taking credit cards, checks and money. Identity abuse is using personal characteristic to demean, manipulate, and control their partner. Examples are ridiculing partner’s physical challenges or exploring them, stating that their partner will never have another relationship because they are fat or ugly, and using stereotype and negativity.

The last type is sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is any type any forced or coerced sexual act or behavior motivated to acquire power and control but also demeans or embrace your victim. Some example of sexual abuse is unwanted touching, forcing sex or sexual actions on your partner withoutconsent using force or roughness that is not consensual, forced sex which is also rape. Rape with an object, refusing to comply with the partner’s request for safe sex, treating their partner as a sex object,

or withholding sex as a punishment.

Victim

The victim is a 29 year old black female with no job, her religion is Baptist, she has no handicap conditions, and she is a high school graduate. Her socioeconomic status is poor. The victim is married with four children. The victim stays in a 3 bedroom and 1 bathroom house. She describes her neighborhood as being okay. She is a homemaker and her husband is the financial provider. Her husband makes all final decision.

Growing up her father occupation was a preacher and the mother was forces to quit her job. Her father is in jail and her mother is dead. She has two sisters. As a child the victim’s family stayed in an apartment complex. Before the crisis the victim describe

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her family as being normal. She stated “We had the typical family my family was normal.” The victim revisited the time when they had a Halloween party. They did not go out for candy but her mom dressed up in a costume. They made popcorn balls and ate candy until their dad made it home. After that they watched a family movie then went to bed, that night they all slept in one room.

The victim’s family is considered close knit. Her two sisters stay in apartments in bad neighborhoods. One of her sister has 4 children, she does not work, and she is engaged. The other sister has 3 children and is expecting one; she works at a fast food restaurant, and is engaged. The victim and her sisters were raised by their mom. Later that year in 1996 they moved in with their grandparents.

All of the pain started when the victim’s father started using drugs. The victim father was on drugs very bad. She witnessed her father physical and verbal abusing her mother. He threw glass plates, slapped her in the face, threw her against the wall, and called her bitches and whores. At the age of 10 the victim started getting raped by her father. The first time he did it her mom was not a home they were there alone; she was watching TV. She stated “He grabbed me from the front room and said youare in big trouble.” She did not know what she did that was wrong. He took her into her mother’s bedroom pulled her pants off and her underwear off and raped her. She said“The only thing she remembers is screaming and hollering.” She did not tell her mom. She told her best friend and made her promise not to tell anyone. The victim got pregnant at the age of 11. After her mom gained knowledge about the rape, she left only to find out she was pregnant by her father. The victim’s mother moved out of the state of Mississippi for two weeks. While she was

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out of the state her mother took her to have an abortion. They moved back to Mississippi and moved in with her parents. Two weeks after movingback her husband was coming to his in laws house begging her to come back making promises that he was not going to do drugs, he was not going to physical abuse her, or ever touch his daughter again. Shortly after that they all moved back in with their father. After a week of moving back in the father came home in a rage. Her parents begin arguing and during the argument he grabbed his shot gun. He left the room they was arguing in and went to the daughter’s bedroom, grabbed his oldest daughter from the bed by her ponytail and begin dragging her to the back room of their apartment. The sister ran out of the apartment once he grabbed the sister and dragged her to the back. Her mother begged and pleaded, crying “Please let her go, I’ll do anything.” The mother gained access of the daughter and they headed for the window. When the first gunshot went off she was pushing the screen out of the window, the second gunshot went off she push her daughter out of the window, the third gunshot went off when her mom was out of the window. They fell from a two story building. Her mother’s last words were “Is my daughter okay. The victim was unconscious with a broken leg and a broke back. After the tragic accident her father fled the scene and went to his mom’s house. When the police arrested him he said, “The drugs made me do it.” The victim says “Not a day go by that she don’t think about her mom, she also stated that her mom birthdays and Mother’s Day is the hardest day of the year for her.” One of the victim sisters did not remember much from that night; she remembers her dad coming in the room with a gun screaming. After she took her sister

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out the room, her and the baby sister ran out the apartment andran down stairs and hid behind some bushes.

The victim was unable to make her mom’s funeral because the condition that was inflicted on her; they recorded the funeral for her. Her father got life for the crimes he committed.

The victim father committed plenty of the domestic violence crimes.

Ethical Issues

Ethical issue is a problem or situation that requires a person or organization to choose between alternatives that must evaluated as ethical or unethical. As a social worker many of the people we work with will be victims; most males will have battered their partners. Social workers find themselves being challenge by difficult ethical decision. Ethical perplexity comes about in situations when you have to choose between two or more relevant but contradictory ethical value. Personal ethics is ethics that a person identifies with respect so people and situations that they deal with in everyday life. Professional ethics refers to the ethics that a person must adhere to in respect of the interaction and business dealing in their professional life. Domestic violence perpetration would say if I can’t have you no one will; as a social worker that will be a threat. You will have to break confidentiality and protect a life. You can not influence your views of

clients and affect the willingness to take action on the profession’s value base. When you become a social worker your personal values should be put aside for professional ones. The degree of conflict we experience will vary with the degree of personal commitment

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and the deeper the commitment to personal value, the greater the possibility of conflict with professional value. (Grooch and Olsen, 1994 page 6) You have to remember that someone else may believe and something else. Social workers are expected to embrace a diversity of value and people.

Policies

The FVPSA (Family Violence Prevention and Service Act) is a bill is the only funding source dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence; they funds emergency shelter and related services and programs for domestic violence. The bill creates grant funding for states, tribes, and domestic violence coalitions. The bill support the needs of children exposed to violence it also addressprevention of children from victimization.

Laws in Mississippi

Mississippi have two domestic violence crimes simple domestic violence and aggravated domestic. A person is guilty of simple domestic violence if he or she commits a simple assault against a current or former spouse, child of a current or formal spouse, person with whom the offender lives or formerly lived as a spouse or as a child of that person, family member who lives or previously lived with the offender, person with whom the offender has a child. A person commies a simple assault if he or she attempts to physically injure another person, intentionally or recklessly cause physical injury to another, negligently causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon, or threatens another person, causing that person to feel afraid that he or she is about to suffer serious physical injury. (Mississippi Code 97-3-7) A reckless act is one that is committed, not

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necessarily with intent to harm another, but without regard for the outcome. Pushing someone out of the way in a crowd so that you can get through, without intending to injury the person, could be an assault if the person falls and is injuries. A negligent act is one which is not intentional but which occurs because the actor fails to excise reasonable care. An accidental shooting can be a negligent assault if it results from a person not being careful enough when handling or firing a gun.

Aggravated domestic violence is guilty of aggravated of domestic violence if he commits an aggravated assault against a spouse, family member, or romantic partner. A person commits aggravate assault if he or she attempt to cause serious bodily injury to another person. Intention or reckless cause’sserious bodily injury to another while acting with extreme indifferent to human life. Attempts or causes bodily injury to another person with a deadly weapon or by other means likely to cause death or seriously bodily injury, or causes injury to a child who is in the process of boarding or exiting a school bus if the offender has failed to stop for the bus according to traffic laws. (Mississippi Code 97-3-7) To act reckless is to act with extreme indifference to the value of human life, the actor does not need tointend to injure to the victim. He or she may attend to shot a person other than the victim but take no precautions to avoid hurting others. He or she may shoot a gun into a crowd appear menacing but without regard for whether he or she actually injuries someone in the crowd. To be reckless or to act with extreme indifference to human life is to act with extreme carelessness.

Micro, Mezzo, and Macro

Social work is divided into three practice micro, mezzo, and macro. Micro the smallest

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group; the individual the victim. Mezzo deals with the neighborhoods, institution. Macro is the large group, the whole group deals with the communities. Intervention that might alleviate domestic violence should be applied at all three levels micro, mezzo, and macro.

The micro level focuses on personal interaction with the victims on individual levels. Micro level could embrace a school social work counseling on an abuse student. As a social worker at the micro level you can help by empowering the person that you are helping with domestic violence. You should also build up their confidence find out what they are really good at. The mezzo level change people by ringing them together who are not as intimate as a couple, but can build and benefit from social network. The best thing to do as a social worker on the mezzo for domestic violence is group therapy. The macro level focuses on the general issues. Macro level is policy changing. Looking at domestic violence from the macro level is recognizing that the issue is recognizing that the issue of males control over women is throughout society. Macro deals with policy changes with law enforcement, protective order, prosecution, the churches, and the oppression of women.

Domestic violence may occur at the micro level, but it is also a macro problem. Social workers are involved with violent families, but also must be working at a community level and on policies that will be less tolerate to domestic violence.

Assessment is the evaluation or estimation of the nature, quality, or ability of someone or something.

Domestic Violence Jones 12 Assessment

Assess the immediate safety needs of the victim

are you in danger

Assess the pattern and history of the abuse

How long has the violence been going on

Asses the connection between domestic violence and the patent’s health issue

What is the degree of the partner’s control

Asses the victim’s current access to advocacy and support groups

What resource you used or tried

Assess victim’s safety; Is the future risk or death or significant injury or harm due to domestic violence

Make sure the victim is safe Intervention

Inventions

Intervention is the action of process of intervening; interference by a country in another’s affair.
Goals for effectively responding to domestic violence victims

Increase victim safety

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Listen to the patient and provide validating messages

You don’t deserve this

Provide information about domestic violence to the patient
Listen and respond the safety issues

Show the patient a brochure about safety

Make referrals to local resources

Explain any advocacy and support systems

Follow up steps for health care practitioners

Keep contact with the patient

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Abstract

Domestic violence is one of the most unreported crimes due to fear of retaliation. Fear and promise for changes are what keep the victim in the relationship so long. Most victims think that if they leave their partner will harm them. This paper is about domestic violence and the social worker views of domestic violence.

References

Dr. Joan McClennan Social work and Family Violence 2010

Roberts R. Albert Handbook of Domestic Violence 2012

Rosenberg Jessica Working in Social Work 2009

Grooch and Olsen 1994

The World Health Organisation defines Mental Health as ” a state of complete physical and mental well being, and not merely the absence of disease” (World Health Organisation, 2010) For tuning in purposes is a difficult concept given Mental health is wide ranging and people are effected to varying extents. The Department of Health and Social Services describes mental health as a continuum of experience ranging from mental health and well being through to severe and enduring mental illness.

“We all experience changes in our mental health state, influenced by social, personal, financial and other factors. Major life events such as a close bereavement, or leaving home, can impact significantly on how we feel about ourselves, for example, leading to depression and anxiety.” (DHSSPS, 2003:18))

This is an important starting place to understand the impact of Mental Health on the service user’s life and how it affects them. Post Natal Depression is defined as a “mood disorder that begins after childbirth and lasts more than six weeks” (Medical Dictionary aˆ¦aˆ¦.)

Article 3 of the Mental Health (NI) Order 1986 highlights ” Mental illness as a state of mind which effects a persons thinking, perceiving, emotion or judgment to the extent that requires care or medical treatment” (Mental Health (NI) Order 1986). Therefore Postnatal depression would be considered a mental illness.

In order to gauge the issues that may be arising for Mrs Andrews it is useful to consider this within the context of life span development theories. Erickson (Cited in Bee, 1999) describes the ages of 26-40 as the “Generatively versus stagnation” (1999:278) a time when rearing children and occupational achievement are the focus of life. This has relevance in considering how to support Mrs Andrews to move through this stage given her current emotional state.

It also necessary to consider the stages of the children Mrs Andrews is caring for and gauge the amount of pressure and the demands they place upon her at this stage in their lives. Brian is two and according to Erickson is at the “Autonomy versus shame and doubt stage”(Bee, 1999:279), therefore requiring support and reassurances from his parents.

“if a child’s efforts for independence are not carefully guided by a parent and they experience repeated failures or ridicule, then this results of all the new opportunities for exploration may be shame and doubt instead of a basic sense of self control and worth” (Bee, 1999:279)

Christine is 3 months old and according to Erickson’s stages of development is within the “Basic trust versus basic mistrust” (Bee, 1999:276), however given the concerns of the service user and referral information it may be useful to consider this in tandem with Bowlby’s theory on attachment (Thompson 2002). This theory pays particular reference to early childhood attachments being secure and central to this is the notion of maternal deprivation. The emphasis is on a child s relationship with its mother and and “children who do not enjoy such a relationship will be hampered in their development” (Thompson 2002:14)

In preparation for working with Mrs Andrews I must consider relevant legislation. The laws effecting people with Mental Health difficulties affects other people also i.e. The Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons 1978 and Health and Social Care Act 2001. Additionally to this I have also given cognisance the Human rights Act 1998, particularly 6 and 8 outlining the right to fair trial and the right to a private and family life which I feel makes reference to social services intervening no more than necessary than to foster this families independence and to ensure that any assessment of need is fair and non bias.

As highlighted previously post natal depression is recognised as a mental illness under the Mental Health Order (NI) 1986 given this Mrs Andrew is entitled to an assessment of her needs, treatment and additional supports to help her manage her condition.

The Children (NI) Order 1995 outlines a child’s welfare is paramount and in light of the information contained within the referral pertaining not only to Mrs Andrews mental health but also potential relationship issues the children could be considered children in need, in accordance with article 17 section b which defines a child in need as a child who’s health or development is likely to be significantly impaired without service provision for them.

Information Specific service user

Mrs Andrews is 27 years old and mother of two children, Brian who is 3 years old and Christine who is 3 months, she has been married to husband Terry for four years.

Mrs Andrews has reported to the GP she is having difficulties bonding with her young baby and that her relationship with her husband has become strained. Mrs Andrews has no previous symptoms of depression with her first child Brian and has told her GP he was an easy baby to look after sleeping through the night. Mrs Andrews also reports low moods and struggling with her daily routines. The GP is querying postnatal depression.

My objectives when meeting with Mrs Andrews will be to discuss how she is feeling currently and explore her daily routine. I will also discuss what supports she has in terms of her husband and other family members and in light of Brian’s age and stage of development whether he attends any mothers and toddlers groups. Lastly I will explore Mrs Andrews feelings in relation to her daughter and the differences between the experiences she had with her first child.

Specific Phase of Work

As a student social worker visiting Mrs Andrews at home I will need to be aware of how she may feel before I arrive.

The main questions on clients mind in individual work is “what is this going to be about?” and “what kind of worker is this going to be”

(Shulman, 2009: 56)

Therefore I should consider Mrs Andrews potential feelings about my visit and her understanding of why I am there. I recognise she may be concerned about my visit and that she may feel she is perceived as a bad mother and I am there to judge her. Mrs Andrews may however view my visit as a life line in her current situation, viewing me as someone who can offer hope and be a potential support.

I recognise that Mrs Andrews is the expert in her own situation and it will be up to me to gain from her the information to best meet her needs.

“A general rule of social work is the more information gleaned the more is learnt about peoples reactions by asking open questions” (Coulshed & Orme 1998: 95).

Some possible objectives Mrs Andrews may have may be to change her situation, or to feel better and manage her routines. Mrs Andrews may have issues she needs to discuss that she may not have spoken about yet perhaps in relation to her husband and the support she needs. I will want to ensure Mrs Andrews feels listened to and has control of her situation.

“Supporting services users rights to control their lives and make informed choices about the services they receive” (NISCC 2002: 1.3).

Tuning in to own feelings

When Tuning in to my own feelings, I recognise I will be nervous and apprehensive during my first visit. In light of the information gathered from the referral, I recognise I have concerns about my ability to understand the complexities of Mrs Andrews life and the pressures she is under.

I realise I have significant experience of direct work with service users and relevant experience of working with service users with Mental health difficulties, however my previous work experience has had different objectives as I would be involved more from the child care perspective. Mrs Andrews has been referred to the Community Mental Health Team as the service user and while the children’s needs are paramount and may have to be referred on to the childcare team, I will have to be conscious Mrs Andrews herself is my priority and a holistic assessment of her needs undertaken.

My intention would be to have a positive first meeting and as well as completing all the relevant reading I will strive to work in partnership with Mrs Andrews in order to find the best supports for her situation. Partnership is an important social work value, Parrott (2006), highlights the importance of working in partnership with service users in order to check validity of information being gathered rather than assuming it is correct.

I would not intentionally oppress or discriminate against service users, however I feel it may be difficult not to unconsciously oppress given my lack of experience. Thompson’s Personal, Cultural, Structural model will be useful in helping me identify and be aware of how this could impact on my practice.

“Our thoughts feelings and attitudes about particular groups in society, will to a certain degree at least, be shaped by our experiences at a personal level” (Thompson:2006:27)

I recognise while I am a female a similar age to Mrs Andrews there will be challenges in my role to fully grasp the complexities of being married and caring for two small children given this is not my experience.

I feel that given this is my first visit with Mrs Andrews, I will want to gain as much understanding of her situation as I can. I will use all my communication skills and in particular focus on skills of empathy.

Shulman (2009) cites empathy as an important skill when working with people, highlighting that it is critical the worker begins to tune in and gain understanding of the service user in the beginning stages. Howe (2008) agrees on the importance of empathy stating:

The ability to show empathy, to see and feel the world from the others point of view, is particularly important quality that defines a successful social worker (Howe: 2008:173)

Non verbal communication is also important in particular Egan’s (1990) SOLER acronym I intend to use this as a means of conveying openness and approachability thereby encouraging Mrs Andrews to share her story.

Word Count 1648.

Bibliography

Books

Bee, H. (1999) The Developing Child, Allyn/Bacon

Coulshed, V. & Orme, J. 1998 Social Work Practice. 3rd ed. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan

Egan, G. 1990. The skilled Helper. 4th ed. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole

Howe, D (2008) The Emotionally Intelligent Social Worker. Palgrave: Macmillan

Northern Ireland Social Care Council Code Of Practice for Social Workers. 2002

Parrot, L 2006. Values and Ethics in Social Work Practice. Exeter: Learning Matters.

Shulman, L. (2009) The skills of Helping Individuals, Families, Groups and Communications. USA Thompson/Cole

Thompson, N (2002) Building the Future,

Thompson, N. (2006) Anti Discriminatory Practice, Palgrave: Macmillan

Information Booklets

Department of Health and Social Services. (2003). Promoting Mental Health, Castle Building: Belfast

Websites

World Health Organisation 2010: http://www.who.int/topics/mental_health

4.0 Introduction:

The findings and analysis presents all the information that was gathered based on the methodology employed in the earlier chapter. The role of this chapter identifies findings which had revealed and explained employees understanding and perception towards work-life balance incorporated within MEGA through analyzing data.

Gender Differences towards work-life balance:

Balancing work and non-work commitments requires time management which could be a bit of a challenge. The diagram below illustrates such comparison between both genders. Findings on the average level of employees able to balance work and family life responsibilities on a weekly basis revealed that majority of the respondent indicated that they are seldom able to balance both. The results were given from both genders where the 35 percent of respondent that chose that they seldom are able to balance both were women as opposed to the remainder answered yes they are always able were men.

The researcher findings had revealed that apparently women tend to be the ones that basically are seldom capable of achieving work-life balance on a weekly basis. Also the diagram shows that men are better able to have a better work-life balance whether it is often or always as compared to women.

Furthermore in addition from the questionnaire another finding was analyzed where it was revealed that from both genders the mean is higher in women who have children compared to men. Figure illustrate that the women within MEGA has the higher number of children as against men who has twice as least.

Also analyzing the data in figure () there are three times more women than men working in MEGA. The researcher analysis is drawn upon that the expectancy rate of women is higher to experience conflict trying to balance both work and family responsibilities as opposed to men within this particular organization is because there are more women working in MEGA as against to the number of men employ.

Causes of Work-Life Balance Conflict

The causes of work-life conflict were analyzed by the researcher to find out the reason behind it. The researcher findings weren’t a bit surprise by the results from employees. From the figure, the researcher found out that the major causes of conflict between balancing work and personal responsibilities was relating to these four factors within MEGA. The job-relating factor that influences work-life conflict the most was insufficient flexibility in the workplace. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of employees responded that they had difficulties balancing work and personal life responsibilities as a result of not having enough flexibility as compared to sixty-seven (67%) was other contributing factor. Timing of meetings/training was the least whereas working long hours was minimal.

Participants were asked to indicate which of the following hinder you in balancing your work commitments in the workplace. Figure ( ) depicts the findings on the relevant categories that hinder employees work achievement.

An examination of the chart point out that caring for children at been scored highest where 63 percent of respondent imply that this issue hinders them to achieve work commitments. Followed by a close responds to other and leisure time activities where 23 percent indicated other and 18 percent imply leisure time. The remainder answered further education.

The participated managers and supervisors were then asked to describe the importance of work-life balance within the organization. Based on the answers given by managers and supervisors to describe the importance of work life balance, all participants agreed 100 percent that there is positive outcome for having balancing in the organization. They all relate work-life balance as means of assisting employees to reduce stress level which in turn would deliver substantial high productivity, job satisfaction and some level of commitment to the organization.

The researcher analysis of the causes of work-life balance conflict is related mainly to insufficient flexibility in the workplace. The result suggests that employees don’t have a problem working long hours or overtime. However perhaps if employees are/were given sufficient flexibility to manage both responsibilities tend them would be more likely to minimize work-life conflict. As Robertson (2007) stated in the literature review, organizations that offer flexibility in the workplace give employees the advantage to have good balance between both responsibilities whereas evolving to healthy employees and in return healthy employees are good for business succession.

Conversely taking care of children has been pointed out to be the most significant hindrance factor for employees to achieve work commitments in MIC. As Hudson (2005) stated earlier that employees are more likely to be less productive, less committed and highly decisive of leaving the organisation once they are experiencing increased stress due to work/life conflicting issues and are perceived of having no control over balancing work and non-work demands. To be of the same opinion the author analysis is drawn upon where managers and supervisors all understand the importance of incorporating work-life balance in the workplace. All respondents had coincided with Hudson (2005) statement of employees level of positive outcome to organization.

Policies

On the questionnaire, employees were asked if they currently use any of the work-life policies provided by the organization. The author received 100 percent of all respondent answering that they all use work-life policies that are provided by the organization, however it is a question of how do they utilize such policies. Another question was implied asking if employees were given approval of such work-life policies provided by the organization.

Question
Yes
No

Are you given approval of work-life policies

83%

17%

Out of one hundred 83 percent stated that they are given approval whereas the remaining 17% had imply that they are not given any approval.

Managers and supervisors were asked what is the organization typical way or tools used for assisting or promoting work-life balance. From the interview, the author found that there are work-life policies implemented within MEGA, however there are only a few. Employees are given six (6) days which is applicable as casual leave to assist with personal errands only at manager’s discretion of granting approval. In addition flexible workings hours are administered where employees can start work from 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. where they are allow ? hour and finish work between 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. in the interim employees must work 7? hours per day. However employees are required to work back their hours by the end of the week in the event that they request time-off or does not work the required amount of hours per day.

From the questionnaire, employees were further asked to what extend do the work-life policies make a difference with balancing work and personal issues. From the findings, it revealed from the figure ( ) that 22 percent reply stating that it made slight difference whereas 53 percent of respondents indicated that the work-life policies implemented within the organization makes no difference towards their daily responsibilities.

An investigation into MEGA employees’ attendance records was examined from 2009 to 2010 to make a comparison for how many casual leave was taken and to indicate if there was any trend. Figure ( ) illustrate such findings for both years.

The standard deviation of days taken by employees was 23.00 in 2009 and 23.87 in 2010. The figure also shows that majority of employees utilized the full amount of casual days which is six (6) for both 2009 and 2010 followed by the utilization of five (5) casual days.

With correspondent to casual leave, from the interview managers were asked how the work-life policies and procedures implemented for employees are. Again from the interview the author findings had revealed mixed respondents from both managers and supervisors. Apparently employees are granted casual leave and flexible time based on each department and managers discretion.

In addition to the findings during the interview participants were asked if there are any kinds of penalty or negativity towards employees who avail such policies. Again this question was answered in accordance to each department manager. Majority of the managers explain that employees are not hinder from career progression or promotional achievement however employees must work back the time that are required to work, to complete deadlines and shortage of employees. If employees are not subjective to such rules there would be a reduction in their salary. Supervisors viewed the same responds indicating agreement to the managers. However supervisors stated further that employees are kept back from promotional development in MEGA based on their attendance records not by such individual contributions and commitments to performance.

Based on the findings relevant to the work-life balance policies incorporated with MEGA, the author analysis is interpreted as there are work-life policies implemented within the organization, however the methods used to assist employees is not substantially sufficient to fulfill with such balance of work and personal life responsibilities. Yes employees are given flexible working time however 1 hour difference is not considered as a lengthy time to promote it as a method for work-life balance. Also the flexible working hours does not make much difference to majority of the employees. Employees who have such powerful policies to assist them with solving work-life conflict are more likely to deal with balancing both issues easier. Galinsky and Stein (1990) found that employees who have the power to solve work problems were likely to suffer lower stress and felt their job caused less interference with their life.

Furthermore even though employees are given approval of such work-life policies, the permission of approval of policies are practice differently in each department. In addition to deal with such work-life challenges majority of the employees result to the utilization of all or most of their casual leave. To a further extent, the findings draw that management resent employees of utilizing such policies. As already explained in the literature review utilization of work-life policies can be perceive a factor correlated to less job security and negative career progression (Rodbourne 1996).

Managing Balance:

Managers and supervisors were asked to describe the importance of work-life balance. The average respondent by managers and supervisors provided relatively the same answer where they understood that work-life balance is a way of being able to balance both the demands for work commitments and personal life responsibilities as a means of everyday position.

Do you think if employees have good work-life balance the organization will be more effective and successful?

Employees were asked that if employees have good work-life balance if the organization would be more effective and successful. Figure indicate the respondent from employees pertain to the question.

Based on the respondent the majority of employees answered yes to that question. In fact findings revealed that 90% of employees strongly believed the organization would be more effective and successful if the employees have good work-life balance. Furthermore based on the question asked, employees were also asked to specify on the same question how the organization would be successful based on their answer whether the answer was yes or no. The majority of the respondent who answered yes had basically the same response. Majority of the respondent answered by implying that if employees have good work life balance employees tend to work more efficiently whereby the level of productivity would definitely increase because employees are less overwhelmed and would be able to concentrate better.

The qualitative findings of employees getting good work-life balance in the workplace were questioned. What could the organization do to help employees balance both work and family life commitments? There were mixed views expressed towards organization assistance with work-life balance. Average respondents had expressed that the organization could be more considerate by acknowledging that as employees they experience challenges juggling both commitments by trying to accommodate important family appointments and demands for work deadlines.

The stances by employees had pointed out also that the organization should offer more flexibility in terms of achievable flexible working hours. One respondent stated that “organizations should be a bit flexible for the competing responsibilities of getting the kids ready for school, travelling to work, long hours of congested traffic, picking up the kids from school and getting home late at evenings Monday to Friday”. While other respondent stated that management need to be more lenient towards employees utilizing such work-life policies that are implemented within the organization.

Based on the available answers that was collected through the use of this questions employed, it inherently seems that the organization would benefit by become successful and more effectively from employing good work-life balance. Both managers and supervisors already have an understanding of what is work-life and the importance of incorporating. In fact from the literature review Tourn (2007) had imply that the organization can benefit from work-life balance where the returns would be gains of productivity, lower turnover rate and loyalty from employees. Also Thompson et al., (1999), had implied the same concept. If organizations cannot foster good work-life integration then employees experiencing both private and work stress will likely to suffer from low concentration and in the end lower productivity (Thompson et al., 1999). The greatest benefit for a good work-life balance to be effective and successful is in fact suggested that the organization promote such execution. So it is safe to imply that the evidence speaks for itself.

Support for Work-Life Balance

Further to the findings, during the interview participants were asked to describe the present work environment position with regards to employees’ contributions, level of productivity and commitments to the organization. Almost five out of six of the managers explained the present work environment as remotely satisfactory because there is teamwork amongst employees for getting the work done and most of the time deadlines are achieved. One manager explicitly describe the work environment as unbalance because frequently employees are reporting sick whereas work responsibilities have to delegated to a department that is seen as shortage of employees. Supervisors also viewed this question differently by implying that there is reasonable dissatisfaction in the workplace because employees are slightly frustrated and tends to completed only what is necessary on a daily basis. Furthermore supervisor described it as unbalance satisfaction because employees are reporting late or sick frequently causing overlapped of their responsibilities to other employees that are present.

From the answers given the researcher draws analysis that the work environment as intrinsically unbalance. Employees are told to take on addition work responsibilities added to their regular job requirement because some employees are frequently reporting sick.

Furthermore respondents were asked to indicate which of the following in figure ( ) assist them towards balancing work and family commitments. Based from the figure shown below, a frequency percentage of 44.7 percent disclose that the use of work-life leave available within MEGA was the one to help with the balance of both work and family commitments. Also on further assessment 32 percent of the respondents acquire support from family members followed by a close range of 31.2 percent of support from their supervisors. However statistical finding discover that the participated respondents had specified that the least amount of work-life balance support are from managers by a 16.5 percent.

Also to add to work-life conflict, from figure ( ) it has been understood that employees employed within MEGA do not obtain full support from theirs managers. As the researcher recall from the literature review, employees who have family-supportive managers and work in organization that offers family-friendly initiatives tends to stay with the organization (Powell 2010).

Participated managers and supervisors were asked during an interview done separately, how managers and the organization currently emphasize work-life balance in the workplace. Answers from both managers and supervisors were somewhat a mixed viewed from the interview. The managers explained that employees are given support where employees can approach the managers with stress relating to feeling overworked and personal issues for the managers are humans and have family lives also. However supervisors begged to differ from managers acknowledgment. Supervisors stated that managers are remotely negative towards employees especially when it comes to problems that are not actually work-related.

From the findings it seems that managers had implied that they are supportive towards employees when in fact they aren’t. Employees and supervisors have both agreed that managers are inflexible towards their employees in the workplace. As Herlihy & Maiden (2005) suggested that in order for employees to be effective at work, managers themselves need to be able to make unique contributions to the organisation that lies within the contexts of their own personal condition. So it is evident that managers themselves need to have an imbalance in work and personal life issues in order to contribute and be fully support ive of work-life integration.

Overall Discussion

From the whole findings that were questioned and examined by the author, the results underline some very importance relationship and differences between the work-life policies and implementation with respect to both employees and the organization. Management already have a clear understanding of what is work-life balance is and the high importance of promoting work-life in the workplace. Management somehow believe that the organization have work-life policies incorporated within the workplace that would assist employees but based on the research done about work-life balance, those methods used by MEGA are not sufficient and well foster to assist with balancing work and life issues.

MIC entire organization workforce consists of majority of women employ compared to the men and majority of the women has more than 1 child. Friedman & Greenhaus (2000) already noted that women make up half the workforce in organization and is increasing in higher levels. Amongst the gender difference most women in MIC are seldom able to balance both their work and family life on a regular basis. However despite the gap in the gender difference, employees generally are dissatisfied with working arrangement of work-life balance carried out in the organization. Almost the whole of management perceived the present work environment as balance where employees’ level of commitment and productivity are satisfactory, however the supervisors are not 100 percent in agreement with the level of contributions achieved by employees. The findings from the questionnaires answered by employees also incline grounded analysis that MIC present work environment is not as balance as management perception towards it, the author is in agreement with the employees and supervisors responds.

Results suggest that the two main factors associated to work-life conflicts within MIC are insufficient flexibility and working overtime. In relation to this employees not have a problem with working overtime however flexibility needs adjusting to assist them to achieving balance with work and personal life demand. Thomas and Ganster (1995) found that proper scheduling which gave a group of employees more control over their time had in fact reduce conflict between work-life responsibilities. In addition employees major hinder for achieving work within MIC is taken up by the responsibilities of taking care of children, other personal responsibilities and leisure time.

Given the findings of employees utilizing such policies management are negative towards employee for submitting to such action. In this regard, Hein (2005) had explain that employees tend to be hesitant to proceed to use them because of career concerns or the fact that they receive negativity from line managers and tends to discourage them from using it.

The importance of supportive work environment mainly from MIC management is what employees are stipulating on. The result found that employees get a lot of support from family members and supervisors however employees are not fully supported by some of management where they receive negative attitude and resentment from management. The organization foster supportive measurement to accommodate employees yet for majority of employees some departmental culture is embodied in the attitudes and behaviours of their immediate line manager. Such support from managers mitigates the negative effects of work-life conflict occurrence. Employees who have family-supportive managers and work in organization that offers family-friendly initiatives tends to stay with the organization (Powell 2010).

http://www.bia.ca/articles/AReportontheImportanceofWork-LifeBalance.htm

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/2009/09/IE0909019I.htm

http://www.healthatwork.org.uk/pdf.pl?file=haw/files/Work-lifeBalance.pdf

The Corsten Report (2007) on women in the criminal justice system states that ‘equal outcomes require different approaches’. Critically consider this statement with reference to research and practice.

In order to demonstrate that equal outcomes for women do require different approaches within the criminal justice system, this essay intends to look at the behavioural and situational differences between female and male offenders. It will highlight the inadequate facilities available for female prisoners. It will also look at the historical differences between crimes committed by males and females and the growing trend of women involvement in drug offences. This essay will also examine the status of mental health of women within the criminal justice system and explore if this issue is more prevalent amongst female offenders.

‘Women and men are different. Equal treatment of men and women does not result in equal outcomes.’ (Corsten Report, 16: 2007) According to Covington and Bloom (2003) numerous feminist writers have demonstrated and documented the patriarchal nature of our society and the variety of ways in which the patriarchal values serve masculine needs. ‘Despite claims to the contrary, masculinist epistemologies are built upon values that promote masculine needs and desires, making all others invisible’ (Kaschak, 11: 1992).

Women are often invisible in the many angles of the correctional system, and this invisibility can act as a form of oppression. Most prisons and institutions are not specific to women’s needs. For example, mother and baby units are limited within the prison system. The UK government website reports that there are only seven prisons within the UK that provide this service. This service may be detrimental to a mother bonding with her child. Another consequence of limited mother and baby units is that the mother and child will be separated and this may result in the child being placed with a relative, or in some cases the care of the state.

The Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) highlighted inadequate services for women within the prison services in Northern Ireland. Ash House is Northern Ireland’s only female prison and holds up to seventy-one women. This is situated within a predominately male prison.

Covington and Bloom (2003) argue that there are numerous areas in which day-to-day practice in the criminal justice system ignores behavioural and situational differences between females and male offenders. Probation officers may have to consider the situational differences between female and male offenders. For example, recommending a custodial sentence for a pregnant woman may have long term emotional implications for both mother and child.

It is important to note that an understanding of the distinction between sex differences and gender differences, are relevant to practice within the criminal justice system. According to Covington and Bloom (2003) sex differences are biologically determined, however, gender differences are socially constructed. They are assigned by society and they relate to expected social roles.

However, do crimes committed by men differ from crimes committed by women? The Ministry of Justice statistics 2011 state that women are more likely to commit crimes such as shop lifting and theft, while men are more prone to violent crimes. Pat Carlen (1998: 10) notes that women’s imprisonment ‘incorporates and amplifies all the anti-social modes of control that oppress women outside prison’. According to Scraton and Moore (2006) what persists is the failure within the criminal justice system to accept that women’s crimes are different to men’s, committed in different circumstances.

The National Prison Survey (1992) supports the argument that ‘the economic, ideological and political conditions in which most women break the law are different to those in which most men commit crime and that, therefore, they pose less of a threat to society and could be safely punished in the community.’ (National Prison Survey, 1992).

However, some commentators claim that there is an increase in some violent and drug offences committed by women. According to Corsten Report (2007) despite an increase in some violent and drugs offences by women, the nature and seriousness of women’s offending has not, on the whole, been getting worse and the disproportionate increase in the women’s prison population over the last ten years is more likely the result of courts using custody more frequently for women for less serious offences. The Corsten Report (2007) states ‘the majority of female offenders have committed non-violent offences and present little risk to the public’ (Corsten Report, 16: 2007)

In light of the complexities involved regarding women receiving custodial sentences, should the criminal justice system be more lenient towards women? Nicolson and Bibbings (2000) claim that several penal reformers have been less concerned about whether or not gender factors actually do affect a woman’s chances of receiving a custodial penalty, and more concerned to argue that, for a variety of reasons, gender considerations should shape sentencing and that women in particular should not receive prison sentences, unless their crimes meet certain criteria of ‘dangerousness’ and/or ‘seriousness’.

However, Nicolson and bibbing (2000) argue that the central concept implicit in this argument is not gender, but risk, that is, ‘the degree of threat posed by the offender’ (Nicolson and Bibbing, 78: 2000). If risk should be a major criterion for the imposition of a custodial penalty, it is arguable that it is a criterion that should be applicable in the cases of men, as in the cases of women.

Practitioners within the probation service have a duty of care to all members of society. Therefore if a woman poses a risk to society it would be considered appropriate by the probation service to recommend a custodial sentence to prevent risk and protect society.

A main argument put forward in regards to differential treatment for women in the criminal justice system is based on assumptions that there are hierarchies of role worth. ‘Women, as mothers, have especially important roles to play in relation to the upbringing of children and that the damage done to children when their mothers are in prison is, in most cases, far too high a price to pay to achieve an appearance of formal equality of punishment between male and female offenders.’ (Nicolson and Bibbing, 80: 2000)

The Corsten Report (2007) claims that the home and children define many women’s lives. To take this away from them when it may be all that they have causes huge damage to women. ‘Many women still define themselves and are defined by others by their role in the family. It is an important component in our sense of identity and self-esteem. To become a prisoner is to almost become a bad mother.’ (Corsten Report, 20: 2007)

On the other hand, this argument depends on the value assigned to certain social roles. According to Nicolson and Bibbing (2000) it could equally be applied to any categories of worker seen to perform life enhancing work or scarce skills, for example, doctors, nurses, fathers as breadwinners, all carers and various more. Therefore, this argument cannot be allowed to remain gender-specific.

Hollin and Palmer (2006) state that by examining criminal statistics, it is evident that women are less likely than men to commit crime, to be involved with the criminal justice system and to serve a custodial sentence. According to the Ministry of Justice criminal statistics (2011) there were 351,150 court proceedings involving females and 1,139,135 involving males. In regards to custodial sentencing; in 2011, a lower proportion of women in comparison to men, whose pre-sentence report recommended immediate custody went on to receive this sentence (84% of women compared to 90% of men). This research indicates that statistically, men are more likely to commit crime.

The Corsten Report (2007) further analysed risk within women’s role in the criminal justice system and claim that many women involved in the system present a far greater risk to themselves. They have been recognised as more ‘troubled’ than ‘troublesome’. ‘Many have a history of being subjected to serious sexual or other violent abuse. Many are themselves ‘victims’ in whose favour the government is committed to rebalance the criminal justice system’ (Corsten Report, 17: 2007).

The argument highlighted by the Corsten Report (2007) is that many women in prison have suffered sexual and domestic abuse, therefore, the state should spend more time seeking out and punishing the crimes of sexual and violence that are routinely committed against women, rather than punishing those women whose criminal lifestyles have often been prompted by their past experience with their criminal tormentors, who still remain unpunished for their crimes.

This could have implications for social work practice. Therefore, past experiences should always been taken into consideration when making recommendations within a probation report. Sexual and domestic abuse may feature to a higher degree in the case of female offenders. This should be highlighted and taken into account when making recommendations.

None the less, not all victims of sexual crimes are female and we also need to consider young people of all genders. Nicolson and Bibbing (2000) argue that recent research indicates that high proportions of young people who end up homeless, in state care or penal custody have had serious crimes committed against them by adults, who will never be brought to trial. The same research suggests that ‘these adult depredations often occasion their young victims’ first steps into criminal trouble’ (Nicolson and Bibbing, 79: 2000).

Nicolson and Bibbing (2000) argue that recent research indicates that high proportions of young people who end up homeless, in state care or penal custody have had serious crimes committed against them by adults, who will never be brought to trial. The same research suggests that ‘these adult depredations often occasion their young victims’ first steps into criminal trouble’ (Nicolson and Bibbing, 79: 2000).

Nicolson and Bibbing (2000) conclude that although this imbalance of punishment between the old and the young people does not excuse the crimes of young people who were criminally abused in childhood by their elders, it does call into question the state’s right to punish them as if they were solely to blame for their actions. Therefore, the argument highlighted by the Corsten Report (20007) should not only apply to women who have had criminal offences committed against them in childhood but also men who have been similarly abused as children.

As stated previously, there has been an increase of drug related crimes among women. Drug addiction plays a huge part in all offending and this seems to be disproportionately the case with women. ‘Around seventy per cent of women coming into custody require clinical detoxification compared with fifty per cent of men. Women often have more complex poly substance misuse.’ (Corsten Report, 2007: 19)

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and rimes (2008) a large number of female prisoners worldwide are in need of treatment for substance addiction, though only a minority have access to treatment. McIvor (2004) argues that drug use amongst the most common features of women in custody in many countries. In the USA, ‘a national survey showed that women in prison used more drugs and used them more frequently than male prisoners. (McIvor, 2004: 143)

It is arguable that women withdrawing from drugs and alcohol can be impulsive, volatile and unpredictable, leading to higher risk of self-injury. According to Moller et al (2007) the rate of both self-harm and self-inflicted deaths is substantially higher in prisons than in the community, with women being fourteen times more likely than men to injure themselves while in prison.

The Corsten Report (2007) supports Moller et al (2007) highlighting that in 2005, notwithstanding the small number of women in prison compared with men, fifty-six percent of all recorded incidents of self-harm occurred in the female estate. In the first nine months of 2006 self-harm incidents in the female estate accounted for fifty-one per cent of all incidents. Women are also more prone to self-harm repeatedly. Moller et al’s (2007) argument, backed up by the Corsten Report (2007) brings to light that self-harm in prison is a huge problem and more prevalent among women prisoners.

In 2005, over half of all inmates, in the USA, in state or federal prisons and jails met criteria for classification with a mental health problem. According to Mallach and McIvor (2013) the prison population in England and Wales contains a high prevalence of mental health problems, with one study suggesting that over ninety per cent of prisoners have one or more psychiatric disorders.

The Corsten Report (2007) argues that mental health problems are far more prevalent among women in prison than in the male prison population or in the general population. ‘Up to eighty per cent of women in prison have diagnosable mental health problems.’ (Corsten Report, 19: 2007) Mallach and McIvor (2013) further reinforce this argument by claiming that female prisoners are considered to be more likely to experience mental health problems and to have more complex levels of mental health need.

The above research may have implications for social work practice within the criminal justice system and it is important that mental health is taken into consideration when making recommendations and adequate resources for women with mental health issues should be available within the prison system if they pose a risk to society.

In conclusion, this essay has demonstrated that if society wants equal outcomes for female offenders then it may require different approaches within the criminal justice system. The behavioural and situational differences dictate different approaches are required. This is exemplified in the case of pregnant women who require specific needs and special consideration, as this can have implications for society as a whole. On the other hand, the judicial protection of women could be seen as an ideological front for patriarchy, in that traditional roles are reinforced within society.

Historical research indicates that women’s offences differ from men’s. None the less, there is a growing trend for women to be involved with drug offences. The Carsten Report (2007) has highlighted that mental health problems are far more prevalent among women in prison than in the male prison population. This may be due to the fact that many women in prison have suffered sexual and domestic abuse. This highlights that women are still oppressed within society and that the criminal justice system has failed to recognise this issue. The prison system is also more geared to the needs of male offenders and offers inadequate resources to female offenders.

Corston Report. (2007) A review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the

Criminal justice system. London: Crown Publication.

Covington, S and Bloom, B. (2003) Gendered Justice: Women in the Criminal Justice System. USA: Carolina Academic Press.
Hollin, C and Palmer, E. (2006) Criminogenic need and women offenders: A critique of the literature. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 11, pp179-195.
Malloch, M and McIvor, G. (2013) Women, Punishment and Social Justice: Human Rights and Penal Practices. London: Routledge.
McIvor, G. (2004) Women Who Offend. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Moller, L. Gatherer, A. Jurgens, R. Stover, H. Nikogosian, H. (2007) Health in Prisons: A WHO Guide to the Essentials in Prison Health. WHO Regional Office Europe.
Nicolson, D and Bibbings, L. (2000) Feminist Perspectives on Criminal Law. Cavendish.
Scratan, P and Moore, L. (2006) Degardation, Harm and Survival in Women’s Prison. Social Policy and Society, 5, pp 67-78.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2008) Handbook for Prison Managers and Policymakers on Women and Imprisonment. United Nations Publications.
Warner, J. (2012) Women and Crime. ABC-CLIO
Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland: Report on an announced inspection of Ash House, Hydebank Wood Women’s Prison. 18 – 22 February 2013
Ministry of Justice. (2011) Statistics of Women and the Criminal Justice System.

https://www.gov.uk/life-in-prison/pregnancy-and-childcare-in-prison – Accessed 18/12/2013 20:36

1

Ethnography: A Look at Gender Difference in Social Interaction

An ethnographic approach was chosen for this study because it has the potential to provide a descriptive, interpretive, evaluative and authentic vision of society (Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995). The observation was done by myself. I went to the Marketplace Mall in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on March 4^th. I stayed from one o’clock to three o’clock in the afternoon. I sat on a bench close to the food court, and observed people who were age 18 and up. I observed the ways in which males and females were different when it came to social interaction.

Literature Review

The article “Gender and relationships: Influences on agentic and communal behaviors” talked about agency and communion. According to the article, agency is the striving for mastery or power, and communion is the striving for intimacy and connectedness (Suh, 2004). According to measures of masculine and feminine sex roles, men make decisions easily, don’t give up easily, and are competitive, outspoken, and outgoing. Females like kids, and are warm, emotional, considerate, tactful, gentle, and helpful. Gender differences appear primarily in group or social contexts. Stereotypic beliefs are that women are communal and men are agentic (Suh, 2004). Women do domestic work more than men, have fewer hours in paid employment, and are said to have occupations of lower status. Men are more agentic with male friends, than women are with female friends. Women are more communal with female friends, than men are with male friends (Suh, 2004). This relates to my observation in the way my hypothesis was formed. I used stereotypes, and labels that men and women already have, as a knowledge base for what I might observe.

The article, “Putting Gender into Context: An Interactive Model of Gender-Related Behavior,” stated that the enactment of gender takes place within social interaction (Deaux, 1987). This enactment takes place due to self-verification and self-presentation. They are naturally interwoven together. Because people monitor behavior internally and externally, they are concerned with self-presentation and self-verification simultaneously (Deaux, 1987). When I was doing my observation, I did notice people monitoring their behavior, or their child’s behavior. I focused more on who each person was interacting with, instead of how they were interacting.

In Deborah Tannen’s article, “You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation,” she made a good point about the history of women and talking. In history, women were punished for talking too much. In Colonial America, they were held underwater, or even gagged. Women were believed to talk too much; however, studies find that men talk more in meetings, groups, and classrooms (Tannen, 1991). Men feel good with public speaking, while women feel good with speaking in private. Women’s language of conversation is a way to establish connections, negotiating, and maintain relationships. Men talk as a means to preserve independence, negotiate and maintain status. “Home is where there is the silent man and talkative woman” (Tannen, 1991). That’s the distinction between public and private speaking. My observation contradicted this article. More women were interacting and communicating than men. However, I was interested in the historical aspect of the stereotypes we have today, and this gave a little hint as to what kinds of things happened to women, who spoke out of turn back in the colonial time period.

An interesting topic that arose from my observation was the use of mobile phones. In “Community and social interaction in the wireless city: Wi-Fi use in public and semi-public spaces,” Hampton talked about how a few studies have addressed how wireless internet use in public spaces influences social life. Recent years have seen growth in availability of wireless internet access in public places (Hampton, 2008). Mobile phones make community instantly accessible, and social ties are reachable anywhere at any time. Hampton made the point that mobile phones create a private sphere of interaction in public spaces. When people engage with mobile phones, they create a private cocoon that reduces the likelihood of public encounters (Hampton, 2008). To get a picture of what this means, while I was observing, a middle aged male was sitting at a table alone, but he was talking on his phone to someone. One could tell he was absorbed in the conversation because he did not take notice of any one that walked by him, and he stayed sitting there for about 45 minutes after I had sat down and started my observation.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis I formed before the observation at the mall was, “Middle aged females will be more social with the same gender, than older or young females. Young males will be more social with the opposite gender, than middle aged or older males.” I created this hypothesis on the basis of past experiences when shopping with my mother, and my friends. There always seemed to be more females of middle age than any other age group. At the mall, there would always seem to be many more young males than any age group. I also used basic stereotypes that everyone hears growing up. Such stereotypes include, “women are supposed to be submissive and do as they are told,” and, “men are always in charge.” I do not personally believe in these; however, I did use them as a basis for my hypothesis.

Methodology

Over spring break I went home to Davie County, North Carolina. It is a rural town with a small shopping mall. Not many people actually go to the mall, because Walmart is just down the street. I chose to go to the Market Place Mall, instead of Walmart, and sit at the food court. I got there at one in the afternoon, on Tuesday, March 4^th. Not a lot of people were there. I sat down on a bench beside the food court, and I took notes on my phone, so I would not draw attention to myself. I figured I would have attention if I had a notebook in front of me. I watched everyone that walked by me, because no one was sitting in the food court. When the people would walk by, I would record their age range, gender, and whether they were alone or with someone, and what gender those someone’s were. I would also record if they were interacting together. I stayed for two hours just sitting there on the bench, collecting data. When I finished at the shopping mall, I went home and wrote down everything I had on my notes in my phone. Then i drew up a spreadsheet in excel, and put in all of the information I collected. It helped me organize, and get precise calculations.

Field Notes Summary

In total, I observed 152 people over the two hour time period. There were 50 males and 102 females. 68 were middle aged adults. Out if the 68, 24 were men. 15 of the men were alone, 4 were with the same gender and 5 were with females. Also, out of the 68 middle aged adults, 44 were women. 13 of them were alone, 26 were with the same gender, and 5 were with males.

Out of the 152 people I observed, 40 were older adults. 14 were men. 9 of them were alone, 2 were with the same gender, and 3 were with females. 26 out of the 40 were women. 16 of the older women were alone, 6 were with the same gender, and 4 were with males.

Out of the 152 people, 42 were young adults. 13 were men. 5 of them were alone, 3 were with the same gender, and 5 were with females. There were 29 young women. 7 of them were alone, 16 were with the same gender, and 6 were with males. I also observed two teenagers there. They were the only teenagers I noticed being there.

A little less than half of the people I observed were alone. To be exact, 65, out of the 152 people, were alone. Phone use was not a wide spread action I saw people doing, if they were alone. I only saw 8, out of the 65 people, on their phones.

When it comes to social interaction, over half of the people observed were partaking in some sort of communication with each other. 87, out of the 152 people, were interacting. I saw 50 females talking with each other, and I saw 9 males talking with each other. There were 28 people partaking in interaction with the opposite gender. That includes two sets, of a male and female, holding hands.

Conclusion on Hypothesis

Restating my hypothesis, middle aged females will be more social with the same gender than older females, and young males will be social with the opposite gender than middle aged or older males. My hypothesis was completely right. The first part of my hypothesis was that middle aged females were more social with the same gender then older females were. The data I collected about the 152 people I observed showed that 59% of middle aged females were social with the same gender, while only 23% of older females were social with the same gender. The second part of my hypothesis was that young males were more social with the opposite gender than any other age group of males. The data I collected for the 152 people I observed showed that 38% of young males were social with the opposite gender, while only 20% of middle aged males were social with the opposite gender, and 21% of older males were social with the opposite gender.

What I found most interesting was the difference between men and women’s social interaction, in general. Judith Hall published an observational study on nonverbal gender differences and discussed the cultural reasons as to those differences. In her study, she noted women as smiling and laughing more, as well as having a better understanding of others’ nonverbal cues. She believed that women were encouraged to be more emotionally expressive in their language, thus better developed in nonverbal communication. Men, on the other hand, were taught to be less expressive, to suppress their emotions, and thus be less nonverbally active in communication and more sporadic in their use of nonverbal cues. This builds on what I found in my observation. There were more women that I observed, but in total, there were more men who were alone. Actually, over half the men I observed, 29 out of 50, were alone, while 36 of the 102 females, I observed, were alone. That’s only 35 % compared to the 56% of men.

What I Learned

What I learned focused on men and women. With women, I learned that they interact more with females, than males, at the mall. I also learned that more middle age women go to the Market Place Mall than any other age group, according to my observation. With men, I learned that they interact more with females, then males, at the mall. I also learned that most men come alone to the mall, according to my observation.

References

Deaux, K., & Major, B. (January 01, 1987). Putting gender into context: An interactive model of gender-related behavior. Psychological Review, 94, 3, 369-389

Hammersley, M. & Atkinson, P. (1995). Ethnography: principles in practice. 2nd Ed. London: Routledge.

Hampton, K., & Gupta, N. (November, 13, 2008). Community and social interaction in the wireless city: Wi-Fi use in public and semi-public spaces. New Media & Society, 10, 6, 831-850

Igarashi, T., Takai, J., & Yoshida, T. (January 01, 2005). Gender differences in social network development via mobile phone text messages: A longitudinal study. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 22, 5, 691-713.

Knapp, M., Hall, J., & Horgan, T. (2013). Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction (8 ed.). Cengage Learning.

Suh, E. J., Moskowitz, D. S., Fournier, M. A., & Zuroff, D. C. (2004). Gender and relationships: Influences on agentic and communal behaviors. Personal Relationships, 11(1), 41-60

Tannen, D. (1991). You just don’t understand: Women and men in conversation (p. 113). London: Virago.

Contextualizing- Gender and Social Background to the Private and Public livelihoods of African women in the Diaspora (Case study -Gothenburg, Sweden).

Introduction

People in every community are ascribed to gendered attributes that shape and impact their life styles. Darly and Rake (2003) contend that such gendered attributes involve sex relations encompassing resources, social roles and power relations. Hence, the perception and doing of gender is very subjective and much so inferred according to social contexts and history (Gruber and Stefanov, 2002). The implication here is that the significance and consequence of gender construction and the way it is practiced is discrete upon background and contextual factors. The baffle often comes when individuals and groups of people settle on willful or involuntary choices to relocate to new places that have distinctive gender constructions and practices. How are they likely to cope; are their interpretations likely to change and embrace new ones-thereby turning out to be totally transformed? Would their gender norms be inflexibly maintained? Or would people consolidate and get lost between different cultures? Gendered research into migration demonstrates that migrant women (particularly those who originate from the developing world) as a rule experience troubles grappling with their changed gender roles as they settle in other countries (Gavanas, 2010; Sawyer,2008; Deacon, 2009). This is on the account that gender roles in the diaspora tend to differ from those of their original nations. This is especially so in the Western World where these tend to give more autonomy, self-determination and freedom (Deacon, 2009). This study sought to examine and clarify how the gender divisions of roles influence the status and position of a group of African women (living in Gothenburg) inside their families as well as their general participation in the Swedish society. The research was conducted between January to June 2012, as part of the fullfullment for my master study at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The main research question was; How does the gender division of roles affect the status and position of a group of African women (living in Gothenburg), within and outside their families? The current report will discuss the analysis outcome of three interviews with African women.

The process of analysis

Analysis can take various approaches including, literal; interpretive; and reflexive (Welsh, 2002; Miles and Huberman,1994). Miles and Huberman (1994) identify three types of activities that make up the analysis process.

First, is data reduction. This refers to “the process of selecting, focusing, simplifying, abstracting and transforming the data that appear in written-up field notes or transcriptions” (Miles and Huberman 1994, p.10). This procedure may likewise be known as data familialisation (Fielding& Lee,1991), indicating a process of condensing and consolidating of the data to make it sensible.

The second activity is data display.This refers to “an organised, compressed assembly of information that permits conclusion drawing and action” (Miles and Huberman 1994, p.11). This includes transforming expanded writings into instantly available, minimal frames of reference so that the researcher can perceive what is occurring and either reach defended determinations or proceed onward to the following phase of investigation.This can als be known as the decriptive (Fielding& Lee,1991) stage of data analysis.

The final activity of data analysis is conclusion drawing and verification. Drawing conclusions relates to deciding on the actual meaning of phenomenon, in otherwards data is explained. On the other hand, verification means “testing meaning for their plausibility, their sturdiness, and their confirmability” (Miles and Huberman 1994, p.11). These procedures happen persistently and iteratively and feed into each other, for the entire duration of the research.

Advantages and disadvantages of Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS).

There are different software packages ranging from text retrievers, code and retrieve packages as well as theory building software (Gibbs, Friese and Mungabeira, 2002; Fielding& Lee,1991). This section discusses the importance and shortcomings of using CAQDAS sduch as Nvivo.

Utilizing CAQDAS can save time and energy of a qualitative researcher. This is mainly because CAQDAS can help with the mechanical aspects of qualitative data analysis which include marking up the highlighted text with the codes, generating reports, searching the text for key terms (Gibbs, Friese and Mungabeira, 2002) which would be time consuming, inconvenient and fatiguing (Lee and Fielding, 1995) for the researcher. Besides, this also decreases the mistakes which could lead to some aspects of data being ignored by the researcher perhaps due to some bias or omission. Despite this though, the art and interpretation depends on the individual researcher. As Gibbs, Friese and Mungabeira (2002) have argued that conceptual aspects of the analysis such as reading the text, interpreting it, creating coding schemes and identifying useful searches and reports all depend on human art ( p.4).

CAQDAS can enable teamwork and exchange of ideas throughout the whole analysis process which can thus reduce on delays and also help with member checking as ideas develop. The research team does so by uploading all filed notes into the software and these may be easily shared among them electronically (Lee and Fielding, 1995). The only challenge with this way of working is that attention paid to issue salience or uniqueness of cases and situations may be reduced as teams try to share ideas.

CAQDAS such as NVivo decreases boredom which might be experienced in the repetitive procedure of transcribing and creating codes all through to the report writing stage. This is possible because other than the ordinary style working with just plain texts, these programs allow for incorporation of rich text, audio, videos and any multimedia data (Gibbs, Friese and Mungabeira, 2002) which can make the entire process of analysis interactive and engaging for researchers. The risk associated with this is ambiguity because as researchers attempt to deal with a blend of information, consideration might be moved to videos and the richness of content might be ignored. This may lessen the sort of depth of interpretation which they can give to any of the material. Aside from that, the software is not free, one may likewise require extra training in order to have the capacity to utilize it effectively.

CAQDAS can also help to make the analysis process more effective and transparent more than the manual method. This helps to improve the quality of the research that is produced. Gibbs, Friese and Mungabeira (2002 ) argue that while in quantitative research there can be techniques for checking authenticity, this might be hard for qualitative researchers.The counter contention by Welsh (2002) is that validity and reliability difficulties still exist notwithstanding when the analysis is done using a software, as a result of the fluid and creative routes through which the themes emerge; suggesting that the human analysist is especially vital and cannot be separated from this process. Additionally, the ‘theoretical lens through which the researcher uses to approach the phenomena, the strategies that the researcher uses to collect and construct data and his or her epistemological understandings about what might be relevant in answering the questions are all analytic process and influence data (Thorne 2000, p.68). Hence, the analytic process may not be entirely distinguishable from the actual data produced (Thorne, 2000).

That said, we cannot deny the fact that CAQDAS provides an efficient and smarter way of sorting and organizing data for proper management and analysis; much as it is critical to reflect on how much the software can be able to do. The software is not capable of undertaking the intellectual and conceptual procedures which are necessary for transforming data into useful research (Welsh, 2002; Thorne, 2000; Fielding& Lee,1991).

Process of analysis

First, I uploaded the transcripts into NVivo 11 software. After that, I started developing general codes according to the study goals (Bazeley & Richards,2000). However, as I read the transcripts over and over again, new nodes kept on emerging. With a full list of numerous nodes, I realised that some nodes actually expressed the same idea and could be merged, so I categorised and classified the related nodes, cut and pasted them into the parent nodes and came up with broader and expanded nodes. Bazeley & Richards (2000) assert that codes can are essential for identifying topics, themes or issues and unite the data segments. Categorising the nodes helped me to get rid of the redundant nodes. And actually a few redundant nodes which I had formulated earlier on, have been excluded from the analysis since they could not add up to any thick description of the data. This exercise involved an iterative and reflective process of working back and forth through the transcripts so as to avoid merging nodes that expressed different ideas. I also made descriptions and memos as I coded which helped me to reflect on the nodes afterwards. This was also important in developing a deeper analysis of the data.

Interview transcripts were analyzed through induction following a phenomenological approach. An analytic induction explores patterns and relationships in the data and uses such to generate tentative hypotheses or ideas so as to develop general conclusions or theory.I will borrow a few features from Grounded theory approach advanced by Strauss and Corbin (1990) and Miller (2000). The grounded theory approach allows for continuous and repetitive working with the findings in order to develop themes which can be built into models arising from the data. mechanisms of women towards addressing their health needs. The grounded theory approach was useful to draw comparisons (Thorne, 2000) between married women and the single woman. Thus, much as there are elements of grounded theory within my analytical approach, my research took a more inductive and phenomenological approach. All interview data were be analyzed using a phenomenological approach done in stages as proposed by (Hycner 1985,p.280-293).

Firstly, Interview were transcibed verbatim and literally in the way it was it will be presented by respondents. In addition, all nonverbal and para- linguistic communications (Hycner, 1985) from the interviews were noted so as to draw meaning from them.Secondly, I engaged in bracketing and phenomenological reduction. Bracketing involves suspension of the researcher’s meanings and interpretations and entering into the unique world of the individual who was interviewed while (Hycner 1985). , Keen (1975, p.38 in Hycner 1985) alludes that: ‘The phenomenological reduction is a conscious, effortful, opening of ourselves to the phenomenon as a phenomenon. And since, I already had the transcripts,I read through them with openness to derive meaning.The third stage involves listening to the interview or reading the transcription several times to get a sense of the whole. Hycner 1985 states that as you listen or read, its imporatnt to make memos; which aid in delineating the units of general meaning. This fourth stage is about crystallization and condensation of the what the respondents said leading to a unit of general meaning while referring to the reseacrh question (p.282).This involves paying attention to the actual content of the findings while referring to the initial research question to see if the collected data is relevant and at this point irrelevant findings might be excluded from the analysis.

Next is to have independent judges to verify the units of relevant meaning to see if the findings are authentic, then redundancies are taken out, depending on both the literal content and looking at the number of times and the way meanings were mentioned.

The other step is clustering units of relevant meaning. This is an iterative process of working through the units of meaning through examining their essence. This also depends on the context under which a unit was mentioned. Next is to determine central themes from these clusters of meaning. This also involves interrogating the clusters as well as working through the segments of the transcript. After this, next a summary of individual interviews is done while trying to incorporate the themes, this also gives a sense of the whole. After this, Hycner recommends to do validity check with our interviewees to see if what we have actually represents what they tried to bring forward. In my research this process will be done retrospectively, that is, immediately after interviewing.

After this then, themes are modified and then general and unique themes are identified for all the interviews. This step looks out for common themes in all the interviews as well as individual variations or uniqueness and these clustered under general themes. This step requires patience so as not to merge themes that do not match or are somewhat unique without which the significance of some themes may be lost.

Finally, is the contextualization of themes. This step requires that all the general and unique themes from the rigorous process are placed back into the initial contexts from which they developed so as to get a deeper understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. As such the analysis is presented with evidence from the actual words of the interviewees.

Hycner (1985) alludes that the process takes fourteen steps but in this research, some of these were done simultaneously as the research progressed. The phenomenological approach is not without limitations. For example, phenomenological analysis is associated with of the following challenges;

Phenomenological analysis may be very exhausting if you are dealing with large amounts of data and since it is suitable for few cases, the data may be difficult to generalise. This holds water but does not eliminate the value of the findings since these usually represent the experience of individuals which is itself unique and informative (Hycner 1985).

Secondly, there is the issue of randonmness and the subjective influence of the resaercher. The citisim is that respondents are selected because of who they are, or depending on their experienece with the phenomena. As result there might be subjective influence in both interviewing and in analysing data. The women were chosen purposefully to provide their experince, but the analysis has undergone a thoruogh process.

Findings

Gender and gender role formation

Gender refers to the “socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women” (WHO, 2017). Gender categorization portrays cultural values and norms and is therefore an outcome of extensive interactions between individual socialization processes inside families and broader social-cultural order (Becker-Schmidt 1993, cited in Gruber and Stefanov, 2002). Buckingham-Hatfield (2000, p. 67) contends that the gender identity that individuals acquire over time infers two types of connections, “that between the two genders and that between gender and society” Gender roles thus allude to the degree to which standards and practices are social and patterned for women and men (Darly and Rake, 2003). The data shows that women mainly predominate in the traditional gender roles like cooking, taking care of children, doing laundry work and making their homes neat.

“I don’t even relax in the evening, I come back directly in the kitchen, starts cooking and then we eat around six o’clock then we see homework and what happened at school and then you prepare them for bed” (Married woman)

“Womanly in my view, I mean taking care of the home, having meals done and checking on the children’s’ work and following up to see that their home works are done, (Single woman)

In addition, all the women indicated that they are bread winners. Contrastingly, the married women work mainly to supplement their husband’s income but not necessarily to enhance their positions. As such, the married women take on part time work so that they can balance that with home assignments while the single woman labours to sustain her family. Kunovich and Kunovich (2008) contrasts that married women have less egalitarian attitudes toward housework and childcare compared with single women; that even in nations with more noteworthy gender equality (like Sweden) only have more libertarian attitudes toward separate spheres of work, yet not toward housework or childcare. On this account, Gavanas (2010) demonstrates that in European settings, care and household labor have been traditionally viewed as women’s domaincarriedout for free as a labor of love.

Determinants of women’s roles

The Swedish values and laws emerged as some of the factors that determine women’s roles. According to the Swedish Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality (2009), the Swedish gender equality policy is aimed at fighting and changing systems that preserve the sex-based appropriation of power and resources in society; and, guaranteeing that women and men appreciate similar power and chances to shape their own lives. Such impacts however usually stream less to the immigrants henceforth Sweden’s gender equality discourse is dominated by “various leveled classification of the population into ‘Swedes’ and ‘immigrants with representations of gender unequal ‘immigrants’ being eminent(Towns 2002, p.157). Additionally, numerous migrant women are utilized in the informal economy, especially as domestic workers, mind specialists, nurses or entertainers- henceforth, reinforcing conventional gender segregation and inequalities in the labor market (Anja and Andrea 2010, p.48). None the less, Brettell (2008) has put light to the new changes which happen in family and kinship patterns as an outcome of migration and highlighted the feeling of control that women gain as immigrants. To some extent, the women I interviewed have adopted the Swedish values of equality in their homes. This is partially because they are married to Swedish partners who are used to the values of equality and thus, occasionally accept to take on household chores flexibility.

“Yeah that’s something special for Sweden. And also then taking paternity leave, it’s very special for Sweden because also a dad participates” (Married woman)

“he earns more than me and he makes more decisions than me but also being in Sweden and being married to a Swedish person, they are very much about equality” (Married woman)

Further on, women have adopted equality values because of the demands on women. Women have familial roles yet they also have to work outside the home. Metz-Gckel (1993) and Becker-Schmidt and Knapp (1995) contended that the structural significance of gender is attached to the dual role of women in society “from one perspective in the private reproductive sphere controlled by patriarchal power structures and then again in the market – initiated societal sphere under the control of the profit-oriented organization of the productive sphere” (cited in Gruber and Stefanov 2002, p. 3).

“Yeah it’s because I have changed, I have changed. I came to understand that it’s very important to help each other especially in this, this Europe.” (Married woman)

Aside from demands, the women have also been influenced by the Swedish women whom they see as autonomous and independent in the way they live their lives. These relationships have made African women to reflect on their positions within their families.

“Again being here and looking at Swedish women here, the way they are independent, the relationships between a man and a woman” (Married woman)

“Yeah in one way I think, I have friends, I have Swedish friends and you see how people live, and you see them in the homes, how things are done, when I talk to my friends they say I did this, and it can a little bit yeah it can help you out”

(Married woman)

The challenge however is that because of the hierarchical gender relationship, male dominance controls the private and public spheres (Gruber and Stefanov, 2002; LeVine, 1966). Despite that, adopting the Swedish values of equality has empowered the women to be able to discuss their grievances with their husbands.

Norms also determine what women do inside their families and in general society circles. Each of the respondents battled that there are specific obligations which should be for women and others for men. In their view, the light tasks and those which are less stressful like dealing with the little things in the house are feminine. Male duties are those that need skill like fixing bulbs and those that require monetary assets like dealing with bills. This was alluded to irrespective of marital status. For stance, the single woman was content with the freedom she has-being the major decision maker for her children and family yet communicated trouble with taking care of bills.

“I think I’m comfortable, they are moments when I sit and I think, now I think I need a husband in my life who is going to pay for the rent, I don’t want to pay rent, I mean there are times, when I really have this mind that I need to turn down and also feel like a woman” (Single woman)

“once my mother called and then she asked me where I was and I said ok- Im in the living room watching TV, and your husband? I said he is in the kitchen doing dishes so my mother was very hungry on the phone. ‘What! You are sitting and your husband is in the kitchen doing dishes, I didn’t teach you that’. I was like ok, mama, this is Europe. ‘Yeah its Europe but you are not European” (Married woman)

Social role theory deduces that people occupy positions in social structures – associated with roles that may either be attributed or achieved (Payne, 1997). The model clarifies that the societal division of work produces diffuse gender roles for specific genders and in this way confers broad expectations depending on each gender (Diekman and Schneider, 2010). This sort of development implies that men and women take part in different household assignments to demonstrate and reaffirm their gendered selves as expected of them by others.

Personality also emerged as an imperative component that determines women’s roles and workload inside their families. For example, one woman insinuated the way she appreciates doing the family tasks yet for some, they are perfectionists trusting that they know best what is useful for their families. All these decide the workload of women and additionally whether they are ready to request for support from their partners and friends.

“But I sometimes feel that I take too much also and that way Patrick balances me and he tells me I don’t think you need to do this, although you have made a commitment here and there. Its personality”. (Married woman)

“I would say that I as a person I’m a strong person who would really like to take on what I’m not unable to do” (Single woman)

On the other hand, personality decides women’s engagement in the public sphere. Women who are open and ready to connect with the wider society say, through welcoming friends to their homes really have a bigger network or social contacts and a number of social activities to engaged in.

“I mean naturally I’m born, I’m a social person. So I easily create social contacts and through that I see that I’m reaching out more to others… So in that way I have more activities than I really want.” (Single woman)

“like I said, Swedes are very cold people, very difficult to have, it’s hard to have a relationship with a Swede, I remember I really worked on it because I wanted to meet them. I remember I was calling, inviting people home and all the friends we have now are from me, I mean from my efforts. I did really effort to have them” (Married woman)

Socialisation is the other factor that determines women’s roles. Women implied the way they were raised and indicated pride for their social childhood. The Social learningtheory explains how gender roles are produced in everyday lives particularly in childhood depending on the setting. The model is grounded on three main concepts including, observational learning, imitation, and modeling (Ormrod, 1999). This theory deduces that behavior is acquired through re-enforcements and modeling; however, in the absence of these, social learning may occur through observation and imitation of others (Golombok and Fivush 1994, p.76). Subsequently, gender role practices are acquired through the same procedures as every other conduct (Bandura, 1977, cited in Golombok and Fivush 1994, p.76).Miller (2011) demonstrates that the interplay between cognitive, affective, biological, and socio structural aspects influence the process of gender role development. Many women alluded to their childhood and the qualities they saw and learnt as children.

“I think it’s me. I think it’s also has to do with African upbringing and being the eldest”. (Married woman)

“You have to help your parents. Because I remember when my dad told us about that. We were there not to just lay back and sleep but we were there to help our mum”

(Married woman)

Interestingly these women are married to Swedish partners but one of them maintained that her Swedish partner emphasised the patriarchal structure through encouraging her to maintain her ‘African thing’. Now this is not known if this particular husband is really happy with the so called ‘African thing’ or if it is a strategy for him to relax as the woman takes on the donkey work.

“Like I said from the beginning my husband is more African than- I mean more Congolese than me, he says to me E, I feel you are losing that African thing… when I tell him my husband help me he says that E, men in Africa are not in the kitchen.” (Married woman)

In the African tradition, family and kinship are the most imperative institutions and social life is mainly structured on norms (Therborn, 2004); thus gender is generally a collective classification with regard to general norms and values (Adkins and Lury 1995, in Gruber and Stefanov, 2002). Therborn (2004, p.118) alludes that ‘African custom is for male control of women‘ and that wifely subordination is still a major phenomenon of African social life.

Spirituality is likewise critical in determining what roles women take on as well as the decisions they make for themselves and their families. All the women said that they are Christians and that God is an essential figure in whatever they do. As one of them described, “Of course Prayer is the foundation that builds a home.” Indeed, they all specified congregational activities as a major aspect of the social activities they take an interest in. One of them recounted,

“I devoted my life ever since I came to Sweden to do God’s work and that I can do, normally when you are doing dishes, you don’t clash with any one. When you are doing your cleaning or dishes” (Single woman)

These responses mirror Foucault’s elucidation of the social distribution of roles by referring to nature. He alludes that “gods directly prepared the woman’s nature for indoor works and the man for works of the open air. Thus, the natural oppositeness of man and woman and the specificity of their aptitudes are indissociably tied to the good order; and inversely, order demands them as obligations” (Foucault 1984, in p.158-159).

Impact of roles on the status of women

One of the effects of gender roles on women has to do with sacrifice. The dual role of women, makes it is inevitable for women to make sacrifices. They need to negotiate between seeking after their careers or to tend to their families. For instance, all the women perceived the significance of education and actually disclosed that they had enrolled for training courses. However, this meant negotiations on the priorities, they felt that they needed to deal with their family demands to start with, before they could consider undertaking courses or even pursue careers. Moreover, women do take on part time jobs as a sacrifice for their families particularly when they have little children. The less priority which women ascribe to activities outside the family further suggests that in the meantime, they forfeit their own economic progress.

“Family reasons, I mean my children are still young and I had to settle down in my job and I mean, somehow have a base in my working life and also balance it with the children at home, because now being a single mother in Sweden, it takes up all the energy and everything that I have so then I haven’t been able to take on extra studies beyond what I can do on a normal day.” (Single woman)

“I don’t work full time. From the beginning we decided with my husband that I will not do full time. He did- doing full time. We felt like I was needed home”

(Married woman)

These discoveries are not unique to these women. Research elsewhere demonstrates that women are more committed to the private sphere as moms, carers and domestic workers while men are more concentrated in the public circles (Buckingham-Hatfield, 2000; Donato et al, 2006). For instance, in a survey of European women, it was discovered that 90 percent of women valued the family as the most significant sphere of their life (Gruber and Stefanov 2002, p.21). Besides, women are also not completely accepted in the public arena but are rather permitted to participate there just on sufferance (Buckingham-Hatfield, 2000). Thus, for majority of partnerships in Central Europe, housework and caring for children are undertakings performed principally by women while fathers primarily play and only share their leisure activities with the children; yet women who struggle to be productive need to sacrifice child care and much more house work – to the formal paid employment (Esping-Andersen, 2009; Gruber and Stefanov, 2002).

Finally, power developed as one of the advantages that women derive from the sort of roles they undertake. Because women take care of the homes and children, they are more required in basic leadership and decision making particularly in matters regarding household welfare. This is for both the married and the single woman. In any case, the reasons behind this control are distinctive. The single woman derives her power from the reality that she is the sole provider in the home; whereas for the married women, it is mostly in light of the fact that their spouses tend to distance themselves from family unit matters.

“I have freedom of independence that at times I feel in myself and say thank you Lord, I’m able to make decisions on my own whether I make wrong decisions I come back to myself and say I did that wrongaˆ¦ Independent in every way economic, social, independent woman, very powerful”. (single woman)

Keeping in mind the end goal to see how gender roles, impinge on the societal position and prosperity of women in the private and open circles; it is reasonable to consider the measure of assets at women’s disposal and also power relations (Sen, 2001). Such viewpoints explain the agency aspects (like, women’s earning power, ability to act, economic role outside the family, literacy and education, property rights) which exceptionally contribute to women’s voice, independence and empowerment (Sen ,2001). For example, working outside the home and acquiring an autonomous wage enhances and upgr

Abstract

Approximately sixty percent of children living in therapeutic foster care, enter the system with a diagnosis of moderate to severe mental health issues. These children, placed in therapeutic foster homes, can present disruptive behaviors. Maladaptive coping skills on the part of the child or stress inducing behaviors on the part of the caregiver can cause a crises leading to potential removal from the home. Solution focused brief therapy, could increase the quality of the relationship between foster parent and child. Foster children and parents can have a disparity between the perception of a situation and improper communication of opposing views may lead to crisis. Using tools and tenants of solution focused brief therapy could decrease placement disruptions. The purpose of this article is to identify common issues and challenges facing foster parents and children, and examples of interventions using solution based therapy. The strength-based interventions, coupled with the current evidenced-based training, will decrease placement disruptions, and increase the potential of successful transitions from foster care. The article will discuss current evidenced-based interventions, and solution focused therapy as an additional therapeutic approach. In this article, common issues and challenges facing foster parents and children are discussed; and strengths and limitations of implementing solution focused therapy techniques are explored.

Keywords: Therapeutic Foster Care, Foster Parents, Foster Children, Solution Focused Brief Therapy, Training

Foster Parents and Solution Focused Brief Therapy:

An estimated 541,000 children in America live in the foster care system today (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Residential treatment facilities, psychiatric group homes, and foster/ kinship care comprise most of these out of home placements. Therapeutic Foster Care, (TFC) is an additional type of out of home placement and is a specialized service designed to serve children with special needs (Berika, 1999). These special needs range from emotional, cognitive, and physical/medical and can serve as a step down between a residential treatment center and foster care (Strijker, Oijen, & Dickscheit, 2010).

Each specific type of out of home placement offers differences in the goals and functions of foster care and therapeutic foster care are numerous. Maltreated children are placed in foster care primarily to receive protection, and stability. If the child exhibits the need for mental health or substance abuse therapy, the service is provided outside of the home (Farmer, Mustillo, Burns, & Holden, 2008). Transitioning statement from fc 2 tfc (on the other hand ) Therapeutic foster care combines the structure of a residential treatment facility with the care and protection of the home environment. Fifty nine percent of children entering therapeutic foster care address serious levels of emotional behavioral issues; and need rehabilitation (Hochstadt, Jaudes, Zimo, & Schacter, 1987). Therapeutic interventions take place within the home, with the goal of integrating newly acquired interpersonal skills into the home environment, which are necessary for future family reunification.

Multiple reasons exist facilitating the need to place a child outside of the home for treatment. High-risk family factors include poverty, divorce within the immediate family, (Williams at all, 1990), biological parental mental illness, witnessing domestic violence, and prior incarcerations within the immediate family (Johnson, 1989). The inability or unwillingness of the primary caregiver to care for the child is additional reasons for biological parental rights termination (Pecora, White, Jackson, & Wiggins, 2009). Alternatively, the child may have been removed from the home due to neglect or poor parenting. Substance abuse by the biological parents, or even the young person themselves, are additional factors in the decision to remove the child from the biological home. Thus, due to numerous reasons, the youth may have difficulty acclimating to new living situations.

Children placed in therapeutic foster care tend to exhibit poor coping skills, low frustration tolerance, and externalizing disorders such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Fiegelman & Harrington, 1993). The behaviors that accompany such externalizing disorders may cause foster parents to experience empathy fatigue (Lipscome, Moyers, & Farmer, 2004). Empathy fatigue is a leading cause for which a foster parent decides to surrender the foster child (Parker, 2009). This is known as a placement disruption or the child’s unscheduled removal from the foster home permanently.

Numerous publications report findings, that placement disruption has a detrimental effect on foster children. The American Academy of Pediatrics reported placement disruption, “Hinders the development and healing process of children” (American Academy of pediatrics 2000). Placement disruption jeopardizes the opportunity for children to develop trusting and secure relationships with adults (Robertson, 1989). The act of separating a child from biological families induces feelings of rejection, guilt, abandonment, and shame, (Garland et al., 2000, Simm at el 2000) regardless of the reason. “Multiple placements before the age of 14 are associated with higher rates of delinquency in youths”. Recent studies show a relationship between foster child placement disruption and the increase of foster care alumni homelessness, incarceration, and victimization. (Courtney, Dworsky, Lee, & Raap, 2009).

According to the Midwest Evaluation of Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, “Far too many foster youth are not acquiring the life skills or developing the interpersonal connections they need if they are to become productive young adults” (Midwest Evaluation of Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, 2010). Foster parents’ are to provide a safe and nurturing home, which will instill interpersonal communication and effective life skills to youth. The establishment of the connection between the foster parent and the foster child needs is critical due to beliefs that foster parents would benefit from the use of solution focused based therapeutic techniques with the foster child as these techniques provide____________________________________.

Multiple training programs have attempted to incorporate these skills within the juvenile’s daily routine (Price, Chamberlain, Landsverk, Reid, Leve, & Laurent, 2008). LIST PREVIOUS MODLES “Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care is a strengths-based intervention promoting child and adolescent resiliency in youth exposed to early adversity”. Application of MTFC within a treatment foster care home employs a point and level privilege system. Multiple studies show the effectiveness of using a reward level program (Fisher Chamberlain & Leve 2009). A second intervention model, which is a modified version of the multidimensional treatment foster care intervention designed for younger children is called keeping foster parents trained and supported (Price, Chamberlain, Landsverk & Reid, 2009). Other models of worth mentioning.

When a child faces the instability of placement disruption, they do not have a consistent environment where they feel safe to mature; instead, they must re-adapt the new living situation. We suggest following the tenants and techniques of solution focused brief therapy in addition to the aforementioned foster parent training will increase placement stability. Training the foster parents in solution focused therapy techniques we believe they will assist the youth in becoming solution oriented. This new set of skills taught to the child, by the foster parent has the potential to increase the foster child’s quality of life by decreasing placement disruptions.

Solution focused therapy lends itself well as an additional element training of foster parents. Through a question and answer conversation, it enables the foster parent to see the perspective of a given situation through the eyes of the child. Solution focused brief therapy is strengths-based and future oriented, while still validating the person’s experience (Littrell, 2006). Major tenants of this theory are (a.) change is constant (b.) there is always an exception to the problem (c.) there are many ways of looking at a situation, all equally important (Bannink, 2006/2010). It brings small successes to the child or foster parents awareness, and assists them in becoming solution oriented.

This article will discuss several solutions focused based therapy techniques with examples of their application. Scaling questions, including what identifies and increase or decrease of one point and the application will be discussed. Coping questions, which illuminates the caregivers and foster child’s strengths, will be investigated. The use of language tool statements, such as “You must have had a reason to”, will be explored. The identification of the child’s resources both internal and external will also be examined with examples illustrating the application.

The implementation of solution-focused therapy to increase foster care placement stability has been used in residential therapeutic treatment facilities. In a recent study it was found during the first year of treatment, the youth were counseled using the techniques of Cognitive behavioral therapy. In the second year they were counseled using solution focused brief therapy. It was discovered, the number of disruptions from these youth decreased from mean equaling 6.29 (standard deviation equaling 3.6) to mean equals 1.45 (standard deviation .68), P <001. Statistics show when used with displaced children solution focused brief therapy has the potential to decrease behavioral disruptions (. It is our belief using solution focused brief therapy techniques will increase interpersonal communication skills and problem-solving skills of these youth. It is also our belief that using solution focused brief therapy techniques in conjunction with proven training programs will decrease placement disruption and in turn decrease the negative societal effects of placement disruption.

In this article, we will discuss various emotional health rehabilitation needs of foster children referred to therapeutic foster care. A concise exploration of current evidence-based therapeutic foster parent training models highlighting their strengths and weaknesses will take place. The core tenants of solution focused brief therapy will be explored with the intent purpose of identifying specific interventions for use with this population. Furthermore, examples of the preferred intervention techniques of solution focused brief therapy will be provided. Finally, the strengths and limitations of using solution focused brief therapy with this population will be discussed with suggestions for further research.

I. Socioeconomic ramifications of child maltreatment.

Neglecting the therapeutic foster care populations has a debilitating effect on the economy.

Homelessness (check tense and safe assign)

In studies focused on homelessness in adulthood, placement in foster care in childhood or adolescence frequently emerges as a risk factor. {{57 Fowler,P.J. 2009;}} For example a study conducted by the Casey Institute showed within a two year period shows homelessness for foster alumni exceeded 12.%, which is the rate for a single episode of homelessness amid US adults. One fifth of the adolescents taking part in the study experienced chronic homelessness. {{86 Anonymous ;}}

Homelessness in adolescence and young adulthood has been shown to be associated with elevated risks of a number of negative outcomes. {{57 Fowler,P.J. 2009;}} These services need to begin earlier, to be extended to all eligible children in foster care, and to remain available until former foster care youth have attained stability as young adults (Kushel et al., 2007; Pecora et al., 2006).

Research findings indicate that services need to begin early when a family first arrives at a shelter or the child first enters foster care, particularly since early intervention for young children can reduce the magnitude of trauma and subsequent problems later in life {{80 Dozier M Higley E Albus, K Nutter A. (2002);}} Housing instability was related to emotional and behavioral problems, physical and sexual victimization, criminal conviction, and high school dropout. From this information Fowler concluded adolescents transitioning from foster care are at considerably higher risk of homelessness {{57 Fowler,P.J. 2009;}}

A.1 Maltreatment leading to out of home placement

Sixty four percent of cases involved in the child welfare system are due to parental neglect. Failure to attend to the child’s physical, emotional, or educational needs may cause severe, long term psychological challenges.

Domestic violence in the child’s presence; familial substance use that interferes with parenting abilities, Physical abuse (16%), sexual abuse (9%), and psychological maltreatment (7%) are other reasons children are reported to child welfare.({{72 Leve, L.D. 2009;}}

b. Needs of Those in Therapeutic Foster Care
Characteristics of Those in Foster Care
Social and Academic Health

Children involved in the foster care system are at a higher risk of low academic performance and school failure. Children facing challenges, usually present with psychosocial problems at a substantially increased rate than the general population. These range from impulse control, to Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to conduct disorders which maturate during young adult hood and beyond. Children who fail to develop successful peer relations during school entry are at increased risk for conduct problems, peer rejection, and academic failure throughout childhood and adolescence {{91 Anonymous 2001;24 Egelund, Tine 2009;}} emotional and behavioral problems, exposure to physical and sexual abuse, adolescent pregnancy, incarceration and high school dropout. {{57 Fowler,P.J. 2009;}}

A preponderance of children in the welfare system have been identified as experiencing cognitive delays as evidenced by the Denver Developmental Screening Test II {{91 Anonymous 2001;}}. This is the most widely used psychometric test utilized for this young population. Early behavior problems among children placed in foster care have predicted delinquency, substance use, and sexual behavior 6 years later {{62 Linares,L.O. 2006}}

Medical and Physical health

The gravity and extent of the health care problems facing abused and neglected children are truly alarming.

Specified underlying neurobiological systems are influenced by types of adversity witnessed by children in the system increase risk for negative outcomes. These include common childhood diagnosis are at uncommon levels such as ADHD, disruptive behavior, anxiety, and affective disorders.{{72 Leve,L.D. 2009}}

Studies observed increased shifts in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal HPA Axis, a hormone affected by cortisol imbalances. This hormone controls reactions to stress and has been discovered among children experiencing stress in foster care. Increased atypical diurnal cortisol levels{{74 Pears, K.C. 2008;}} are known to be higher especially among young female children who have experienced biological caregiver neglect {{70 Fisher,P.A. 2007;}}.

Similar to the HPA axis studies, problems with executive functioning are more common in foster children than in the general population {{74 Pears, K.C. 2008;}}. However therapeutic interventions designed for foster children may positively affect the HPA axis activity as it has been noted decreasing stress decreases the levels of cortisol{{70 Fisher,P.A. 2007;}}. (More research needs done) Fisher Suggests interventions which decrease stress levels of younger juveniles in out of home placements may produce increased outcomes on the social cognitive level and increase the functioning of an neurobiological systems.

{{95 Fisher,P.A. 2008;}}{{72 Leve,L.D. 2009}}

d. REHABILITATION NEEDS OF CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE:
EVIDENCE-BASED INTERVENTIONS

Evidence-based interventions were formed and assessed to supervise the psychological and physical welfare of children in foster care. Stress inducing behavior on the part of the parent can cause disruptive behavior in the foster child which leads to early termination from the home. Maladaptive coping skills of the child that haven’t been rectified affect the child’s relationship with their caregiver and over time start to give negative connotations to authority figures. Implementing the interventions has shown a decrease in the need for extraneous mental and physical health care by increasing the probability of attaining placement stability. Interventions must target young people while they are still in foster care, before the age of 17 years, to ensure connection to services such as tuition assistance, employment training, and health insurance. {{57 Fowler,P.J. 2009;}}

Models
MTFC

The MTFC model acknowledges and identifies the affect of emotional hardships on the physical and psychological missing word of the foster care population. It originated in 1983 in response to an Oregon State request for proposals from the juvenile justice system to develop community-based alternatives to incarceration for adolescent placements in residential/group care. (Leve,2009) This model gives an evidence based solution to strengthen the self-esteem of the foster children and teach them resiliency to improve behavioral problems. Additionally, consistent with research on resiliency, the model now incorporates key positive individual and interpersonal relationships, adaptive neurobiological functioning, and adaptive social behavior. (Leve, 2009)

How it works

The MTFC intervention teaches caregivers how to give positive mentoring, improve parental skills and the importance of consistency through training, supervision and the endorsement of a skills coach. MTFC was selected by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (Elliott, 1998) as 1 of 10 evidence-based National Blueprints Programs; was selected as 1 of 9 National Exemplary Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free Schools model programs; was highlighted in 2 U.S. Surgeon General reports (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000a, 2000b) (Leve,2009) These reports recorded government savings, showed improvement of behavior in child, and helped stress level of caregiver. State Public Policy group reported a $32,915 cost savings in 2006 to taxpayers for each (Leve,2009) In order for the intervention to be effective, the foster child needs positive reinforcement, individual and family therapy, along with social skills and academic mentoring.

The team

The skills coach is conditioned to focus on beneficial skills and actions rather than past behaviors or problematic situations. The foster parents and program supervisor work together to carefully monitor youth adjustment in the classroom. (Leve,2009) Classroom observations and evaluations allow the caregiver to evaluate behavioral changes without excessive amounts of external influences in a neutral setting. These caregivers are taught to use the same incentives or point systems employed in the foster home to provide positive feedback and brief, non-emotional consequences for problem behavior. (Leve,2009)The consistency from one environment to another eases the transition process for the foster child. Positive outcomes, including the likelihood of achieving permanency ( this effect is particularly marked for children who have had multiple prior foster placement failures), children’s attachment to caregivers, foster-parent stress levels, older children’s delinquency and antisocial behavior, participation in school and subsequent time incarcerated. (Fisher P.A. 2009)

Racism embodies the ideology or practice via demonstrated power of perceiving the dominance of one group over others by on the grounds of color, race, ethnicity, or cultural heritage, whereby ethnic minorities might be perceived as being biologically (intrinsically) inferior and, thus, practices detailing their domination and exploitation are justified. In many places across the world, racism is manifested at individual, group, or institutional level. Individual racism comprising of overt acts perpetuated by individuals that injure another or their property; institutional racism, which details processes that, deliberately, or not, yield to the prolonged exclusion of a subordinate group and activities and practices that are fashioned to safeguard the advantages of the superior group and/or sustain or broaden the uneven position of a subordinate group. Racism has over the years been institutionalized and sustained via educational, economic, religious, political, social, and cultural policies and activities.

Racism is functional in that it is employed to sustain structural inequalities within the society that are skewed against individuals of color or minority groups. Systematic discrimination against certain members of visibly identifiable racial and ethnic groups has continued to pervade most aspects of people’s lives inclusive of education, politics, economics, religion, social relationships, housing, and employment.

Sources and causes of racism and deeply embedded throughout major aspects of many societies. The sources and causes of racism can be delineated as colonialism whereby the intrinsically racist process of colonialisation availed the basis and continued presence of systematic racism within most societies. Other causes of racism include pervasive ignorance, fear and lack of appreciation of cultural diversity, power and privilege. One of the outstanding impacts of racism in disadvantaging the minorities details the invisibility of the achievement of minorities over the centuries. Since capitalist societies mainly recognize achievements that can be translated into monetary terms, the portrayal of minority groups as criminals or poverty stricken serves to paint them as burdens of history. As a result, racism leads to entrenching of disadvantaged position of ethnic minorities.

Historically, racism has been employed to validate the conquering of ethnic minorities to obtain key resources such as land, strategic military outposts, or forced cheap labour. In most societies diverse racial and ethnic groups possess unequal access to power, prestige, presumed worth, and resources whereby individuals possessing superior power, majority group, develop a system of inequality by controlling the less-powerful groups. The resultant system of inequality is then sustained and perpetuated via social forces.

The impact of racism within the society are widely manifested in poor health and health services, low wages, inadequate access to mental health services, substandard housing, high incidences of school dropouts, high unemployment and under-employment, and reduced access t higher education opportunities, as well as other institution maladies. It is ironical that the lack of jobs, housing, or other resources has led to minority scapegoating whereby ethnic minorities are increasingly becoming a scapegoat for prevalent social problems within the society.

Forms and modern manifestations of racism

In equality in access to critical resources within the society such as health across ethnic groups may not be necessarily reducible to socioeconomic arrangement. Indeed, the relative deprivation encountered by ethnic minorities within the society is highly likely to involve more than mere material disadvantage as ethnic minorities face significant alienation and racial harassment. Research indicates that racial harassment and perceptions of prejudice possess significant impact in disadvantaging ethnic minorities within the society.

Political sphere

In the contemporary society, there is an increase and support gained by political parties and entities that that openly express racist, bigoted, and xenophobic views. This has placed ethnic minorities, who are marginally represented, at a disadvantage mainly through exclusion policies. Minorities are also underrepresented in decision-making and administrative positions and the instituted affirmative programs have only yielded conflict and polarity among the employees.

Employment,

Racism has been widely reported in the arena of employment, which leads to economic depression for members of the oppressed racial and ethnic groups. The experience of majority of ethnic minority within the job market has not been always pleasant or positive with some individuals from minority groups and recent immigrants earning relatively lower pay than their white counterparts despite being sometimes well qualified and highly educated. In some cases, racial discrimination is reported within the workplace centring on an individual’s appearance, denial of career advancement opportunities, and ascription of cultural stereotypes to individuals.

There is a continued absence of employment opportunities for ethnic minorities, although the general agreement cited mainly details lack of skills on the part of the ethnic minorities. Nevertheless, in most cases structural barriers hamper access to the labour market, plus other economic opportunities. Similarly, the unemployment rate for adolescents from ethnic minorities is in many instances disproportionately distributed with higher percentages reported among people from ethnic minorities compared to their white counterparts.

Education

Individuals from minority groups often have lower education attainment. The persistent low levels of educational and occupational outcomes attained by ethnic minorities can be cited, in part, as resulting from structural discrimination within the education sector. This can be regarded as systemic racism and the reluctance education authorities and the government to introduce various cultural models of learning and teaching within the curricula, which in turn leads to a disproportionate access of education. The education system in some societies systematically denies similar access and prospect to children from ethnic minorities, especially where the minorities are poor.

Accommodation

Some minority groups encounter challenges in gaining accommodation whereby minorities (people of different race or color) are expected to reside in separate districts. This represents a microcosm mirroring all the major facets at all levels of society. Ethnic minorities are often denied accommodation based on race manifested in numerous cases where individuals from the ethnic minorities are informed of availability of accommodation, but later informed of non-availability after their race or ethnic background became known. Similarly, individuals from ethnic minorities are sometimes issued with inadequate and inappropriate public housing stock. In many instances, ethnic minorities have minimal choice as to places that they reside and often end up paying higher rent for less adequate housing. It is documented that mortgage and lending institutions within the U.S. have on several occasions perpetuated the illegal practice of redlining mortgages in minority neighborhoods. Studies in this area have unearthed consistent discrimination against ethnic minorities by financial institutions, real estate agencies, and landlords.

Service provision

Individuals from ethnic minorities often face discrimination in the day-to-day provision of goods and services manifested by the lack of services availed by majority of Councils. Social service mainly masks symptoms of larger problems such as racism, illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty. The need for social service stem from economic policies and practices and in many cases, the society puts the blame on minority groups and constantly adjust the individuals to suit the existing societal conditions.

Criminal justice

The pervasive disproportionate high rates of incarceration of individuals from ethnic minorities are frequently cited as mirroring the systemic discrimination within the society. Individuals from ethnic minorities often, especially males, often complain of over-policing. There are numerous claims of individuals from ethnic minorities being searched by security personnel devoid of reasonable justification. The ethnic descriptors employed by the police, politicians, and the media yields “criminalization of ethnic minorities. As a result, Ethnic minorities sometimes are unwilling to report incidences of racist crime to law enforcement authorities in the belief that their report will not be acted upon.

Minority ethnic groups often possess disproportionately high incidences of criminal offending and victimization. This is largely driven by factors such as persistent racial inequality and concentrated poverty that culminate into frustration, which, in turn, heightens delinquency and possible aggression. Ethnic minorities who are racially segregated and who manifest high rates of poverty, family disruption, social isolation, and unemployment experience high levels of crime and violence. High concentrations of poverty and high levels of racial segregation have interacted to create social conditions that disadvantage ethnic minorities.

Healthcare

The core factor influencing health inequality within the UK centres on the social class. A significant section of ethnic minorities are frequently located within the lowest social classes, which renders them vulnerable to diseases of poverty and deprivation. Healthcare systems in societies where racism is rife do not meet the needs of people of ethnic minorities whereby healthcare costs continue to increase while the quality and accessibility of services decrease. Moreover, too many health care facilities tend to be established in places that are inaccessible to low-income urban neighborhoods where most ethnic minorities reside.

Public welfare

The welfare system has in instances been exploited to keep wages low and sustain a pool of people available undertake menial, unskilled jobs. Public welfare services in most instances fail to include services such as educational, child care, family planning, job training, or unemployment insurance services that will contribute to the empowerment of individuals to gain from the economic system. The disregard for individual rights and human dignity, incoherent policies, and contravention of regulations has frequently typified the administration and delivery of public assistance, which, in turn, places minority groups who apply for assistance at a disadvantage.

Conclusion

Racism significantly restrains and minimizes the contributions that ethnic minorities deliver in any society. Racism is pervasive within majority of societies and continues to be silent code that methodically constrains the opportunities for most minority groups. The consequent discrimination and social exclusion of ethnic minorities can yield to a disadvantaged socioeconomic position and poor health of ethnic minorities within the society. Similarly, racism may disadvantage ethnic minorities as a result of the psychological processes that might stem from the direct experience of racism, or perceptions regarding living in a racist society. It is apparent that members of racial and ethnic dominated groups persist to struggle for equal access and opportunity, especially during moments of widespread, unemployment, and inflation.

Introduction

In Singapore, foreign workers are assets to the workforce because they take up low-skilled jobs which Singaporeans are reluctant to do (National Population and Talent Division, 2013, p. 22). However, foreign workers are ill-treated and their issues include underpayment and undesirable dormitory standards (Chia & Zaccheus, 2012). In this essay, besides examining foreign workers’ issues, I will discuss my interest and assumptions about them.

Interest and Assumptions

I am interested in foreign workers because their public and unruly display of resentment in the recent Little India riot suggests an urgent need to address their issues so that such violent behaviours and their consequences could be prevented in the future. Therefore, foreign workers are selected to have their issues examined in this essay.

Naturally, I have two assumptions about foreign workers which are suggested to be true by evidence. The first assumption is most foreign workers belong to the low social class and that is true because their monthly wages ranging from $700 to $1200 (Tan & Mokhtar, 2013, para. 15-16) is lower than the $1500 to $5000 range earned by the middle class in Singapore. The next assumption is foreign workers are isolated in Singapore due to the anti-foreigner sentiment. As International Labour Organisation (2013) has surveyed, nearly 60% of Singaporeans perceived foreign workers as threats to Singapore’s culture instead of valued members in the society. Moreover, the growing anti-foreigner sentiment is shown by the strong protests carried out in 2013 to discourage further intake of foreign workers (Goh & Mokhtar, 2013). Therefore, foreign workers are highly likely to feel isolated due to the escalating anti-foreigner sentiment.

Importance of Addressing the Issues

As mentioned earlier, it is important to address foreign workers’ issues to reduce their resentment and prevent their violent behaviours because these behaviours can lead to severe economic and social consequences as shown in the Little India riot in 2013.

As a result of the riot, livelihood of 134 businesses in Little India was threatened as they experienced 50% reduction in customers (Lim, 2013, para. 2) and some had 90% loss in revenue (Au, 2013, para. 7). Moreover, the riot disrupted social harmony by intensifying the tension between foreign workers and Singaporeans. After the riot, Singaporeans’ criticism towards the foreign workers was so overwhelming that Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth had to step forward to remind Singaporeans to “keep xenophobia and racial remarks out of the conversation” (Heng, 2013, para. 16). Therefore, as such unruly behaviours threaten social harmony and adversely impact the local economy, it is important to avoid them by reducing foreign workers’ resentment through addressing their issues effectively. To do so, we need to first examine foreign workers’ needs using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory.

Foreign Workers’ Needs and Support

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory classifies needs into basic needs like physiological and safety needs, psychological needs like love and esteem needs and higher level needs like cognitive and self-actualisation needs (Maslow, 1987). Based on the theory, the foreign workers’ physiological needs to get sufficient sleep are not met because their overcrowded and unhygienic dormitories affect their quality of sleep (Chia & Zaccheus, 2012, para. 3). Besides, the foreign workers’ safety needs to have the security of jobs are not fulfilled because “65% of injured and salary-claim workers had been threatened by their employers with premature repatriation” (as cited in Kaur, 2014, p. 9). Furthermore, foreign workers’ esteem needs to be respected by others are not met due to xenophobia in the society (Heng, 2013, para. 16).

Currently, various forms of support are available for foreign workers: to address their physiological needs to live in conducive conditions, the scheme of accrediting dormitories was established in 2012 to ensure satisfactory dormitory environments (Grosse & Khamid, 2012); to fulfil their safety needs to have the security of jobs, the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act [EFMA] and the help service by Migrant Workers’ Centre [MWC] are in place to stop unreasonable employment practices (Ministry of Manpower, 2013; Migrant Workers’ Centre, 2014); to meet their love needs to have more friends, National Trades Union Congress [NTUC] organises social activities for foreign workers and its advocacy efforts has led to many revisions in the EFMA to better protect foreign workers (National Trades Union Congress, 2010, para. 2-3). Next, to examine the support for foreign workers, Bronfenbrenner’s ecology system theory will be used.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecology system theory suggests that individuals’ interactions with their communities and the society can be classified into in five environmental systems: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). In the foreign workers’ context, their microsystem consists of the people whom they interact with the most like their colleagues and roommates; their mesosystem consists of the interactions between the microsystems that they are involved in; their exosystem includes service providers like NTUC and MWC which directly impact the microsystems; and their macrosystem includes law and policies like the EFMA and the scheme of accrediting dormitories which are greatly influenced by the government and the society.

After examining, it is clear that the current support mainly addresses the workers’ basic needs and much of the efforts comes from the authorities. Hence, my proposed idea aims to fulfil the workers’ psychological needs by involving the public.

Proposed Idea

“Love Across Distance” is an annual event that requires its volunteers to help foreign workers of different nationalities send their photographs and love messages back home and publish the their life stories on Facebook. The recipients of love messages and the types of stories published each year will vary according to the occasion that the event focuses on; if the event focuses on Valentine’s Day, the foreign workers’ valentines will be the recipients of love messages and the stories published will be their love stories. Because the event focuses on a different occasion each year, as years go by, different aspects of foreign workers’ lives will be shared with Singaporeans online to deepen their understanding of foreign workers.

For example, weeks before Valentine’s Day, the volunteers will find foreign workers and take polaroids of them holding the flowers which symbolise romance in their culture. Then, the foreign workers will write down their love messages which will be mailed together with their polaroids. Next, the volunteers will ask them questions like “How did you meet your valentine?”, “What do you like the most about her?” and “Is there anything you wish to do for her after working in Singapore?” to find out their love stories. Lastly, permission will be gained to publish the stories online and the foreign workers’ privacy will be protected if they prefer not to have their identities revealed online.

The mailing of love messages is to make the foreign workers feel important by involving them in celebrating the joyous occasions. The online sharing of their life stories such as love stories is to arouse Singaporeans’ interest in foreign workers and to increase their awareness that foreign workers are also humans who love and have aspirations for their beloved; hence, they deserve respect and less discrimination. Therefore, this event aims to reduce the barrier between Singaporeans and foreign workers by deepening Singaporeans’ understanding of foreign workers and by diverting their attention from the foreign workers’ unruly behaviours to their hopes and aspirations. This event hopes to reduce stereotypical views towards foreign workers and encourage Singaporeans to create a more inclusive society that makes foreign workers feel at home.

Conclusion

In conclusion, to maintain Singapore’s social and industrial harmony, it is crucial to address the foreign workers’ basic and psychological needs so that their resentments and unruly behaviours could be prevented. Besides, more efforts are needed from Singaporeans to create an inclusive society which makes the foreign workers feel valued regardless of their social status. It is when Singaporeans and foreign workers unite as one, Singapore can progress socially and economically with peace and stability in today’s competitive world.

(1312 words)

References

Au, Y. (2013, December 22). Business in Little India improving slightly, but still slow. The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/little-india- riot/story/business-little-india-improving-slightly-still-slow-20131222

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. United States of America: Harvard University Press.

Chia, Y. M., & Zaccheus, M. (2012, December 10). Hard life, but foreign workers labour on.

AsiaOne. Retrieved from http://news.asiaone.com/print/News/Latest%2BNews/Singap ore/Story/A1Story20121209-388579.html

Goh, C. L., & Mokhtar, M. (2013, February 16). Large turnout at speakers’ corner for protest against Population White Paper. The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.stra itstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/large-turnout-speakers-corner-protest- against-population-white-paper-2

Grosse, S., & Khamid, H. M. A. (2012, December 17). Foreign workers’ dormitories could be accredited. Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ne ws/singapore/foreign-workers-dormitor/530468.html

Heng, J. (2013, December 9). Little India riot: political office-holders urge calm in Facebook posts. The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big- story/little-india-riot/ story/little-india-riot-political-office-holders-urge-calm-faceboo k-

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Tan, A., & Mokhtar, M. (2013, January 5). Low pay may deter foreign workers. The Straits Times. Retrieved from http://news.asiaone.com/print/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapo re/Story/A1Story20130103-393242.html

In his statement to the House of Commons when presenting Lord Laming’s Inquiry Report into the death of Victoria Climbie, on 28 January 2003, the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Milburn, said:

“It is an all too familiar cry. In the past few decades there have been dozens of inquiries into awful cases of child abuse and neglect. Each has called on us to learn the lesson of what went wrong. Indeed, there is a remarkable consistency in both what went wrong and what is advocated to put it right. Lord Laming’s Report goes further. It recognises that the search for a simple solution or a quick fix will not do. It is not just national standards, or proper training, or adequate resources, or local leadership, or new structures that are needed.”

I will give an overview of the inquiry. I will also give an overview of the themes, lack of accountability right through the organizations to the most senior level and staff not adequately trained in child protection. I will analyse and critique these themes in relation to agency policy, legal requirements, research, practitioner knowledge and the voice of the service user. Previous inquiries and there link to this inquiry will be discussed along with have we learned any lessons from this. The failure to implement a legal, ethical and political framework to inform current best practice will be utilized. I will reflect on the implications of evidence informed practice and how this will inform future social work practice.

This paragraph will provide a summary of the events leading to the death of Victoria Climbie, and establish why there was a need for the inquiry. From the report (Lord Laming, 2003) we know that Victoria Climbie came to England with her great-aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao in April 1999. Within a year, she was dead. On 25th February 2000, Victoria died of hyperthermia at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. She was just eight years old and had 128 separate injuries to her body. On 12th January 2001, her great-aunt Kouao and her boyfriend, Carl Manning, were convicted of murder. The level of cruelty experienced by Victoria was truly horrific, with daily beatings using several different implements. Her final days were spent living and sleeping in an unheated bathroom in the middle of winter, where she was bound hand and foot, lying in her own urine and faeces in a bin bag in the bath. The secretary of State set up the independent statutory inquiry into her death, under the Chairmanship of Lord Laming, in April 2001, to establish under section 81 of the Children Act 89 the concerns with the functions of the local authority social services committees and the way they relate to children. The inquiry wanted to examine the way in which local authorities in respect of their social services functions and identify the services sought or required by, or in respect of Victoria, Marie-Therese and Carl.

This section will now aim to analyse and critique the key theme I have identified that emerged from the inquiry report which is lack of accountability right through the organizations to the most senior level and staff not adequately trained in child protection. Lord Laming (2003) points out ‘There were at least 12 key occasions when the relevant services had opportunities to successfully intervene to help Victoria, but had failed to do so.’ Within the Report Lord laming (2003) states ‘That not one of these interventions would have required great skill or made heavy demands on staff, sometimes it needed nothing more than a manager doing their job by asking pertinent questions or taking the trouble to look in a case file.’ He continues to states Lord Laming (2003) ‘There can be no excuse for such sloppy and unprofessional performance.’ As Lord Laming (2003) commented ‘Not one of the agencies empowered by Parliament to protect children in positions such as Victoria’s emerged from the Inquiry with much credit, what happened to Victoria, and her ultimate death, resulted from an inexcusable “gross failure of the system.’ Lord Laming’s (2003) expressed ‘His amazement that nobody in the agencies had the presence of mind to follow what are relatively straightforward procedures on how to respond to a child about whom there is concern of deliberate harm.’

The Inquiry Report (Lord Laming, 2003) highlighted “widespread lack of accountability through the organisations” as the principal reason for the lack of protection afforded to Victoria. Who should be held responsible for these failures? As Webb (2002) states: ‘Lord Laming was clear that it is not the hapless and sometimes inexperienced front-line staff to whom he directs most criticism, but to those in positions of management, including hospital consultants, I think that the performance of people in leadership positions should be judged on how well services are delivered at the front door’. Professor Nigel Parton (2003) points out that ‘Too often in the Inquiry people justify their positions around bureaucratic activities rather than around outcomes for children. Frankly, I would be the very last person to say that good administration is not essential to good practice. Professor Nigel Parton (2003) continues to state that ‘Good administration-and we did not see a lot of it, I have to say-is a means to an end. I cannot imagine in any other walk of life if a senior manager was in charge of an organisation and that organisation was going down the pan-to put it crudely-in terms of sales and performance that someone would say ‘My role is entirely strategic, do not hold me to account for what happens in the organisation’. People who occupy senior positions have to stand or fall by what service is delivered at the front door. The Inquiry Report Lord Laming (2003) highlighted the apparent failure of those in senior positions to understand, or accept, that they were responsible for the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of local services. As Rustin (2010) states Lord Laming pointed to the ‘yawning gap’ in the differing perceptions of the organisation held by front line staff and senior managers. Lord Laming was unequivocal that the failure was the fault of managers whose job it should have been to understand what was happening at their ‘front door.’ As the Report Lord Laming (2003) pointed out, some of those in the most senior positions used the defence “no one ever told me” to distance themselves from responsibility, and to argue that there was nothing they could have done. Rustin (2004) states this was not a view shared by Lord Laming. Rustin (2004) also continues to state that Lord Laming went even further in evidence to us, telling us forcefully that, in his view, accountability of managers was paramount, and that the front line staff were generally doing their utmost. In addition to the fundamental problems of a lack of accountability and managerial control, it was also apparent in the course of the Inquiry Lord Laming (2003) that other failings existed in all aspects of practice. This section will evaluate previous inquiries and how they link to this inquiry and have any lessons been learned from them. As Rustin (2004) states: ‘As with many previous inquiries into child protection failures, Maria Colwell (1973), Jasmine Beckford (1984), Tyra Henry (1984) and Kimberley Carlile (1986) it was clear that the quality of information exchange was often poor, systems were crude and information failed to be passed between hospitals in close proximity to each other. As the Report commented Lord Laming (2003) ‘Information systems that depend on the random passing of slips of paper have no place in modern services’.

The evidence from another report, Maria Colwell, who had died in January of 1973 pointed to similar weaknesses, which were found in Victoria’s report these weaknesses were, lack of accountability and staff not adequately trained (Corby et al, 2001).

Inquiry reports are sources of evidence to inform social work practice and even though they have many weaknesses within them as illustrated. Professor Nigel Parton (2004) points out that ‘In many respects public inquiries have proved to be the key vehicle through which changes in policy and practice have been brought about over the last thirty years in relation to child protection policy and practice in this country.’ Professor Nigel Parton (2004) continues to point out that ‘Rather than public inquiries being ignored, they have been fundamental to the way child protection operates. In this respect, they are as much a part of the problem as they are the solution.’

Have lessons been learned from the many public inquiries over the previous thirty years. It was as if states Professor Nigel Parton (2004) ‘The frontline professionals, and the key organisations and agencies who have responsibility for children and families were quite incapable of learning the lessons and, crucially, putting these into practice in such a way that such horrendous tragedies could be avoided. It is hoped by many, therefore, that the report by Lord Laming, and the changes brought about as a result, will mean that this will be the last report of its type.’

This section will address the other theme I have highlighted adequate training. The question of adequate training and supervision for staff working in all the relevant agencies were also an issue identified in the Inquiry. Professor Nigel Parton (2004) points out that In Haringey, for example, it was observed that the provision of supervision may have looked good on paper but in practice it was woefully inadequate for many of the front line staff. Professor Nigel Barton (2004) also points out that nowhere was this more evident than in the fact that in the final weeks of Victoria’s life a social worker called several times at the flat where she had been living. There was no reply to her knocks and the social worker assumed, quite wrongly, that Victoria and Kouao had moved away, and took no further action. As the Laming Report (Lord Laming, 2003) commented, ‘It was entirely possible that at the time Victoria was in fact lying just a few yards away, in the prison of the bath, desperately hoping someone might find her and come to her rescue before her life ebbed away’.

This section will now look at the failure to implement the legal and political framework within the inquiry report. Lord Laming within the report (Lord Laming 2003) told us that he continued to believe that the Children Act 1989 was “basically sound legislation”. His recommendations do not argue for a major new legislative framework. However, Lord Laming (2003) states he did not believe that the Act was being implemented in the way that had been envisaged for it, and, in his view, there was “a yawning gap at the present time between the aspirations and expectations of Parliament and the certainty of what is delivered at the front door”. Rustin (2004) states ‘In the absence of adequate managerial accountability, front line workers were obliged to make crucial strategic decisions, for example about the use of the Children Act, and between using sections 17 and 47 (relating respectively to a child in need, and a child in need of protection)’. The sections of the Act had been developed with the intention of as pointed out by Rustin (2004) ‘Of recognising the different needs of children’. How the sections were being applied on the ground however as stated by Lord Laming (2003) is ‘Quite different, far from employing the section of the Act that would best meet the needs of the particular child and their circumstances, what they were actually doing was using these sections to restrict access to services and to limit the availability of services to people’. The Children Act, Lord Laming (2003) argued to us ‘Should be about promoting the well-being of children, not about putting labels around people’s neck’. Lord Laming (2003) went on to suggest that ‘Front line workers were being forced into making decisions that should properly have rested with management and policy decisions’. This raised major questions about the role of public services and the basic principles that should underpin them, as (Lord Laming 2003) stated ‘We need to stand back and say that we need to discover the basic principle that the public services are there to serve the public, not just some of the public and not just some people who can get through eligibility criteria, or who are sufficiently persistent’. Therefore services must be more accessible and they must be more in tune with their local communities. If, as Lord Laming believes Kirton (2009, p.17) states ‘The Victoria Climbie case was not unique, but highlighted widespread and major deficiencies in the implementation of the Children Act, this raises issues that Government should address.’ I believe that the Children Act 1989 remains essentially sound legislation. However, there is concern as pointed out by Professor Nigel Parton (2004) ‘That the provisions of the Act which sought to ensure an appropriate response to the differing needs of children are being applied inappropriately, used as a means of rationing access to services, and have led to section 17 cases being regarded as having low priority.’ The Laming Inquiry (Lord Laming 2003) recommended that consideration should be given to unifying the Working Together guidance and the National Assessment Framework guidance into a single document, setting out clearly how the sections of the Act should be applied, and giving clear direction on action to be taken under sections 17 and 47.

Within this section I will discuss the ethical framework. It is important to include the issues of social class and gender, which were not evident in the Victoria Climbie inquiry. However, it is issues around ethnicity and race that are more evident. However, the diversity referred to is incredibly complex. This is illustrated at various points states Webb (2002) For example: ‘At the time Victoria’s case was handled in Brent, all the duty social workers had received their training abroad and were on temporary contracts. (In Brent) at least 50 per cent of social workers time was spent working on cases of unaccompanied minors.’ As Webb (2002) states ‘There was evidence that Haringey has one of the most diverse populations in the country, with 160 different languages spoken locally, a long tradition of travellers settling in the borough and a high proportion of asylum-seeking families (9 percent of the total population).’

Within the report Lord Laming (2003) points out that ‘In relation to all the London boroughs involved there were high levels of poverty and deprivation, diverse ethnic, cultural, linguistic backgrounds, as well as the diverse backgrounds of the workers themselves.’ In many respects, it seems Victoria’s situation was not unique in these respective boroughs. Webb (2002) indicated ‘The impact of increased global mobility, more specifically the rapid increase in asylum-seeking families, together with the diverse backgrounds of the workers themselves increasingly seems to characterise work in many metropolitan areas.’ This has a particular impact states Webb (2002) ‘On the nature, stability and cohesion of local communities.’ It is worth noting that, compared to the Maria Colwell case, no referrals are noted in the Victoria Climbie case from neighbours or other members of the community apart from the ‘child minder’ Mrs Cameron. We are not simply talking about diversity here but incredible complexity. Kirton (2009) argues that ‘Not only does it pose major linguistic challenges but also it poses major challenges for statutory departments in relation to the familial and cultural identities of those with whom they work and to whom they have responsibility.’ Issues around racism are clearly important here, however they cannot be reduced to a simple black and white community and cultural divide.

This section will reflect on the implications of evidence-informed practice (EIP) and the usefulness of the inquiry to inform the development of future social work practice. Often, in hindsight, those who put people at risk are blamed for the misfortune and harm they cause. (Kirton, 2009) This is arguably the most signi¬?cant professional context in which EIP has emerged. According to Munro (1998) ‘Social workers rely on vague assessments and predictions, rather than considering what is more or less probable. In everyday life decisions have to be made on a limited evidence base and professional decisions are also at best problematic’. There are numerous unexpected and complex outcomes in social work, many of which rest on having to make judgments under conditions of uncertainty. (Kirton, 2009) The main problems associated with making effective decisions in social work as stated by Kirton (2009) include: risk and uncertainty, intangibles, long-term implications, interdisciplinary input and the politics of different vested interests pooled decision making and value judgments. Decision analysis has developed as a statistical technique to help overcome these kinds of problems. Decision analysis is closely related to risk assessment and actuarial practices. Evidence-informed practice and policy are self-explanatory. They involve the adoption of evidence-based protocols and use local standards for conducting social work practice and developing organizationally speci¬?c policies. (Webb, 2002) It has been suggested that evidence-informed protocols feed directly into the practitioner context to provide guidelines for carrying out EIP. Essentially evidence-informed practice and policy in social work will entail the explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the social care of service users. This de¬?nition is widely used and derived from Sackett et al.’s ‘Evidence-based Medicine’ (1996). A pragmatic approach as stated by Sackett (1996) ‘Has been adopted here, which regards the practice of evidence as integrating practitioner expertise with the best available external evidence from systematic but multiple research methods.’ The implementation model outlined is the idea that the practice-based process begins with the evidence rather than the individual or groups of clients.

Clearly the application of evidence-informed practice and policies will be governed by the economic scope of social work agencies in terms of resources and the development of an evidence-informed infrastructure. (Kirton, 2009) Sackett (1996) points out that ‘At a local level it will also be dependent on incremental learning and accumulative professional development which are likely to be facilitated by the practice research networks and evidence-based brie¬?ngs discussed above.’

In this essay I have analysed and critiqued two key themes from the inquiry, lack of accountability right through the organizations to the most senior level and staff not, adequately trained in child protection. I have also analysed and critique these themes in relation to agency policy, legal requirements, research, practitioner knowledge and the voice of the service user. I have linked previous inquiries and discussed have we learned any lessons from these inquiries. I identified the failure to implement a legal, ethical and political framework to inform current best practice will. I also reflected on the implications of evidence informed practice and how this will inform future social work practice.

A closing quote to finish from the Secretary of State, Alan Milburn (2003)

“It has felt as if Victoria has attended every step of this inquiry, and it has been my good fortune to have had the assistance of colleagues whose abilities have been matched by their commitment to the task of doing justice to Victoria’s memory and her enduring spirit, and to creating something positive from her suffering and ultimate death.”