Category: Free Essays

Suzanna Pickering

Social Workers are increasingly referring to theories of the life cycle, life span development and human behaviours these theories indicate the relationship of particular biological ages of life to psychological, social and development changes.

From a theoretical perspective key theories of human growth and development will be discussed focusing on infants, highlighting the importance of professionals observing a child and making a judgment on their development and needs. Therefore, the theories will be applied to social work, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of taking a life span perspective, taking into account gender, culture and individuality. Attachment and the different theories associated with attachment will enable us to understand people in a more thorough manner and in particular the circumstances that service users may be faced with considering diversity, their individual cultural needs and beliefs. Whilst staying within the boundaries, values and Ethics set down by the GSCC.

It is widely accepted that parent and child relationship plays a central role in the psychological development. (Pg1 Attachment and Development) Goldburg, S. (2000) Attachment and Development, London: Arnold.

The term development refers to the process by which a child, or more generally an organism (human or animal) grows and changes through its lifespan. In humans the most dramatic developmental changes occur in infancy and childhood, as the newborn develops into a young adult capable of becoming a parent himself or herself. From its origins much of developmental psychology has thus been concerned with child psychology, and with the changes from infancy through to adolescence. Smith, P.K. and Cowie, H. (1996) Understanding Children’s Development (2nd ed.), Oxford: Blackwell.

The term ‘attachment’ is described in ‘Collins Dictionary of Social Work’ (Thomas, M. and Pierson, J. (1995), London: Harper Collins) as “a long lasting emotional bond between two individuals, involving their seeking proximity to each other and having pleasure in each other’s company. Typically attachment is developed by infants towards their principal care-givers, but it may also characterize feelings between other people, or between a person and some object.” Attachment is a strong emotional bond that develops between infant and caregiver, providing the infant with emotional security. By the second half of the first year, infants are said to become attached to familiar people who have responded to their need for physical care and stimulation. (Bowlby, J 1998) How these attachments develop and whether attachment theory provides a sound basis for advice on how to raise children have been intense topics of theoretical debate. Attachment refers to the interactive reciprocal relationship that infants and young children experience and develop with their primary caregiver(Bowlby, 1982).

Many times this caregiver is the infant’s biological mother. In recent times the population of working mothers has increased dramatically. Due to this demographic change, the primary caregiver for a child is sometimes the biological father and other relatives such as aunts, uncles, grandparents, older siblings, nannies or day care providers.There are also Children in our country who for various reasons find themselves in the care of foster or adoptive parents.

Following birth is a rapid area of learning for the child. A new born baby can see approximately 20 cm and follow a moving object, smell, hear and recognise voices. Checks are preformed on the newborn to ensure nothing obvious is wrong, these checks include Reflexes, Moro response (toes curling), Babinski (grasps fingers and hangs), ensuring that infant is rooting for the breast, sucking & swallowing, step and stepping. The new born is totally reliant on the caregiver as it is not equipped to survive without it. The caregiver provides food, warmth and protection, for example when a baby cries it is for a reason this is a form of communication. Babies know that when they cry somebody will come and will ensure to satisfy the babies needs. Chronologically, this is the period of infancy through the first one or two years of life. The child, well-handled, nurtured and loved, develops trust and security and a basic optimism. Badly handled, he becomes insecure and mistrustful.(Erikson E Trust Vs Mistrust 8 Stages of Development) cited Child Development Information (2009)

Children develop and grow from the moment they are conceived until early adulthood, showing many changes within their abilities. Whilst no two children will develop at exactly the same time, as Social Workers we use benchmarks to observe behaviours and development.

Understanding the stage and process of development can help a Social Worker identify the achievement of developmental milestones such as a Childs first step or first words and to acknowledge the child is developing normally within the benchmarks we work. Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory that forms relationships. One important principle of attachment theory is that a young child needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. The theory was formulated by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby. The area of the infant is considered by Bowlby as sensitivity period.

Within attachment theory, infant behaviour associated with attachment is primarily the seeking of familiarity of an attachment figure in stressful situations. Infants become attached to adults who are sensitive and responsive to their needs and who remain as consistent caregivers for some months during the period from about six months to two years of age.

During the latter part of this period, children begin to use attachment figures as a secure base to explore from and return to with the knowledge that a parent will be where they left them in the case of a secure attachment. Separation anxiety or grief following the loss of an attachment figure is considered to be a normal and adaptive response for an attached infant. The child will show a clear preference for the primary caregiver on their return; this will help guide the individual’s feelings, thoughts and expectations in later relationships.

Attachment theorists point to data that favour the caregiver responsiveness hypothesis. For example, it has been found that an infant’s crying changes over the first year much more than the mother’s responsiveness to the crying does.

Moreover, the mother’s responsiveness over a 3-month period predicts the infants over the 3 months significantly better than the infants crying predicts the mother’s subsequent responsiveness to crying. In short, the mother appears to influence the infants crying more than the infant influences the mother’s responsiveness to crying (Bell & Ainsworth, 1972). As a social worker we need to gain an understanding of the ‘whole’ child, their development and their life course. It is important to take a range of theories and perspectives into account that support us in understanding childrens growth and development and individual experience, the role and the impact of their families and the influence of processes and systems in their lives. Through this you should be able to see beyond the description of the child, to give meaning to their lives and experiences. Thus we are recognising the child as an individual.

We need to acknowledge there are children with unique and specific needs that may impact on their individual development and behaviour, certainly on their experiences and how others view and respond to them, a good example would be the experience and views of a child with a disability. Pg 31 SW & humanA deve.

We need to recognise that communities raise children in diverse ways with each culture encouraging the kinds of habits and traits that help them to integrate and function within that culture, (pg 33 Social work and human development) however we need to be mindful of the laws and human rights that we have within the United Kingdom whilst being aware of cultural diversities and preferences.

Recognising the importance of culture within the child’s development is important for a number of reasons. Firstly we need to identify those aspects of development that impact on all children ,not just through theories and studies based on white, middle class children living with a western culture. Secondly we need to have an understanding of the child’s family culture and how that impacts on the child; we need to understand the impact of cultural beliefs as part of that environment. We need to consider how different cultural beliefs impact on how people experience their lives.

Attachment process for the parents seems to begin with the development of an initial emotional bond and then extends to more and more skilful attachment behaviours. For the infant, the process is said to begin with attachment behaviours and then progresses to the full characteristics of attachment somewhat later (Atkinson et al 2000).

Sigmund Freud however, also offered a view on the area of attachment and his view was later known as the “The Cupboard Theory”. This theory stated that the absence of the mother would frighten the baby into believing that it would not be nourished. This theory offered by Freud has received a great deal of criticism on the basis that there is no evidence to suggest that the infant associates the mother entirely with nourishment. Bowlby’s view supplemented these criticisms as he believed that babies have inborn tendencies towards the mother and are not attached by food or warmth.

Another key development which was argued disproved Freud’s theory and offered support towards the view of Bowlby was an experiment which was conducted by Harlow and Harlow in 1977. This experiment consisted of Rhesus monkeys been raised without their mothers. The Monkeys were housed is isolated cages with a model mother either made from wire or terry-towel cloth. The terry-towel cloth had no provision in which to feed the monkeys whereas the wire mother figure did in the form of milk yielding nipples. The study concluded that every time the monkeys were frightened they would seek support and comfort from the ‘warm’ non-food providing terry-towel cloth model as opposed to the ‘cold’ food providing wire model. These findings clearly disputed the view of Freud’s ‘Cupboard theory’. And it indicated, as Bowlby would argue, that a mother’s love is not for nourishing but for comforting and children, like the rhesus monkeys, use teddy bears for comfort if they feel in anyway threatened (Gleightman, H. et al 1999).A

Later criticisms of attachment theory relate to temperament, the complexity of social relationships, and the limitations of discrete patterns for classifications. Attachment theory has been significantly modified as a result of empirical research, but the concepts have become generally accepted, although we are no longer working with just a Euro centric base, we use these theories as a benchmark within Social Work taking into account individual cultures and beliefs.

Another disadvantage for a child is having a good attachment with a poor parent; this could cause lack of trust, mistrust and the child then as having to care for themselves and possibly siblings.

Although criticisms have been made of the ‘Theory of Attachment’ and certain aspects of the work of Bowlby, Ainsworth etc I feel that the theory of attachment has developed immensely through their work. It can certainly be argued that their work will and will continue to contributed to our understanding of how parent and child attachments develop and I feel that their work provides us with reasoning as to why children may develop in different ways. Although there are criticisms which exist of the theories, I feel that it can be clearly argued that they give us a solid information base as to why attachment is important in the development of infants and children.

The overall consensus surrounding attachment and the associated debates have in past suffered criticism from feminist groups too. For example, criticisms surrounding Bowlby’s work have been made highlighting that he maintains that the mother should be the main carer of the infant and that her continuous care should be present while the child is growing and developing (Gross, R. 1999). This has been argued to be sexist as the implication is that the mother will not work and will automatically undertake child rearing roles. It can be argued once again that this presumption is not only sexist but as highlighted previously, culturally unethical too. One major argument which has been offered by Gross R. in 1999 to support the feminist view is that a stable network of adults offers adequate care and in some cases can have advantages over a system where the mother has the meet all the infants needs (Gross, R. 1999).

A requirement for Social Work Training is to “ensure that the teaching of theoretical knowledge, skills and values is based on [students’] application to practice” (NHS, 2002 p.3). In response to the death of baby Peter, the Social Work Taskforce published fifteen recommendations including social work degrees requiring a “greater focus on linking theory to practice” (DCSF, 2009 p.18). This increased emphasis between theory and practice, will be considered in this essay, by discussing if theories of human growth and development obstruct or assist social workers practice.

It is important to recognise that there are a vast amount of human growth and development theories, which cover the life span, although one assumption is that they only relate to childhood. This essay, in considering how theories obstruct or assist practice, will draw on those relating to working with older people. To clarify, this essay will use the word ‘theory’ to mean both ‘grand theories’ (those borrowed from other disciplines such as psychology, sociology etc) and ‘middle range theories’ (those which combine the grand theories with practice experience) (Wilson et al, 2008 pp.106-107).

The history of social work is helpful in understanding how theory became relevant for practice. The nineteenth century industrial revolution impacted on the community structures, which led to concerns over social unrest and disorder. These concerns influenced the growth of the social sciences with the idea being to understand and change society. Howe states, “as new theories and explanations of human behaviour were generated by psychologists, so new social work theories and practices arose” (Howe, 2009 p.17).

The Charity Organisation Society (COS), founded in 1869, embraced the psychological theories in their charitable work. COS initially resisted any formal education for charity workers preferring supervision in the job. However, worries over the standard of staff and the impact of the job on them, together with the desire to be recognised as professionals in the social field initiated them to set up “formal social work education” (Howe, 2009; Payne, 2005b; Jones, 1996 p.191). The value of teaching human growth and development theories to social work students is still recognised today in university courses. Teaching on theory is included in the education as it is seen to legitimise social work, giving the social worker assurance, significance and understanding in their work “without any taint of meddling” (Jones, 1996 p.193). The use of theory helps the practitioner to feel that their views are knowledgeable and grounded (Milner and O’Byrne, 2002). Secker’s research on social workers students found that those who had a comprehensible understanding of theory were more likely to be approachable and responsive with their service users, sharing their theoretical suggestions with the person (Howe, 2009; Payne, 2005a).

Alongside this, is the professionalism a theoretical knowledge gives to social work (Howe, 2009). Thompson (2010) argues that other professionals and service users will be more confident in a social worker who is able to demonstrate that their work is based on a theoretical framework, thus showing skills to comprehend and make sense of the service users situation, rather than one who conjectures. Walker states, “it is important that social workers have an understanding of human development to work effectively with other disciplines and to demonstrate a professional literacy commensurate with their status” (2010, pp.xiv-xv). An example of this is a social worker working within a Community Mental Health Team alongside Psychiatrists and Community Psychiatric Nurses who advocate the medical model and “its emphasis on diagnostics and cures’ (Parrish, 2010 p.10). Working in this setting does not mean that the social worker needs to ignore a psychosocial perspective. To advocate for service users effectively, the social worker needs to understand both the medical and psychosocial perspectives, as Parrish states it “necessitate[s] the professional equivalent of being ‘bilingual’ in being able to understand both perspectives simultaneously” (Parrish, 2010 p.10).

In 1992, Hindmarsh’s research on social work graduates, showed that an understanding of theory did provide the graduates with confidence. However, Hindmarsh argued that this confidence did not continue in practice as graduates viewed the use of theory as just a tool to justify their actions or provide accountability to their management (Payne, 2005a). Thompson argues that the professionalism of the social worker is being impacted on by what he describes as ‘managerialism’ (2010, p.51). Thompson explains that government’s budgeting tactics through ‘performance indicators’ is pushing local government to meet targets. This is filtered down the management structure, so that middle managers are dictating what is required and should be implemented by social workers, in order to achieve the targets. Although social workers are dedicated to the use of theory in their practice, managerialism has led to them lacking ‘professional confidence’ (2010 p.51).

It is argued that theory is too complicated and restricts spontaneity, therefore it is pointless for practice. Instead a more realistic model of using facts about the person, an understanding of the law and practical skills (‘common sense’) is more effective for social work practice (Parrish, 2010; Walker and Crawford, 2010). This view has been strongly argued against, as Coulshed states, “theoryless practice does not exist; we cannot avoid looking for explanations to guide our actions, while research has shown that those agencies which profess not to use theory offer a non problem solving, woolly and directionless service” (1991, p.8). Some theories become so familiar and accepted that they become incorporated into everyday life and language, for example, Anna Freud’s defence mechanisms and Daniel Levinson’s mid-life crisis. By the fact that these theories become so socially accepted and embedded into everyday language (described as ‘informal theory’), it is difficult for a social worker to avoid using it in their practice. Thompson argues, “some sort of conceptual framework (and therefore theory) is therefore inevitable” (2010, p.7).

Our own life experience does not provide us with sufficient knowledge to be able to help others. It can cause us to filter assessments through our own experience, which may be prejudicial but we could be unaware of this. An advantage of having a theoretical understanding of human growth and development is that it gives us a broader view than our individual life experience and balances decision-making (Walker and Crawford, 2010).

Research has shown that social workers have found it difficult or are unaware of how they apply theory to practice (Tanner and Harris, 2008; Smid and Van Krieken, 1984). Therefore, work is a routine ‘procedure’ for social workers if they do not have an understanding of theory (Parton, 1996, p.92). Social worker education is blamed for this difficulty with universities either being too theoretical, or too practical, whichever emphasis taken, it results in making theory and practice appear as separate entities (Smid and Van Krieken, 1984).

The different theoretical approaches to human growth and development can appear confusing to the social worker, as each stress different areas as a reason for the person’s situation. An illustration of this is the process of ‘ageing’: a biological perspective is to focus on the physical impact of a person growing older; a psychological view however, will focus on the deterioration of cognitive functioning; and finally a sociological perception will look at the social structures and the older person’s place in that structure. As Hughes states, “The images created by the various theoretical perspectives – biological, psychological, sociological, political-economic – are intrinsically different and create quite distinct pictures of the experience and social condition of older people” (Hughes, 1995 p.18). Although each approach emphasises different areas, they all potentially provide something helpful and ‘equally true’ (Milner and O’Byrne, 2002 p.81). With each approach providing something useful in understanding the person’s situation the social worker needs to support the service user in finding which one with be most helpful to use (Milner and O’Byrne, 2002). However, rather than seeing this confusion as a hindrance to social work practice, this is what is central to social work. It is what gives it its value and importance “because it specialises in situations where there are no known solutions” (Statham and Kearney cited in Howe, 2009 p.190). It is the ability of the social worker to draw together the various theoretical perspectives in order to prepare a realistic and balanced care plan.

There are development theories that are in direct conflict and/or dismiss each other such as ‘Disengagement’ and ‘Activity’ theories (Hughes, 1995; Howe, 2009). Disengagement Theory proposes that as someone ages they naturally disengage from certain social roles and functions, which “ensures continuity of the system and equilibrium between different social groups” (Hughes, 1995 pp.25-26). Disengagement was viewed as fulfilling for the older person and providing well-being, as it freed them from certain roles and functions that they no longer were able to fulfill, such as retiring from work, thereby, helping people to age well (Hughes, 1995; Bond et al, 2007). Activity theory completely opposes this idea and proposes that remaining actively involved in the community, both physically and mentally, provided well-being and satisfaction for the person (Walker and Crawford, 2010). Both theories provide definite explanation for the difficulties in getting old.

The activity / disengagement debate has led to a number of further theories either trying to resolve the conflict, such as Gubrium’s socio-environmental approach, or challenge one theory to support the other, such as Cowgill’s modernisation approach (Lynott and Lynott, 1996). The practitioner’s dilemma is similar, should they align themselves with one or disregard both theories.

A danger for the social worker is that s/he uses theory as a way to discover ‘the truth’ or ultimate solution for the person (Thompson, 2010, pp.11-12). Lee argues against this, “theoretical statements are the general principles that give rise to hypotheses, or speculative facts” (1985, p.22). No person or situation is exactly the same which means neither can there be a universal solution or theory to fit all (Lees and Lees, 1975). A postmodern view is that truth cannot be found in one solitary theory, instead a plethora of truths for a particular situation can be found in using multiple theories (Milner and O’Byrne, 2002). As Pease and Fook cited in Howe state, “There are many perspectives and voices and it is now recognised that they all need to be heard if the complex nature of ‘truth’ is to be established” (2009, p.191).

Walker (2010) argues that a person’s growth and development cannot be clarified by one theory. Parrish takes this further by stating that if a social worker’s practice were based on one theory it would “prove woefully inadequate” (2010, p.6). An alignment to one specific theoretical viewpoint can be dangerous, as the social worker is unable to recognise important issues that do not correspond with that particular viewpoint. For example Erikson’s ‘eight stages of development’ although helpful in understanding age related activities, has been criticised for its male, patriarchal stance in lacking awareness of other factors that can impact on development, such as gender, race, social class etc. (Thompson, 2010; Parrish, 2010). This highlights the value of recognising and critically analysing a number of theories in a situation, rather than believing one is more superior to another. As Thompson illustrates, “the reflective practitioner being a tailor cutting the cloth of the knowledge base to produce a closely tailored solution to the practice challenges being faced, rather than looking for a ready-made, off-the-peg solution (2010, p.16).

A social worker may consider amalgamating a number of theories so to provide one combined theory, which Payne describes as ‘eclecticism’ (Thompson, 2010 and Payne, 2005a p.31). Eclecticism has been criticised as an inexperienced way to use theory (Payne, 2005a). Instead the current view is to take a critical, reflective approach, using the person’s history, behaviour and circumstances. Theories should be considered and weighed up as to their usefulness for each person (Adams et al, 2009; Thompson, 2010). “Using a range of theories allows a multi-dimensional understanding of situations … to develop and enables the limitations of one perspective to be offset by the advantages of another” (Tanner and Harris, 2008 p.37).

By taking a critical and reflective approach to theory and practice this can help the social worker make sense of the differences and disagreements between the various human growth and development theories (Payne, 2005a). A critical and reflective approach, allows the social worker to value and accept the variety of theories applicable for a particular situation (Adams, 2009). As Fook argues, “critical and postmodern practice therefore involves a recognition of different ways of knowing, in particular a reflexive ability to engage with changing situations” (2002, p.44).

According to Thompson (2010), the main significant purpose for applying theory to practice is that it defines our practice. Misca states, “knowledge of human growth and development plays an essential part in assessing, planning and intervening in a successful, positive way in people’s lives” (2009 p.116). Fook describes using theories, “as our intellectual tools, rather than as rule books” as they assist and direct practice (2002, p.69; Walker and Crawford, 2010). This means that a theoretical knowledge can provide a practitioner with the understanding and explanation of a person’s behaviour and situation. Consideration of Bowlby’s Attachment theory with aging and dementia will be used to illustrate this. Bowlby stated that typically within the first 9 months of a person’s life, they develop an attachment to their ‘primary caregiver’. Ainsworth, working alongside Bowlby, extended attachment theory. Through the ‘Strange Situation’ trials, she proposed three types of attachment behaviours: Anxious/Avoidant, Anxious/Resistant and Securely Attached (Parrish, 2010). Although Bowlby did not carry out any studies on older people, he did argue that, “attachment behaviour continues to play a necessary role into adulthood” (Browne and Shlosberg, 2006 p.135).

It has only been since the late 20th century, that Bowlby’s attachment theory has been applied throughout the human lifespan and in particular to dementia (Bond et al, 2007). Bowlby suggested that when adults are unwell or under stress then attachment behaviour is likely (Browne and Shlosberg, 2006). Miesen, an advocator for attachment theory, researched the general behaviours of people with dementia. He likened a demented state of ‘crying, clinging and calling’ as being in Ainsworth’s strange situation (Bond et al, 2007). Miesen researched ‘parent fixation’ which is when a person with dementia believes that his/her deceased parent is still alive. His study concluded that dementia triggers attachment behaviours (Browne and Shlosberg, 2006). De Vries and McChrystal state, “Bowlby’s attachment theory has provided a conceptual and empirical framework for examining some behaviours of people with dementia and provided a means of interpreting them in terms of responses to loss” (2010, p288).

A theoretical knowledge also provides solutions for approaches of intervention, to assist the service user and enables the practitioner to anticipate future issues (Parrish, 2010). Continuing to use the above example, two new ways of working within an attachment theory framework have recently been developed to assist working with people with dementia: simulated presence therapy (SPT) and ‘doll therapy’ (Browne and Shlosberg, 2006).

The difficulty for the social worker is that separate theories can lead to different approaches to practice, so that the social worker has to choose which is the right one (Walker and Crawford, 2010). Milner and O’Bryne (2002) argue that the theory, which provides the greatest insight and leads to an approach that meets the service user’s objectives, is the one to use. The problem with this is who decides which is the theory that gives the greatest insight, is it the social worker or managerial/government decision. If it is the latter then it disempowers the social worker. However, if it is the former it is dependent on the knowledge base of the social worker.

Beckett and Taylor explain, “Fortunately or unfortunately, no theory about human life can ever be completely objective or value free” (2010 p.4). Human growth and development theories have been criticised for reflecting the dominant beliefs of the theorist’s society. As Thompson states, “Theorising is by no means a ‘pure’ activity, detached from the reality of the social and political world” (1995, p.32). For example, Erikson, Levinson and Havighurst’s theories on adult stages of development have all been criticised

This essay has noted some theories of human growth and development in aging. However, it is also important for a Social Worker in his/her practice to acknowledge that service users will have their own ideas to explain their circumstances and behaviour. As Gubrium and Wallace explain, “We find that theory is not something exclusively engaged in by scientists. Rather, there seem to be two existing worlds of theory in human experience, one engaged by those who live the experiences under consideration, and one organised by those who make it their professional business systematically to examine experience” (cited in Tanner and Harris, 2008 p.36). Erickson emphasised the need to look at a person as an ‘individual’ and therefore, a social worker in his/her practice needs to take this into consideration, rather than trying to get a theory to fit the person’s situation (Milner and O’Byrne, 2002). It is important for the social worker to be aware of anti-oppressive practice in considering a theoretical framework by not taking into account the service user’s views. S/he needs to be aware of his/her professional power and also the need to empower the service user in making decisions and changes (McDonald, 2010; Thompson, 2010).

As shown, having a theoretical understanding of human growth and development can assist social work practice by legitimising the work done, giving the social worker confidence and providing a framework for the work. However, it is not the theoretical understanding itself that hinders practice but instead the application of the theory. Theory in practice is hindered by managerialism, the danger of anti-oppressive practice and limitations of social workers knowledge and experience .

The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well being (International Federation of Social Workers). Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environment. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work.

In doing their day-to-day work, a social worker is expected to be knowledgeable and skilful in a variety of roles. The role that is selected and used should ideally be the role that is most effective with a particular client, in the particular circumstances.

Social worker may be involved in a few or all of these roles depending on the nature of their job, and the approach to practice that they use.

The purpose of this essay is to identify the establishment, growth and development of social work in Britain, from its origins in the nineteenth century to its position in the twenty-first century.

The Elizabethan Poor Law or Old Poor Law was an Act of Parliament passed in 1601, which created a national poor law system for England and Wales. At the time of passing it was referred to as the 1601 Act for the Relief of the Poor. It formalised earlier practices of poor relief distribution in England and Wales and is generally considered a refinement. Johnson (2007) explains that The Old Poor Law was not one law but a collection of laws passed between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The system’s administrative unit was the parish. It was not a centralised government policy but a law, which made individual parishes responsible for Poor Law legislation.

The impotent poor (people who can’t work) were to be cared for in almshouse or a poorhouse. The law offered relief to people who were unable to work: mainly those who were “lame, impotent, old, blind” The able-bodied poor were to be set to work in a House of Industry. Materials were to be provided for the poor to be set to work. The idle poor and vagrants were to be sent to a House of Correction or even prison. Pauper children would become apprentices.

The act was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Lord Melbourne that reformed the country’s poverty relief system. It was an Amendment Act that completely replaced earlier legislation based on the Poor Law of 1601. The Bill established a Poor Law Commission. This included the forming together of small parishes into Poor Law Unions and the building of workhouses in each union for the giving of poor relief. The Amendment Act did not ban all forms of outdoor relief, which was support without going into workhouses until the 1840s where the only method of relief for the poor was to enter a Workhouse. According to Barwell (1994) the workhouses were to be made little more than prisons and families were normally separated upon entering a Workhouse. The Act called for parishes to be put into Poor Law Unions so that relief could be provided more easily. Each union was to establish a workhouse, which met the principle of less eligibility.

In 19th-century England there was a range of occupations and voluntary positions, which had been established as part of the new Poor Law (1834), The Charity Organisation Society (COS), as well as by religious and voluntary societies. Relieving officers had responsibilities in relation to outdoor relief, which was assistance, in the form of money, food, clothing or goods, given to the poor without the requirement to enter an institution such as workhouses. This was an alternative to indoor relief, which required people to enter the workhouse (Rose, 1971). The COS supported the principles of the new Poor Law (1834), who’s aim was to co ordinate the work of charitable giving for the deserving poor.

The 1906 – 1914 Liberal Reforms were acts passed by the Whig government of Lord Melbourne that reformed the country’s poverty relief system. It was an Amendment Act that completely replaced earlier legislation based on the Poor Law of 1601.

The Bill established a Poor Law Commission. This included the forming together of small parishes into Poor Law Unions and the building of workhouses in each union for the giving of poor relief. The Amendment Act did not ban all forms of outdoor relief, which was support without going into workhouses until the 1840s where the only method of relief for the poor was to enter a Workhouse. The Workhouses were to be made little more than prisons and families were normally separated upon entering a Workhouse. The Act called for parishes to be put into Poor Law Unions so that relief could be provided more easily. Each union was to establish a workhouse, which met the principle of less eligibility.

The 1942 Beveridge Report was a government commissioned report into the ways that Britain should be rebuilt after World War Two; Beveridge was an obvious choice to take charge, Woodward (2009). He published his report in 1942 and recommended that the government should find ways of fighting the five ‘Giant Evils’ of ‘Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness’. The Beveridge Report of 1942 proposed a system of National Insurance, based on three ‘assumptions’: family allowances, a National Health Service, and full employment.

The 1944 Butler Education Act changed the education system for secondary schools in England and Wales. This Act was named after the Conservative politician R.A. Butler who introduced the Tripartite System of secondary education and made secondary education free for all pupils. The tripartite system consisted of three different types of secondary school, secondary technical schools and secondary modern schools.

The original structure of the NHS (1946) in England and Wales had three aspects, known as the tripartite system. Fourteen Regional Hospital Boards were created in England and Wales to administer the majority of hospital services. In primary care GPs were independent contractors (that is they were not salaried employees) and would be paid for each person on their list. Finally in community services, maternity and child welfare clinics, health visitors, midwives, health education, vaccination & immunisation and ambulance services together with environmental health services were the responsibility of local authorities.

During the Second World War the issue of black settlers in Britain became an issue, as a result of the war, black workers and soldiers arrived from the colonies to fight in the British army to help with the war effort. At that time there were concern about the social consequences of the arrival of new black migrants, however immigrants from the colonies that the government encouraged were recruited by the British state specifically to resolve labour shortages. Richmond (1954).

After the war, immigration in Britain was on the rise after families of the workers from the colonies came and settled. During the 1970s – 80s research studies on race and council housing were conducted in a number cities like Nottingham, Liverpool and Birmingham, Simpson (1981) concluded that black applicants for council housing waited longer then white people. The study identified that the average black family were larger in size and required larger housing then white people, the council rarely offered 4 bed roomed housing because it was considered to be encouraging large families and the poverty that usually comes with large working class families. This is institutionalised racism, McPherson (1999).

The Race Relations Act 1968 was a British Act of Parliament making it illegal to refuse housing, employment, or public services to a person on the grounds of colour, race, ethnic or national origins. It also created the Community Relations Commission to promote ‘harmonious community relations’.

The Housing Act 1980 was an Act of Parliament passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom that gave five million council house tenants in England and Wales the Right to buy their house from their local authority.

The first of four factors leading to The 1990 NHS and Community Care Act is the government at the time, from 1979 to 1997 the Conservative party wanted to shift British politics to the right from post war liberalism under Margaret Thatcher. According to Taylor (1972) The Conservatives believed in “self help” so they were in favour of the informal carer where people would care for their own friends and family at home. Margaret Thatcher preached “Laissez faire” An economic theory from the 18th century that is strongly opposed to any government intervention in business affairs, it literally means “leave things alone” Margaret Thatcher wanted to end the idea of the government taking care of you, for people to look after themselves and stop Britain being a “granny state”.

Demography is the study of population looking at things like births, deaths, marriages and immigration. Britain is in a demographic time bomb, its people are getting older as a result of the improvement of sanitation over the last century, which is the highest ever. This means people are living longer; there is a huge increase in life expectancy. As the population grows, the proportion of people aged under 16 has dropped below those over state pension age. Life expectancy at birth in the UK has risen (www.statistics.gov.uk). Pre 1990 Margaret Thatcher had to address questions such as how many more elderly can we home? Who is going to look after them? Who is going to pay for it? The issue of the old Victorian geriatric wards were far too expensive to run and maintain. The demographic issue was another factor that led to the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act.

Before 1990 The NHS and Social Services were considered too wasteful and expensive. Thatcher wanted a “mixed economy of welfare” where independent, private sectors and Social services look after and treat people; she wanted them to compete for business. This is called “Tendering for service” This would save the taxpayer money. Sociological evidence appears to indicate that demographic care would cost, politicians in the 80’s thought community care was a cheaper answer.

Before 1990 the issue that the old Victorian wards were too expensive to run and maintain proved too cost effective however according to Townsend (1961) the government couldn’t just “dump” people in these “warehouses” (p56) Townsend described this as the warehousing model of care where people were stored in these forms of warehouses, after seeing ex workhouses changed to residential homes, he was appalled at the bad conditions and dated buildings. A study of a mental hospital in America described it as a “total institution” which is a place of residence or work where a large number of people in the same situation is cut off from society.

There are many principles to the 1990 Community Care Act; the result of the act was the change from “service led delivery” which was if the government did not have any money to help then people would not receive it, the care providers determined what the client needed and would provide care if it was available to “needs led delivery” where a statutory obligation by the NHS and Social services was to assess and consult service users. The care user would be at the centre of care delivery. Care plans were introduced to monitor progression or worsening conditions. Home based care using domiciliary support services is where people receive in their own home was introduced, informal carers needs was to be recognised and included in assessments of need.

Multi-agency working has been shown to be an effective way of supporting children and young people with additional needs, and securing real improvements in their life outcomes. Wigfall & Moss (2001) define it as a “range of different services which have some overlapping or shared interests and objectives, brought together to work collaboratively towards some common purposes”.

Multi-agency working is easier where the aims of the various agencies coincide and where their targets are mutually consistent. It co-ordinates the work of those involved e.g. when conducting multi-agency assessments of children and young people and it should lead to better outcomes for children and young people as holistic needs are addressed.

In 2003, the government published a green paper called Every Child Matters alongside the formal response to the report into the death of Victoria Climbie. The piece of legislation was designed to strengthen preventive services by focusing on four key themes:

Increasing the focus on supporting families and carers.

Ensuring necessary intervention takes place before children reach crisis point and protecting children from falling through the net.

Addressing the underlying problems identified in the report into the death of Victoria Climbie – weak accountability and poor integration.

Ensuring that the people working with children are valued, rewarded and trained.

There was a wide consultation with people working in children’s services, and with parents, children and young people and following this, the government published Every Child Matters: the Next Steps, and passed the Children Act 2004, providing the legislative spine for developing more effective and accessible services focused around the needs of children, young people and families. Every Child Matters: Change for Children was published in November 2004 and it placed legal responsibilities on workers to work together to protect young people and children. Vulnerable adults are also protected under similar legislation.

According to Seed (1973), three strands in the development of social work exist. The first of these is the focus on individual casework, which originated in the work of the Charity Organisation Society (COS) Woodroofe, (1962). The second is the role of social work in social administration, involving various forms of relief from poverty, which originated from the Poor Law however it was also promoted in some of the work of the COS. The third is the focus on social action, which has been identified with the growth of the Settlement Movement in Britain and the United States.

This essay has addressed many issues and client groups within the social sector, how dealing with them started and how the role of social work has progressed in time.

Taylor, A.J. (1972) Laissez faire and State Intervention in nineteenth century Britain

Barwell, J. (1994) Victorian life. Cambridge

International Federation of Social Workers: http://www.ifsw.org/

Johnson, P (2007) 20th century Britain, economic, cultural and social change.

MacPherson report (1999) on Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager who was stabbed.

Social Trends 2009, National Statistics, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/socialtrends39/

Richmond, A. (1954) Colour prejudice in Britain: A study of West Indian workers in Liverpool.

Rose, M.E. (1971) The English Poor Law 1780-1930. Newton Abbot.

Seed, P. (1973) The Expansion of Social Work in Britain. London.

Simpson A. (1981) Stacking the Decks: A study of race, inequality and council housing in Nottingham.

Townsend, P. (1961) Seen in The Last Refuge by Pierson, C and Francis, G. London, Routledge

Wigfall, V & Moss, P. (2001), More than the sum of its parts? A study of a multi-agency child care network. London, National Children’s Bureau.

Woodroofe, K. (1962) From charity to Social Work in England and the United States. London.

Woodward, K. (2009) Social Sciences. London.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is an organization of professionals that “works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards” (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2008, About). Within this association there is a Code of Ethics that was created to help guide the behavior of both professional and student social workers. The NASW Code of Ethics provides ethical standards, values, and principles that all social workers are responsible to adhere to. The Code is presented in four sections detailing appropriate behavior for social workers. With these guidelines in mind social work students are expected to complete both assignments and practice in the field with the upmost highest integrity. While there are many topics covered within the Code, one that is essential for students to consider is plagiarism.

Plagiarism as defined by Columbia University School of Social Work’s Writing Center is “the use of another writer’s ideas or words as one’s own without citing that person” (CUSSW Writing Center, 2010). Without providing proper documentation of where the writer obtained the information included in an assignment the reader will automatically assume that these are the writer’s original thoughts and ideas. The fact that a social work student does not credit an author used in a writing assignment goes directly against the guideline of acknowledging credit depicted in section 4.08 of the NASW Code of Ethics, which states, “

a) Social workers should take responsibility and credit, including authorship credit, only work they have actually performed and to which they have contributed.

(b) Social workers should honestly acknowledge the work of and the contributions made by others” (NASW,2008, preamble).

All students in the School of Social Work are bound by the by the NASW Code of Ethics and by the policies of the Columbia University School of Social Work community. It is the student’s responsibility to be fully informed as to what constitutes plagiarism and to refrain from all activities that constitute plagiarism. Typically this information can be obtained by visiting the school’s website. As a social work student it is necessary to practice personal and academic honesty because it shows one’s character. By copying information and passing it as your own can be considered deceitful and misconstrued as portraying fraud or deception.

The Code of Ethics also provides students a method to check ourselves as social workers as we go forth and set an example to clients. In addition, as read in Section 4, Social Worker’s Ethical Responsibilities as Professionals, of the NASW Code of Ethics “Social Workers should not participate in , condone, or be associated with dishonesty, fraud or deception” (NASW, 2008, Section 4). This reinforces the concept that as social workers we have a commitment to be true to ourselves and recognize the work of others by crediting them.

After a close examination of the NASW Code of Ethics it is apparent that when one performs any act of plagiarism including cheating it is violating the code of many levels and aspects. Under the value of integrity stand the following ethical principles outlining “Social workers behave in a trustworthy manner” (NASW, 2008, Ethical Principles). The participation of plagiarism this value and ethical principle that are put upon social workers is disgraced. Additionally, under the value of competence, the ethical principle paired is, “Social workers practice within their areas of competence and develop and enhance their professional expertise” (NASW, 2008, Ethical Principles). All of these are broken when partaking in plagiarism, as we use others words we are not valuing that individual’s worth of the person and more or less stealing their hard work and concepts. Not only do we lose trust of our colleagues but trust in ourselves and are overwhelmed with the feeling of being incompetent when one cannot honor another individual’s work. The core values provided by the NASW Code of Ethics are important because our profession is based on these morals.

Since “CUSSW students are expected to conduct themselves in all aspects of school activities in a manner consistent with the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers” participating in plagiarism directly violates these standards (CUSSW, Policies, 2010). As a matter of professional development social work students need to develop a respect for written communication and the process of presenting work. Academic communication is often a balance between the presentation of your original ideas, representation of information gained from other sources and the integration of both. It is one’s liability to account for the usage of other’s work, so we stay in line with our social work ethics and values presented in the code.

Furthermore, the Ethical Standards provided in the code include: social workers’ ethical responsibilities to colleagues, ethical responsibilities in practice settings, ethical responsibilities as professionals, social workers’ ethical responsibilities to the social work profession, and Social workers’ ethical responsibilities to the broader society. All of this is lost when not crediting someone else work. It is every social worker’s mission to follow and have their professional worth be embedded in the core values that the Code of Ethics is based upon and identifies. It is crucial for academic institutions to hold the responsibility of students of fostering and evaluating professional behavioral development for all students in the social work program is (Atlantic University Florida). The School of Social Work also bears a responsibility to the community at large to produce fully trained professional social workers who consciously exhibit the knowledge, values, and skills of the profession of social work. The values of the profession are codified in the NASW Code of Ethics. When a student does not adhere to these ethical principles, a dilemma arises that question if a student fully comprehends the NASW Code of Ethics and what responsibility it carries. It is clear that quality students fully prepared for the profession will adhere to all the guidelines provided in the NASW Code of Ethics and demonstrate knowledge of the meaning.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/faculty/policies/index.html#ethics
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/write/handouts/AvoidPlagiarism.html
http://www.cosw.sc.edu/student/syllabi/sowk735.html
http://www.naswdc.org/pubs/code/Default.asp
http://www.fau.edu/ssw/expectations.html
www.socwork.jmu.edu/demos/partone.ppt
http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp
National Association of Social Workers. (2008). Preamble to the code of ethics. Retrieved May 4, 2008,from http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/
Code/code.asp
Social work values and ethics Reamer, Frederic, G. Columbia University Press
New York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright A© 1999 Columbia University Press

In most contemporary industrialised nations, women’s participation rates have been rising. Since the 1980s, women’s employment has become more continuous, even among mothers with children. (Lewis, 2009:27) However, despite of the optimistic rising employment rate among women, the career break due to motherhood still has a major impact on women’s careers. Some women opt for part-time jobs after giving birth to child/children while some might exit the labour till their children reach school ages. This essay aims to examine the impact of motherhood on women’s career in terms of women’s work and care decision and type of works mothers do under different contingencies. As Windebank (2001:269) points out that there are great variations in mother’s employment participation rates and career patterns across countries, this essay mainly focuses on mothers’ career choices and patterns in two countries, namely Sweden (a generous welfare country which striving for women’s equality) and the United Kingdom. The first part of the essay briefly talks about the general impacts of motherhood on women’s career followed by the descriptions of women’s career choices (e.g. work or care decision) and career patterns (e.g. full-time VS. part-time, types of work mothers do) in the two countries mentioned. In the final part, the possible explanations to the patterns found in both countries will be addressed, such as the economic incentive, social norms, institutional context, and women’s education level. And the essay will be concluded by summarizing the impacts of motherhood on women’s career and discussing its implications for policy makers.

Motherhood’s Impact on Women’s Career

The evidence (Vlasblom and Schippers, 2006:335) shows that motherhood could have impacts on women’s participation rate both before and after the childbirth. In their article, the female participation rates in all three countries, namely the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom, have declined since 12 months before the childbirth and never return to the original level 24 months after the childbirth. Hewlett (2005) also states that 37% of women take some kind of break from work to achieve appropriate work-life balance. Although 93% of those women who taken a break after give a birth to children want to re-enter the job market, only 74% are successful, among these only 40% return to full time work. The statistics suggests that motherhood does affect women’s career to a different degrees and it could last over a long period of time.

In general, motherhood itself presents four choices for women. First, women could remain in their full-time jobs after giving birth to their child/children. Second, they could choose a more flexible job or a part-time work to achieve work life balance after becoming a mother. Third, women could choose to exit the labour force permanently for their families. Forth, women could leave the labour market temporarily and return to work after a while (e.g. when their child/children reach school age) (Vlasblom and Schippers, 2006:330). However, women who take the last option might find difficult to return to the labour market. As Joshi et al (1996) point out that losing of tie with the labour market due to the complete exit could depreciate women’s human capital and make future entrance difficult. Therefore, the longer a mother is out of the labour force, the harder it is for her to return to work.

Mother’s Career Choices and Patterns in Sweden

Being one of the most generous welfare states, Sweden is often regarded as a “role model” in terms of striving for equal women rights. In fact, most Swedish women work fulltime prior to give birth and the majority of women do return to paid work (either long part-time or full-time) after the maternity leave. According to the Statistics Sweden (a leading Swedish official statistics website), there are more than 80 percent of Swedish mothers in the labour market by the year of 1999. The high return rate is probably attributed to its long paid parental leave. According to the Swedish Law, all parents (employed prior to give birth) are entitled to 12 months leave with approximately 3,600 Pounds income replacement (up to 80% of their income before childbirth) plus 90 days of ‘Guaranteed days’ with 6 pounds per day. Besides, parents’ rights to return to labour market are guaranteed by Swedish labour regulations. (Bjornberg, 2002:34) These policies not only help women to reconcile the work and care balance during the most difficult period (with small child under 1 year old), but also encourage women to take part in workforce after maternity work by ensuring them better chances of being employed. As a result, child under 1 year is usually taken care at home by their parents (mainly mothers). And among children aged 1-6 years, institutional care instead of home care is commonly chosen by Swedish parents as that most mothers could return to their jobs afterwards. The statistics (Statistics Sweden, 2008) shows that 86% of children aged 1-6 years are in municipal day care in the year 2007. Based on the observations, Bjornberg (2002:39) suggests that the traditional male breadwinner model with mothers as housewives is not supported in Sweden rather a dual-earner model is more common and acceptable in Sweden.

The high return rate does not occur among mothers with one child but among mothers with more than one child as well. As the Swedish policy states that the parent is able to enjoy the same insured income level if the next child-birth is within 30 months of the previous child. Thus, it makes possible for mothers with more than one child to return to labour market after maternity leave without worrying about the costs and losing their working rights.

It is interesting to note that many returned mothers in Sweden choose to start work as part-timers. Traditionally, part-time work often associated with characteristics such as low pay, no benefits and low status, however, part-time work in Sweden has a different meaning. The long working hours (e.g. 30 hours per week) gives part-time a non-marginalized feature in Sweden. And part-time working mothers are generally treated similarly to their full-time colleagues and able to have more autonomy in their time (Sundstrom and Duvander, 2000). Fagan and Lallement (2000:45) indicate that part-time workers have integrated into Swedish labour market and received “equal treatment in labour law and wage structures”.

Mother’s Career Choices and Patterns in the United Kingdom

Pursuing to be a “liberal welfare state”, the U.K. government has also come up with explicit policies to reconcile paid work and family life in terms of childcare services, childcare leave and flexible working hours since 1997. (Lewis and Campbell, 2007:4) Evidence shows that the newly introduced “family-friendly” initiatives do have certain effects in changing the British labour market situations. The mother participation rate in the market has increased from 24% in 1979 to 67% in 1999 (Dench et al., 2002) although among returned mothers, many engage in part-time rather than full-time jobs. Statistics (Social Trends, 2005) shows that 40% of women aged sixteen to fifty-nine with children are in a part-time job. However, the part-time work has a different definition in UK compare to that of Sweden in terms of the working hours. Part-time mothers only work about 16 hours per week in U.K. (Bishop, 2004) which is much shorter than 30+ hours in Sweden. In the aspect of public childcare system, it is not as popular as that of Sweden due to the poor qualification of childcare staff in UK and a lack of funding. (Lewis and Campbell, 2007)

In general, instead of the traditional male breadwinner model or Swedish dual-earner model, Britain parents are taking a one-and-a-half earner model, which fathers work long hours (48+ hours per week) while mothers work short hours (about 16 hours). (Christine and Tang, 2004) Therefore, atypical job (e.g. part-time work) and shift parenting are common in UK. (Lavalle et al., 2002)

Explanations to the Patterns Found

Based on the findings of both Sweden and UK, it is clear that motherhood affects women’s career not only in the form of career breaks during childbirth but also in terms of the after-effects on balancing work and childcare. There are several similarities found among working mothers in both countries, for instance, both countries have a relatively high mother return rate. However, part-time mothers in Sweden are seemingly to enjoy a better benefit coverage, status and pay compared to mothers in U.K. In the following part of the essay, the reasons account for the different patterns observed will be discussed and whether the high return rate reflects women’s true preference between work and family will be explored.

According to Hakim (2000), the difference in work and care decision made by mothers is determined by each woman’s preference. However, many researchers criticize Hakim’s statement by showing other factors which restricting women’s decisions, such as the income level of the household, institutional context, social norm and women’s education level.

Household Income Level

Household income level directly limits mother’s decision on work and care. According to Vlasblom and Schippers (2006), mothers are more likely to go back to labour market if the benefit for participation is larger than its opportunity costs. For instance, most mothers in Sweden choose to work as women’s income in a household is as important as their partners’ in order to maintain a high living standard “as close as possible to those of households without children”.( Bjornberg, 2002:36)

In the case of U.K., the decrease in family subsidy in tax system during the 1990s has made childcare more costly, (Sainsbury, 1999) as a result, many British mothers chose to return to workforce during that time. However, unlike Sweden, high quality and affordable public childcare is not widely spread in U.K. According to Taylor’s survey (2003), there are only 8 % of organizations offering financial assistance with childcare costs and 3% organizations providing childcare for their employees. Thus, the lack of childcare service and the high costs associated with childcare outsourcing for working parents has explained the increasing number of part-time working mothers and the shifting childcare arrangement between parents in U.K.

Social Norms

Under the traditional male breadwinner model, mothers are expected to become housewives while fathers will be the only income source for the household. However, as time passes by, the social norm has been changed and working mothers are more acceptable in both countries (Vlasblom and Schippers, 2006). And in Sweden, women to have a gainful employment before childbirth is essential as the replacement income during 12 months maternity leave is determined by women’s salary level prior to giving birth. Those mothers who were housewives do not receive any income benefit during the first year of child care (Bjornberg, 2002). Such policies, to a certain extent, have reinforced the women’s importance in the job market and increased the acceptance of women’s role as workers in general.

However, in both countries, the increasing in women participation rate and social acceptance of working mothers does not match the changes in their male spouses’ behaviours. Gershuny (2000) points out that men’s participation in unpaid work is much lower than women’s participation rate in paid work. According to Elvin-Nowak and Thomsson (2001:432), father’s work schedule is considered as fixed and unalterable and mothers concern about children’s well-being more than fathers do, as a result, “the negotiations come to rest between the woman and her conscience rather than between the mother and the father.” Uneven distribution of domestic chores, especially childcare is still prevalent nowadays. In U.K., the long working hours of men has left the childcare to mothers mainly. Without the help from their spouses, it is more difficult for mothers to combine the work and childcare and thus, full-time work is often not an available option for many British mothers. The situation in Sweden is relatively better than that in U.K. due to the introduction of compulsory “Daddy Month” policy. However, “Even in country like Sweden, fathers only spend just half the time in taking care of children as their partners do” (Gornick and Meyers, 2008:318).

Institutional Context

Institutional context is one of the most critical factor in shaping women’s work and care decision. Often, the change in mother’s behaviour is as a result of change in institutional policies, such as the reduced in family subsidy mentioned above. Both British government and Swedish government are aiming to promote waged labour through its policies, like extension of maternity leave, childcare provision or flexible working-hour practices, in order to attract mothers into workforce and to increase the labour supply and tax base (OECD, 2005). However, these two countries have varied degree of success in obtaining the goal.

The difference in institutional policies explains why the part-time mothers in Sweden could focus on their work better than those of U.K. First of all, the public childcare is well-developed and widely used in Sweden, therefore, most Swedish women are able to work long hour part-time or full-time job without worrying lack of proper care for their children. Besides, the introduction of “Daddy Month” in Sweden has increased the father’s participation in childcare task and thus, reduces the burden from mothers. According to the statistics, 77% of father in Sweden took up the whole month leave in 1995.

However, the formal childcare is either too expensive or poorly organized in U.K. which forces most British mothers to care children privately and restricts their career development. Besides, the long working hours for British fathers makes sharing private childcare more difficult and often mothers have to change their working hours in order to suit their partner’s more rigid schedules for childcare. Thus, mothers’ career in U.K. is more likely to be disturbed than their counterpart in Sweden.

Women’s Educational Level

Besides the differences in external factors, such as the policies, income and social norms, the educational level among women also affect the degree of motherhood’s impacts on their careers. The educational level here not only refers to the initial education (Portela, 2001), but also the working experiences and personal capabilities a woman possesses. Elvin-Nowak and Thomsson (2001:407) suggests that mothers with “different social background” have different motherhood experiences and interpreted the meaning of the motherhood differently.

In general, low-skilled female workers are more likely to exit the labour force for their children than those high-skilled workers (Cantillon at al., 2001). And Hofferth et al.’s (1996) study is consistent with Cantillon’s findings, showing that high-skilled women tend to use formal childcare while low-skilled women tend to provide childcare themselves. As a result, high-skilled women are more likely to commit themselves into their work without worrying about the childcare. At the same time, with the high earnings gained from work, they are able to afford the formal childcare while for the low-skilled women who cannot afford the formal childcare with the low earnings, staying at home to look after their children becomes the only option for them. In UK, 75 percent of highly educated women with children aged under 5 years old are actively participate in paid work while only 24 percent of women without qualifications are in workforce. (EOR, 2001) Similar results are found among Swedish women too.

Besides, Sundstrom and Duvander (2000) found that parents with higher educational level are more likely to share the domestic tasks including childcare than couples with lower educational level. Therefore, it confirms the view that women whose level of education is high is more likely to take part in work.

Conclusion

This essay has examined the motherhood impact on women’s career choice and patterns in Sweden and the U.K. The findings show that both countries have an increasing mother participation rate. But despite of the optimistic rising working mother numbers in both countries, working mothers’ careers are still affected by the motherhood. Not only that full-time work option is no longer available for many mothers due to the burden of childcare, part-time working mothers are generally more difficult to concentrate on their jobs, especially in the U.K where formal provision of formal childcare system is not well-developed. Besides, possible factors, such as household income level, social norms, institutional policies and women’s educational level, which restrict mother’s work and care decision, are explored in the essay. However, there are many other factors which could shape the motherhood’s impact on women’s career, for instance, the number of children. Women with smaller family size have less career breaks and spend less time on childcare, thus they have better opportunity to channel their energy into paid work (Gill et al., 2000). Besides, the rising divorce rate and high teenage pregnancy rate result an increase in singe-mother families. Motherhood’s impact on single mother family could be different from normal families.

After analyzing the possible factors which affect working mothers’ careers, how their accessibility to the labour market and status could be increased is the key challenge that should be addressed. Based on Sweden and the U.K. cases, it is clear that institutional policies could a powerful tool for creating a better environment for working mothers. For instance, the “Daddy Month” introduced by Swedish government has been successful in tackling the unequal division of work among men and women and this policy could be learnt by other countries too. In sum, in order to increase working mother’s full-time participation rate and achieve better work-life balance in the society, governments should invest more on the institutional policies. In another word, following the concept of “diversity/mainstreaming”, government should change the focus from trying to fit working mothers into the society to changing the society/organization/culture to embrace differences by making working mothers’ issue central to every aspect of the policy.

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Labelling theory is linked to Howard Becket and was introduced in 1963. Labelling theory is the theory of a behaviour that is considered different from the customary or a behaviour that is generally accepted as standard. It is considered by some sociologist that this type of behaviour is seen as a label given to an individual whose behaviour is not considered normal by certain people of authority. Therefore, labelling means that no individual is actually abnormal and no deed is unusual unless it has been identified by society.

According to Pilgrim and Rogers (1999) the labelling theory works on the principle that to identify a person as having mental health problems it is suggested that the individual will act in a stereotypical manner. It was thought at one time that having a mental health problem was owing to some form of personal weakness. However, as time has gone by mental illness has become more accepted by society and the public have become more learned and it could be true to say that it is well known now that mental health disorders have a medical basis and can be treated like any other health condition.

Being considered mentally healthy does not routinely imply that a person does not have a mental health problem. Good health usually represents that a person is able to play a full part in society albeit within a family setting, in the workplace, within community or amongst other people or friends. It also suggest that a person who is in good mental health can deal with what life throws at them and more often than not will be capable of make the most of their potential within any given situation.

According to ‘The World Health Organisation’ mental health is:

” a state of well-being in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”(WHO, 2001).

Mental health illness for that reason could be said is a state where the well being of an individual is flawed in some way and is incapable of undertaking ‘normal’ day to day functions. It could be said that mental health is everyone’s concern. The majority of people at one time or another will admit to feeling stressed out and unable to cope with what life throws at them but usually those feeling pass. However at other times these problems can develop into something much more serious. Some can bounce back with no problem at all while others might take a longer time to deal with their problems.

Scheff (1999) considers that mental illness in a person is brought about by ‘societal labelling’. He suggests that the symptoms of mental illness are seen as infringement of the social norms. By most social values behaviour associated with mental illness such violent outburst, anxiety, delusions and attempts of suicide are considered abnormal. Therefore, the cause for a person to be labelled as mentally ill does not automatically mean infringement of the social norm. The person to a certain extent is labelled when a situation can bring about what the public would perceive as abnormal behaviour. This could mean for example, when an application is made to place that individual in a mental institution or hospital and as a result that individual is is labelled as mentally ill.

Labelling leads to stigma, which is a word associated with branding and shame. Stigma has been defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “a mark or sign of disgrace and discredit”.

Goffman (1963) also suggested that disability was associated with shame and pity and that the term ‘stigma’ has been adopted from the Greeks which imply a ‘mark that represent immorality’. Research also shows that stigma is more strongly expressed against people with mental disabilities, which, under the influence of Buddhism and Animism, are believed to represent possession by evil sprits (Hunt 2002). Studies also show that individuals with a mental health illness are most rejected people among any disabled groups (Albrecht, Walkeer & Levy, 1982) It has also been suggested by Jones (1985) that the process of stigmatization is based on six elements, namely conceability, course, disruptiveness, aesthetic qualities, origin and peril.

Although there are 8.6 million disabled people in Britain that is 1:7 of the population who have either a physical, sensory or mental impairment that seriously affects their day-to-day activities, people with mental health continue to be excluded from discourse on difference and diversity. Discourses can have an impact on the ways in which people with mental health illness are portrayed and treated within society and this in turn may influence the actions taken by people and the judgments they make. Different cultures can also have different perception, so can different situations and circumstances.

Having a mental illness, and living with it on a day to day basis can be intensely difficult for the individual suffering from it. Mental illness by today standards is believed to be very common, due to the fact that one in four in the United Kingdom is diagnosed with a mental illness. Sufferers of the illness experience many problems, which include the way they think, behave or how they feel. These problems can lead to problems with everyday living, such as maintaining relationships, access to or performance at work, not being accepted by the community that they live in.

A report written by the government into Mental Health and Social Exclusion, and published by the Social Exclusion Unit in 2004, recognized the discrimination and stigma experienced by people with mental health issues as a major stumbling block to be included socially, and thus making it very hard for those individual to access work, access health services, take part in their communities, and to take pleasure in doing things with their family and friends. The report also states that 83 percent of those interviewed identified stigma as a major contributor; 55 percent identified stigma as a barrier to work; and 52 percent had experienced a negative attitudes towards mental health in the community.

According to a survey, called the ‘Stigma Shout’ (2008) survey revealed that:

“Nearly 9 out of 10 people with mental health problems have been affected by stigma and discrimination, with two thirds saying they have stopped doing things because of the stigma they face”.

“Stigma stops people with mental health problems from doing everyday things such as applying for jobs, making new friends, and going out to pubs and shops. It can even prevent people from reporting a crime”.

“People with mental health problems want the anti-stigma campaign to target schools and the media to change attitudes and reduce prejudice”.

“Carers of people with mental health problems also stop doing things because of the stigma and discrimination that they face”.

http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/news/stigma-shout-survey-shows-real-impact-stigma-and-discrimination-peoples-lives

Mental health problems are commonly identified and categorized in order for professional people to be able to provide suitable support and treatment. However, some diagnoses are considered controversial and concern is expressed that individuals are frequently treated in line with by what they have been labelled with.

There are many conditions that are believed to be associated to mental health illness, including anxiety disorders, mood disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders and plenty more. Any person presenting signs of the mental health problems will more often than not be labelled by society in some way. As noted earlier labelling leads to stigma and stigma in turn can lead to discrimination. It is highly publicized that there should be no discrimination against people of a difference appearance, race culture, religion but people are less conscious of discrimination against people with a mental health illness.

Being discriminated against can play a big part in an individual’s life who may be experiencing mental health problems. It is known that stigma associated with mental health issues can be very hurtful and damaging and can inhibit the individual from accessing support and treatment in order to lead a normal life.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 44% of people who experienced some form of mental health issues felt they had been discriminated by their G.P’s, and 35% said they’d been discriminated by health professionals. However, it is suspected by some that the principal reason for the health care professionals to behave in this manner is because they are considered inexperienced in the field of mental health issues. On the other hand, some individuals who have been labelled as suffering with mental health problems are of the opinion that mental health problems are fabricated and invented by professional people who make money from the belief that mental health issues are problematic. One example which demonstrates how health care services are being prejudice is that sufferers of schizophrenia are prohibited from giving blood or giving away any of their vital organs as they are perceived as mentally incapacitated.

As previously referred to statistics show that at any given time one in every four adult and one in every five children live through a mental health problem. It is estimated that approximately 450 million people worldwide have a mental health problem. – World Health Organisation (2001) The total cost of mental health problems in England is currently more than ?77 billion a year which is double previous estimates (Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health 2003)

Due to the labelling associated with mental health problems many of these people will not access help at an early stage and the illness will become worse. It is widely known that people with a mental health illness are less likely to be in full time employment in comparison to other groups of disabled people. In 2001, people with a mental health problem were almost three times more likely to be unemployed than all other disabled people (Smith and Twomey 2002) Many of these people do not make an effort to obtain work for a number of reasons or are discriminated by employers because of their illness.

It has been proved that not dealing with mental illness within the work place costs over

?9 billion a year (Department of Health 2006). In order to address this issue the government has published a mental health strategy with the main objective to help mental health sufferers gain and retain employment. The strategy namely, ‘Working Our Way to Better Mental Health: A Framework for Action Strategy (2009), is aimed at helping people safeguard their illness, and when a problem arises, get the help and treatment that they need. The strategy also aims to reduce discrimination and to reduce the levels of labelling that is associated with the illness.

To realize improved practises in maintaining a good working relationship between the workplace and those suffering from mental health problems, the Government has advised employers that they need to follow the principles included in the strategy to shed light on the impact of mental health problems.

The Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham said:

“Life-threatening conditions like cancer or heart disease prompt sympathy and understanding. But mental health is all too often shrouded in mystery, stigma or simply forgotten”.

To coincide with the launch of the above mentioned strategy the Department of Work and Pensions have also assigned a review led by Dr Rachel Perkins to offer help and guidance on how best to develop and improve the support for people with a mental health problem who are unemployed. By following the Governments and the Department of Health’s guidance and support, it is expected that many businesses will see the potential benefits to their workplace such as reduced sickness levels, higher levels of customer service, reduced staff turnover and lots more.

Many people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness could also face the probability of suddenly being unaccepted by friends and family; this is usually due to the fact that people are uncertain of the illness. Being ‘singled out’ by those they considered to be their friends or even a close family member makes the circumstances worse for the sufferer. Individuals usually find it hard to make new friends which in turn can make them feel totally isolated and worthless.

It is often believed that the media is responsible for wrongly representing someone with mental health issues and that the tabloids very often show bad outlook towards people with mental illness by applying words such as ‘psycho’ or ‘mad’ or even a ‘nutter’. Using such words to portray a person suffering with mental illness is seen to be encouraging society to believe that they are all dangerous and unapproachable. Inadequate and incorrect media coverage of mental health issues has increased over the last three years claims the ‘Mind report’ published in 2008.

In spite of this however not all interpretation of mental illness in the media is negative. Stephen Fry spoke openly about his mental health issues and was in the main represented positively in the media. ‘My battle with mental illness’ (2006)

During research for his documentary ‘The Secret Life of The Manic Depressive’, Stephen Fry discovered that his illness (bi-polar) affects hundreds of thousands of people in the

U. K. He was also appalled to learn the degree of preconception there was in relation to mental illness:

“I want to speak out, to fight the public stigma and to give a clearer picture of mental illness that most people know little about.”

He also stated that there was a need for a better awareness of mental health issues amongst the public in order for people to share their problems and break their silence:

“Once the understanding is there, we can all stand up and not be ashamed of ourselves, then it makes the rest of the population realise that we are just like them but with something extra.”

A research undertaken by the charity ‘Mind’ revealed that 73% of those with mental health problems felt that, the way the media portray the illness is negative, unfair and totally unbalanced (Mind Report 2008). Many of the stories that appear in the media all promote the idea that mental illness is wrong and something to be ashamed of.

Over the years the Government has made inroads to tackle discrimination against people who have mental health issues and have introduced policies in order to transform the way people view mental health problems. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 makes certain that discrimination does not take place in the workplace and other places because of mental health problems. The Mental Health Bill was also introduced by the Government in 2002 which introduced a statutory framework for the compulsory treatment and care for mental health sufferers and there are many groups and organizations attempting to highlight the plights of mental health sufferers and are focusing on reducing the stigma associated with mental health problems.

On reflection, it is understandable that many people who have mental health problems would not approve of the way sufferers are being perceived and labelled. The term mental illness for some people can be associated with abnormal behaviour and as a result can prevent them from fitting into what would be considered a normal environment and take advantages of all the opportunities and benefits associated with it.

As revealed the media is considered to be a very influential means of educating people and that more attention should be given to reporting on more positive features of mental illness, namely how people have recovered and what in terms of medicine and treatment are available today to combat mental illness. This is turn could have a major influence on the public attitudes and beliefs. Some people would also suggest that better training of mental health professionals would promote better health care and better understanding of issues surrounding mental illness. This in turn would show the way to a more positive attitude amongst people in society as sufferers are able to take part in everyday life.

As many of the literature on mental health problems implies, there continues to be a long way to go in order to overcome many of the misconceptions, the prejudices and fears associated with mental health problems and the stigma involved. So that harmful and negative attitudes to mental health problems are eradicated there is a need for the public to be much more aware of what it feels to live with such problems and that it takes courage and strength on the part of the sufferer. The public also need to be aware that mental illness can be managed or even treated like many other diseases or conditions. It is also important to highlight that the stereotyping of mental incapacity and hostility is greatly mistaken.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Introduction

Social Care is about providing and supporting individuals to enable them to maintain their independence and dignity and also by ensuring that they have choice and control of their own lives (BBC 2008). According to Bell, D and Glendinning, C (2008) p.3, ‘Social care is characterised by uncertainty, inequalities, lack of information, and has vitally important emotional and relationship dimensions (Bell, D and Glendinning, C 2008).

This paper is going to look at how the different European countries (England, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden) finance their social care in the way they do. It is also going to identify how these countries organise their social care services in terms of their approach in organising social care services and why they have different approaches. It is also going to identify the issues surrounding the delivery of social care services and the similarities between these countries.

How European countries Organise and finance their social care.
Financing Social Care in England?

Service users are mostly required to fund their own social care. Those who have assets over ?22, 250 which includes their properties, are required to pay their own social care regardless of living in a nursing home, their homes or sheltered accommodation. There is also a means tested system which enables those who fall under the ?22,250 mark, to have their social care funded by the state. An individual can have an exception in paying their social care if there is a specific medical condition, which can therefore fall under the NHS service. This will enable those who are entitled to the service able to receive social care free of charge. However most individuals who would require free services through health related needs, are finding it difficult to ensure assessors identify their need for free services (BBC 2008).

In England, Social security and health care are provided in uniform basis in terms of equity whilst social care in particular is difficulty with the approach as for reasons of equity, it can be delivered unfairly. Even though some of the social care needs are targeted by social security cash payments on a universal basis, local authorities provision is a different system as it is through the assessment system and its subject to what assets an individual has and through the means testing system. This usually creates hardships on disabled and older people, their families, professionals and policy makers in terms of managing the interaction between social care and other services such as housing, healthcare and social security benefits (Bell, D and Glendinning, C. 2008).

Financing of Social Care in Germany

In terms of the government’s responsibility on long term care for the elderly in Germany, their Long term care system was more of a traditional informal care led model. However, in 1995, the Germany government introduced a universal programme, which enabled those who required care for at least six months to benefit from the services free of charge. This programme involved a variety of services, which included giving beneficiaries of the system a choice of receiving cash transfers which would help them through paying for professional services or for paying someone who would be responsible for their care. The service users would have a choice between receiving services in a residential care home or at their own homes or receive cash benefits or have a combination of the two services. In 2005, the majority of service users who were receiving social care services at their own homes, registered for receiving cash or a mix (Pavolin, E and Ranci, C 2008).

In 1994, Germany voted compulsory Soziale Pflegeversicherung which in English is translated to Universal long term care insurance. All the political parties and everyone, who was involved in the discussion of financing this measure that was going to be implemented agreed with several points since the beginning of the discussion. They wanted home care to be the first priority over care in a nursing home. The scheme was not to pay for the whole cost of care (Morel, N 2007).

Germany has the Volksversicherung which is the people’s insurance which enables compulsory membership of care insurance for all. This long term insurance delivers benefits for all individuals who are severely disabled of all ages. This scheme was driven by the widespread stigma which was associated with spending down assets in order to be entitled for means tested social assistance for the help of care costs (Bell, D and Glendinning, C. 2008).

Financing of Social Care in France

Policy makers of France began to see long term care for the elderly as an important issue at the beginning of the 1990s. However this was important as they had to have solutions to the long term care issue. Both the right and the left policy makers agreed on a number of points they were discussing (Morel 2007) p. 626, 627. They all agreed that by increasing social contribution as an idea of creating a particular insurance scheme would not be an option as they had to limit the cost of a new benefit. They also had to encourage families to carry on looking after their elderly as it would be a less expensive option than having professionals to look after them and also with the idea that for the government to interfere is not a good idea as it weakens the backbone of family unity (Morel 2007).

The Prestation Solidarite Dependance (PSD) which means Solidarity Benefit Dependency in English was introduced in 1997 for individuals who were over the age of 60. This kind of benefit was a means tested social assistance. When it was introduced, it was criticised and the policy makers decided that reform was needed. They introduced the Personalized Autonomy Allowance (APA) in 2002 to tackle some of the issues which had risen from the Prestation Solidarite Dependance. Although the benefit has been managed at a regional level, everywhere in France, it assures the same benefit levels. Raising the Dependency criteria also increased the number of individuals who were entitled for the benefit. The benefit was now delivered in as a non means tested benefit but there was a reduction on the amount of those beneficiaries with resources above a certain limit (Morel 2007).

When the government saw that the measure they had introduced had produced a positive outcome, the right wing government were committed to reduce the cost of benefits through new reforms in 2003. They introduced cash benefits to allow those who were dependent on the benefit to have the right of choosing the sort of care they require. The government’s shift of policies, was to promote and encourage free choice were the beneficiaries would have the choice of choosing the kind of care they required (Morel 2007).

The Allocation Personaliseed Autonomie which was introduced in France in 2002 is paid at one in six levels of dependency. Individuals with incomes below a certain amount are not required to pay any charges whereas individuals with incomes above a certain amount are required to pay co-payments (Bell, D and Glendinning, C. 2008).

France has its national scale called the AGGIR which enables to determine if an individual is incapable. This is the same as what Sweden, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain use in assessing the needs of individuals. Focusing on a case by case basis, the assessment team has to organise the type and number of care needed, in order of organising a care plan. The United Kingdom is similar to the France in the distinction between a needs evaluation phase and the phase that determines the type of care required. However when it comes to the assessment procedure, the United kingdom is difference to France as it doesn’t use the national assessment scale but it is similar to the Swedish on the account of autonomy entrusted to care managers (Le Bihan, B and Martin, C. 2006) p.31.

Even though France developed child care policies a long time ago, the issue of long term care, began to be looked at seriously in the early of 1990s. Just like other countries, the issue of ageing population, the change of family structure and the idea that more women are into the labour market, affected families. The French policy makers of both the left and the right were all worried about reducing the cost of the new benefit but they all agreed that raising social contributions in order of creating an insurance scheme was not going to happen as the high level of social contributions has been said which led to France’s lack of economic competitiveness. However they also agree on helping the family with incentives to keep on caring for the elderly as this proved less expensive than formal care. They implemented the cash for care for the elderly with the idea of providing cash benefits to dependant so that they can have free choice on what services they would require. They also implemented care as a source of low skilled, low paid employment for young children or for the elderly (Morel, N. (2007).

Financing of Social Care in Netherlands

The welfare state of the Netherlands was mainly a Christian paternalist system to the social-democratization since the middle of the 1960s and then it moved to liberalization from the mid-1980s. Despite the cut backs on benefits, Netherlands’s welfare system has been seen as the most generous system in the world the same as Sweden and Denmark (Becker, U 2000).

Typology can be used to bring order in the sense of differentiating several national welfare systems. Four types of typology which can be used, can be the paternalist type where inequalities can be defined as a matter of fact and life were those who are able should be required to look after those who are unable to help themselves either by voluntary and state action. The liberal type where the society view the market as a dominant element, individuals’ responsibility is central and public provisions is minimum and the idea of equality of opportunity prove more powerful. The social democratic type would be when a combination of the market, individual responsibility and the ideas of social citizenship and of equality proves more powerful. The communitarian type is when the welfare state plays a big role and group norms restrict individuals’ responsibility and market inequality. Esping Andersen used the link between the market and the family. The Netherlands changed its welfare system from the paternalist, to the social democratic and later on went on to the liberal one but without becoming either social democratic or liberal (Becker, U 2000).

During the development of the welfare state in the Netherlands from the late 1940s to the middle of the 1960s, the Dutch society was a conservative one. Public life and politics at this time was being ruled by the Christian conservative organisations and parties. In terms of Social life, this was controlled by classified principles. After the Second World War 2, individuals of the Netherlands were finding it hard to help themselves and this when the development of the Dutch welfare state which was called the ‘Caring State’ began. Later on, the Catholics and Socialists joined forces in order of developing the modern Dutch welfare system. They recognised and accepted the insurance acts for the old age, unemployment, sickness and disability and they implemented children’s allowances. All these regulations, began to be financed by wage earners, the employers, tax funds, the statutory retirement pension scheme of 1957 which further introduced a Universalist, tax financed element to the Netherland’s welfare system (Becker, U 2000).

The Dutch’s welfare system was also aiming at avoiding poverty, by increasing the levels of unemployment benefits especially for breadwinners with children, were earning a little bit more than the other categories and this also reflected that women had to stay at home to look after the children while man go to work to support their families. Because of this, there was a view that there should not be a second income in families as women were only allowed to look after the children at home. The current Dutch welfare system has the mixture of both paternalists, social democratic and liberal principles. Talking about the financing of benefits in Netherlands, they are mainly financed by social contributions, but when looking at the basic pensions, this is universal (Becker, U 2000).

Elder care in the Netherlands took the form of institutional care but over the years, it began to change in order of shifting from institutional care to domiciliary care. The government decided on an experimental basis to introduce new policy which was to support those who wanted to purchase private care in 1991 and it was introduced on a national level in1995. The new policy had set an arrangement of dependent people who were eligible for care allowance to use the allowance to purchase their care services through the Personal budget benefit. The government wanted to create a benefit which would help to move towards delivering care to individuals with the freedom and choices of choosing how best to service their needs. Similar to France and Germany, this was a way of paying carers and to help them move back to employment (Morel 2007).

Financing Social Care in Sweden

In the beginning of the 1990s, Sweden began some major changes on its welfare state. Sweden was going through some financial problems, so the reforming of the welfare state was a way of tackling the problem which the country was facing financially. They began to limit social insurance system and transfer schemes and they also made some cut backs on social care provision and the changes in priority. Because of the changes in priority, many who had been receiving help in their own homes were denied it. This led to less people receiving public care and this also happened when the government was fighting on helping those who were most in need of the care. However this made some of the elderly people to have alternatives of getting the help they required through the market, the family and volunteers (Blomberg S Edebalk PG and Petersson J. 2000).

The traditional social care services for the elderly before all the changes were made, consisted of local authorities financing social care and also publicly funded. However the measures they introduced was to limit the care they offered and they also wanted a system which was strict when it comes to assessing the needs of individuals. The traditional care of Sweden moved towards a mixed model which the family, neighbours and volunteers being more involved and the market forces seeing this as important (Blomberg S Edebalk PG and Petersson J. 2000).

During the year 1992, Sweden organised its social care system in a way that municipalities had to take the responsibility for long term care for the elderly and the handicapped. This reform which was introduced in 1992 for the municipalities to take control of social care was an advantage but this was also expensive. Municipalities began to modernize nursing homes and this was expensive even though there was also money coming from the state grants. However between 1992 and 1996 the municipalities faced demographic pressures. Municipalities targeted those who had higher priorities for the need of nursing. This was done in order of reducing expenditure. Their way of means testing, was to be strict on evaluating the needs of individuals who needed their help. Their strategies on structuring the help for the elderly was to put strategies which would affect the supply of services and also to put strategies which would affect the demand of services by limiting and adjusting the fees to reduce the net costs (Blomberg S Edebalk PG and Petersson J. 2000).

The Scandinavian countries such as Sweden mostly have the same system were the state provides, finance, and regulate welfare services to all the citizens throughout their life time. Esping Andersen’s types are defined by political ideology: social democratic, conservative and liberal. Leibfried (1992) and Bisley/Hansen (1991) cited in Abrahamson, P. (1999 p.33) developed a distinction which added the Catholic, Latin or rudimental model. Nordic welfare societies are those societies which state that every individual in the society has the right to social protection. From a Scandinavian model of welfare, Sweden is a universalistic welfare state. This kind of model has high level of organisation, strong political features, high welfare ambitions, low level of corruption and high level of efficiency (Abrahamson, P. (1999).

France, Germany and the Netherlands have similar logics and trajectories and this can be explained by the shared conservative and corporist traits of Bismarkian labour markets and welfare state institutions and their impact on labour market adjustment possibilities and preferences. The care policies of this countries, have been linked to the employment strategies, and the politics of welfare without work and the attempt of shifting from labour shedding strategy and this went on to explaining the nature and timing of child and elderly care policy reforms in Bismarkian welfare state. The Bismackian welfare state of the 1980s and early 1990s was the reinforcement of the traditional breadwinner model but in the late 1990s care policies began to be used on raising female employment levels. There was a shift from women being only allowed to stay at home to the shift of being allowed to be able to work. This shift bears the imprint of the conservative corporist legacy of their welfare states both in their design of policies and their outcomes. These countries target on promoting free choice led to some women to have much more free choice than others and it helped to reduce certain labour market strictness (Morel, N. (2007).

Esping-Andersen’s 1990 tripartite welfare regime typology, which identified a Social-democratic regime (the Nordic countries), a Liberal regime (the Anglophone countries) and a Conservative corporatist regime (continental Europe, i.e. Bismarckian countries), arrived at this typology by correlating a number of indicators including both causal explanations such as political and historical factors, the institutional design of the welfare states and a number of policy outcomes (mostly in terms of levels of deco modification and stratification resulting from these welfare institutions, but also in terms of women’s labour-market participation) (Morel, N. (2007).

The Bismackian welfare system is based on the idea of social insurance. The idea of social insurance schemes are based on labour market participation and performance, and welfare benefits earnings. The Bismackian welfare is also based on its strong reliance on the breadwinner model and its strong support of the traditional family. This model requires males to work full time whilst the women withdraw from the labour market and their job would be to care full time for the children, the elderly and the disabled. This has shown that women would receive benefits through their husbands and led them to lack individual social entitlements. This kind of welfare regime’s principles is that when an individual is in need of care, the family or local communities should be the first resort or from voluntary associations the state will be the last resort to step in. The principle of this welfare regime is that the family if the best provider of care and the state should not undermine the family so it will be the last resort when the family cannot able to provide care. In terms of financial transfers to families, the Bismarkian welfare usually offer financial transfers to the families in order of supporting them as their role of primary welfare providers but offer little in terms of social services (Morel, N. (2007).

Social assistance of the bismackian welfare is dealt with by local rather than central authorities. This idea of traditions family based on a male bread winner and a female as a care giver and the principles of subsidiarity testify to the catholic and politically conservative origins of this welfare regime. During the 1960s Countries such as Germany and France are different to Scandinavian countries as France and Germany would have workers from other countries instead of letting the women work, thereby reinforcing male breadwinner whereas In the Scandinavian countries, they chose to bring women into the labour market which encouraged the development of child care services and some other policies to help parents to bring together work and family life in the early 1970s (Morel, N. (2007).

Despite policies encouraging women to stay at home, the changes in social values and family structures led to more women wanting to be in the labour market. With more women into the labour market, it brought a conflict of women willing to care for the dependent elderly in countries such as Germany. In terms of child care and elderly care, there is much inter regime difference in terms of public spending on family services and the coverage of the services. The conservative corporatist welfare state is the less generous one than social democratic welfare states and a little more generous than liberal welfare states (Morel, N. (2007).

There are differences between the conservative corporist group and also between countries such as France. France is less generous in terms of public spending on family services than Germany and the Netherlands but offers a wider childcare than the two other countries. In terms of elderly care, Germany stands out with its low levels of home help and institutional care coverage on the other hand; Netherlands has high coverage levels with the same as Sweden. The French’s provision of childcare was due to the existence of the ecoles maternelles or preschools. Childcare policies in France included both day care services for women’s employment and cash benefits which were to encourage women to stay at home. France has also developed family policies which aimed at targeting and favour large families. However in terms of elderly care, their policies have remained undeveloped. From the early 2000, than when France began to develop policies which were aimed at dealing with long term care needs of the dependent elderly (Morel, N. (2007).

Germany and the Netherlands mostly remained to the traditional male bread winner model but recently those women with small children were expected to stay at home rather than work. The principle of subsidiary is still strong and childcare services being provided by voluntary welfare organisations. Germany and the Netherlands recently, began to invest more in child care services. These two countries provided care for the elderly since a long time ago and Germany only set up the fifth of its social insurance scheme aiming at dealing with dependency in 1994. Even these countries has cultural and policy differences, they all followed similar patterns of reform (Morel, N. (2007).

The idea of the breadwinner model in the Netherlands was the strongest but it all changed in the 1980s when the number of working women began to increase. Childcare in the Netherland s began to be developed during the 1990s and this was said to be a solution to the so called the Dutch disease/ problem. Netherlands remained conservative welfare regime on its child care policies and did not translate to the transformation of the male bread winner model. They still consider that care should be provided by the family and they reduced the working time of parent so that they can both care and also work. Netherlands has also remained quite corporatist in its mode of provision. Elderly care has also been developed in the form of institutional care but recently, like other countries, it beginning to shift towards domiciliary care (Morel, N. (2007).

The Nordic welfare states and Sweden have the same problems between two principles; universalism and local autonomy. The implementation of universalism is a responsibility of highly independent local authority or welfare municipalities whereas the nature of universalism is established at a national level. The Nordic countries, in Esping Andersen’s terminology, represent the Social Democratic welfare state regime in which all citizens are incorporated under one universal system but in the social policy literature, the Nordic countries are placed in a special welfare state model which is a universal citizenship based model with a high level of generosity. The Nordic welfare system is based on the provision of high degree of universalism and equality. Another principle is the increasing of the state’s responsibility for the care of the children, the aged and disabled people while minimising the responsibly of families (Trydegard, G.B and Thorslund, M (2010)

The increase of the elderly population is an issue as the need of long term care is increasing in so many countries. The demand and support for long term care, considerations of fairness and equity have increased and this has also put pressure on the long term care expenditures. Furthermore the cost of care and support has also increased. The main issue which is causing long term care expenditure, in so many countries, is the growing number of the elderly in need of services.

Ferna?ndez, J.L and Forder, J. (2010).

The similarities that England, Sweden, Germany and France have, is that they all deliver nursing care, personal care, housekeeping help, technical assistance with domiciliary care, accommodation centres, nursing homes, day-care centres, geriatric hospitals, and psychiatric institutions for either temporary or permanent accommodation. All these countries also have the availability of financial benefits to pay some of the needs of individuals but their significance to the benefits is not the same in all the systems. Sweden’s social care for the elderly is based on the needs assessment which draws up the care package. The United Kingdom allows every individual who submits an application form to be assessed on their needs, services and the management of their circumstances (Le Bihan, B and Martin, C. 2006).

Focusing on the financial contribution of the elderly in Sweden and the United Kingdom, these two countries have the strategy of co-payments whilst France and Germany has the strategy of social assistance in the case of municipal caring. Sweden and the United Kingdom have some similarities in what the elderly has to contribute on their resources and the cost of their care plans and both the municipalities and local authorities establish the guidelines. Germany has the combination extensive system, which is for long term care insurance and supplementary system which is for those on lower incomes (Le Bihan, B and Martin, C. 2006).

To conclude Social Care policies that have been implemented by other countries have differences in the attitudes of the society in terms of uncertainty, inequality, transparency, citizenship and the role of unpaid care. Constitutional and financial arrangements also influences the way different countries develops their social care policies. On top of these differences are Constitutional and fiscal arrangements that influence the way in which social care policy develops in different countries

Literature highlights some of the challenges for social workers assessing and making decisions about African children and families whose cultures differ from the majority of the white population in United Kingdom. The critical evaluation of knowledge and research in child protection and prevention of child abuse in black African children is important to the forming of social work policy, services and appropriate intervention. This is because there is need to provide appropriate intervention services which are culturally sensitive but at the same time preventing child abuse. It is important that black African children perspectives form part of policies and legislation. Several authors have critically analysed the evidence on service provision for black families in general. A pathologising approach to black families may lead to unnecessary coercive intervention and on the other hand a cultural relativist approach may lead to a non-intervention when services are required (Dominelli 1997, Chand 2000).

The purpose of the review is to explore if the child protection system is effective in preventing child abuse in black African children and their families. By child protection, the review will be referring to all the agencies and services involved in protecting and preventing child abuse. By relating to theory and research, there is hope to uncover gaps, themes and debates and also, raise questions which can be useful for future research. The literature review starts by setting the parameters that is, defining the terms that will be used, such as, child protection and child abuse. The literature review goes to set the historical and theoretical context because it is important to know how long literature and research has existed on the topic and what has been happening including research on culture differences, poverty, power issues and child protection. The review goes on to address the theoretical perspectives on the topic to analyse the theories that form the knowledge base in research. The review goes on to look at the major findings in research and literature by exploring the key themes such as factors that impact African children that can result them in being involved in the child protection system for example, child rearing practices, poverty and limited knowledge in cultural practices by social work professionals. Finally the review will look at the anti-discriminatory practice and user-involvement to show how professionals can work sensitively and provide culture appropriate services.

The literature search

Child protection system aims to prevent situations that can result in a child or young person aged sixteen and under experience abuse that puts them in danger of not developing appropriately or losing their life (Save the Children UK, 2008). The abuse can fall under the category of child abuse which could be in form of neglect, emotional, physicals and sexual, (Woolfson et al 2009). The search involved these terms. After establishing the specific area to be reviewed; the focus was on black African children and the child protection system. The area of child protection and black African children is a controversial area that has been neglected in literature and research and there is need to analyse themes and identify gaps in literature. The sources selected were journals, books, government records and articles. Electronic search engines were used because they provided a readily available wide range of literature and research articles which have been accepted for publishing. These sources were used as evidence and source of information because they had been accepted for publishing hence they would not provide with false information.

Review of the literature

Historical Context

In setting the historical context, the most important development in child protection is the formulation of the Children Act 1989 which was influenced by the public inquiries of the 1970s and 1980s child deaths, for example, the Maria Cowell. The Act stressed that the Local Authority’s duty is to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. However, research into how the Children Act was being put into action found that the child protection system was still focusing on single incidents of child abuse rather than planning to meet the wider requirements of children in need (DoH, 1995a). The studies also noted that many children and families received little or no support, the assessment of risk was low (Stevenson, 1998) and ignored the influences of poverty, unemployment and poor housing. This meant that a new way in thinking was needed about working with families. The result was publication of the Framework for Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (DoH et al, 2000) and Working Together to Safeguard Children (DoH et al, 1999).

A Common Assessment framework was also developed to promote more effective earlier identification of children’s additional needs and improve inter-agency working. A review into previous deaths of children indicates failures to listen to children, sharing of information, follow procedures and recognising indicators of abuse. The main response to the deaths of children due to local authorities’ failures has been to seek bureaucratic solutions such as introducing new guidelines, laws and procedures (Ferguson, 2005). However, the Laming 2003 enquiry into the tragic death of Victoria Climbie in 2000 is particularly significant because it pointed out the inter-agency approach established after Maria Cowell’s death in 1973 was not followed and it considered implications for the whole of the child protection system (Batty, 2003). Laming (2003) highlights the misjudgements made on the Climbie’s case based on cultural assumptions that led to a tragedy. However, Garret (2006) argues that the Laming report (2003) appears to detach a child’s race from core assessments and this was echoed in the Every Child Matters which appears to mention very little about the needs of children from other races. After the Victoria Climbie enquiry there has been recent death of children known to social services such as, baby P (2007) and Khyra Ishaq (2008). This begs the question, where is the child protection system going wrong? There are debates on how to provide social work interventions and family support that are culturally sensitive and competent to African children and their families who are at risk of significant harm (Stobart, 2006; Holland 2004, Robinson 2007; Mama 2004). This was highlighted in the Laming Progress Report (2009) which set out challenges faced in safeguarding children such as: “aˆ¦ there is still need to improve knowledge and skills to understand children and their family circumstances. Also the laming report noted that despite the progress in inter-agency working there are still problems of day to day reality of working across organisational boundaries and cultureaˆ¦ “, Laming Progress Report (2009). When reviewing literature it is important to note that there is a sparse of research on black African children and the child protection system in the Britain hence it is difficult to set out the historical and theoretical context. Where research and literature exists, the data is still not plausible because it is mixed with other research data from minority ethnic populations and their experience differs widely.

Theoretical and research perspectives that shape knowledge

Different theories and perspectives inform knowledge base in literatures surrounding African children and the child protection system. When researching this area there is need to look at experiences of African people and their involvement with child protection hence researchers can use the black perspective which is based on the notion of common experiences that black people share. The black perspective criticises repressive research and theories that are likely to oppress black people, (Robinson 2007). African families will always refer to their culture as frame of reference to their parenting capacities (Bernard and Gupta, 2008) and understanding and acknowledgement of the black frame of reference will enable social workers to come up with accurate and comprehensive assessments of African black children involved with the child protection system, (Robinson 2007). Other literature is based on the ecological perspective and highlights the importance to analyse the impacts of social exclusion, poverty and immigration on black African children and their families, (Gibbs and Huang 2003). However, Robinson 1998 argues that there is a danger of over-generalising and stereotyping because individual members from the same culture can behave differently from the pattern that is typical of that culture. However, other researchers argue that postmodern theories have gained popularity in social work, (Pease and Fook 1999; Leonard 1997). Researchers have argued against postmodern theories who want a better understanding of identity, combining personal with structural elements of living (Dominelli 2002; Graham 2002), drawing on the idea of what holds people together, (Badiou 2001). The lack of appropriate preventative support services which are culture sensitive often result in social work operating against the interests of black children involved in child protection, (Barn 1993, Graham 2002). Social work has operated within a problem oriented framework which is characterised by deficit and dysfunctional theories of black families (Robinson 2008).

Major finding in literature and research

Research agrees that black African children and their families are disproportionately represented in child protection (Graham, 2006; Barn et al 1997; Bernard and Gupta 2008). When looking at experiences of black African children and their families and how best to offer them appropriate intervention it is important to acknowledge background in terms of religion, culture, language and beliefs (Bernard and Gupta 2008; Gibbs and Huang 2003; Robinson 2007). Research shows that black African families may experience oppression and discrimination within the child protection system (Chand, 2008). A lot of literature appears to draw attention to the parenting in African families and how their culture is neglected in a lot researches and there is little empirical evidence especially about African parenting in Britain (Bernard, 2002; Graham 2006). Parenting by African families is entwined into an already debate of what constitutes child abuse (Francis, 1993; Chand 2000). Barn, 2002 argues that child abuse is a socially constructed phenomenon and most of literature surrounding child abuse is based on western society’s views and middle-class. This can lead to discrimination and stereotypes towards African families’ rearing practices and lead to unwanted intervention and social care involvement. There is well documented literature focused on how culture influence parenting of African families involved with child protection system, (Brophy et al 2003, Bernard, 2002; Graham 2006). However, the empirical research is limited but the little data that exists poses the notion that cultural practices appear to play some part in African children being involved in the child protection system, (Mama, 2004). Literature suggests that African families practice harsh punishment for children, however, Barn et al 2006; Thoburn et al 2005; Nobes and Smith 1997, challenge such stereotypes and in their study, they found no significant differences between ethnic groups with regard to physical punishment. However, these studies cannot be generalised to African families easily because the majority of the participants where white parents.

There is gap in research on the parenting by black African families and a recurrent theme in literature is the need to acknowledge cultural and social contexts of parenting and experience of African black families to make sense of child abuse and provide appropriate intervention for children and families involved in the child protection system, (Holland 2004, Robinson 2007, Stobart 2006). A focus on ethnicity or identity, preclude issues of power and oppression operating in the everyday experiences of children’s lives to be appreciated, (Graham, 2007). Research found that most black African families live in poverty and social exclusion and how this impacts on parenting, (Bernard and Gupta 2008; Gibbs and Huang 2003; Robinson 2007; Platt, 2007). A study of more than 7,000 children looked after by 13 Local Authorities found that children who were not of the white origin where more likely to be put into care due to poverty (Sinclair et al, 2007). Sinclair et al’s study is very important because it is a comprehensive qualitative study which focuses on the needs of children in care systems involving their perspectives and investigates the outcomes for children. The study also suggests how the care system should function and managed which is important to social work professionals and policy makers. However, data produced cannot be easily generalised to the entire population of African children because their experiences varies.

There has been research critically examining the treatment of asylum seeking children and the child protection system and there is argument between the Children Act 1989 and immigration legislation and policy and Jones (2001) argues that ‘social work profession singularly failed to provide critical scrutiny on the status and relationship of immigration and child care law and the erosion of children’s rights’. Other researchers agree with Jones, that vulnerability of asylum seeking children has emotional and legal aspects, (Woodcock, 2003; Chase, 2009). Kohli 2006, argues that legislation obstruct the provision of preventative services to vulnerable children and their families. Research has highlighted the fragility of African children who claim asylum such as having suffering trauma due to their circumstances that led them to claim asylum such as war and torture, (Hodes, 2000, 2002; Ehntholt and Yule, 2006; Dyregrov and Yule, 2006). Research shows that there is a gap in research on asylum seeking children and social work to inform practice, (Kohli and Mather 2003; Okitikpi and Aymer 2003). Rustin 2005, states that there is a complicated interaction between social workers’ knowledge in asylum seeking children and the existing stereotypes regarding these groups of service-users, (Bernard and Gupta 2008; Robinson 2007; Barn 1993; Owen and Statham 2009).

Bernard and Gupta (2008) go on to cite other factors that affect African children such as asylum seeking, AIDS, loss and separation and this is important because when providing intervention to African children there is need to comprehend their background to offer appropriate services which do not discriminate them any further. Young (1990) states that black children often experience multiple-oppression for example, they suffer from stereotypes from society and also they are invisible to the child protection system. Graham (1999) goes on to argue that intervention with African families is at the centre of wider debates and conflict; and evidence from research continues to show over-representation of African children and their families in child protection. The debates seem to focus on power imbalances and how to involve African families to gain control over their lives, (Graham, 1999; Young, 1990). Other researchers highlight the issues of language in child protection and the provision of appropriate intervention services, (Chand 2000, Ahmed et al, 1982). The use of children as translators in sensitive child protection issues is unethical and inappropriate, and also the use of an interpreter can distort the assessment process, (Chand, 2000). Bernard and Gupta (2008) go further to look at other factors that affect black African children that other literature seems to neglect such as how gender norms place women in an inferior position within African cultures and this can limit mothers to protect their children in the environment of domestic violence, however Owen and Statham (2009) argues that the is limited evidence to maintain or challenge this notion. Nevertheless, in Masson et al (2008) study, domestic violence was evidenced as a cause of concern in the court files of half the children of Black African mothers implicated in their study of care proceedings.

Research and evidence from Climbie enquiry propose that social work professionals involved with black and minority ethnic families might not act in child abuse cases because of fear of being regarded as a racist (Scorer, 2005; Bernard and Gupta, 2006). Nevertheless, literature and research fail to provide a large amount of evidence to support this notion for example, Gordon and Gibbons (1998) in their study found no differences between ethnicity in terms of children being placed on the child protection register and factors such as parents’ mental health problems, criminal activities or the child not fitting in a reconstituted family were the reasons for involvement than ethnicity (Williams and Soydan, 2005). However, Selwyn et al 2008 found that social work professionals were more uncertain and occasionally puzzled regarding how best to promote the needs of ethnic children and they felt further self-doubting in their assessment. Recurring themes in literature is the significance of social work professionals to build up on culturally sensitive work with black and ethnic families (Gray et al., 2008; Sue, 2006; Laird, 2008; Stirling et al., 2009; Hodge, 2001).

Anti-discriminatory perspectives and the incorporation of knowledge from service users

Thompson, (2008) states that anti-discriminatory practice has been used in Britain to account for good practice in social work to counter structural disadvantages however, Graham 1999, argues that anti-discriminatory practice fails to provide a knowledge base for social work that is ‘engaged in the collective development of the black community’. Professionals can indirectly oppress African children and their families through practice for example, by imposing their personal values or power, (Dominelli 2007). Research and literature talks about the child protection providing cultural sensitive services and training social work professionals have the knowledge and skills in working with different cultures. However this can actually create further oppression and social divisions. The majority of the workers will have dominant Eurocentric views which encourage further social divisions for example, excepting the view that African families live in poverty and not fight and challenge this view by providing services that help families to counter these structural inequalities in society. Dominelli (2007) argues that there is need to address the systems that reaffirm racist dynamics rather than challenging them. Dominelli (1992) argues that black children and families are over-represented in the controlling aspects of social work and under-represented in the welfare aspects of social work.

Problems with communication and working in partnership have been highlighted in literature. Chase’s (2009) study found that young people described complex relationships with social workers and other social care professionals and were also more mistrustful of the interplay between social care and immigration services. There is limited research that incorporates service user involvement (Buchanan 2007; Bernard 2002) taking in their lived experiences however, an important study by Chase 2009 found that young people often described complex relationships with social workers and other social care professionals and were also more mistrustful of the interplay between social care and immigration services. Recent policy has tried to enforce advocacy as a way of promoting social justice and incorporate disadvantaged groups’ views on the services that are appropriate for them. In Bowes and Sims (2006) empirical study, they found that black and minority ethnic communities gave support to advocacy services, however, they were still marginalised by the services they were already using. There appears to be a need of qualitative research and literature that includes an extensive study of black African children’s perspectives and experiences, (Graham 2007) which forms a value base to inform practice in social work.

Relevance to policy and practice

Using the ecological approach the Framework For Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (DoH, 2000), places a requirement on social work professionals to take account of cultural background and socio-economic positions of families paying attention to power imbalances in relationships, (Dalrymple and Burke, 1995). Dalrymple and Burke (1995) argue that an understanding is needed of the association between personal experience and structural realism of inequality. Therefore service users perspectives should form part of policies and legislation respecting and literature highlights that children’s rights may still lack from policy and legislation, therefore, these notions challenge professionals to take children’s views seriously and appreciate their contribution to research, (Aubrey and Dahl 2006). Lots of research appears to focus on empowerment through cultural knowledge inviting new thinking about the challenges faced by black communities, (Aubrey and Dahl 2006). The complex social circumstances experienced by many African families pose challenges for social work professionals working to safeguard and promote children’s welfare.

In order to safeguard and promote welfare of African children acknowledgement of sources of discrimination and oppression, a commitment to human rights and social justice must be met.

Several authors have critically analysed the evidence on service provision for black families in general. A pathologising approach to black families may lead to unnecessary coercive intervention and on the other hand a cultural relativist approach may lead to a non-intervention when services are required (Dominelli 1997, Chand 2000). Either way appropriate intervention is not provided for black and ethnic minority children. The quality of services in black communities is a focus for debate and raises important issues about the lack of policy initiatives based upon needs and aspirations of local communities (Graham, 2002). By drawing on strengths perspective professionals can illuminate how parents draw on cultures as a resource to parents in circumstance of adversity whilst not excusing behaviour that is harmful to children.

Conclusions

There is gaps in research on child protection and black African families and a recurrent theme in literature is the need to acknowledge cultural and social contexts of parenting and experience of African black families to make sense of child abuse and provide appropriate intervention for children and families involved in the child protection system, (Holland 2004, Robinson 2007, Stobart 2006). Research shows that there is a gap in research on asylum seeking children and social work to inform practice, (Kohli and Mather 2003; Okitikpi and Aymer 2003). There is need for research centred on black African children and there is also need to involve them in forming of policies, challenging the notion that only ethnicity causes the experiences faced by African children. This is because by having cultural sensitive intervention, there can be reinforcement of stereotypical services and discrimination ignoring other things such as gender, age and class.

This paper will reveal various research findings of children under the age of six who has witness or has been the victims of domestic violence. Some of the research found will reveal that by witnessing domestic violence in many forms has proven to be very harmful to the children and many of the children has lifetime scars as a result. Many of the findings will indicate that the child’s social, cognitive behavior and physical development has affected the way the child responds in certain situations. This paper will generate awareness that these children can live a productive life if caught in time and the necessary provisions and assistance is provided. Statistics and data will show that there are as many unreported numbers as there are reported numbers of domestic violence in young children. There will be a number of references to show the much research that has been conducted relating to the abuse witnessed by young children and also research to show the increased number of abuse that young children experience from domestic violence.

How Domestic Violence Affect the Lives of Children

This research paper is intended to address issues of abused children and how domestic violence affects their lives in so many different ways. Domestic violence can happen to anyone. Domestic violence is defined as the pattern of abusive and threatening behaviors that may include physical, emotional, economic and sexual violence as well as intimidation, isolation and coercion. There are many ways that children can experience abuse.

Children exposed to overwhelming and potentially traumatic events early in their lives are considered ataˆ?risk for problems in adjustment. Yet it is not known whether it is the age of first exposure (AFE) to violence or the amount of violence that the child witnessed in their lifetime that has the greatest impact on adjustment. For a sample of 190 children ages 6 to 12 exposed to intimate partner violence, their mothers reported that the average length of their abusive relationship was 10 years. The majority of children were first exposed to family violence as infants at 64 percent, with only 12 percent first exposed when schoolaˆ?aged. However, in regression analyses controlling for child sex, ethnicity, age, and family environment variables, cumulative violence exposure accounted for greater variance in adjustment than did the age of first exposure. Furthermore, cumulative violence exposure mediated the relationship between the age of first exposure and externalizing behavior problems, indicating that the cumulative exposure to intimate partner violence outweighed the age of first exposure in its effect on child adjustment (Grahamaˆ?Bermann & Perkins, 2010).

Domestic violence can sometimes go undetected, and can sometimes be missed if it is not visible. Sometimes it can be seen in their actions and how they interact with the other children. Sometimes small children are bitters and they bite as a way of protecting themselves. The statistics above shows that 64 percent of children exposed to violence were in their infancy stage. The child’s character is shaped in their early years by the parent or parents. This is where they receive their first level of education. The children learn to model their parent’s behavior and develop life’s lessons from their parents. So when domestic violence is witnessed in the home, the child learns that manner of behavior as well. Therefore, the child is able to learn violence at an early age. The first year of a child life is the infancy stage. This is the stage when the child shows rapid growth physically, psychologically, socially and developmentally. The child’s brain is developing at an alarming rate and so the child is able to comprehend what is going on around them. They might not know how to explain it, but they know what is going on.

More and more children are witnessing and experiencing domestic violence. Domestic violence does not just happen to poor people, it happens to anybody regardless of the social or economic status. Domestic violence is great among boys, because they feel it gets them what they want. And among the girls, they are at a risk of feeling the violence is normal in relationships. Therefore, as young children, both boys and girls grow up feeling that domestic violence is part of life and to experience it in relationships is normal for them and they expect it from their relationship as they grow up and to some degree it makes them feel like they are in control.

Children experience a wide range of exposure to domestic violence and they always feel that they are somehow responsible for it happening in their homes. They develop a sense of guilt and they experience a great deal of anxiety. Because they do not know how to express how they feel, they sometimes become withdrawn and have a develop sleeping problems and sometimes, especially in small children, might awake from their sleep crying as a result of what they have witnessed relating to domestic violence. Children who are exposed to domestic violence, especially repeated incidents of violence, are at risk for many difficulties, both immediately and in the future. These include problems with sleeping, eating and other basic bodily functions; depression, aggressiveness, anxiety and other problems in regulating emotions; difficulties with family and peer relationships; and problems with attention, concentration and school performance (Holt, Buckley, & Whelan, 2008).

Children under the age of 6 years old were at greater risk of direct sensory exposure.

Domestic violence households with children were more likely to be low-income, non-White, and headed by a single female, compared to households at large. Police collected data on the demographic characteristics of the victim, characteristics of the incident, and whether children were present. Results showed that 44 percent of all substantiated domestic violence events had children present. These children were more likely to be from ethnic minority households and 47 percent of them were less than 6 years old (Evans, Davies & DiLillo, 2008).

Childhood exposure to domestic violence appears to produce many of the same developmental consequences, although these are generally less well documented. For example, children exposed to DV have higher than average rates of cognitive, psychological, and emotional impairments (Fantuzzo,& Fusco, 2007). These children are left traumatized because of what they see happening during the course of the violent actions. It leaves some children severely damaged. They are not only witnessing the violence, but they are sometimes the ones that are violated. They feel that they are the ones that cause this to happen and are left feeling void and alone.

Interventions that help children are usually those that help parents to increase their own safety and to increase the resources available to provide safety for their children. Child abuse, youth violence and domestic violence are inextricably interwoven. The presence of domestic violence in a child’s life not only hurts the child, it has reaching effects on all of society. Community based interventions may be the best hope for families in our society struggling with violence in their homes. Early education on the subject can help prevent the cycle of domestic violence from continuing (Holt, Buckley & Whelan, 2008).

In order to minimize the risk of long-term damage, child witnesses to domestic violence need the safety and security of their environment to be restored. Children exposed to domestic violence also need support from the adults around them, most importantly their own parents or other primary caregivers. Interventions that help children are usually those that help parents to increase their own safety and to increase the resources available to provide safety for their children. Child abuse, youth violence and domestic violence are inextricably interwoven. The presence of domestic violence in a child’s life not only hurts the child, it has reaching effects on all of society. Community based interventions may be the best hope for families in our society struggling with violence in their homes. Early education on the subject can help prevent the cycle of domestic violence from continuing. Health care workers, law enforcement officers, educators, domestic abuse and child welfare organization workers all play overlapping roles in the prevention and intervention of cases of harmful domestic violence. (Jaffe, Baker, & Cunningham, 2004).

Children who witness domestic violence may have impaired educational attainment as well as facing other challenges such as struggles with self-esteem and forming relationships. Two typical types of responses by children were identified: those who became quiet and withdrawn, and those who became loud and aggressive. There seemed to have been progress in terms of professional understanding and service responses regarding domestic violence, but there seemed to be limited structured cooperation between the professional groups in addressing the effects of domestic violence on children (Byrne & Taylor, 2007). When children are quiet and withdrawn, they tend to bottle everything up inside and after a while they will begin to experience other problems in their lives that will interfere with them socially and physiologically. It is especially bad on a young child because they don’t know how to express themselves and become angry and will sometimes lash out at other children as a means of venting their anger.

Exposed children showed lower verbal functioning and higher internalizing behaviors than did their non-exposed peers (Ybara, Wilkens, & Lieberman, 2007). Children that are bought up in violent homes will sometimes end of hating their parents and develop bad feelings to towards them and will in some instances rebel against them. They start to feel that they have been let down by both parents and as a result of what they have witnessed or experience will believe that they always have to protect themselves and be on their guard to not allow anyone else to harm them and they can become dangerous to themselves and others.

Children were present in nearly 50 percent of the domestic violence events. They were disproportionately present in domestic violence household as compared to all other households in the municipality. Domestic violence households with children were more likely to have mothers and fathers involved in the violence and were disproportionately minority households headed by single females in relatively poor neighborhoods (Fantuzzo, Fusco, Mohr, & Perry, 2007). There are many ways that children can be exposed to domestic violence; they can see it, hear it or suffer domestic violence. They can also be used to do greater harm to the person that has been battered. For instance is a father is beating the mother, the father could demand that the child hit the mother as well. That makes them both batterers.

Domestic violence does not just affect the abused spouse. The children living in the home are as victims as well even if the violence is not aimed directly towards them. Children who are raised in the homes where domestic violence is practiced are 60 percent. They are more likely to get involved in juvenile delinquency and 30 percent more likely to become a perpetrator of abuse when they turn into adults (Martin, 2011, p.292).

More research is also needed that fol­lows children into adulthood to assess the effects of violence on their long-term health and well-being. Such research would complement those studies, such as the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study discussed earlier, that have taken a retrospective look at the effects of adverse childhood experiences. The National Sur­vey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) findings affirm that more needs to be done to measure children’s exposure to violence on an ongoing and systematic basis using public surveillance mechanisms, including follow-up surveys and long-term monitoring (Kracke & Hahn, 2008).

Nearly one-half (46.3 percent) of all the children surveyed were physically assault­ed within the previous year, and more than one-half (56.7 percent) had been assaulted during their lifetime. Physical assaults are extremely common across the entire span of childhood and peak during middle childhood. Assaults by sib­lings especially show a marked develop­mental trend, peaking during the middle childhood years (ages 6 to 9) and then declining. Incidence for the most severe assaults, however, rises steadily with age (Finkelhor, Turner, Ormond & Hamby, 2009). This research was very alarming to know that the number of children, youths and adolescents would and have been assaulted in their lifetime. If the child is assaulted during the early stages of their life, it is likely it will follow then throughout their lifetime.

NatSCEV found that witnessing violence was a common occurrence for children, particularly as they grew older. Over­all, more than one-quarter of children surveyed (25.3 percent) had witnessed violence in their homes, schools, and communities during the past year; and more than one-third (37.8 percent) had witnessed violence against another per­son during their lifetimes. The proportion of children who witnessed violence both within the past year and during their life­times rose from one age group to the next (Finkelhor, Turner, Ormond & Hamby, 2009).

Rates for witness­ing family violence were fairly constant across the span of childhood, with all age groups falling in a fairly narrow range of approximately 6 to 11 percent. Over the course of their lifetimes, boys overall were slightly more likely than girls to witness violence (40.1 percent of boys and 35.4 percent of girls). Boys were more likely to witness violence in the commu­nity, murder, and shootings both in the past year and during their lifetimes. There were no gender differences in witnessing family violence (Finkelhor, 2009).

In the past, I have as a Court Advocate for Women affected by Domestic Violence. I have witnessed and counseled many that have indicated that their children were present during their domestic violence disputes. In some cases, the children were injured as a result and there were cases of domestic violence committed against the women by their own children. These children had grown up in an abusive environment and had become the abusers. If the mother is abused during the pregnancy, it is likely that the effect on the unborn will be destined that they will turn out as an abuser.

The children are sometimes removed from the homes and placed into foster homes or both the mother and children are placed in shelters for their safety. The signs that the child is living in a violent home setting is sometimes hidden. When the child is young the child will have multiple behavior problems. Small children will become bitters and cry continuously. They will wet in their pants and they will become disruptive to other children. They are restless and they become withdrawn and alienate themselves from other children. When they are at play with other children, they feel a need to always be in control. They fight often to stay in control and power.

These children also suffer nightmares and wake up yelling and screaming in their sleep.

Some of the children that have suffered from domestic violence are also known to become autistic and perform at a much lower learning and comprehension than children that have never been exposed to domestic violence. They are defiant in school setting. It is known that they have excessive temper tantrums, they become easily irritable, their concentration is off, and they show no interest in any social activities.

There have been many facilities built to assist the human service professionals to be able to work with children that have been exposed to domestic violence. Some of these services include: crisis intervention, shelters, victim advocate programs, court accompaniment and several others. Children are not able to make their own decisions and so there are court appointed professionals that are assigned to make sure the child is placed in a safe environment.

In my conclusion, as a Marriage and Family Counselor, I will do the best job as I can as a professional to ensure that my clients receive the best professional service I can provide. It is important in my profession to treat each person with the utmost urgency and know that they are most important to my practice. As I did the research on the children and how domestic violence affected their lives, I did not realize the number of children that were damaged by domestic violence and the different effects that it had on their lives. Not only does it affect their lives, but the lives of others that surround them. It has a great effect on their education, community and their environment. I plan to work hard to make a difference in the lives of children, youths and families with a great emphasis on the at-risk population.

All countries developed and are developing, have a culture. A culture in turn can be represented by such things as a person use of language, choice of clothing and media and advertising portrayals. These representations reflect a mix of influences and influence how people treat one another.

There is not enough support from the government when we look at the case of Sabine Akhtar , she was 26 year of age and was stabbed through the heart by her husband Malik Mannan in Manchester in 2008 and police had previously arrested him twice and gave him a order to stay away from his wife but no charge had been brought the 36 year old husband and the police made a wrong decision in failing to charge the husband at an earlier stage. (BBC 2009)

The British Crime Survey (BCS) measurement of the culture effect on domestic violence is different to the police statistics according to the statistic. The culture effect on domestic violence plays an important role here

The aim of my research is to define how the culture has an effect on domestic violence in UK. Over the last 3 years the Coventry Refugee Centre has changed my life I learnt too many things about the different culture of many countries.

In UK domestic violence is affecting women and children lives. For many women home is where they face an abusive of relationship at hands of somebody really close to them. They suffer a long term of physical and psychological. They haven’t got any chance to make their own decision and voice their opinions cannot even protect them as well as their children.

This research seeks to determine the different impact of cultural effect on domestic violence in women and children in UK. It will also assess the impact of domestic violence towards the physical and mental health of women and children in UK.

The beliefs of abused women may be part of the reason and woman accepts the violence and stays in the relationship for example witnessing physical abuse during ones childhood may predispose some women to believe that it is tolerable in adulthood. Woman who witnessed parental abuse as children tended to be more depressed which may put them at greater risk for tolerating abuse. (Davis 1998) as he noted specifically that such woman tended to replicate to their parents violence and this may teach them that a passive response is the best. As the (Home Office 2008) statistic shows that 54 % of woman in persistently abusive relationships had witness’s parental abuse. Woman’s cognitive and psychological development may be affected by parental abuse in such a way as to place her at increased risk of victimization. One reason that woman stay is that they may believe that their husbands have the right to beat the

Key literature

Research literature identifies the following risks factors of domestic violence that can be faced by minority ethnic women:

Endorsement of patriarchal views of marriage and woman’s sexual autonomy

Members of a community or family not intervening in cases of domestic violence

Isolation from the rest of their community

Immigration and asylum legislation that increase dependence on their partner

Changes in status, gender roles and traditional supports following migration

The low income has also been identified a risk factor for domestic violence and minority ethnic. Woman has a greater risk of living in poverty than majority ethnic women (Newburn 2003)

These risk factors also act as barriers to leaving a violent relationship and or even seeking support. Patriarchal norms lead to associations of stigma and shame with leaving a violent relationship. An d also restrictive immigration laws have been identified as a trap for immigrant woman experiencing domestic violence and in response to this issue many countries have adapted their immigration laws to include domestic violence concessions. Minority ethnic women can face discrimination from the majority culture while simultaneously experiencing sexism against them from both the majority group and their own minority ethnic community. This racism and sexism can also make it more difficult to seek for help. Fear that the perpetrators may be arrested or fears to immigration status and lack of trust in the police all acts ad deterrents to seeking support from the police for minority ethnic women.

According to the statistic the media has been considered one of many contributing factors in domestic violence. It has been criticized for its portrayal of violence in movies, television and printed form resulting in the desensitization of people with regard to their tolerance of violence. on the other hand the media has also been used a modern communication tool in increasing public awareness of domestic violence and increasing support for ongoing research, funding education and prevention and treatment programs and support for improvement in the laws the criminal justice system and the public policy.

The impact of income inequality and social structure may also crate more domestic violence to women’s. Men’s unemployment or part time employment has been associated with increased rates of domestic violence. (Natalie, Sokoloff and Pratt 2005) Recent study found that unemployment was a significant predictor of violence. That suggested that some men might perceive employment as a critical component of their masculine identity and resort to violence as an effort regain lost status.

Some studies report that middle class Asian women are more likely to experience domestic violence than white middle class women among some ethnic and racial minority groups are attributable in part to poverty. Some research has suggested that the discrepancy between employment and income places women at risk. When women earn more than men or have a higher education qualification and employment skills, many men feel psychologically threatened and some use violence to reassert power in their relationship (Lockton and Richard 1997)

Immigrants coming to the UK seeking a better quality of life for themselves and their families but the barriers they face are tremendous. Fearing deportation and or the loss of her children and women may be intimidated by her partner’s threat to report her to the UK Immigration and Naturalization service. She may not realize that the domestic violence is against the law that she has the legal option to stop the battering and those agencies and community resources are available to support her. Different countries and cultures may have their own values and attitudes toward a woman place family, marriage, sex roles and divorce

Domestic violence against women occurs in families from all cultural and ethnic groups (Roberts 2003) and intervention policies and practices in treating battered women should accommodate their diverse cultural backgrounds

According to the British Crime Survey statists shows that one in five women have experienced domestic violence in their lifestyle and many of these women ended their relationship because of abusive relationship. . According to the survey shows that woman chose to stay in abusive relationship because of fear if they attempt to leave, they will be tracked down and beaten or killed because of this the most women think that any prison time would be temporary and the subsequent and consequences even worse.

When it comes to the culture effect on domestic violence Uganda has the highest crime rates of domestic violence, 41 % of women reported being beaten or physically harmed by their husbands. This is because related to the economic factor as well as different life styles and culture differences in Uganda.

Methodology

” research is a complex process, rooted in philosophy in terms of what is there to know and how do we go about knowing it .” ( Jewell 2007-2008, 4.4 p 71 -72) I will be dealing with human rather than materials and in order to finish my dissertation and I have to understand the behaviour of the women’s with different culture and belief and religion e.g. As I spent of my two years at the Coventry Refugee Centre as an Interpreter and Case worker this gave a good knowledge about diverse people and I understand their opinions and feelings. It will be easier for me to do my interview by using my experience in the past. To describe this philosophy Saunders said that “the challenge here is to enter the social world of our research subjects and understand their world as their point of view”.

To complete my research I will use three data collection methods:

Secondary data
Interview
Questionnaires

The secondary date will be used from books, articles to update my literature review to have the best knowledge and to understanding of the general theory aspect on culture effect on domestic violence. I will also get some help from the Coventry Refugee Centre by going on their websites and speak to them face to face when needed. This secondary date will help me to designing the interview questions in order to get the best answers.

I will also organise some face to face semi structured interview to understand the effect of culture on domestic violence. I will also use internet search for this search. I have already offered my help to victim support to work for them without getting any paid and hopefully this work placement will give me more about the victim of domestic violence in order to finish my dissertation.

I will do some questionnaires to assess the domestic violence this will provide me a good feedback about the domestic violence and the trust in the police and Criminal Justice System. These questioners will provide me some quantitative date in order to get the best possible answers these questioners will given to the random women’s.

Qualitative result from interview I will use them in a two different ways first I will compare it to the secondary data which is (theory) secondly to the questionnaire results (practice) will examine the peoples view on domestic violence.

Results that taken from the questionnaires will be quantitative. The statistic will give me an opportunity analyses the results in order to create some charts, graphs and pies.

Sample

As I worked as an interpreter and case worker at the Coventry Refugee Centre it is easy for me to access into the centre and get the support that I need. I chosen my participant through my experience place because my topic is based on culture effect on domestic violence there are many women been victim of domestic violence in their home countries. I will hopefully do my interview at the Refugee centre everything will be confidential and no one will be allowed to see it. However there are some difficulties to do this interview. I will try to arrange an interpreter for them in order to finish my research proposal.

Ethnical issues

A different example is research on domestic violence for example interviews with those who haven abused to determine the effects of such violence or surveys of how frequently such episodes take place (husbands being violent to their wives or children and wives being abusive towards their husbands). Research on domestic violence investigation topic that are private and stressful and because of this have the potential to cause further pain harm to individual who are already experiencing abuse. It may also expose incriminating information and expose individual to risk. Therefore I need to be fully prepared to deal with the likely effects of the research for example the effects on participants on their families on the researches themselves (conduction such research may be distressing) and on the implications of the research for legislation.

Another example of a sensitive issue the false memory and recovered memory debate( ) over the past 20 years the famous memory psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has written about the validity of recovered memories of childhood abuse. These memories commonly come to light only after therapeutic sessions with people who use techniques such as guided imagery to explore early life experience. This domestic violence research is socially sensitive because there are potential consequences for people who have claimed to have recovered memories and for their families. Therefore to complete my research some ethnical rules that I have to take into account and consideration in order to achieve the best results. I will sign the ethics checklist and compliance form and will sign it will give it to my supervisor.

And also the questions that I will ask during the interview have to approve by my tutor. For each interview that I will ask for a signed agreement as a proof for my research. Interview data may be confidential therefore I have to keep this data and let anyone else to see it. Then I will show my questionnaire to my supervisor before I giving them out to the people.

I will be dealing with woman with cultural views, being sensitive to other cultures is easier said than done. Cultural sensitivity has nothing to with the art and music of a culture and almost everything to do with respect, shared decision making and effective communication. Too often researches ignore these values, the life style and the cognitive and affective world of the subject.

Reflection

I have learnt too many things about the research method and technique that are used in it. Having completed this research that based on culture effect on domestic violence improved my argument skills in a paper. Using and collecting the data’s and example of statistics my arguments has become much better than what it used to be. And a reader will take my arguments more seriously.

My researching skills also improved in a positive way during this research proposal. In previous researches for my study I used to stuck on how to gather information but now I am able to use a largely different of sources I can now understanding the topic more widely and it also helps me to make a better argument. In my opinion this research my best research paper that I dine in my life the grade that I will get for it might not show a good grade but what I learned from it will benefit for my future researches. I spent about two days just for doing then actual research. It will be useful for the next year when it come to the dissertation by using these new techniques that I have learnt from this research proposal my arguments will hopefully more clearer and will be more apparent. How to write a research proposal will benefit me in future lessons in my life from this view of benefit I will be able to give good examples about the topic that I do I will also be able to give and create a better argument for research proposal. When you come to the conclusion for your research you than start thinking that you have achieved something that will be useful in future to support your studies.

To do my dissertation I have to stay focus on my chosen topic in order to complete it by using different skills that I have learned from this research proposal.