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Much of the researches available on young parenthood have focused on the experiences of teenage mothers and mainly those separated from the young fathers. Subsequently, efforts have been made to ascertain the proportional involvement of fathers in various aspects of parenting and the distinctive contributions of fathers (knight et. Al, 2006). There are significant gaps in the provision of service for teenage fathers (Cater et al 2006). Practitioners wishing to offer support for the young fathers face a number of barriers such as the difficultly in finding young fathers, the lack of adequate support for young fathers when they are identified, complicated family issues, educational difficulties and the negative attitudes of individual professionals.

Despite the growing research on young fathers, there remains a dearth of research that recognises the wide diversity of young fatherhood and the different needs young fathers may have (e.g. young fathers in care, young fathers in prison, non-resident fathers, young fathers from ethnic minority groups). Young fathers are invisible as a group, yet they are more likely to require support services and be affected by unemployment, poor housing, and a lack of education (Speak et al., 1997). It is therefore not surprising that little is known about the expectations and experiences of young fathers in accessing support and the barriers they face.

The study arose from the observation that there is limited information available in current research on the views and experiences of young fathers in Outer London Borough. Much of the research that is available on young parents focuses on the experiences of young mothers. This study sought to establish, from the perspective of young fathers and the organisations that worked with them their expectations and experiences in accessing support and the effectiveness of the support available.

Research questions

How accessible and effective are the support available to young fathers in meeting their socio-economic needs in Outer London Borough?

Aims

The aims of my research are:

to identify which organisations are offering support to young fathers and how they worked with them;

to explore young fathers’ view of support available to them and the obstacles they face in accessing it;

to establish, from the view point of young fathers and the organisations that worked with them the effectiveness of the support.

Research methodology

The qualitative paradigm aims to understand the social world from the viewpoint of respondents, through detailed descriptions of their cognitive and symbolic actions, and through the richness of meaning associated with observable behavior (Wildemuth, 1993).

The research would be undertaken using the following qualitative research techniques:

Desk scoping.

Structured interviews with young fathers and service providers.

Case study review of projects and initiatives that provide practical support to young fathers.

Desk Scoping

Desk Scoping focused on investigating into the existing evidence. This included searching the following sources:

An extensive search was made of all relevant databases, libraries and journals for literature sources pertaining to the project issue. In addition a comprehensive review of internet based literature and resources were made. Using the London South Bank University library online resources via http://library.lsbu.ac.uk, ASSIA (Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts), an electronic resource, was searched, 51 results were found using the term young parenthood (search was from 2001 to current), 33 results were found using the term teenage father (search was from 2002 to current to reduce the search result to a manageable number) and 9 results were found using the terms young father and support. ASSIA covers English language journals in applied social sciences and includes health, economics, social issues & social policy, organisational behaviour and communication.

Relevant governmental organisations’ websites were searched for information gathering.

As relevant reports were identified through these avenues, the references within these reports were followed as a way of further identifying relevant research reports.

Interviews

The most common forms of collecting qualitative data are participant observation and in-depth interviewing (Kenworth, Snowley & Gilling 2004). Cohen & Manion (1993) interviews are initiated by the reviewer for the specific purpose of obtaining research-relevant information and focused by (her or) him on content specified by research objectives of systematic description, prediction or explanation.

7 semi-structured interviews will be conducted with service delivery personnel from those organisations offering specialist support to young fathers (social services, connexions, parenting support, parentingUK, first housing, health agency, and employment support). These interviews would be conducted by telephone to identify common/different support practices and to evaluate their perceived effectiveness.

In addition to the interviews, local service providers would take part in informal meetings. Some would be interviewed at the start of the study and provide information on the local context. Others would provide ongoing dialogue during the time of the study, particularly those from maternity services in the study localities. A roundtable dissemination event would be held towards the end of the study to discuss findings and their relevance for local practice and policy.

A minimum of 10 semi-structured interviews would be held with young fathers (young fathers in care, young fathers in prison, non-resident fathers and young fathers from ethnic minority groups) who have either received or not received support. Due to the delicate nature of these interviews and the potential vulnerability of the participants, an appropriate qualified researcher, following the strictest ethical guidelines, will sensitively conduct interview. Prior to any interviews, the researcher will update their Child Protection Training to ensure that s/he is fully aware of current relevant issues.

The core themes to be explored through the structured interviews are:

identifying the support needs of young fathers;

local services available to young fathers, both practical and emotional;

partnership working among agencies that provide young fathers with support;

opportunities and challenges to providing practical support to young fathers.

Interview will be conducted in the participants’ homes and supported by adult family member or friend. Parental/guardian consent will be confirmed prior to the interview and all interviews will be recorded digitally. Data will be held in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Their names and other identifying information would be anonymised in the presentation of finding. The young people taking part would be assured in writing and verbally that the narratives they shared would be treated in confidence and that confidentiality would be breached only in the event of disclosure or child protection concerns being revealed regarding issues not already known to the relevant agencies.

A semi-structured interview will be used by the same researcher to ensure consistency; all interviews will be digitally recorded with consent and lasted between 20 and 60 minutes. Digital recording the interviews would enhance the reliability of the interview. Using semi-structured interviews in this study enables the interviewer to be guided by the participant who should be encouraged to talk freely, even though the interviewer may have certain points to cover.

Participant will be recruited in the following way:

Young fathers who have used organisations offering specialist (social services, connexions, parenting support, parentingUK, first housing, health agency, and employment support) support will be contacted via a list to be provided by the agencies and invited to join the study only after securing the young person’s agreement and parental/guardian consent. For others who have not used specialist services, would be recruited through their children’s mothers or via local contacts and word of mouth.

Young fathers will be encouraged to participate in the study, through awarding a ?10 ASDA voucher to all participants. Should sufficient participants be identified, selection through criteria including age, gender and ethnicity type will be made to ensure a broad representation of demographic groups.

Case Study

To explore in more depth the experiences of young fathers and to understand more fully the practice of those organisations offering activities to young fathers, three case studies were reviewed. These case studies are examples of projects or initiatives that provide practical support to young fathers. The aim of the review was to explore the range of approaches that have been developed to support the practical needs of young fathers, highlighting successes, challenges faced and lessons learned.

The findings reported here centre mainly on the experiences of becoming and being a father from the viewpoints of the young men involved in the case studies. Additionally the report includes some young women’s perspectives on the young men as fathers.

Research design

It is anticipated that in order to complement existing longitudinal survey data, the current study will employ primarily qualitative methods to explore the young fathers expectations and experiences in accessing support and the effectiveness of the support they receive. The aim of a qualitative researcher is to explore people’s experiences, feelings and beliefs so that statements about how people interpret and structure their lives can be made (Holloway & Wheeler 1996).

The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach would be used for this study and will provide an insight and understanding of young fathers expectations and experiences in accessing support and the effectiveness of the support. IPA was chosen over the ‘Grounded Theory’ approach (Glaser & Strauss 1967), as we do not want to develop a theory but to understand and explore how the participants understood their personal and social environment and what experiences and events meant for them.

It is envisage that a retrospective, life-history approach, including a range of groups (e.g. young fathers in care, young fathers in prison, non-resident fathers, young fathers from ethnic minority groups and practitioners) will give insights into young fathers’ expectations and experiences in accessing support and the effectiveness of the support they receive. I expect the sample to reflect a sufficient range of potentially significant variables such as gender, age, ethnicity and social background.

The ethical committee within the London South Bank University (LSBU) would consider the study for approval. All participants would be given information sheets explaining the procedure. Before giving signed consent, participants would be advised that they were free to leave at any time. Pilot studies would be done of the questions being asked to check the clarity of the language.

Beck & Hungler (2001) suggest that four ethical principles must be considered when participating in research: (1) the right not to be harmed, (2) the right to be fully informed on all aspects of the study, (3) the right to decide to take part or not (and the right to withdraw at any time) and (4) the right to privacy, anonymity and confidentiality.

Qualitative research commences during the process of data collection. While the researcher processes the information patterns are then looked for during the interview and then select a theme to follow. The data analysis continues throughout the interviews and also once data is collected. Two researchers will independently undertake the analysis and checked and re-checked with each other for emergent themes.

Diversity within the sample would allow for the exploration of young fathers’ experiences across a range of circumstances relating to their age, locality, education and employment, living arrangements, relationships with their partner, support from family and friends, contact with formal services, etc.

Social work and qualitative research share the mutual goals of dealing with subjectivity, describing the complexity of lived experience, and appreciating realities where intuition is valued. Qualitative methodology is, therefore, in my view a suitable method to be employed in researching the expectations and experiences of young fathers in accessing support.

Researchers would take necessary steps not to introduce bias by accidentally reporting their interpretation of participants’ feelings. At the beginning of the study researchers would declare and record their feelings. The researchers would also ensure that the level of subjectivity remains at a relatively neutral level.

Ethical issues are important and would be considered at every step of the research process. This is not just about obtaining ‘ethical approval’ for a study but also ensuring the rights of participants are not violated. When reporting the findings of the research, participants’ anonymity and confidentiality would not be breached.

The role of the interviewer is to encourage participants to discuss their experiences of the phenomenon. It is possible that in the cause of the interview participants could inadvertently discuss personal information that they had not planned to reveal, or that may rekindle tragic or uncomfortable experiences related to this study. Researchers would continue to negotiate with participants to ascertain whether they wish to continue with the interview or not. Psychological support would be in place to manage any emotional distress that may result from the interview. Everything would be done in the course of the study to protect the rights of vulnerable respondents.

The researchers would not make any exaggerated claims as to the significance of the research and implications for practice, and further research would be located in the study’s findings. Moreover, the researcher would relate the findings of the study back to the original research purpose, and illustrate whether or not it has been adequately addressed (Thorne et al., 2005). The researchers would conclude by placing the findings in a context that indicates how this new information is of interest, and its implications for social work. These conclusions would reflect the study’s findings and ideally would offer recommendations as to how they may be developed.

The most common criteria used to evaluate qualitative research studies are credibility, dependability, transferability and confirmability (Lincoln et al., 1985). It is therefore important that the readers are able to identify the criteria used and are able to clearly follow each step of the research process.

To ensure the credibility of the study process, the study would address the issue of whether there is consistency between the participants’ views and the researcher’s representation of them. The participants would be consulted at every stage of the study and they would be allowed to read and discuss the study findings. The researcher would also describe and interpret his experience as a researcher.

The study would provide evidence of a decision trail at each stage of the research process. Future researchers would clearly be able to follow the trail used by the researchers and potentially arrive at the same or comparable conclusions. The researchers would demonstrate how conclusions and interpretations have been derived from the data. It’s hoped that the findings would be transferable to other context outside the study situation and people who were not involved in the research study would find the results meaningful.

One of the shortcomings of a qualitative research based study of this nature is their lack of objectivity and generalisation of their findings. The study has been designed to seek answers to how persons or groups make sense of their experiences. In my view small qualitative studies can gain a more personal understanding of the phenomenon and the results can potentially contribute valuable knowledge to the community. Hamilton (1980) asserts that the value of a study is established by reference to the phenomena it seeks to comprehend and the understandings it aspires to develop. Stake (1980) suggests that using qualitative methodology in this type of study may be in conceptual harmony with the service users’ experience and thus be a natural basis for generalization.

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Framework J Adv Nurs 48(4): 388-96

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improving the craft of qualitative health research. Quality Health Research 15(8):

1105-13

Myers, M. (2000). Qualitative research and the generalizability question: Standing firm with Proteus. The Qualitative Report, 4(3/4). http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR4-3/myers.html

The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes health promotion as:

‘the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health.’ (WHO 1986, p.11)

Through discussion with the Head of Establishment and members of staff at Kirklandpark Nursery, staff wished to incorporate diet and nutrition into their room planning. They felt this would be an effective area of focus as the nursery was working towards its silver award in the Health Promoting Nurseries. Staff also informed me that what I carried out would be used as evidence towards this.

One of the strategies that educators can use to promote the health and wellbeing within children’s services is the enablement strategy. This aims to ensure there are equal chances for all to reach optimum health (Naidoo and Wills, 2000:86).

This strategy also helps people expand their knowledge and skills in health matters, so they can recognise and deal with health issues in their lives (Naidoo and Wills, 2009:62).

Within the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) there is a significant focus on the curriculum area ‘health and wellbeing’. In the experiences and outcomes there is a section on ‘Food and Health’, which aspires children to build on their existing skills and knowledge to make better food choices for a healthier future.

According to the Curriculum for Excellence:principles and practice:

‘A poorly balanced diet can contribute to the risk of developing a number of diseases and conditions including tooth decay, obesity, certain cancers, diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke’ (Scottish Executive 2007, p.7)

With the CfE’s assessment in mind, and having liaised with children and staff, I planned an experience and used the enablement strategy to promote this. Observation 5 demonstrates that children were enabled with information and knowledge about the reasons for their own health, as we discussed why healthy/unhealthy foods were good and not so good for our bodies.

While confident about the general promotion of health and wellbeing, when educating the children on the causes of their own health. I initially found it difficult to explain exactly what unhealthy foods can do to our bodies. I consulted my mentor for ideas and she provided me with suggestions on how I could implement this. I strongly feel this is an area for development.

The enablement strategy resembles the empowerment strategy as it requires practitioner’s to act as a facilitator, then step back, giving control to society (Naidoo and Wills, 2009)

Adventures in Foodland is a pack which aims to direct educators in positively inspiring children to acquire a taste for eating healthily at a young age. (NHS Health Scotland, 2003). I used the enablement strategy to do this.

As an educator I found this pack extremely relevant and helpful. In observation 7 the children were given control as they informed me which foods they would like to try. I listened and acted as the facilitator by purchasing the foods, helping to prepare them and then stepping back, allowing the children to be in control. The children were given the choice to try the foods which I provided them. A social learning theorist, Albert Bandura believed that children copy others who have more power than them e.g. adults (Sayers, 2008 cited in Flanagan 2004) In observation 7 I was a good role model and tried the foods with the children, which encouraged others to try as well.

I also used the educational strategy. This is similar to the enablement strategy as it aims to provide people with knowledge and information, in order for them to make a choice about the way they feel about their health. (Naidoo and Wills, 2000)

The educational strategy differs from the behaviour change strategy as it does not make a person change the way they do things but instead encourages change (Naidoo and Wills 2000).

The National Care Standards, Standard 3.3 aa‚¬” Health and Wellbeing states:

‘children and young people have opportunities to learn about healthy lifestyles and relationships, hygiene, diet and personal safety’ (Scottish Executive, 2009).

Diet and nutrition relates to this standard and links with the educational and enablement strategy I used. The children were given equal opportunities to learn about these stated in standard 3.3. In observation 7 I used a big book with the children to gather their ideas on hygiene and personal safety. I strongly believe that doing this was a useful and effective way in gathering ideas to promote the health and well-being to everyone in the setting.

I explained to the children what the book would be used for, I listened to their ideas and worked in a team with all partners. I was also assertive in speaking to children about the big book, and consulting them about ideas.

My mentor offered valuable feedback and encouraged me to consult more with parents and show them their child’s work.

A publication by Her Majestyaa‚¬a„?s Inspectorate of Education’s (HMIE) titled How good is our school? The Journey to Excellence promotes well-being and respect. In dimension 9 there is an aspect on ‘promoting positive healthy attitudes and behaviours’ (HMIE, 2006)

This links with the educational strategy I used as it encourages and provides people with the knowledge and information they need to make choices.

Observation 6 demonstrates how important the educational strategy is in providing children with knowledge of a healthy balanced diet. This allowed children to think about what they eat. Some children thought differently and changed their views in a positive way. However, I found it difficult to explain what was meant by a healthy balanced diet in words that children would understand. I came across ‘the eatwell plate’ after finishing the project which would have been a fantastic resource to use with the children and help further their understanding. For my continuing professional development I aim to focus on how to better myself in finding other ways to communicate with children effectively when explaining what is meant by a healthy balanced diet.

Advocacy is a further strategy used to promote health and wellbeing. Advocacy means talking on out for someone, such as a child, parent or a subject matter (Hall and Elliman 2007).

Advocacy is also about expanding people’s knowledge on the health matter. (Naidoo and Wills 2009)

Improving Health in Scotland: The Challenge aims to better the health of people living in Scotland (Scottish Executive, 2003) I used advocacy to do so by speaking out for the children in regards to their diet and nutrition. Observation 2 helped to expand knowledge among children, parents and staff regarding this. I helped change the home corner into a fruit and vegetable shop. Multi-agency working was used and I demonstrated assertiveness in putting my point across when communicating with staff about which ways to promote health and wellbeing.

I also employed the enablement and the empowerment strategy when I acted as the facilitator and allowed the children to take control of the experience, as they chose which resources they wanted to go in their shop.

The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007 puts emphasis on health promotion being a huge part of the activities provided in schools.

(Scottish Government, 2007) The 10 learning experiences I carried out played a significant part in promoting the health and wellbeing of others.

I feel the enablement and empowerment strategy was successful in promoting health and wellbeing to all partners. The children were given choice and were in control. Parents were also empowered to take control and choose to take on board the knowledge provided. I involved parents by writing on the white board to inform them of what the children had been learning. This ties in with the Nutritional Guidelines for Early Years as it encourages educators to speak to parents daily to inform them what was available for snack (Scottish Executive, 2006) In observation 10 M’s grandfather told me he had never considered making fruit kebabs before but he liked the idea and intended to make them for M’s birthday party at the weekend. A further area I can improve on is building relationships with all parents.

I also feel the educational strategy worked in the sense that some children made healthier choices at snack and at home. This also promoted health and wellbeing for parents as their child was influencing healthier choices at home. A few children continued to make unhealthy choices by asking for a biscuit at snack. As the educational strategy encourages rather than instructs change, this did not work well with a couple of the children/parents.

If I had more time, I would involve parents and other commercial partners more, such as Sainsburyaa‚¬a„?s and deepen children and parents understanding further.

My mentor also said if I had longer I could make parents more involved, by inviting them for snack and encouraging them to help out, such as taking the children to the shops to buy snack.

In conclusion, I feel my ability to promote the health and wellbeing in the area diet and nutrition to service users in Kirklandpark nursery was done well considering the short period of time I had. I took account of literature, national advice and my mentors feedback. The strategies I used were effective and my findings from literature, government publications and initiatives helped me discuss this. By doing this project it has made me realise there are strategies I need to work on in order to professionally develop.

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References

Hall, D. and Elliman, D. (2003). Health For All Children (4th Edition). Oxford: Medical Publications.

HMIE (2006) How good is our school? A Journey to Excellence, Livingston

Naidoo, J. and Wills, J. (2009) Foundations for Health Promotion (3rd Edition)

Naidoo, J. and Wills, J (2000) Health Promotion: Foundations for Practice (2nd Edition)

NHS Scotland (2003) Adventures in Foodland, Edinburgh

Sayers, S. (2008) HNC Early Education and Childcare Heinemann

Scottish Executive (2007) Curriculum for Excellence: health and wellbeing principles and practice,Learning and Teaching Scotland

Scottish Executive (2003) Improving Health in Scotland: The Challenge, Edinburgh

Scottish Executive (2006) Nutritional guidelines for early years: food choices for children aged 1-5 years in early education and childcare settings, Edinburgh

Scottish Executive (2009) The National Care Standards for Early Education and Childcare up to the Age of 16; Standard 3 Health and Wellbeing

World Health Organization (1998) Health Promotion Glossary Switzerland : World Health Organization

Sexual abuse has been a growing concern in our society. The statistics on sexual abuse in America are alarming. According to Finkelhor (1994) “approximately 150,000 confirmed cases of child sexual abuse were reported to child welfare authorities in the United States during 1993” (p.31). Lucinda stated, “I have worked with children who have been sexually abused and it is a devastating experience for the individual”.

Working with an individual who has a history of sexual abuse would be very difficult. The individual will likely be guarded and possibly closed off from the surrounding environment. He or she may not want to talk about what happened in their past, and want to shut it away so they never have to relive the horror that happened to them. Since this abuse is not as visible as physical abuse, it is harder for people outside the abuse to recognize it. The individual in the abuse may feel that it is their fault, or they are inviting the abuser into the relationship. The abused individual may also feel that when speaking about the abuse to another person, that person will judge them think it is the fault of the abused.

Core Issues

Some of the core issues in treatment while working with someone diagnosed with a history of sexual abuse is gaining the clients trust so that they may disclose their history of being sexually abused and feeling safe and not being judged. Lucinda stated, “For me, the most important factor for the clinician is to gain the trust of the individual first before the client feels safe enough to share such an experience with a total stranger”. Sexual abuse is a touchy subject to some and some individuals do not disclose having been sexually abused because they feel ashamed or guilty or they fear being judge has damaged goods. According to Lev’s post, “88% of cases of sexual abuse are never disclosed by the child.” In agreement, Alaggia (2005) states, “50% to 80% of victims do not purposefully disclose childhood sexual abuse before adulthood” (p.454).

Another core issue is the ability to gain that initial trust between the client and the clinician. For someone that has had a history of sexual abuse this can be a hard aspect to have happen. This is understandable because at some point in that person’s life they lost the ability to trust when someone took that opportunity away from them. It’s like that individual had their bond of trust violated and that may carry over as an adult for the ability to trust their own feelings and judgment. Additional core issues noticed with those sexually abused would be placing the blame on themselves or taking the responsibility for what has occurred to that individual. Also, having a constant fear instilled in them that something is wrong with them. Perhaps even issues with power and control because one may feel that was stripped away from them. An abused child will not open up unless they can trust again (trust is obviously something that is tarnished and even lost through the abuse).

Another core issue in treatment while working with someone diagnosed with a history of sexual abuse is using memory to work through the trauma. As Courtois (1992) points out, “Therapy is geared not only to the retrieval of autobiographical memory, but towards the integration of affect with recall to achieve resolution of the trauma.” Because so many feelings, emotions of the memories are difficult to deal with on a day to day basis, many victims of sexual abuse tend to dissociate and therefore can suffer from dissociative disorder and PTSD. I think it is extremely important to address sexual assault of males. So often is hard to come forward about the assault but as Hopper (2010) addresses, “Approximately one in six boys is sexually abused before age 16.” He goes on to talk about the long lasting affect’s of sexual abuse and how it can become a perpetuated cycle of being hurt: “Avoiding getting close to people and trying to hide all of one’s pain and vulnerabilities may creating a sense of safety. But this approach to relationships leads to a great deal of loneliness, prevents experiences and learning about developing true intimacy and trust, and makes one vulnerable to desperately and naively putting trust in the wrong people and being betrayed again.” A core factor for many that are abused is that they are not alone. Many times knowing that others are dealing with a similar situation can make a huge difference.

Therapeutic Models

The types of therapeutic modality that works best for someone who has been abused should be determined based on the individual and the therapist preference. In the article by Courtois (1999) discusses that the resolution of sexual abuse trauma requiring retrieval of memory and the working through of the associated affect. This is important so the individual can heal by having fully acknowledged what has occurred to them in the past. The article further states, memory retrieval is an important component of the therapeutic process. As a therapist, an essential task when working with the client, would be having them acknowledge the abuse that has happened to them and be able to retrieve the full memory to proceed in the healing process. Courtois (1999) notes how memory deficits “are quite characteristic of trauma response and are utilized in the interest of defense and protection. This is an essential point for the clinician to understand in working on trauma resolution in general and memory retrieval in particular”. The strengths perspective acknowledges the client as the expert, which allows the memory retrieval to be a lot easier, and to be more accurate from the client.

It is crucial that clinicians be educated when working with individuals who have a history of childhood sexual abuse. Stearn (1988) states, “to diagnostically assess and treat clients in the most effective manner, social workers need to discover how each sexual abused clients views himself or herself, significant others, and the world” (p.466). Jennings (1994) “examines ways of using a broad spectrum of creative approaches, such as art, play, dance, music and drama, and combinations of those, to work with people who have been traumatized by experiences of sexual abuse” (p.471). Lucinda stated, “In my opinion, the best therapeutic modality that would work best with clients who have a history of childhood sexual abuse is using the strengths perspective”. The client is the expert on his or her own experience because only they know how they felt and what actually occurred during those moments. Bell (2003) believes

“the strengths perspective involves turning away from rational, empirical models that order and codify reality, toward a constructivist view, which holds that the identification of human problems reflects not objective reality, but the perspective of the one doing the looking. With this constructivist understanding, three assumptions emerge from the strengths perspective. First, clients have personal and environmental strengths and are more likely to act on those strengths when they are affirmed and supported. Second, the strengths perspective views the client as the expert on his or her own experience. Third, the roles of the social workers shift from expert and “fixer” to collaborator who respects and fosters the strengths of the client” (p.513).

Lucinda stated, “I feel that being empathetic, understanding, and compassionate are important in working with these clients”. According to Calof (1993) “listening to their stories and helping them explore the truth of their experiences has enabled many to turn their lives around” (p.45).

Family therapy is also important. Acknowledging the important and loving family members and their role in the victim’s life can help. With their love and support, the abused can work with the family to form treatment plans and other means of support.

As social workers, we have to not only listen to what our clients are saying but also read their body language as well as anything else they give us as clues. They are children who have been violated and are reluctant to speak because in their minds they did something wrong. We have to work collaboratively with the non-offending family (if that is obvious), schools, doctors, and other professionals so that we can get a full picture of the child’s symptoms, behaviors, and problems. Once we establish there has been abuse and from whom, we must remove the abuser if that has not already been done. Only then will we be able to work with the child towards a state of healing. Healing cannot happen when someone is still being abused. However literature does state most do not disclose what has happened until they are adults. Sometimes, it is not possible to remove the abuser if nothing is said about the abuse. As social workers, we would have to take every incident as it comes and deal with it as soon as possible. Unfortunately and sadly, most sexual abusers get off with a slap in the hand while the children they abuse suffer for the rest of their lives.

Essential Task for Therapists

An essential task for the therapist is providing a safe environment. Ensuring that a victim of sexual abuse feels comfortable in their setting is a pertinent factor in providing treatment. Also, maybe the sex of the therapist will matter. If the victim is female and was sexually abuse by a male, she may only feel comfortable speaking with another female. Lana stated, “The women in my placement have expressed many times their fears and anxieties when in groups with men after sexual assaults that they faced both as children and adults”.

As therapist we should not only be treating for sexual abuse, we should also be doing more about prevention and education to all young children. It should not take years for a person to disclose that they were abused as child without having the ability to address the abuse. They should not have to go through the feelings that it was their fault or the one to blame. Laura stated, ” I think it is very important for children to understand that it is often an adult that they know who becomes an abuser. Schools teach stranger-danger, and to fear the stranger, when often the threat comes from an individual close to or seen by the child.” Children need to be aware that there are monsters who can appear as nice people, who are not only strangers, and the only way to make something bad go away they have to talk. Some ways to do this is by using examples of what is appropriate from different people is the best way to get things across. Also, using child-like language is very important as well. Using characters from TV and books can be used as examples of love and family as long as the child can relate and understand in a certain way.

A therapist of someone who has a history of sexual abuse would need to patient and empathetic, while urging the individual to share their story. The individual has likely lived many years of hiding the abuse and trying to act like it never happened, while trying to live a “normal” life. This is not possible, as the horrible history will present itself in varying disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, dissociative disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder and create upset in their life. The therapist must create an era of trust and safety in which the individual can feel comfortable and able to speak about their past. I think the therapist needs to ease into the revelations in order to help the individual to feel more comfortable; with each small piece, followed by safety and reassurance, another may follow, allowing the individual to reveal their past. This is really the ideal, and the therapist will need to be able to help the person overcome the varying disorders and other issues in their life.

Why People Develop Problems with Substances

Psychological and sociological theories as to why people develop problems with substances and their application vary; some theories relate to genetics others to the environment. Most Theories focus on particular features of the rate of drug use: Illicit drugs, Alcoholism, Addiction, The drug experience-how and why people use them, Individuals, Society, Career.

Social learning is just one of the theories that try to explain the use of substance misuse. A degree of difference is found in society’s attitudes and behaviours. Learning depends on priority, intensity, time and involves practice, motivation, attitude, and meaning. (Edwin Sutherland 1939).

Thinking about different theories on behaviour can help us to understand why and how some people have substance problems, for example,

Behavioral theories: behavioural psychology or behaviourism is based on all behaviours being learned through conditioning. Cognitive theories:focus on internal thoughts such as motivation, attention, decision making and problem solving. Developmental theories: think about learning, development and growth. Humanistic theories: look at human beings being basicaly good. Personality theories: looks at the behaviours, thoughts and feelings that make each person an individual. Social psycology theories: focus on explaining social behaviours. (Psychologist World)

Applying these theories can assist in understanding why some people depend on substances while others do not.

Looking at society as a whole does not give a clear picture as to why some people develop substance dependency. If you look at different areas of society you start to see deprived areas, poverty, unemployment, peer pressure, boredom or pressures from work, family history or a pre-disposition to substance problems as well as the environment that a person is brought up in could influence someone’s substance dependency.

If a child is born to a mother that is dependant on drugs or alcohol then the child may be born with a predisposition to that specific dependency, if a child is raised in an area where drugs and alcohol are freely available then they could be pressured by peers to consume the available substances. This is seen commonly among teenagers when they start to experiment with new things and where peer pressure to be the same as everyone else can entice a young person to start taking a substance to please or maintain relationships with peers. This can lead to long term dependency that can continue into adult hood especially if the child has a predisposition to substances or has an addictive tendency, causing the cycle to continue. Society’s attitude towards alcohol problems has been largely accepted as the “Scottish way of life” according to the 2004 Scottish social attitudes survey carried out by the Scottish government.

Cultural Attitudes

“Every person in Scotland has a part to play in reviewing their attitudes and behaviours, and contributing to the debate about how we collectively address these problems.” (Carolyn Churchill, 2010)

Alcohol problems are estimated to cost Scotland around ?3.56 billion per year in NHS, social work, police, emergency services, and the wider economic and human costs. Alcohol misuse not only affects the health and wellbeing of individual drinkers, but also have a major impact on family relationships, the wider communities as well as society as a whole. (Alcohol Focus Scotland)

Through using these services society is trying to reduce the amount of substance abuse within Scotland. This is however an uphill struggle and until attitudes change it will be left to the medical profession, police and emergency services and the social work department to fire fight the problems within the Scottish communities. Social justice is concerned with equality of justice, not just in the courts, but in society as a whole. This idea stresses that people have to have equal rights and opportunities from the poorest to the wealthiest in society deserve equal chances and opportunities. New legislation may assist the problem however it is the attitude of the individual that will ultimately start to change the attitude of society as a whole.

Criminal Justice law changed in 2010 this gave courts more flexibility in the way they were able to sentence people that passed through the courts. This now allows courts to look at ways of reparation without using short term imprisonments.

Statutory Orders are those non-custodial sentencing options available to all Sheriff Courts in Scotland. This allows greater choice of sentance for the sherriff. Using Social Enquiry Reports, Community Service Orders, Probation Orders (including those with a requirement of unpaid work), Probation Orders with a Requirement of Unpaid Work, Supervised Attendance Orders, Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, Restriction of Liberty Orders, Statutory Throughcare, Voluntary Assistance and the Throughcare Addiction Service, Home Circumstances Reports, Diversion from Prosecution and Bail Information, the sheriff can now look at the crime and the persons background and apply a decision/sentence that is proportionate to the crime. (Criminal Justice Act 2010)

Safer and stronger communities are at the heart of Scottish Government policy. Communities that people are proud to belong to, where they feel safe and have confidence that justice and fairness will prevail, where people take responsibility for each other and for their own actions. (People and the Law)

Youth justice is closely connected to Getting it Right for Every Child which underpins the principals of agencies involved with young people. Getting It Right For Every Child is the Government’s policy for addressing the needs of all children – and it provides the framework within which public agencies can work better together with a focus on improving outcomes for children. Building the capacity of families and communities to engage in activities that support children is central to this approach. The Early Years and Early Intervention Framework being developed jointly by the Scottish Government and CoSLA will ensure a strong focus on what needs to be done to ensure that all children, including the most vulnerable, get the best start in life. (The Road to Recovery)

Youth justice is about intervening at an appropriate time with a plan and a good framework for the intervention. Multi agency co-operation is needed for this to work effectively using a range of procedures and practices dealing with young people who are putting themselves and/or others at risk or offending.

Scotland’s children’s hearing system was initiated by a change to the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 and is now part of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and is at the heart of youth justice. Since its introduction children under the age of 16 are only considered for prosecution in an adult court if the crime they have committed is deemed to be very serious such as murder. The hearing system deals with children and young people who are in need of care and protection as well as those who have displayed offending behaviours.

Youth justice traditionally worked with children from the age of 8 to 16 but has recognised the need to start preventative work with younger children to support them in the transition from children to adults in a more positive way. In recognising this youth justice introduced several preventative measures including restorative justice in schools, safer school partnership, and positive activities for young people, targeted youth support and targeted mental health in schools. The government also introduced the Youth Justice Re-investment Pathfinder Initiative this allows local authorities to act as “Pathfinders” to develop ways locally of reducing offending and re-offending without a custodial sentence.

Assessing, Planning and Intervention

Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) is a good place to start when assessing the needs of children and their families. GIRFEC takes a holistic view of the child GIRFEC has an integrated, common approach to gathering information about a child’s well-being. It uses three tools, the Well-being Indicators: identify record and share concerns, and take action as appropriate My World Triangle: Triangle helps practitioners gather relevant information to look at the strengths and pressures affecting a child and their family. The triangle is deliberately offered from the child’s view to reinforce the Getting it right for every child principle that children should always be kept at the centre. The Resilience Matrix: help organise and analyse information.

All children can be: Confident Individuals, Effective Contributors, Responsible Citizens and Successful Learners. To achieve this all children need to be Safe, Healthy, Active, Nurtured, Achieving, Respected and Responsible and Included. These are known as the ‘wellbeing indicators’ and are remembered by the acronym S.H.A.N.A.R.I. (GIRFEC)

Doing a GIRFEC assessment takes a multi agency view where social work, health and education professionals have a part to play in the assessment process. An assessment should be appropriate, proportionate and timely, once an assessment is done a more holistic picture about the needs of the children and the family has been obtained allowing the practitioner to plan a course of action for the children and family. Through careful planning strategies and interventions can be put into place to allow the children and family to move forward. All interventions and strategies need to be consensual so the whole family need to be involved in the planning and decisions made to ensure their commitment to the action plan. Intervention strategies will vary depending on the family and the problems they are facing. Using evidence based practice the best relevant information based on the best practices in the field of social work, health and education will achieve the most desirable outcome for the family, this also allows for the assessment and intervention to be transparent and informed.

The Key Capabilities document has four headings which together form the Key Capabilities in Child Care and Protection:

Effective Communication, The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) codes of practice describe communicating as being done in an appropriate, open, accurate and straightforward way. Knowledge and Understanding, this includes keeping up to date with relevant legislation, being accountable, using professional judgment and knowledge based social work practice, working effectively as a professional. Professional Confidence and Competence include, carrying out duties accountably, using professional judgment and knowledge based social work practice. Values and Ethical Practice, Work at all times within the professional codes of practice, ethical principles and service standards that underpin high quality social work practice, by applying these to any assessments or interventions it is possible for the practitioner to take an non-judgemental and anti discriminatory approach to the clients and there issues.

Assessment of the Key Issues Affecting this Family

Dean has already been involved in a previous incident involving alcohol where he had assaulted Sandra and her brother in front of the children while he was under the influence of alcohol. Dean has been working with the social worker in an attempt to rectify his relationship with Sandra. Through getting drunk and losing control he has committed a serious offence Dean needs help with his problematic drinking, aggression and anger management as his actions will have a lasting effect on the children and Sandra.

Resilience varies from child to child some children do not develop any problems either as children or adults. Families being together in harmony and good social networks are just two of the ways a child builds their resilience however the issues faced by Nathan and Jordan are numerous, they may have to take on responsibilities far beyond their years which effects their education and peer relationships, they may suffer physical and psychological health issues, domestic violence and child abuse, there are concerns regarding anti social behaviour increasing the risk of aggression towards others, hyperactivity or conduct disorders, emotional and attachment disorders and neglect. Building resilience in this situation will need a good level of self esteem, confidence and self efficiency as well as the ability to adjust to change and problem solving skills. There are implications for the children’s safety and welfare which may become a child protection issue.

Dean and Sandra are in crisis which would imply that a short piece of intervention work could be used to rectify this situation. Working with Dean and Sandra on new skills to avoid this type of situation and setting achievable goals and supporting them they should be able to continue to work on their relationship as they were before this incident happened.

As a longer term intervention such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy could be a useful tool in this situation, by getting Dean to think about his own thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and actions may assist Dean at looking at his behaviours thoughts and feelings differently and try to take a more positive look at how he can deal with similar situations in the future. This is about getting Dean to view situations in a more positive way therefore being able to handle the situation in a more positive way. This work is not a quick fix for Dean’s behaviours and he needs to want to take part for it to work. Sandra should be included in part of this therapy as she seems to be one of the objects of Dean’s anger as does Sandra’s brother. (PSYCH)

Dean would also benefit from working with people who have experience in substance related problems such as his GP or a voluntary group. Dean would have to be in agreement with these strategies for them to work. Giving Dean options allows him to take charge of the situation and enables him to move forward at a pace he is comfortable with.

If Dean is working voluntarily towards resolving his alcohol, anger and aggression issues it may help his assault case when it goes to court.

The impact on the family will be minimized if dean and Sandra are working together to tackle this situation and work through the problems they are now facing as a family unit supporting each other and the children to a mutually beneficial outcome for the family and wider society.

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Case Study

The role of the social worker in criminal justice

From 1 February 2011 a Social Enquiry Report will be called a Criminal Justice Social Work Report.

When a sheriff or judge wants to know more about an accused persons background, they will ask for a Criminal Justice Social Work Report. If a person is likely to be going to jail for the first time, the court must have a report. The report provides the court with the information needed to decide the most appropriate way to deal with offender. A Criminal Justice Social Work Report is written by a social worker, who contacts you by letter and asks you to attend an interview. The social worker will ask for information about your, current circumstances, personal and social history, previous offences, and current or previous supervision.

At the end of the interview the social worker will explain to you what sentencing options are available to the court.

Explore the challenges faced by the differences in working with three Service User Groups – adults, older people and children. Discuss how, by drawing on relevant life course theories, your communication skills would need to be modified in order to meet these challenges and remain effective, anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive.

Interacting via communication with Service users is of one of the highest important aims for social / care workers providing care. Each individual case is unique and I will be explaining how communication skills differ from each person to the next.

There are many different life course theories that can be used to explain how a person develops through the stages of life. In this assignment I will be looking at Eric Berne’s Transactional analysis for the adult group and showing how adults have to change their tone and manner as they are seen as the teachers for the next generation. I will be explaining Cunning and Henry’s Disengagement theory as this is a very important phase for older people and communication can be limited because of the perils of old age. Also I will be looking at Piaget’s cognitive development theory and Bolwby’s attachment theory in relation to children and how these theories affect communication. Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development contains elements for all three age groups so I will be looking briefly at the different stages involved, and I will also be looking at any challenges that occur within the groups and what skills are needed to overcome this via social work / care workers.

Interacting via communication with Service users is of one of the highest important aims for social / care workers providing care. Each individual case is unique and I will be explaining how communication skills differ from each one person to the next. There are many different life course theories that can be used to explain how a person goes through the stages of life. For adults I will be taking you through Eric Berne’s Transactional analysis and for the elderly group I will look at Cunning and Henry Disengagement Theory and how this affects communication for the older generation and then I will be looking at Piaget’s cognitive development theory and Bowlby’s attachment theory and how these theories affect communication within the children’s group. Then I will be showing how Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development are involved in all three service user groups and I will also be looking at any challenges that occur within the groups and what skills are needed to overcome this via social work / care workers.

A life course is the advancement a person takes from birth to cessation (Crawford and Walker, 2003 p. 3) Also (Newman and Newman, 2007 p. 185) shows the life course as a perspective which helps to explain how altering societal predicaments affect development and combination of the phases of family and work life over a number of years. (Fiske, 1982 p. 2) explains communication as being an action that every person can identify with, by talking, listening to the television or distributing knowledge these are all forms of communication. He describes two main studies of communication as being either an expression of words or a creation and replacement of meanings.

If we take a look at the Transactional analysis theory (Woods, 2010) shows that Eric Berne’s theory was about ego states which are parent, adult and child. It covers a wide range of exclusive advancement including communication, behaviour and personality. Looking at adult communication he saw this as being the main voice used to influence the whole learning process. He believes that if someone is talking in a childish manner automatically the adult will respond with a voice of authority, either in a sarcastic tone or a caring parenting manner. (Chapman, 1995) also shows that transactional analysis is used for therapeutic, personal development and communication; it helps a person understand one’s self. To communicate we use our own feelings which can shift at any one given time, and to reply we will use the exact way of thinking. So to have stable conversations an adult needs to act interested to what is being said and show the person speaking that they have their full attention and this will make for a stronger relationship between them both.

Favourable communication according to (Weger and Polcar, 2002) is the basic domain of an interpersonal friendship. If you offer support and are willing to provide comfort through good and bad times then this will in turn be a healthy natural relationship.

(Wolvin, 2010 p.144) believes the art of communication is to listen, with doing this you are better able to understand the concept of communicating, and then you can identify and evaluate the question helping you to make sense of it.

Behavioural issues can be defined by a person’s determined state, they show up as objectives and by using these objectives a person will come up with a way of achieving their potential via talking. So by communicating it is up to the individual to put as much information into the conversation so the recipient can define their answer to make it a purposeful state (Ackoff, 1958)

(Nussbaum, 2000) states that elderly people have to regularly change their lifestyle to adapt to adjustments associated with getting older. Age can cause many challenges for communication, examples are: memory loss or loss of hearing. Because of these it could take considerable time for any acknowledgement whilst trying to communicate, they may tend to make inaccurate sentences and be less sensitive about issues that may otherwise hurt someone else’s feelings. There are many theories linked to prosperous aging examples of these are: continuity theory, activity theory, socioemotional selectivity theory and disengagement theory.

Looking at the disengagement theory (Maddox, 1964) states that the disengagement is the final stage of the life course process. Life goals are a very important phrase in everybody’s life and this seems to extend through to the older generation also. The belief is that psychological departure leads to total exclusion from the older person’s social life, and without this communication will be very limited as they may not have any family of friends visiting on a daily basis.

Communication with older people can be a complicated process. At the time when it is needed the most communication seems to be a burden because of the life processes which come with the old age. To overcome some of the frustrations of speaking to an older person if you allow extra time for them to speak and sit face to face with them, then if there is any hearing loss at least the person can watch your lips to understand what you are saying to them. If you speak slowly and clearly or even write down some of the conversation to explain in a bit more detail this then will help the person immensely and by doing this you are showing respect and helpfulness towards to person you are talking to (Robinson et al. 2006)

There are many challenges involved with working with older people, (Hepple, 2004) shows there are many approaches that can be used to try and boost communication issues. Group and behavioural approach or reality familiarisation is widely used to try and amend the forgotten memories. Whichever approach is used will depend mainly on the resources of the institution that is providing the care plan for the service users involved.

Looking at Piaget’s cognitive development (Feldman, 2004) believes that his work was not the dominant competitor for a while but now it has accomplished extensive significance to researchers again. Some critics thought his work was to complex and to widespread but his stages still form the basis of the developing mind. (Boeree, 1999) shows the stages of development for a child as being the Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations and the formal operations stage. According to (Koprowska, 2005 p. 97) a baby within the first couple of months will try and make blubbering noises in response to you talking to them and will only start trying to develop simple words by the age of one. So the best means of communication with young children would be via play and interaction. Children do not enjoy sitting for long periods of time so by drawing or innovative games could be the easiest way for communication to take place for the younger age groups in Piaget’s stages.

(Geddes, 2007) believes that using Bowlby’s attachment theory will help in the understanding of sensitive experiences which in turn helps you to communicate with young children. The basis of communication is to show your inner self via your feelings, thoughts and creativity. So by looking at Bowlby, the attachment for a child will help with their future experiences if the start of their life is one of security within a family unit. The child then will be able to examine the world and if there are any pressures they can always return to their safe haven for security. With a negative attachment a child will struggle with communication and relationships. They tend to be insecure and prefer to keep themselves to themselves as they don’t respond well to any attention and can start to be disruptive and aggressive because they feel vulnerable and out of their depth.

The Children Act 1989 sets out the rights of the child, so the child needs to engage in any outcomes that will modify their lives and future. Social workers need impressive skills in communication as there are many barriers that can stop any interaction with the child so they need the ability to be able to cope under any form of pressure or obstacle placed before them. Social workers deal with many families and young children all with very different backgrounds examples of these are: children who are leaving care, children who have behavioural problems and children who may have health problems or disabilities, each case is different so the social worker needs to be able to produce a care plan and have the skills in place to communicate on every different level to provide the best possible care for the service users involved. (Koprowska, 2005 p. 94)

Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development involve all three age groups, when looking at children Erikson’s stages progress through at least four of them. (Adoption media, 1995) states that if a child wants to proceed onto the next stage they need to complete the one before. A child will develop trust if well cared for and be insecure if not; this will show up in all the stages there is a negative to every positive. So a child will only learn from what they are taught and if they are shown the right way to develop through the various stages then as they become parents they will be secure and happy to show their children the right upbringing to carry on the process to the next generation.

(Zastrow and Ashman, 2007 p. 444) states that the seventh stage of Erikson’s life development is Generativity versus stagnation. Generativity is instructing family and friends to make improvements in their lives to make the future better for their offspring. This will involve safeguarding and improving the lives of future generations for a better quality of life. Stagnation on the other hand is the selfish side of the stage, adults who only think about their own needs and are not willing to take anyone else’s feeling’s into consideration.

(Greene and Kropf, 2009 p. 90) shows Erikson’s final stage as being Integrity versus Despair. Absoluteness is achieved if the person involved has leaded a full and complete life, dealing with everyday disappointments as well as accomplishments successfully. Despair on the other hand is for the people who fear death and the ones who have not accomplished everything they wanted to do in their lives and wish for another chance to achieve this.

If communication is not sort in the identity stage (Sanchez, 2002) states that this could affect self confidence in later life. New ideas start from communication, a person needs to be able to express their thoughts and feelings. Interpersonal communication through all of Erikson’s stages will help an individual have a healthy developed identity.

(SCIE 2010) shows how social workers have to work by their codes of ethics and values showing respect, empathy and a genuine helpfulness towards the service user they are working with. They will always provide a complete care package to help empower the individual to deliver the best possible outcome. If the social care worker uses an interpersonal approach this in turn will guide the service user to help them decide how their care is achieved and help make the decision process a group decision, so communication is a key element to this approach which will then help with the relationship between the user and the social care worker.

To summarise there are many different ways to communicate with the three service user groups. People who work in the social work/care sector are trained to be able to customise their expertise to care and communicate at all levels. If the care worker shows empathy and helpfulness they will get more back from the service user then they would if you started the conversation with an aggressive attitude. Service users what to be listened to, they want you to understand what care they expect. You will have to change the way you speak in all different circumstances, speaking to children will be completely different to speaking to an adult or an elderly person. Body language and facial gestures also show as an important part of communicating with someone, even repeating what the other has said will show that you are taking them seriously. You need to be able to change your approach for all different situations and use different interventions to cater for each individual seeking care.

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This assignment will explain the role of a Local Authority (LA) Social Worker (SW) when working with ‘children in need’ and their families, and those in need of safeguarding and protection, will also explain the main role of children and families’ sw and reasons why they would be involved. Furthermore it will discuss the importance of multidisciplinary working; identify different forms of abuse, their impact and alleviation. In line with evidence based practice, the Children Act 1989 sections 17 and 47 will be analysed as intervention methods

It’s important as a sw to utilise an understanding of theories of human growth and development to understand the various stages of development that the children are undergoing, before making any decision of safeguarding. Children in need may have faced extraordinary experiences in their early lives that may affect their physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development. Safeguarding is defined by (HM Government 2013) as ‘the action we take to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm’. Child protection is defined by RCPCH, (2006) as ‘the process of protecting individual children identified as either suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm as a result of abuse or neglect’.

Section 17 (10) of the Children Act 1989 (CA 1989) defines a child in need as a child who is ‘unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him/her of services by a local authority’ or ‘his/her health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired without the provision for him/her of such services’ or ‘he/she is disabled’ (H M Government, 1989, section 17) gives LA ‘duties and powers to provide services for children in need and their families Part’ 111 (Sec17 (1)).

When a referral is made, LA is forced to consider initial enquiries within 10 days. This is to find out what is happening to a child and decide which action should be taken to protect the child as set in the CA1989 S47 of Protection of Children (Brammer 2013). This guide draws’ on all professionals to work together to promote children’s welfare and ensures families are provided with much needed resources.

In some historic children cases these processes weren’t upheld and lead to the death of children like Baby P and Victoria Climbie. Lord Laming ((Laming and Office, 2003)) stated that communication has played a major role in successes and failures of the system. He also made recommendations that will ignite working together in terms multi-disciplinary teams working together information sharing’ Connolly and Ward, (2008) suggested ‘It is good practice to consider children’s rights to protection as of paramount duty and at the same time work in partnership with their parents unless doing so would harm them’.

The Framework for Assessment of Children (Figure 1) in Need and their Families (DoH, 2000) emphasises the use of an ecological approach to identify the child within the environment and offers a holistic approach (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). It enables professionals to identify systems affecting a child, the most and the social forces impacting on his lifespan therefore, resulting in interventions being applied where they are needed most. An ecological approach looks at people, families, cultures, communities, policies and identifies and intervenes upon strengths and weaknesses in the transactional processes between these systems (Greene and Greene, 2008).

Figure1 (Department of Health 2000, p.1)

Living conditions may result in disturbed nights, which can lead to strain and tiredness (Hazel, 2002). Similarly, inadequate housing may cause parents anxiety and affect their capacity to care for the children. Therefore, a sw could use their powers to make a referral for families to acquire an adequate accommodation. According to Gill and Jack (2007) the ecological theory is important in the development of holistic approaches to safeguarding children. Its strengths are that it focuses on individuals as part and incorporating other systems, so it integrates social with psychological elements of practice however, it is criticised for assuming that everything fits into a social order (Payne, 2009).

A SW is expected to consider human rights issues when completing any assessment. In the community there’s a whole variety of groups e.g. ethnic minorities, women, disabled people, homosexuals children just to mention a few. Professionals are required to uphold and defend the rights of individuals whilst seeking to meet their needs and this are all governed by The Human Rights Act 1998. Brayne & Shoot, (2010) said ‘the act has also heavily influenced the Disability Discriminations Act, (2005) and Equality Act, (2006 & 2010)’

Welbourne (2012) said ‘SW is a profession that engages with people’s lives at all levels, from the practical to the deeply personal. Lord Laming (2003) said ‘child protection is everyone’s business, and it’s important that SW, police, and health workers take the lead role for the procedures and processes that protect children from harm’.

The CA 1989 sec 47(1) places a duty on LA to investigate when they:

‘are informed that a child who lives or is found in their area

is the subject of an emergency protection order
is in police custody’
‘have reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives, or is found in the area is suffering, or is likely to suffer a significant harm’

LA will conduct an initial child protection conference that consists of all professionals including the child, family members. This is a partnership aimed at setting out plans in place for both family and the group members. They will meet within 10 days after the initial conference and at least 8 weeks after that. The plan will be considering day to day details of the care plan and to put it into practice. After the case has been opened, implemented and put into practice, a Review Child Protection Case Conference is called to review and assess the progress of the case. The first review is held within 3 months of the initial conference and at least six months after that. A SW will always aim to achieve results and return the child to their parents.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 (Department of Health) has 5 identifiable forms of abuse as neglect, physical, emotional, sexual and domestic abuses, and the latter has been recently added and recognised in its own right. Coleen L (2003) suggested that ‘Negligence can include behaviours that receipt, fraudulently misrepresentation, defamation of character act, violation of human rights, malicious prosecution.

Maureen O’Loughlin and Steve O’Loughlin (2008) suggested that ‘Parents have a central role in their children’s welfare and protection from harm, and should therefore be included in all decisions and actions taken by professionals…’ Parents have their complex needs as well, some abuse drugs and alcohol and generally have low self-esteem. If parents deny sw access to a child and there’s a possibility of a greater risk of life or likelihood of serious harm, LA will apply for the Child Assessment Order sec43 CA 1989 when they considering any kind of contact, LA would have reasons to suspect concerns with development, welfare and health of a child. This order will only last 8 days without extension. Emergency Protection Order (EPO) under S44 of the CA 1989. It can last for 8 days with the option to extend for 7 more days.

Brayne & Carr, (2010) suggested that ‘It is important that any discussions with children are done in a way that minimises the distress and maximises the likelihood of them providing clear and accurate accounts’ The children may be looked after by the LA with parental agreement (Children Act, 1989, sec. 20. ‘A child may only be kept in police protection however, for 72 hours’ (Brammer 2006). Other order available is Recovery order sec50, will be applied if a child under PPO or EPO is removed from the responsible applicant. Police can recover the child and return them to the place of safety.

SW has ‘an obligation to conduct themselves ethically, engaging in ethical decisionaˆ?making, including partnership working with service users’ and this was quoted by The Code of Ethics for Social Work (BASW, 2011). Social work is a very privileged profession, they draw up conclusions and judgement on what they observe and hear. Hence it’s necessary to develop an inner skill not to use prejudice in any engagement. Empowerment has been understood as a paradigm within anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice (Lishman, 2007) and can be implemented through partnership working, which is a key social work value (Thompson, 2009).

This assignment has shown how and why a sw would intervene when a child becomes in need. It also discussed the LA’s responsibility for children in need and their families. Aim is to protect and safeguard children from harm by forming partnership working with families; assist in providing alternative services to promote their welfare. The assignment drew up on relevant legislation that ensure welfare of a child remains paramount, also challenges all professionals to collaborate in a systematic manner. Children have been let down in the past and Every Child Matters ensured it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that their health and development is secured. This reiterates the importance of SW’s impact into the system, drawn from Code of Ethics sw’s should always challenge any discrimination, recognise diversity, always distribute resources to those in need, challenge unjust policies and practices and work in solidarity. In conclusion a sw would not be aware if a child is in need or requires protection; however, the facts in this essay provide a sensible method of judgement on whether a child is in need or at risk of significant harm.

Due to changing trends in the world, many women continue to enter the workforce day and night performing almost similar duties like men. Motivated by a number of factors ranging from social to economic environment surrounding the move has always sparked debates not only among men but also in women who argue against the idea. The debate revolves around working versus those women who stay at home and take care of their families especially children. These concerns explore existence of any effects of working mothers to their children in terms of academic performance in schools and their emotional development which significantly depends on what happens at childhood. Another concern is the possibility of high stress levels faced by working mothers on a daily basis compared to their counterparts at home. This research analysis utilized findings from experts and surveys aimed at unraveling the truth about working mothers.

Introduction

Who are working mothers? This is a label name which refers to women who have career jobs and responsibilities apart from taking care of their children and husband at home. The number of this type of women has continued to increase not only in the neither United States, nor Europe but all over the world. Even as immense criticism continues to surround the idea of working women, it is of paramount need to focus on some of the factors which contribute to this phenomenon. It is clear that the world is always at a constant change process in terms of social believes, practices and also economic transformation. Many women have opted to join the work a way of enhancing equality with men who believe that women are supposed to be stationed at home and carry out domestic duties (Randall, 2003). The question that ponders the mind of many is whether the notion of working mothers is the only focal point in addressing the issue of gender equality in the society. Is there a better approach? Definitely there are considerable realistic and workable ways of establishing a society that recognizes men and women as equal beings.

Although viewed negatively by some people, many women believe that by joining the work force, there would be significant ease and improvement in meeting the family needs. Sharing of family responsibilities between men and women is by far a very important idea. With increasing global economic hitches, there is every need for every family in the world to establish ways of making ends meet without extreme straining. As a result, working mothers believe that this is the only way of lessening family crisis which may arise from unsatisfied needs and unmet expenses which can be shared between a husband and wife. This sounds human and acceptable but it has lacked taste in a number of men in the world and other women who still advocate for “stay home” mothers in the 21st century.

It is clear that the question of whether women need to be incorporated in the workforce like men still causes controversy. With growing working opportunities for both men and women, it is very normal for girls to go to school, join colleges and universities and secure jobs just like their male counterparts. This is quite commendable. However, the basis of this argument rests on the opportunity cost incurred when women join the workforce. It is believed that working women make inefficient mothers. Although this varies from one person to the other, sociologists argue that there is usually little or no time left for children brought up by working mothers. Additionally, working women experience a lot of stress compared to non working mothers who spent their entire time with their families (Harper & Richards, 1986). This is attributed to overwhelming demands which may arise from work stations and homes. Balancing of time between the two masters, job and family remains a mega challenge among working women in the world.

Statement of problem

According to this research, very little has been done with regard to the effect of working mothers on their children’s emotional development and academic behavior. As a result, the research explores the general impact of working mothers on their children compared to non working women.

Research questions

What is the negative impact of a working mother on a child’s academics and emotions?

What is the positive impact of a working mother on the life of her child?

What is the impact of non working mothers on their children’s life?

Literature review

Working mothers has received massive coverage from both individuals and groups of people aimed at unraveling the truth which surround this debate topic. However, many people reckon that the idea is quite open with a wide range of views which may vary from person to person. One of search people who have invested time in sociological research is Elizabeth Perle McKenna. In her 1998 research, McKenna analyses the relationship between work and family as experienced by working women around the globe. She exhaustibly dwells on the issue of work and identity and the dissatisfaction which arises when work does not give intended satisfaction. She argues that many women find themselves ignoring pivotal areas of their lives by devoting their time and concentration to work (McKenna, 1998). This devotion is usually aimed at attaining certain traditional symbols of success like money, challenging jobs and power.

As viewed by McKenna, women entered the workforce massively under terms that were designed by men. They were eager and full of passion of leaving the old fashion of staying at home. They did this like immigrants abandoning their natural habitat and adapting to the workforce designed for and by men to suit their lifestyle and nature. Unfortunately, most if not all working systems have been designed to define men based on what they do and not who they are (McKenna, 1998). This system calls for long working hours in order to gain recognition and reward. This is still the case today even though almost sixty percent of women in the United States belong to the working class. In other words, the workforce does not recognize the nature of women with regard to the diverse responsibilities they have at home. It assumes the fact that women belong at home. McKenna writes this book from a personal experience and recalls moments in her life when she found it hard to balance work with growing family needs until she had to quit her job after having changed career severally.

McKenna admits that women who are unable to quit working find it hard to balance between work and family responsibilities. She poses that although many women want attain success as traditionally defined, it is almost impossible excel career-wise and thrill as a good mother, caregiver and a good wife. She notes that the pursuit of such identity breeds nothing but depression, stress and finally burnout.

Research findings

This research found out that working mothers have a wide range of impact on their families with special emphasis on their children. Non working mothers have all the time to take care of their families and provide necessary care and love to their young ones. Children born of working mothers experience difficulties during their early stages of development. As young beings, children need enough time from their caregivers who are non other their mothers. In the absence of this care emotional impact is felt which may affect up to the academic capabilities of such children. Working mothers also experience emanating from challenges of time balancing (Peters 1968). On the other hand, working men feel independent and provide families needs including among others, children’s quality food. Both working and non working children may significantly influence the development process of children.

Discussion

The number of working mothers has continued to rise from about 30% in 1970s to approximately 50% in early 21st century. This has significantly affected the life of many children. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1999). Children from families with working mothers have emotional depressions with measurable difficulties in their academic life. There is also continuing research on the effect of mothers’ working stress on children. Even as this research continues, the fact is that a child is always hyper sensitive to the emotional status of the mother before and even after birth.

Do children born of working mothers receive sufficient attention and care? When mothers spend almost full of their day time at work, many children less effective especially at school. Since most working mothers maximize their working time when children are in their pre-school, these children show wanting and unappealing results (Cavel, 2001). These children feel some form of emptiness which ends up affecting their class concentration and general performance compared to children whose mothers are not working. It is also important to affirm that a child’s early stages are very important in shaping his character and personality. Children who spend less time with their mothers as a result of work commitments are likely to experience hardships in language development which goes further to affect a child’s academic progress. This is because learning in class mainly depends on communication propagated by language proficiency (Associated Press, 1999).

Working mothers also experience a lot of stress which arise from the inability to balance between work and family needs. These two responsibilities appear to be like two jobs which are being handled by one person at the same time. As a result, these mothers are ever in a hurry to catch up with time and attend to unfinished duties at home and at work place. These mothers end up meeting the needs of the family with very few men willing to share the responsibility (Gershaw, 1988). In the event that a child falls sick, mothers find it difficult to fully attend to the child at the expense of her sleeping job. They also feel stressed over their own lives. Many working women are not willing to give birth. In other words, working continues to rob women off their mothering ability.

Although working mothers have significant negative impact on their children, these mothers also have all the reasons to smile and the need for them to receive recognition. There are positive impacts generated by these mothers with the baseline of it being provision of basic needs, especially food. Many children brought up by working mothers live in considerably good standards compared to those of non working mothers. Working mothers usually have a wide domain of choices in terms of dietary. This ensures good childcare and healthy upbringing (Booth, 2000).

A working mother is also a challenge to her children (Figes, 2001). As the immediate role model, mothers play a mega role in shaping the character of her children. Children admire good character and adorable achievements realized by those people who surround them. Therefore working mothers challenge their children to work hard and experience better achievements compared to what may she has.

Conclusion

In general, working mothers negatively impact their children. This is mainly witnessed in areas of emotional development and academic performance. This is mainly due to the inability to balance between family responsibilities and demands of the job. Stress is also common among working mothers a trend that is significantly low among non working mothers. It should be noted that working is highly encouraged among family members. However, mothers should devote most of their time to taking care of their children. They can take up less demanding jobs especially at tender ages of their children.

There are increasing number of women continue their careers after given birth to their childs. They are regarded as “working mothers”, whom are facing many difficulties to keep balance between the work and the family. This phenomenon led to many studies about the effect of maternal employment base on a secure mother-infant attachment.This paper raise the question: many mothers are often confronted with the dilemma of choosing between their jobs or careers, and their children, whether they should come back to work after post partum. The attachment theory in this paper was found by John Bowlby, whom emphasized the importance of mother’s attention and care on the infant. He argued that there was a long time last influence on the infant future life. There are also contemporary reasearches suggested that maternal employment have benefits on the family and the infant. The paper analyze the deveopment of mother-infant attachment theories and current studies, to evaluate the positive and negative effect to the infant of working mother.

Infant-mother attachment

Attachment theory was formulated by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby. It is a psychological, evolutionary, and ethological theory concerning relationships between humans pointed out that a young child needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally . According to his study of attachment theory, infant behaviour associated with attachment is primarily the seeking of proximity to an attachment figure, moreover, secure base and safe haven are the features and function of attachment relationships. Infants become attached to adults who are sensitive and responsive in social interactions with them.

Many experts agree that the mother-child attachment bond is the term for our first interactive love relationship-the one we had with our primary caregivers, our mothers. The mother-child attachment bond shapes infants’ brains, profoundly influencing their self-esteem, their expectations of others, and their ability to attract and maintain successful relationships . Nowadays studies also support that during the early development, the infant-mother interaction and the early social experiences may produce long-lasting changes in the brain of the infant with profound behavioral and emotional effects throughout the whole life . The infant behaviors that have been implicated as resulting from this theoretically compromised mother infant relationship have included slight, transient effects on sociability and affective sharing to results suggesting significant increases in irritability, cognitive delays, behavioral problems, and difficulties with attachment among others .

Overall, following attachment theory, the early connection developed between a primary child care provider and an infant is essential for development. Lacking of experience make it difficult for them to handle the issue about this new member and family transition, especially for the first-time parenthood. The success or failure of the attachment bond has a life-long effect in a person’s life.

Maternal employment and infant attachment

Whether and how about the mother’s working status affect the infant was a topic of great interest in the 1980s. In the context of mothers’ increased participation in paid work, attention has also turned to the impact of maternal employment and the use of nonmaternal child care as additional factors likely to affect maternal caregiving and the developing attachment relationship. Many scientists, politicians, and parents were worried about the children, especially infant, would suffer if others but not the moter cared for them most of the time , others argued that such worries were based on oppressive sexist prejudices not data . So debates started, positive or negative influence on the attachment of mother and infant, whether working mothers is taking the responsibility of the infant or not.

Why do mothers go to work

Why mothers go to work; in Hong Kong society, women go to work for more personal and social reasons than for financial reasons. In traditional society, mothers are performing stereotyped roles as be responsible for the household, such as doing housework, preparing dinner, caring of the children and husband. Now in modern society, women are no longer restricted by the traditional mother and wife role. For the economical reason, they want to make more benefits to the family and gain more independence in economic position. For the education standard, women who achieved high educational qualification, want to apply their knowledge to the work and pursue a successful career, and they are needed by the society. For the changing social norms, women are achieving more equalities in work, morevoer, they are not acted as “bad moms” when they go to work and pay less attention on the children. The whole society tend to accept working mothers.

Though several reasons and conditions mentioned above seem to allow mothers to join the workforce, still many of them face with a dilemma regarding their career and family . Still so many mother feel struggling in the situation of whether to work or not.

Negative aspect of working mothers

According to the above attachment theories, it is easy to acknowledget the harm that would do to the infant lack of attachment. It is to say that negative influences on the development of secure attachment, or even potentially damaging . Fail to provide the child with sufficient structure, recognition, understanding, safety, and mutual accord may lead to become physically and emotionally distant in relationships in later relationship, remain insecure, become disorganized, aggressive and angry, and develop slowly. . A working mother is tend to create an insecure and inconsistent attachment.

Stifter, Coulehan, and Fish , found no significant connections between work status and attachment security, but did caught the public attention of the consideration and inclusion of other variables such as maternal separation anxiety and maternal sensitivity. Specially the research did find that infants of mothers who were employed but reported high work-related separation anxiety were more likely to develop anxious-avoidant attachments. And then, a finding suggested that employed mother were less invested in parenthood and had high level of anxiety , implied high anxiety would get in the way of taking good care of the infant.

A baby is supposed to grow up to be loving, well adjusted individual. A full-time employed mother would have missed out on being there and watching the baby from up close. These are important formative period, as a mother’s instinct, want to be around to strengthen the attachment bond between mother and infant. The effects of maternal employment of secure mother-infant attachment relationship to be negative of majority according to those researches. These evidences support the hypothesis that working mothers increase the risk of some undesirable outcomes, espacilly in the baby’s first year.

Positive aspect of working mothers

Do maternal employment have an adverse effect on the children? The answer may be no. In fact, mothers with careers have a positive impact on children, as they serve as good role models. A study in Australia found no relation between maternal employment and infant attachment.

In the early study, Bowlby insisted that separation from the mother should be kept to a minimum . However, in the further study, he developed his statement as ‘a subsidiary attachment figure can meet an infant’s needs adequately in the primary figure’s absence’ . In another words, mother was not the only attachment bond to the baby and this finding gave the mother an opportunity to take a breath during the overwhelming duties. She did not need to take the only responsibility to the feedback towards the infant.

Later, some scholars emphasized quality but not quantity of the attachment. Too much and too sensative responds to the baby may triggered a spoiling parental style. Prior to an infant’s self-regulation of external stimuli, parents are responsible . Parents have to learn the difference between too much and too little responds for managing the infant inattentiveness and excessive stimulation. Providing the appropriate amount of feedback for the baby is conducting a healthy attachment bond.

I was impressed by a professors’s saying that many parents feel very selfish and cruel in leaving their crying young child for the absence time. However, it is not only a beneficial opportunity for her parents, it is also an important lesson in trust for her that you will always be clear about when you are leaving, you will always provide a caring protector while you are gone, and, best of all, you always return to love and protect her . Parents should be comforted that, properly leaving but not always stick to the baby is also buliding a trustful relationship.

For the further concern of the baby, Such working mothers tend to emphasise education, and also manage to spend quality time with their children. Talking about the dual income, the standard of living is higher, children get access to better quality education and extra-curricular activities. Acadamic statistic demonstrated this fact: secure parental employment lowers the incidence of poverty and the associated risks to children . ‘The increase in the percentage of children living with a working parent is welcome news,’ said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health. ‘Secure parental employment helps to reduce the psychological toll on families, brought on by parental unemployment and underemployment.Secure parental employment may also enhance children’s psychological well-being and improve family functioning by reducing stress and other negative effects that unemployment and underemployment can have on parents.”

Conclusion

As we can see, there are pros and cons about maternal employmet. So we still have to deal with this dilemma and make our own decision. I think there are no right or wrong answers in this case. Whether you want to get back to work from the day you stop nursing your child, or whether you want to be a homemaker your entire life is entirely up to you. Some women find joy in the workplace, while others find it at home.

In some conditions, women can handle both children and work well though it is a hard task. Maybe having one does not require sacrificing the other.

As we know that healthcare professionals are a part of group that relates to the service users mean while the service users also play a vital role and impart an effect on professional group. It is worthwhile to discuss the importance of support workers because they are to work in partnership with users of the services and they also help them in fetching self-reliant. Professionals offer service users to offer them with some extra settlement in the shorter time but they often are not capable of long-term benefits. Support workers perform work in partnership services users and help them in maintaining their status quo. In order to undertake daily tasks and make some amendments in these to make sure service users get some the short-term goals but still they fail to do so over the long-term. The report shows that the results tell us about the need for the service users to help the users in mental health support workers to improve there group efficiency in order to get a professional profile meanwhile, they make it clear that each of health care professionals along with the service users should have a clearer perceptive nature of support work so it may help them in positioning the health sector to a higher level.

Interpersonal Level:

The second and still somewhat a important level of Health and social care in partnership working is that of interpersonal; in this category the category of retired worker i.e. old age class find it less difficult to offer the wants in less demanding way because they have ample of time to perform there task. Most of the people in the category of who younger age group than this retired class feel a little bit isolated and this make it more difficult to fulfill their desires. Hence these leads to more emphasize on the interpersonal level working in partnership. Hence the interpersonal group tends to operate the relationship with different levels of groups and make them convey their desires more effectively. Hence working in groups makes it easy for them to ensure that they have a good understanding with in their group which makes their life easy. The way in which practices and local health services work appear to separate beside these destitute groups. It could be that they have too many conflicting priorities or are less skilled at negotiating their chosen appointments.

Organizational level:

The importance of partnership working takes a new look when we study it at the organizational level. The concept of partnership has a great impact on labor’s social policy issue. Hence a new concept arises when we have to discuss partnership and collaboration, because both of these have some themes ‘new’ Labour’s social policy, mainly in respect of the freedom of health and social care. Though the terms are hardly ever specifically clear and problematic to study, in most understandings partnerships has some reliability upon good systems of inter-professional association. By going through the past literature on the social behavior of professions, and meanwhile the nature of inter-professional working, One of the study shows that effective mutual working within health and social care is difficult to obtain, mainly in the light of the immense difference in authority and culture between a variety of occupational groupings, and the naturally competitive scenery of profession jostle for region in the same areas of activity. It shows that the issues which are handled with care need to be resolved before what they ought to make it difficult and hence are properly understood; a metaphoric application to the absolute benefits of ‘partnership’ without any other way hence it helps in maintaining the status quo and yield efficient partnership working. Meanwhile we can also maintain an proper role for social work in the situation of partnership working at the organization level which has a brilliant role and area of study that make it more beneficent has yet to be defined and proposes specific tasks and values that distinguish the social worker from other related professionals.

Healthcare system needs to be characterised by high levels of citizen empowerment and service user groups in order to make it more effective. Service users have vast access to large data of information about healthcare and in this way they can have a good option to choose where to have management. Transference of healthcare in Sweden to local and regional government had lead to healthcare being organised according to the needs of local inhabitants rather than at national level. From a dictatorial standpoint, at national level there exists a number of organizations including the Board of Health & Welfare, the Medical Responsibility Board, the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Board and the Medical Products Agency. The National Board of Health & Welfare, which has many different duties within the fields of social services, health and medical services, environmental health, communicable disease prevention and control and epidemiology, produce a report of healthcare performance across the country every year. Two of the committee members on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Board, which regulates the pricing of medicines, are from service user groups. Service users have also been demanding a more equal relationship with their health professionals and are no longer accepting the traditional role of the patient as a passive recipient of care. Their calls for greater involvement in their own care have been heard and have also encouraged government and health providers to formulate policies with more ambitious objectives of encouraging the involvement of service users in the planning and delivery of health and social care services.

There has been a lot of study being held to improve the standard and evaluated the importance of service user groups empowerment. Therefore the appraisal of a new health initiative Smith, Prosser, & Joomun (2007) investigated service users’ mind set for health support workers through the focus group discussions and a series of interviewes. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness and adequacy of services offered by support staff. The findings indicate that both service users and service visitors appreciated the involvement of the health support workers. Similarly in earlier research Corcoran (1985) investigated patient’s perceptions of paraprofessional and professional therapists. Corcoran recommended that the patients were more keen to seek help from paraprofessional then professional therapists, with areas such as reliability and knowledge showing no significant difference. Both articles offer strong support for the use and employment of paraprofessional staff, indicating, for the most part, that both service users and visitors are relaxed with their involvement in health and social services.s

Models of service users

Like Mackenzie (2006), den Boer et al. (2005) examined the employment of paraprofessional as a means for a cost effective method to dropping the burden for health professionals, with particular reference to their effectiveness in the delivery of psychological treatments for misery and anxiety disorders. The research that emphasis on perceptions of the service user, rather than the professional as was the case in Mackenzie (2006). Paraprofessionals involved within den Boer et al. were employed as mental health care members whish are paid to perform there duties and hel in voluntary staff. Meanwhile they also require no qualifications in regard to the delivery of psychological treatment. Study indicated no statistical difference between the deliverance and effectiveness of treatment between professional and paraprofessional groups. However, the analysis of the preferred group from the client’s perspective favoured paraprofessionals supporting the earlier work of Corcoran (1985).

Task 2.3. Critically compare and analyze how better partnership among different service user groups and Health and social care professionals had benefitted by the concept of empowerment of the service users.

It became more and more clear in the project that thriving networking and the development, giving out and mainstreaming of service user knowledge are closely related and that the two are inextricably involved with meaningful user involvement in most service users’ minds. This would help in their work patterns and benefit the service users. When asked how user knowledge can make a more powerful impact to improve people’s lives, service users highlight two closely interrelated issues. These are:

strengthening service user networking at individual and organisational levels;

the promotion of effective user involvement by service users.

Service user groups help enhance the performance of the employees and mean while give them autonomy in their work.

Hence we can conclude that the service user groups are related to the task performed and take it more and more serious while going through the phase of improvement.

Task 3.1. Explain the possible positive and negative outcomes of working in partnership across the Health and social Care sector with a range of different service user groups. Explain strategies to avoid negative outcomes in working in partnership.

Health and social care sector has been effective and it would result in many positive outcomes if the service user groups utilize them in partnership building. Following are some of the common positive outcomes of working in groups in the health and care sector.

Service users and members of the public should be involved in the work of regulatory bodies:

aˆ? It promotes openness and transparency among public in order to improve service quality and openly involves in the development of rules and standards;

aˆ? It ensures safety solution so that health and social services can learn from the experiences of service users, carers and others, particularly

as it relates to adverse events;

aˆ? It improves the quality of regulated services by ensuring that services are sensitive to the needs and preferences of service users and the public; and

aˆ? It focuses the work of regulatory bodies on service users and encourage public accountability by complementing the expertise of health

professionals and information from scientific literature18.

A further rationale for involving the public directly in the work of regulatory bodies is a need to counteract the risk of regulatory capture.

Negative outcomes:

As noted earlier, communication is the fundamental platform upon which partnership interaction takes place. Poor communication can negatively impact partnership functioning in a number of ways: it can leave people feeling overwhelmed, or left out and confused; it can exacerbate problems of accountability; and perhaps most importantly, it can reduce a partnership’s capacity for exchange and synergy.

Task 3.2. Critically explore how better partnership in all 3 levels could bring positive outcomes for the range of service users at different Health and social care facilities across the regions.

Increasingly in modern society, partnerships are being called on to solve the most complex issues of our time. Partnerships are being formed in areas such as development, nursing, social work, public health and especially in the field of health promotion. Within the field of health promotion, partnerships exist at every level from one-on-one interventions to global programmes.

Given the popularity of partnership working, the literature examining its functioning is oddly scarce. The literature on partnership functioning that does exist examines almost exclusively partnerships at the community level. The purpose of the present case study was to gain insight into the functioning of a global health promotion partnership. Using the community literature as a point of departure, this case study analysed documents and conducted interviews in an attempt to map functioning from the real-life experience of global partnership functioning

Task 3.3. Critically analyze different negative outcomes resulting in working in partnership concept. Explain and evaluate different pre-emptive strategies you could implement to avoid negative outcomes.

Antagonistic output appears to be a result of the negative interaction of partnership processes. Antagony itself contributes nothing to the problem and indeed has a further negative impact on partnership functioning by discouraging partners, by wasting resources and by failing to make necessary contributions.

In sum, outputs are the manifestation of inputs coming together in various ways. With additive outcomes, inputs simply move past the partnership interaction untouched by it. Additive outcomes are not affected by the partnership and appear to have no effect on it.

Synergistic outcomes are produced when positive processes enable collaborative exchange among inputs to create something unique and better. These outputs feed back in to the partnership and seem strengthen the interaction. Antagonistic outcomes result when inputs come together but do not produce expected outcomes. Antagony is produced when positive intention meets negative loops of interaction. These outputs may revert back in to the partnership negatively impacting the interaction.

Task 1.1. As Health and Social care personals engaged in the Health and Social Care Work explain the different levels of working partnerships across the sector using the 3 partnership levels, Service user-professionals, interpersonal and Organisational and policy levels. Explore these partnership relationships across different levels of Health and Social care services including your own Health and Social Care work place where you engaged with service users and other colleagues of your working environment.

ANS: Health and Social Care professionals have a very vital role among the partnership workers. Each level and professional group relies upon some kind of activity which relates to the performance of the group. There are different levels of each group and different systems get them to be modified. Now we will discuss the three levels of working in partnership with respect to the Health and Social care:

Service user-professionals:

As we know that healthcare professionals are a part of group that relates to the service users mean while the service users also play a vital role and impart an effect on professional group. It is worthwhile to discuss the importance of support workers because they are to work in partnership with users of the services and they also help them in fetching self-reliant. Professionals offer service users to offer them with some extra settlement in the shorter time but they often are not capable of long-term benefits. Support workers perform work in partnership services users and help them in maintaining their status quo. In order to undertake daily tasks and make some amendments in these to make sure service users get some the short-term goals but still they not pass to do so in long time. The report shows that the results tell us about the need for the service users to help the users in mental health support workers to improve there group efficiency in order to get a professional profile meanwhile, they make it clear that each of health care professionals along with the service users should have a clearer perceptive nature of support work so it may help them in positioning the health sector to a higher level.

Interpersonal Level:

The second and still somewhat a important level of Health and social care in partnership working is that of interpersonal; in this category the category of retired worker i.e. old age class find it less difficult to offer the wants in less demanding way because they have ample of time to perform there task. Most of the people in the category of who younger age group than this retired class feel a little bit isolated and this make it more difficult to fulfill their desires. Hence these leads to more emphasize on the interpersonal level working in partnership. Hence the interpersonal group tends to operate the relationship with different levels of groups and make them convey their desires more effectively. Hence working in groups makes it easy for them to ensure that they have a good understanding with in their group which makes their life easy. The way in which practices and local health services work appear to separate beside these destitute groups. It could be that they have too many conflicting priorities or are less skilled at negotiating their chosen appointments.

Organizational level:

The importance of partnership working takes a new look when we study it at the organizational level. The concept of partnership has a great impact on labor’s social policy issue. Hence a new concept arises when we have to discuss partnership and collaboration, because both of these have some themes ‘new’ Labour’s social policy, mainly in respect of the freedom of health and social care. Though the terms are hardly ever specifically clear and problematic to study, in most understandings partnerships has some reliability upon good systems of inter-professional association. By going through the past literature on the social behavior of professions, and meanwhile the nature of inter-professional working, One of the study shows that effective mutual working within health and social care is difficult to obtain, mainly in the light of the immense difference in authority and culture between a variety of occupational groupings, and the naturally competitive scenery of profession jostle for region in the same areas of activity. It shows that the issues which are handled with care need to be resolved before what they ought to make it difficult and hence are properly understood; a metaphoric application to the absolute benefits of ‘partnership’ without any other way hence it helps in maintaining the status quo and yield efficient partnership working. Meanwhile we can also maintain an proper role for social work in the situation of partnership working at the organization level which has a brilliant role and area of study that make it more beneficent has therefore not defined moreover the cause is related and is unique from the related professionals.

Assessment Criteria covered: (P1.1, P1.2)

Task 1.2. Critically explain how the relevant government acts and legislations provides a better framework for the Health and social care professionals to work in partnership with service users, other colleagues and inter organisational levels.

Ans: The government plays a very vital role in developing Health and Social care sector through reforms and acts. UK government is also working upon it and kept a very good record in making reforms and introducing Acts of Parliament and their explanatory notes which guide where suitable, with directives on conformity where properly implementable.

Most laws that make people learn about the outcomes of partnership working also help people with learning disabilities in order to apply that to other samples. Some of them have emphasized on children; Others offer there services for all age groups. The main rule of the game which is somewhat a matter of concern are likely to make an impact on the lives of all age groups, with learning or physical disabilities, are about:

Children protection and Care;

Special educational needs for Children and patients;

Extensive education and training;

Community care services;

human rights;

discrimination.

The current structure of UK public sector health and social services, and the consequent relationships between its National Health Service (NHS) and local government, are not a planned ideal but a compromise.

These prevailed over arguments in favour of a local government solution based on:

The significant connection of local authorities in health services

Maintain an articulate approach to health in its broadest wisdom

The democratic foundation of local authorities

Local willpower and flexibility rather than national regularity.

So differences in culture and indeed in finance and accountability systems could still impede attempts to break down the barriers. Despite the potential benefits – for users, carers, communities and citizens.

Assessment Criteria covered: (M1.1)

Task 1.3. Critically evaluate how empowerment of service users would create better standards of health and social care in your own organization and overall in the whole country. Use the models of service users to explain your arguments.

Ans: Healthcare system needs to be characterised by high levels of citizen empowerment and service user groups in order to make it more effective. Service users have vast access to large data of information about healthcare and in this way they can have a good option to choose where to have management. Transference of healthcare in Sweden to local and regional government had lead to healthcare being organised according to the needs of local inhabitants rather than at national level. From a dictatorial standpoint, at national level there exists a number of organizations including the Board of Health & Welfare, the Medical Responsibility Board, the Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Board and the Medical Products Agency. The National Board of Health & Welfare, which has many different duties within the fields of social services, health and medical services, environmental health, communicable disease prevention and control and epidemiology, produce a report of healthcare performance across the country every year. Two of the committee members on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Board, which regulates the pricing of medicines, are from service user groups. Service users have also been demanding a more equal relationship with their health professionals and are no longer accepting the traditional role of the patient as a passive recipient of care. Their calls for greater involvement in their own care have been heard and have also encouraged government and health providers to formulate policies with more ambitious objectives of encouraging the involvement of service users in the planning and delivery of health and social care services.

There has been a lot of study being held to improve the standard and evaluated the importance of service user groups empowerment. Therefore the appraisal of a new health scheme Smith, Prosser, & Joomun (2007) produced some results service users’ mind set for health support workers through the focus group discussions and a series of interviewes. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness and adequacy of some unique performance which is offered by support staff. The findings designate that both service users and service visitors esteemed the association of the health support workers. Similarly in earlier research Corcoran (1985) found out that patient’s mind set of paraprofessional and professional therapists. Corcoran opted that the patients were keener to look for help from paraprofessional then professional therapists, with areas such as consistency and knowledge presents no significant difference. Both articles offer strong support for the use and employment of paraprofessional staff, representating, for the most part, that both service users and visitors are relaxed with their contribution in health and social services.

Models of service users

Like Mackenzie (2006), den Boer et al. (2005) studied the involvement of paraprofessional as a means for cost efficient criteria to drop out the burden for health professionals, with particular situation to their success in the freedom of psychological treatments for misery and anxiety disorders. The articles that suggest this also emphasize on mind set of the service user, rather than the professional as was in situation of Mackenzie (2006). Paraprofessionals involved within den Boer et al. were employed as mental health care members whish are paid to perform there duties and help in voluntary staff. Meanwhile they also require no experience in view to the delivery of psychological treatment. Research showed no statistical change between the deliverance and use of treatment between professional and paraprofessional groups. But there are some exceptions that the analysis of the preferred group from the client’s perspective favored paraprofessionals supporting the earlier work of Corcoran (1985).

The aims of the these studies were aimed at identifying the function of mental health which supports workers in perceiving by service users and healthcare professionals, this in turn identifies the level of reception of paraprofessionals as members of the mental health care community.

Assessment Criteria covered: (D1.1)

Task 2.1. Name and explain different service user groups in Health and Social care sector. How would you apply the basic concepts of working in partnership with each service user groups? Explain the differences. Considering inter professional relationships in Health and Social care sector, explain how they deal with conflicts, overcome the barriers to partnership, how they share information while preserving the confidentiality.

Ans: We have chosen two different Service user groups to evaluate the outcome of these with respect to the working in partnership.

registered health professionals

mental health service users

The discussion is based on the research held by “Barnaby Pace MNZPsS, Assoc. BSocSc(Hons), MSocSc(Hons), PGDipCBT, PGDipEd(AdEd)

The data analysis suggested the following key themes as identified by healthcare professionals.

Care giving

Rehabilitation

Supporting activities of daily living

Level of skill/competence

Advocating for clients

Now we will discuss the literature with respect to each of them and will try to evaluate the difference between them. These points will show us with conflicts, overcome the barriers to partnership

Care giving

It is common perception that environs are needed to be care taking and of obliging nature of maintain work became polarized for the healthcare professional study group, which resulted in this scrupulous theme being divided into two components: Care charitable was viewed as a paternalistic model which eliminates the independence of the service user, suggesting support work is a ‘baby-sitting’ role.

Rehabilitation

In rehabilitation there are many healthcare professionals who measures support workers in order to essential recovery/rehabilitation process, stipulate and hence they were able to make it more present themselves as important individuals in the service users’ life in the lack of family or friends.

Supporting activities of daily living

In other words the activities of daily living are in contrast to the paternalistic replica offered through care giving frequent references were given to the two-way natural world of support work, signifying that the paraprofessional job along side rather than for the service user.

Level of skill/competence

Hence the position to the level of skill and ability apparent for mental health support workers a variety of views were verbal reliant on how their overall role was viewed, as avowed in points two and three above. A clear partition emerged from the narratives: those who professed support workers to be under qualified and those who thought no qualification were needed.

Advocating for clients

In some way or other the contact and experience has to be offered with some advocating because support workers professionals determined there was a strong stress on the role of support.

Examination of Service User interviews exposed the following themes. Each will be discussed and illustrated:

Assist in goal achievement

Help to find employment

Care giving

Supporting activities of daily living

1. Assist in goal achievement

Most of the employees as well as service users need some help in achieveing there goals so they are intended to get some help from the health care professionals in order achieve what they want. Hence achieving the goals is identified as a noteworthy function of the support worker’s role, ranging from short through to long-term goal advance and execution across a variety of domains.

2. Help to find employment

In this part of service user group there can be a lot of help if the employement opportunities are created and the people are counseled to help other than what they already have under there belt. Employment was branded as a noteworthy task of the support work role with most of the research contestant commenting on the value of have a support worker to guide them through the process of applying for work.

3 Care giving

It is very reliable to make Healthcare Professionals comparison with Service Users those appeared edgy over the caregiver verse helpful nature insight of mental health support work. Several of the members viewed help workers as a domestic aide who should perform tasks included meal preparation and house work.

4. Supporting activities of daily living

Opposing to the statements made in point three above, services users also viewed support workers as serious elements to their general well-being and ongoing revival, viewing them in a more professional capability.

Task 2.2. Critically evaluate how organisational practices and polices depending on the type of organisation guide Health and Social care professionals to engage in the work in partnership. Explain how this could help to improve the quality of life for the service users.

Ans: Organizational practices and policies can help in increasing the productivity of the employees. Working in partnership can increase their moral and it can also help them improve the quality of work in many ways. Most of the organizations have Researchers and policy makers which work in many ways to make some in the fields of organisational development. This helps in gaining the human resources management and social care of employees will. Which have precious perspective on the organisational and human resources challenges facing problems regarding group work and partnership working. There are some new organizations in which it is important to consider that employees get an extra benefit from working in partnership. In particular, the research team would wish to establish links with the research team undertaking the National Tracker Survey of PCGs and PCTs, and other key researchers in this field. Moreover the task that the service users perform make it more and more suitable to them. Major reason behind making service user performance count is that the organizations are not going to worry about the quality of work of their employees in other words the quality of their work groups also increases.

Task 2.3. Critically compare and analyze how better partnership among different service user groups and Health and social care professionals had benefitted by the concept of empowerment of the service users.

It became more and more clear in the project that prosperous networking and the development, giving out and stream lining of service user ability to closely relate that the two are deeply involved with meaningful user participation in most service users’ minds. This in turn helps in their work behavior and benefits the service users. When discussed how does users knowledge can make a more powerful effect to improve people’s lives, service users highlight two closely interconnected issues. These are:

strengthening service user networking at individual and organisational levels;

the promotion of effective user involvement by service users.

Hence we can conclude that the service user groups are related to the task performed and take it more and more serious while going through the phase of improvement. Meanwhile they are benefitted with the strengthening effect and they empower the critical impact of these social care professionals and work groups.

Task 3.1. Explain the possible positive and negative outcomes of working in partnership across the Health and social Care sector with a range of different service user groups. Explain strategies to avoid negative outcomes in working in partnership.

Health and social care sector has been effective and it would result in many positive outcomes if the service user groups utilize them in partnership building. Following are some of the common positive outcomes of working in groups in the health and care sector.

Service users and members of the public should be involved in the work of regulatory bodies:

aˆ? It promotes openness and transparency among public in order to improve service quality and openly involves in the development of rules and standards;

aˆ? It ensures safety solution so that health and social services can learn from the experiences of service users, carers and others, particularly

as it relates to adverse events;

aˆ? It improves the quality of regulated services by ensuring that services are sensitive to the needs and preferences of service users and the public; and

aˆ? It focuses the work of regulatory bodies on service users and encourage public accountability by complementing the expertise of health

professionals and information from scientific literature18.

A further basis for connecting the public directly in the work of dictatorial bodies is a need to counteract the risk of regulatory capture.

Negative outcomes:

As noted earlier, communication is the fundamental platform upon which partnership interaction takes place. Poor communication can negatively impact partnership functioning in a number of ways: it can leave people feeling overwhelmed, or left out and confused; it can exacerbate problems of accountability; and perhaps most importantly, it can reduce a partnership’s capacity for exchange and synergy.

Task 3.2. Critically explore how better partnership in all 3 levels could bring positive outcomes for the range of service users at different Health and social care facilities across the regions.

Increasingly in modern society, partnerships are being called on to solve the most complex issues of our time. Partnerships are being formed in areas such as development, nursing, social work, public health and especially in the field of health promotion. Within the field of health promotion, partnerships exist at every level from one-on-one interventions to global programmes.

Given the popularity of partnership working, the literature examining its functioning is oddly scarce. The literature on partnership functioning that does exist examines almost exclusively partnerships at the community level. The purpose of the present case study was to gain insight into the functioning of a global health promotion partnership. Using the community literature as a point of departure, this case study analysed documents and conducted interviews in an attempt to map functioning from the real-life experience of global partnership functioning

Task 3.3. Critically analyze different negative outcomes resulting in working in partnership concept. Explain and evaluate different pre-emptive strategies you could implement to avoid negative outcomes.

Antagonistic output appears to be a result of the negative interaction of partnership processes. Antagony itself contributes nothing to the problem and indeed has a further negative impact on partnership functioning by discouraging partners, by wasting resources and by failing to make necessary contributions.

In sum, outputs are the manifestation of inputs coming together in various ways. With additive outcomes, inputs simply move past the partnership interaction untouched by it. Additive outcomes are not affected by the partnership and appear to have no effect on it.

Synergistic outcomes are produced when positive processes enable collaborative exchange among inputs to create something unique and better. These outputs feed back in to the partnership and seem strengthen the interaction. Antagonistic outcomes result when inputs come together but do not produce expected outcomes. Antagony is produced when positive intention meets negative loops of interaction. These outputs may revert back in to the partnership negatively impacting the interaction.