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This essay gives an overview of the risk assessment and decision making in adult protection. The main purpose of this essay is to bring a more clear concept of risk; meaning of risk assessment and risk management decision making in adult protection and further it will examine existing based on upon research and evidence finally, it will critically analyse national and local reports which are related to risk assessment. It also contains a section dedicated to the specialized agencies in social assistance and their role in helping vulnerable adults, by creating procedures meant to assure the proper protection and care, offering them security, assistance and guidance to create a normal life. Identify a series of definition of risk and risk management for better understanding the concepts that are aiming to develop. Next, it will connect the existent literature review on this topic to own research. Furthermore, it will present the risks that the adults with disabilities are exposed to, that can cause their injury, or even death, as we will understand from a presented case study.

Discussing about risk management, risk assessment, it can automatically presume that are referring to a situation in which something might go wrong. According to Hope and Sparks (2000) risk assessment may only able to identify probability of harm or danger, consider the impact of risk on individuals key and pretence intervention strategies which may reduce the risk or minimize the harm. However, assessment does not prevent risk.

‘Risk level’ (or simply ‘risk’) should be seen as a continuous probability statement, rather than a dichotomous variable (risk or no risk) since risk levels are often not stable but fluctuate over time and context, estimates of risk should be in the form of ongoing ‘assessments’ rather than one-time ‘predictions. “

The above definition speaks about the fluctuations of risks in time and in different contexts. It recommends that risk should be continuously monitored. Further, in their study, the authors refer to clinical risk assessment, a more related issue to this study.

“A frequent suggestion for improving the validity of clinical risk assessment is to take into account predictor variables reflecting the ‘environmental’ or ‘situational’ context in which violent behaviour is likely to occur, in addition to measuring dispositional, historical, or clinical factors. “

(Monham and Steadman 1994, p. 8)

A more precise definition of the term is offered by Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (2010, p.1) “the act of identifying possible risks, calculating how likely they are to happen and estimating what effects they might have”. Risk is closely linked to dangerousness, resulting in harm which seems to be agreed means harm to self or others and extend of harm which constitutes a risk in various situations especially adult with learning disabilities.

Brown (2005) states assessment of risk for adult with learning disabilities which should be evolutionary in nature constantly informed and shaped by changes of circumstances upon service users needs. The practice of risk assessment and management is the process of data collection, recording, interpretation, communication and implementation of risk reduction plan (Brown, 2005). According to Kemshall and Pritchard (2001) every human being becomes vulnerable during their lifetime for many of reasons they all respond differently to events that happen to them because of who they are and the lack of support that they have For the risk of learning disability, clinical model of risk assessment have become the norm. There are two kinds of risk that are relevant to work people with learning disabilities, risk of unnecessary exposure to undesirable events or experience, and risk of negative consequences when possible benefits and desirable experiences are perused (William et al, 2006).

Further present a series of acceptance regarding the risk management concept.

“Risk Management aims to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise across countries and across disciplines. Its purpose is to generate ideas and promote good practice for those involved in the business of managing risk.” (Palgrave-journals, 2011, p.1.).

In this definition, the risk management is perceived as a discipline, moreover, as a business solution meant to ease the communication flow and to propose a model for the risk management practice across countries and business areas. The concern of this study is not so general. Main focus is upon the risk management in the protection of vulnerable adults.

Increasingly responding to the risks of others, preventing risks to vulnerable adults or running risks to themselves is all in day’s work for the busy practitioners and manager in the field of social care (Brearley, 1982). Adult with learning disabilities are subject to risk all time due to their vulnerability they sometimes abused by those who have control over them or by those who realize that they are vulnerable because of their disabilities they often find it very much more difficult to assess risk the way most of social carer and services do.

According to Vaughn & Fuchs (2003) adult with learning disabilities they always find this difficult and also fail to recognize any risk at all as they can’t explain due to lack of communication. Nevertheless, take risks because they feel vulnerable to a point approaching hopelessness (Fischhoff et al., 2000). In either case, these perceptions can prompt adults to make poor decisions that can put them at risk and leave them vulnerable to physical or psychological harm that may have a negative impact on their long-term health and viability. According to Kemshall and Pritchard (2001) there has been much debate about a welfare model or a criminal justice model should be adopted.

Alaszewski (1998) states that, risk is used different ways. It is possible to identify a narrow common sense definition of risk which risk is equated with danger and the negative outcomes of events. Kemshall and Pritchard (2001) indicate that, adult’s vulnerable protection systems are likely to come under close scrutiny.

Protecting ‘Vulnerable Adults,’ Valuing People (2010, P. 93) states:

”People with learning disabilities are entitled to at least the same level of support and intervention from abuse and harm as other citizens. This needs to be provided in a way that respects their own choices and decisions”.

Vaughn & Fuchs (2003) state that, the difficulty for a person with learning disabilities is that carers often do feel often they are expected to make these choices for them. The law of negligence often can appear to inhibit decision making personal freedom and choice sit uncomfortably next to the concepts of duty of care and professional liability.

Above the study and definition, it needs to identify the risk that a vulnerable adult was exposed to. However, it will not be able to make precise mathematical calculations to exactly identifying the risk factor that the vulnerable adult was submitted to. These studies are mostly concerned with the risk assessment that a mental disordered person can cause to others and to himself/herself. An orientation towards the abuse that other people or the society, through its system, can cause to a disordered person is not clearly presented.

The murder of Steven Hoskin has been rendered cold bloodedly by a five peoples in St. Austell, Cornwall on July 6, 2006 (BBC, 2007; Daily Mail, 2007). Hoskin was a 39 years old man with an IQ level equal to a six year old child and living lonely in bedsit when the perpetrators made friendship with him to accomplish their brutal task (Society Guardian, 2007; BBC, 2007). Darren Stewart, the ring leader of the gang, along with his accomplices arrived at his apartment during the night of 5th and 6th July, 2006 (Daily Mail Online, 2007; BBC, 2007). Soon they started torturing and burning his body with cigarettes out of their hate toward his learning disability (Daily Mail Online, 2007). Later on, they coerce him to swallow more than 70 pills of Paracetamol which severely damaged his liver (BBC, 2007). Then they dragged him to the nearby viaduct where he was again stamped on and lashed out by the felons (BBC, 2007; Daily Mail Online, 2007). He was then forced to jump from a 100 feet tall bridge (Daily Mail Online, 2007). Later on, he was found dead in the river (BBC, 2007).

The crooks were later arrested and penalized by the court (BBC, 2007). The question arises here is that why this event occurred in the first place? Why the concerned authorities failed to protect him from the perpetrators even after the fact that some agencies (e.g. adult social care) know about his mental condition (Ahmed, 2007) and let him die helplessly? This is the subject of next discussion.

It was found in the investigation report of multiagency that Hoskin has cancelled his contact with the adult social care unit some days before his death (Society Guardian, 2007; BBC, 2007). This unilateral suspension was not taken seriously by the authorities and did not bother to inquire into the matter seriously (Ahmed, 2007). It was also found that he tried to contact many emergency service agencies nonetheless the matter was considered as a routine and over looked by the officials (Ahmed, 2007).

Cornwall Adult Protection Committee (2007) report, before his death Steven Hoskin gave up his social care protection. “Hoskin was placed in a bed-sit by adult social care in April 2005 and he was allocated two hours of help each week, but he chose to cancel the service in August and by September the council closed his case” (Community Care, 2007, p.1). The institutions involved in investigating Hoskin’s death and the reasons for which the specialized social cares agencies failed to prevent his death, didn’t searched on how and why did the man gave up his rights of social care.

The multiagency report further indicated that every single agency (i.e. Police, the housing association, emergency ambulance and adult social care etc.) did posses some piece of information regarding the conditions of Hoskin owing to the complaints of his neighbours or of himself (Ahmed, 2007). On the other hand no one of them has the complete information that can be used to see the big picture of the situation at hand (Ahmed, 2007). Each one of them was analysing the matter in an isolated environment (Ahmed, 2007). Perhaps, this can be better understood by following the jigsaw approach (Aronson, 1990). In this approach, every member of the group has some minor but important piece of information, nonetheless to make the whole picture complete, every ones contribution is essential (Aronson, 1990). Likewise, in the case of Hoskin, every agency has some minute but important pieces of information about him that can be used to make out what is actually going on with him and help can be launched to stop the danger approaching toward him (Aronson, 1990). For example, police knew that Darren Stewart, the main murder of Haskin, has already criminal record nonetheless this information was hidden to the adult social care which has the information that Stewart is now being seen with Hoskin (Ahmed, 2007). If these two pieces of jigsaw put together, it is very easy to conclude that Darren Stewart may be planning to do something wrong to the vulnerable Hoskin. Hence, it is clear that the lack of integration was the first drawback found in the previous setup.

Second main problem was that there was no mechanism to assemble discrete complaints from the same address several times at the emergency helpline service (Cornwall Adult Protection Committee, 2007). In the multiagency report, it is found that police and ambulance services visited the resident of Steven several times however, these individual complaints were not considered sufficient to alert an authority (Cornwall Adult Protection Committee, 2007). At the call centre, each time when a person in emergency calls, the phone is picked by some random person and the information remain isolated from the other people. There was no such system in place that can assemble the complaints from a unique address which can be used to raise alert (Cornwall Adult Protection Committee, 2007).

Third important problem was the lack of effective communication within an emergency service agency (Ahmed, 2007). For example, Carol Tozel, the director of adult social care, was unaware of the death of Hoskin until June 2007 (Ahmed, 2007). Carol Tozel was taken aback at the extreme lack of intra-communication in her department (Ahmed, 2007). Moreover, she was not provided any risk assessment review regarding the unilateral suspension of adult care services by Hoskin (Ahmed, 2007). This may be due the absence of any alert which her agency failed to raise for Hoskin or the common red-tape problem prevalent in governmental agencies almost all over the world.

Another significant issue was the reduction in the budget of social care services agency for disabled and old aged (Forder and Fernandez, 2010). The politicians have played a prominent role in the reduction of budget for this purpose (Forder and Fernandez, 2010). It is sorrowful to know that there are millions of pounds available for buying bombs to through at Iraq and Afghanistan however there is little money available to spend on the social care services of helpless and disabled persons.

Steven Hoskin was a vulnerable man who did not receive the professional help that he ought to. The specialized institutions mistreated the case and because he had no protection, the man was brutally murdered. Only after Steven’s murdered his case considered and in addition identified as a vulnerable adult. The agencies responsible for social care did not make the clear connections to determine the man a vulnerable adult while he was still alive.

According to the Adult Protection Act.(1989 p.1) R.S., c. 2, s. 1 an

“adult in need of protection means an adult who, in the premises where he resides, (i) is a victim of physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental cruelty or a combination thereof, is incapable of protecting himself therefore by reason of physical disability or mental infirmity, and refuses, delays or is unable to make provision for his protection therefore, or (ii) is not receiving adequate care and attention, is incapable of caring adequately for himself by reason of physical disability or mental infirmity, and refuses, delays or is unable to make provision for his adequate care and attention.”

After learning the atrocities that Hoskin was exposed to, there is no doubt about the fact that he was a vulnerable adult, in need of protection. According to a report issued by Devon County Council (2007, p.1) an abuse to a person in need is also when he/she is neglected and specialized authorities failed to act upon his/her problem. Hoskin’s problems were long time ignored and through the end of his life he did not benefit of the protection guaranteed by his rights as an adult in need, also because of the bureaucracy of the social care system, which at the time implemented a “ration of the time and resources”. Hence, because the man was not considered a vulnerable adult (his needs criteria were established within “low” to “low moderate”), the authorities just pulled him out of their system (An independent management review, cited in Community Care, 2007).

From the Community Care website we find out that social care representatives are being investigated for failing to prevent the abuse upon Steven Hoskin. According to the online publication Community Care (2007), the agencies in charge with protecting Hoskin missed more than 40 opportunities to help the man and to prevent him being killed.

As keep on investigating this subject, other interesting facts about this case are being revealed. According to Health Service Journal (2008, p.8) the man who took advantage of Hoskin’s mental state, into living with him, was also a mental disordered person. “His own history was chaotic: from being a runaway child, he became a violent and self-harming young man, leading a nomadic existence and making frequent suicidal gestures. He had convictions for arson and assault.”

Here is another case of authority’s incompetency. Because of the repeated calls to hospital, the ambulance service representatives acknowledged the fact that Steven Hoskin was sharing his accommodation with Darren Stewart, who was no stranger to them. They even called police to join them in several actions, to Steven’s apartment, because they knew that Stewart, who shared the bed-sit with Steven, was a very dangerous man (Health Service Journal, 2008). Evan so, because neither the police nor the ambulance service communicated this fact to the social assistance institutions, the case was further neglected.

Further discuss about some procedures that the social care institutions need to follow for avoiding cases like Steven Hoskin’s to happen. Actually, Hoskin’s case was the base of many new regulations for the social care institutions: No Secret refers to this case.

Created in November, 2003 the Adult Protection and Decision Act. “Provide a rate of tools to assist adults (19 and older) who have some diminished ability to make their own decisions” (Health and Social Services, 2010 p.1). The No Secrets (2000) guidance refers to the adult being any person of 18 and older. According to Health and Social Services (2010), the tools refer to decision making and representation agreements, guardianship appointed by court and adult protection for persons who are unable to look out for them and to search for help when abused or neglected.

Hence, the Health and Social Services (2010) definition of a vulnerable adult, the adults who need protection are the ones who are not able to make their own decisions Studying Hoskin’s case; we learnt that the man cancelled his social care assistance. Knowing these facts, an interesting question arises how was Steven Hoskin allowed to cancel his social care program if he was acknowledged as a vulnerable patient, incapable of taking decisions and to protect himself?

Unfortunately there have no evident information to understand the context in which the man gave up his social care rights and what authority and on what grounds approved the man’s request, as these issues were not investigated. The single information that have for this issue, was found in the Community Care article (2007), which presented Ray Jones’ (former social service director Cornwall Council) findings on the case. The Cornwall Council was, at that time, limited to adult care with critical needs. As seen above, Hoskin was considered a low to medium low case, so his was dropped, according to Ray Jones. This is the only statement that we found regarding Hoskin’s cancellation of his social assistance rights.

No Secrets (2000) sates that, guidance defines the term abuse as “a violation of an individual’s human and civil rights by any other person or persons.” (2:9).

Cornwall Adult Protection Committee (2007) presents in its serious case review study the measures created in order not to neglect adults with mental disorders and to prevent them of being harmed. A first recommendation would be to identify the disabled adults who live in a certain community (within conferences and meetings between multi-agencies meant to discover the persons who abused the ambulance or police services and that neighbors identified as problem-makers or disordered persons; by enhancing the communication between the social care institutions through trainings and communication conferences; by improving the information sharing across the statutory agencies; by raising community awareness and understanding about the identity and the possible behavior of vulnerable adults).

The No Secret (2000), guidance also imposes procedures for the statutory agencies to follow, when dealing with a case of vulnerable adult abuse. It is needed to indentify the “responsible and relevant agencies” (3:14). This is a very serious concern, because in order to understand how a vulnerable adult should be taken care of, one needs to understand which the institutions are involved in offering protection and support to vulnerable adults. Among the statutory agencies, such as commissioners of health and social care services, providers of sheltered and supported housing, police, regulator services, the guidance also specifies other actors as relevant agencies: voluntary and private sector agencies (3:14).

The guidance also suggests creating a multi agency management committee, which should consist of the leaders of the appointed agencies, in charge with identifying objectives and setting priorities, coordinating activities between agencies, creating training programs, monitoring and reviewing the progress of the institutions responsible for the vulnerable adults’ welfare. (3:15).

From studied case, Steven Hoskin was also the victim of the agencies’ negligence. The specialized institutions who were in charge with the man’s health status did not communicate amongst each other the reactions that they observed his behaviour.

Other actions established in the No Secret’s (2000) guidance frameworks, to identify roles and to appoint authority; to develop procedures that need to be followed by the agencies involved in the social care system. To protect the vulnerable adults’ confidentiality, as much as possible (the act specifies that a disabled person’s identity should only be communicated on need to know basis); to involve the local authority in this matter (for instance, local police should work closely to the directly appointed agencies by communicating their observations) and all the actions that the multi-agency management committee undertake should be submitted to an annual audit in order to establish if its policies and strategies were correctly applied (No Secret’s 2000,3 : 15, p 17, 18).

The Adult Protection Committee (2007) serious case review, also proposes an induction procedure, as part of the training policy, which is to be undertaken every three years. Within the training plan, as part of the supervision, there is also included a day to day supervision. (Cornwall Adult Protection Committee 2007, p.16). These procedures are followed in Cornwall district but this seems to be an effective model that could be established in the social care system, in general.

Following these rules and suggestions, the risk assessment is supposed to decrease. Just by communicating certain observation that an institution makes upon a vulnerable adult, this could bring many changes. Should a care assistant observe certain reactions at a disabled person and he/she doesn’t assure that the monitored observations are treated with the proper gravity, the treated vulnerable adult can suffer greatly, because his/her symptoms were not detected on time (Adult Protection Committee, 2007).

This is why, all the social care workers should be trained and their tasks and completion of their work to be daily supervised. This requires a more complex system, in which there should be included different levels of co-ordination. Within such a bureaucratic system, another risk factor interferes, the long communication flow which can cause information losses or redundant data (Adult Protection Committee, 2007). This also encounters a beneficial factor the different interpretation forms of certain information. According to Adult Protection Committee (2007), as in the case of a common work of different specialized social care institutions, the agencies can interpret differently a communicated problem related to the vulnerable adults’ monitored problems. Consequently, inter-communication and the information exchange between multi-agencies are so important. If certain information regarding the disabled adult might seem unimportant for a care institution, one other specialized care agency might find it crucial.

Like in the case of Hoskin, the police and the ambulance service didn’t consider very important the fact the that man made so many phone calls to hospitals and neither the fact that he was living with another disabled man seemed to be reflected as a problem for the police or the ambulance. If these facts would have been further communicated to the social care specialized agencies, the man’s live could have been saved.

According to Sellars (2002) risks change constantly and people grow, change, and develop. It is important to review risk assessment regularly, and aim always to increase choice and freedom for the people with learning disability. The presented and analyzed case is a serious, sad and unwanted example for understanding that the social care agencies, and other departments involved in the protection of vulnerable adults did not properly did their jobs. After studying the reports and the publications that treated Steven Hoskin’s case, conclude that the man was the victim of the institutional abuse. His problems were not treated with seriousness, even more; the man was considered a danger to his community because of his lout outburst and violent behaviour.

Hoskin’s case is a clear prove that the institutions didn’t take into consideration the man’s repeated outburst, obvious factors of risk assessment: his repeated calls to hospitals, requiring ambulance services to his home; the police’s visits to his bed-sit (in many occasions required by the ambulance service, aware of the fact that Hoskin was leaving with a dangerous, ex-convicted man, the noisy visits that the neighbours identified with a few months before Steven Hoskin’s death, coming from his apartment). All these examples were neglected by the agencies responsible for Hoskin’s case. Actually no institution took into consideration that the man was vulnerable. He was known to have severe learning problems, having the IQ of a six year child. These are serious facts which prove that the man was a vulnerable adult, not able to make decisions for his own welfare and not able to take care of himself. The authorities involved in Hoskin’s case didn’t properly manage the man’s life. They didn’t even properly investigated the man’s abuse and the reasons that brought him in the situation that caused his death (what determined him to cancel his social assistance program, or did he really cancelled it, who approved this, how did Hoskin come to share his bed-sit with one of his murderers, months before his death).

A significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information, to learn new skills (impaired intelligence), with a reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning); and a condition which started before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development (Scottish Executive, 2010).

People with learning disabilities comprise of a highly vulnerable section of the society, who have limited access to health care facilities / services offered to them. They are often faced with obstacles and challenges while copying with grave situations such as loss and bereavement of loved ones, personal illness, death etc (Elliott, 1995). This, in turn, tends to aggravate their situation and increase their dependence on the society – which includes their friends, family and loved ones as well as the community in general. They are known to have been ignored persistently in terms of providing services in the need of personal illness, death, and other challenging life situations, thus increasing their vulnerability all the more.

Risk & vulnerability:

People with learning disabilities are one of the most vulnerable groups in the society (Department of Health 2001). People with learning disabilities has probably one of the worst histories is neglect and ill treatment in any group of society. Among the most vulnerable members of society they can’t speak up for themselves. Concepts of risk assessment and management in psychiatry increasingly reflect public and professional anxieties that people with a mental disorder may harm others (Simon Halstead (997).

At risk are the men’s victims whose suffering was often exacerbated by service providers’ failure to protect them. For example, if consequences are limited when a man with learning disabilities abuses another person with learning disabilities, the victim may be left with the idea that such behaviour is normal and acceptable, and that services will provide little protection and that their complaints will not be heard. It may also increase their vulnerability to further abuse because abuse can become normalised (McCarthy and Thompson, 1996).

The oxford dictionary define noun ‘risk’ as meaning a hazard, a dangerous, exposure to mischance or peril, as verb it also similar which means ”hazard, to danger, to expose to the chance of injury or loss”(P. Parsloe, 2005). Risk is closely linked to dangerousness, resulting in harm which seems to be agreed means harm to self or others and extend of harm which constitutes a risk in various situations especially adult with learning disabilities.

‘If you don’t know for sure what will happen, but you know the odd that is risk and if you don’t know the odd that is uncertainty’ (Knight, 1921).

From this definition of risk concentrate upon the probabilistic components in knowledge, and is agnostic as to whether this involves probabilities of good of bad outcomes. Royal Society(1983), risk assessment which saw as the probability that a particular adverse event occurs and social services has been concerned predominate with risk assessment to prevent harm.

They may also suffer further if they have to deal with seeing their perpetrator on a regular basis, and may be subject to further assaults in retaliation of their initial complaint. It has been noted above how services frequently respond inadequately to the abuse of people with learning disabilities by men with learning disabilities: only rarely will the police be involved

and most victims will have no option but to continue to see their attacker on a daily basis (Thompson, 1997). In addition to the risks to existing victims, poor responses may result in increasing numbers of people being abused.

Definiation of ‘vulanarable adult’ in section 80(6) care standard act 2000 states that-

(a) ”an adult to whom accomodation and nursing or personal care are provided in care hom” (b) ”in adult to whom personal care is provided in their own home under arrangements mad by a domiliciary care agency”.(Ian. Peate&D.Fearns-2006)

Adult with learnign disabilities, and thos peopl who have a lescapcity like who have mental illness, old and frail,need protection from potentially abusive sitaution over which they might have little control (Department of Health,2000). Learning Disability Adolescents obviously do not always act in ways that serve their own best interests, even as defined by them. Sometimes their perception of their own risks, even of survival to adulthood, is larger than the reality; in other cases, they underestimate the risks of particular actions or behaviours. It is possible, indeed likely, that some adolescents engage in risky behaviours because of a perception of invulnerability-the current conventional wisdom of adults’ views of adolescent behaviour. Others, however, take risks because they feel vulnerable to a point approaching hopelessness (Fischhoff et al., 2000). In either case, these perceptions can prompt adults to make poor decisions that can put them at risk and leave them vulnerable to physical or psychological harm that may have a negative impact on their long-term health and viability.

Learning Disabilities:
Risk Assessment Decision Making Process/ Practice Tools:

Every day a lot of risk situation changes rapidly and what applied yesterday but may not today. Those service users who are identified as “at risk” would be provided highly effective instruction to reduce their risk in the identified area (e.g., language, reading, numeracy/ math, behaviour). Service users whose response to instruction moved them out of risk status would receive no further supplemental intervention. Service users whose response to well-documented, effective, and well-implemented instruction was low or who remained at risk would be considered for placement in special education. Thus, potentially, many Users could benefit from this type of an identification procedure. (S.Vaughn and Lynn S. Fuchs, 2003). For minimize risk and make it useful and meaningful, may risk situations need to be reassessed regularly perhaps daily basis according service users daily need. People with learning disabilities are subject to risk all time due to their vulnerability they sometimes abused by those who have control over them or by those who realize that they are vulnerable because of their disabilities they often find it very much more difficult to assess risk the way most of us do. While most of carer don don’t asses risk very efficiently they generally make some attempt to do so. It’s not easy at all to do risk assessment as it is a complex task and most of the time carer or support worker they do adequately but not very thoroughly. Adult with learning disabilities they always find this difficult and also fail to recognize any risk at all as they can’t explain due to lack of communication. In spite of some difficulties, there is an increasing awareness that people with learning disabilities can make choices, moreover they want to do so. However it’s often fail to consider is that, the amount of risk that these choices carry and most of us have grown up accustomed to risk-taking. Life is full risks we all take risk all the time and the more familiar they are the less we tend to recognize the real level of risk involved.(Refe………). Many problems about assessing risk that different services user may perceive the different risk. What is acceptable to one person may not be acceptable to another. Main objective of the risk assessment when it’s possible may sometimes affect decision making in number of different ways.

Its true many people with learning disabilities who are always facing risk in their everyday life. Significantly about choice decision sometimes it’s difficult for adult as well carer to make right choice how could be at risk. The difficulty for people with learning disabilities is that carers often do feel often they are expected to make these choices for them. The law of negligence can appear to inhibit decision making ‘personal freedom and choice sit uncomfortably next to the concepts of duty of care and professional liability (Ref……….).’ people with learning disabilities may not have done perhaps carers need to be encourage to help their service users how to make choices with and appreciation of the risk involved. This is more challenging task than just encouraging choice alone it seems that not only should people with learning be allowed to make choices and take risk ‘they should actively be encourage to do.’

Multidisciplinary Risk Assessment:

The problem with the right to make choices is that it assumes that adult with learning disabilities are able to make choice about risk in the same way every one does(Refe….). we have to acknowledge that adult with learning disabilities do have real difficulties with many cognitive takes. Most we have problems in assessing risk effectively because of the complexity of doing so it is likely that people with learning disabilities will find the particular difficult. The assessment of ability to consent and the ability to make real choice, especially in relation to understanding the likely consequences of the choices or decision made. It could be helpful when any risk assessment pan to do like-

If carer want to take any decision about the adult person, Is person are aware that about their decision at all? Are they communicating their choice decision making?

Giving people with learning disabilities more choice especially about taking risk, it’s mean that carer have to be alert to the extent to which the service users are able realistically to assess the level of risks involved(Ref………….). In order to decide when risk is acceptable, they need to consider a large number of pieces of information which is decision making become difficult for carer/support worker.

Many adult with learning disabled the most successful way to avoid and minimize risk to avoid further problem is by effective management. When the person concerned may have been living in a setting where the opportunities for such behaviour have been very limited or absent, carers and professionals are sometimes tempted to assume that because the recent past has been incident-free the problem has disappeared.

Risk Assessment:

Never take someone with a learning disability swimming without first reviewing their risk assessment plan. A risk assessment is in place to address issues of importance such as dangers, hazards, and known triggers and how best to avoid them. Make sure you are familiar with the particular risks that you could face with the person in your care and that you have put measures in place to reduce, or eliminate, them.

Assessment is a complex and time consuming task and it is a continuous process. Assessment of risk for adult with learning disabilities which should be evolutionary in nature constantly informed and shaped by changes of circumstances upon service users needs (M.Brown, 2003). The practice of risk assessment and management is the process of data collection, recording, interpretation, communication and implementation of risk reduction plan (Maden, 1996). For the risk of learning disability, clinical model of risk assessment have become the norm. There are two kinds of risk that are relevant to work people with learning disabilities, risk of unnecessary exposure to undesirable events or experience, and risk of negative consequences when possible benefits and desirable experiences are perused (Paul William, 2006). Above this it is clear that a strategy of prevention should implement, and management is required so that risk and benefit are balanced.

In social care and health care there are broadly two main context of risk which are not provided and everyday risk in their life. people with learning disability to have a history of formally documented offence.

Conclusion

People with learning disabilities are beginning to reclaim the lives they lost in the institutions, having choices, jobs, sex lives and even becoming parents – unthinkable until even quite recently. Slowly, perhaps far too slowly, the rest of the community is beginning to realize that the majority of people with learning disabilities are not so different from everyone else, and need the same things in their lives that all of us do: work, leisure, partners, and a sense of being part of a social group. They want to feel useful and valued, as we all do.

Life is full of risks. We all take risks all the time, and the more familiar they are the less we tend to recognize the real level of risk involved. We actually take the greatest risk in our lives every time that we step into a car, but few of us really consider that risk seriously. This is the other side of the coin; we are inclined to believe that ‘it won’t happen to me’, even when the objective statistics suggest otherwise.

The difficulty that now exists for people with learning disabilities, especially those with greater handicaps, and those who care for and support them, is that the law specifies that many such people are vulnerable, and not able to make this choice for themselves. They are considered to be unable to assess the risks involved and thus make an independent choice. The onus of assessing risk and making the decision therefore often rests with carers. Because it is such a difficult decision to make for someone else, carers often take the simple way out, and avoid letting situations arise where learning-disabled people in their care have the opportunity to develop sexual relationships: if a person cannot make an ‘informed choice’

then perhaps it is easier not to offer them that choice. This is the current dilemma for those who work in community care situations. The issue of sexual relationships is perhaps the most difficult and complex, but this problem of balancing risk and choice is a constant one for carers and professionals, in relation to many aspects of everyday life. In the background is the ogre of the law (and/or local management), ready to jump on the unwary, should they get it wrong. No wonder, perhaps that many are cautious about enabling such choices to be made.

Recommendation

Social services departments have seen a rise in the numbers of vulnerable adults referred to them because they are at risk of physical and sexual abuse, as well as financial fraud, a study has found.

The survey of directors of adult services suggests the fallout from the death of Baby Peter has influenced social workers’ attitudes to vulnerable adults – with more older people or those with a learning disability deemed to be at risk of abuse being referred for assessment.

Speaking ahead of the national children and adults conference that opens today in Harrogate, the Local Government Association (LGA) warned that adults’ services were coming under increasing strain and called for reform of the way adult social services are funded to meet the explosion in demand and escalating costs.

“In others – for example, in the increase in the number of adult safeguarding referrals – it might be that the higher profile of risk and vulnerability has led to a greater vigilance by our care staff and by members of the public alike.”

How to balance the rights and needs of older people is a complex and important issue as it is an occurrence that will inevitably affects us all at some stage of our lives. It is fundamental to ensure a balance of the rights and needs of the individuals by remaining aware of the current Anti-Discriminatory and Anti-Oppressive Practices especially in residential care environments. In order to protect and respect elderly people it is imperative to look at these units, ensure their effectiveness; encourage accountability and most importantly, their provision of safety. This paper explores the nature of the discipline of social work and to illustrate that perhaps its central and unique characteristic is the way theory and practice are closely interrelated in reference to an article written in The Guardian dated 22^nd January 2005, They didn’t have long anyway.

Society has moved from the traditional family set-up where grandparents usually lived with their family in the nineteen and twentieth centuries to where families are more divided, private and elderly people often live on their own or eventually move into residential units or nursing homes. For the relative making this decision, it can be a distressing time evoking feelings of guilt or worry that they may be letting their parent down at a time of their life when they particularly need them. It can be especially complex if the elderly person resists the move. This is where the help of the social sector can be needed, both for support and information. It is helpful to have an open discussion with the elderly person, reassure them that any decision is made with their best interests being the main concern and that they are also involved in the decision-making process, wherever possible. (Rudd 1967, pp.13-15; Banks 1984, pp. 85-8).

Social work’s context of care has changed significantly over the last few decades according to Ife (1997) and Banks (1995). As result of changes in politics, economic and ideologies, some gaps may exist until the social work sector has time to adapt, particularly as social work is not a single entity, rather it is made up of many components. Social work is at times ambiguous, complex and uncertain such that its major strengths are in terms of its ability to improve dialogue, understanding and interpretation, rather than simply be concerned with legislating and acting with authority. (Ife 1997, pp.1-5; Hugman, R 1995, pp 1-12).

In the article, They didn’t have long anyway published in the Guardian 22^nd January 2005, many vital issues are highlighted, namely the concerning deaths of thirteen elderly persons at the former Maypole that seemed to result in a low-key reaction by society. The article outlines that other sectors of society such as children at risk are protected by laws and rightfully so, yet the same does not adequately seem to apply to elderly people who may also be at risk in institutions. The main concern is that many nursing homes are sub-standard, the food is badly cooked, and hygiene standards questionable and often staff are not providing adequate care and safety for the residents. It is a difficult area of care to decipher definite statistics proving negligence as according to the article there is a lack of meaningful, national data that could provide reliable information. The situation is further complicated by the fact that there can be conflicts of interests with parties such as care providers, pharmacists and doctors and this may add to the concern regarding standards. Plus, the age-old dilemma of funding and lack of resources. The most concerning issue the article raises is that it is the staff member’s responsibility to report the death to a coroner, this could lead to those acting honourably to do so and conversely those that do not, will not report the death. (Muir, H & Taylor, D 2005).

There has been a long history of research into living conditions and potential abuse in institutional settings by theorists such as Goffman (1961) and Townsend (1962) culminating into a more significant scale in the 1970s and 1980s. Twenty years of campaigning resulted in the launch of two codes of conduct for the social care sector in 2002 in Britain. One code aims to identify social care workers’ conduct making them more accountable for the care they provide as well as informing service users of the standards they can expect. They are responsible for ensuring that they adhere to such standards and they protect the well-being of service users which in this case are elderly people in institutions. They work to a code of ethics including the concern for the well-being of others, respect for the autonomy of others, trustworthiness and honesty, willing compliance with the law (with the exception of civil disobedience), basic justice, refusing to take unfair advantage, duty of care, confidentiality, commitment to professional responsibilities and preventing harm. The second code for employers of social care workers, ensuring their regulation in order to safeguard and promote the interests of both service users and carers. The code is part of the wider component of existing legislation, requirements and guidance relating to staff employment. (Excellence in caring, 2002).

So this leads us to the question of what is going wrong? It is clear that elderly people are particularly at risk as they have are generally voiceless and marginalised as the move from their homes into an institution is usually fast and their families may have no idea of the potential dangers in the system. Often homes do not have regular legislative inspections, thus they can deteriorate with less questions being asked. A continued commitment to safeguarding this sector of our community needs to occur to prevent neglect and abuse. As the article They didn’t have long anyway concludes, it is often those with the loudest voices who are heard. Elderly people do not fit this description, thus it is important that a combination of steps are taken to ensure a balance of the rights and needs of the individuals by remaining aware of the current Anti-Discriminatory and Anti-Oppressive Practices especially in residential care environments.

Bibliography
Banks, G 1984. Options. A handbook for the elderly and those who care for them. Dove Communications, Victoria.
Goffman, E 1961. Asylums. Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. Penguin Books, Great Britain.
Hugman, R 1995. Ethical Issues in Social Work. Routledge, Great Britain.
Ife, J 1997. Rethinking Social Work. Towards critical practice. Longman, Australia.
Rudd, T.N 1967. Human Relations in Old Age. Faber and Faber, London.
Townsend (1962) The Last Refuge, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Internet Sites
Colero, L A Framework For Universal Principles of Ethics, Crossroads Programs Inc, retrieved 5th May 2006, from: http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/papers/invited/colero.html
Excellence in caring, 2002 Guardian Unlimited, retrieved 5th May 2006, from: http://society.guardian.co.uk/scperformance/story/0,11025,629574,00.html.
Ethics Update, 2006 University of San Diego, retrieved 5th May 2006, from: http://ethics.sandiego.edu/index.asp#PageCite.
Muir, H & Taylor, D, 22^nd January, 2005, They didn’t have long anyway, viewed 6th April 2006: http://www.guardian.co.uk/
No secrets: guidance on developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse, 2000 Department of Health and Home Office, retrieved 5th May 2006, from: http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidanceArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4008486&chk=7Wogjo

This essay is a review of a research article of how Local Authority Social workers make decisions when they are considering referrals of children. The title of the study is “Threshold Decisions: How Social Workers Prioritize Referrals of Child Concern” by Dendy Platt (2008). I would attempt to critically appraise this Qualitative journal article based on essential elements of the research which include the Title, Abstract, Introduction, Method, Findings and Conclusion. The study examined how social workers make choices on individual cases of children concern referrals, if to carry out a an initial Assessment i.e. Sect 17 of the Children Act 1989 or if to undertake the Child Protection Procedure under the Sect. 47 of the Children Act 1989. The major finding suggests that Social workers prioritize their referrals based on five key areas, “Specificity, Severity, risk, parental responsibility and corroboration. It was refreshing to know that data were collected from Social workers and that Parents were also involved.

Title

It is worth noting that the title adequately prepares the reader as it gives good insight into what the study is about. The title of an article is very important as it exposes the reader to an article. The key words were appropriate and sufficient as they did retrieve the article upon typing the key words in the search engine. (According to Descombe 2008 p.88), a topic needs to be a very much more narrowly defined area of its study.

Abstract

The major finding in this article suggests that social workers evaluate referrals based on five key factors, “specificity, severity, risk, parental responsibility and corroboration”. It is worth noting the abstract did prepare a reader for this study. The abstract clearly highlights that the aim of the study is to find out how social workers reach decision when to carry out an initial assessment (Sect 17 of children act 1989) or a core assessment, (Sect 47 of children Act 1989) when considering referrals about child concerns.

The abstract clearly stated that the study chose a qualitative approach. According to (Punch 2000 p. 243), qualitative approach is “often sensitive to context and process to lived experience and local groundedness, where the researcher tries to get closer to what is being studied”. Using qualitative method allows the researcher to find out a lot about the study. He went further to explain that”qualitative research methods are the best way we have of getting the insider’s perspective” (Ibid)

Qualitative method allows the researcher to generate new theoretical ideas. This happens because they are able to observe and speak to the people (person) being studied and allows them to come up with new ideas through out the study. Being bias is one of the limitations of qualitative research method because researchers can write their own view or even opinion on the matter. But as we can see that reaching difficult area is a great advantage to qualitative research method.)

Introduction

Looking at the introduction, it seems clear that the problem that led to the research was that the interpretation of the developments of the refocusing initiative has contributed to a climate where social workers work often feel “pulled and pushed in different directions by political and popular opinion.

The introduction touched on relevant government policies and initiatives such as “refocusing initiative which was initiated by the government in 1990 and the framework for Assessment of children in need.

In my view, the author attempted to appraise the refocusing initiative policy which attempts to refocus social work practice and to initiate any necessary changes. I partly agree with this notion as the study may bring about positive changes in the child protection climate. But also the author needs to acknowledge where he points on that the climate of child protection is one of uncertainty, that social work itself is a profession full of uncertainty….

The researcher explained that the implication of the “refocusing initiative” is the rise in the threshold for acceptance of a child protection referral as it was thought that the cost to family of child protection procedures were not acceptable in the cases where allegations are minor.

In my view, the identification of gap of knowledge shows that the problem has significance for social work practice and the research may positively inform practice. Interestingly, the researcher acknowledges and analyses previous work on the child protection field ( what is known) but also points out the knowledge gap as it demonstrates how application of these factors differs between cases of child concern and cases of child protection (What is desired to be known). I would argue that these reasons amount to sufficiently justification of this study.

Literature Review

Knowledge gap was identified but author did not explain how his work would attempt to close the gap. Author made an effort to critically review the work of others and points out inconsistencies. The purpose of the research is to examine ways social workers in England made decisions at the initial referral stage. It is my believe that since the author decided to collect information form social workers and families suggest that research is from a grounded theory approach.

According to Punch (2000 p.163) Grounded theory is best defined as a research strategy whose purpose is to generate theory from data, To be grounded means basically the theory is generated from data. (ibid)

My rational for asserting that a grounded theory approach was implemented is that the author made sense of the data through concepts primarily informed by social workers and the discovery of these concepts begins from the interviews with the social workers. (Somekh and Lewin 2006p.49) point out that grounded theory is best described as an “integrated theoretical formulation that gives understanding about how organization experience and respond to events that occur”. From this definition, it could be argued that grounded theory was the most effective way to approach this study.

“Researchers do bring perspective to the research, although these perspectives tend to guide the question and influence interpretation, but they don’t drive the research.” (ibid p.51).

However one of the drawbacks from this approach is that research may be influenced by the researcher’s personal experiences and previous studies which thus disable the research in approaching the study with an open mind.

Finding

In my view, the researcher study has a strong internal validity, the researcher made a good effort to eliminate the alternative explanations in his findings…. The result however cannot be applied beyond the sample. It would be clearly naive to believe that the findings reflect how social workers in the UK decision making.

Method

The Researcher implemented ethical principles. The social workers involved have to be made aware of what they were getting into before deciding to collaborate. I would argue that appropriate procedures were implemented; also the participant understood what the purpose of the research.

The researcher effectively anonymised participants’ identities, which protected participants’ privacy. The likely outcome the research aim to achieve include possible changes in policy, examine practice issues for social workers carrying out initial assessment, where in the past, it would have been a child abuse investigation ( Sect 47 of the children Act 1989)

“One of the strengths of case study is that multiple methods and data sources can be used to explore and interrogate case study thereby leading to a good description of a research from the perspective of the participant” (Someth and Lewin 2006 p.33). I do admire the fact that the research implemented the case study approach as this gives the reader a very rich description of the study and also gives a reader a good understanding on the issue.

Reliability of the finding was promoted by the data collection from two local authorities who have a very different procedures and practice, also All interviews were tape- recorded. According to (Silverman 2006p. 285), “working with the audio and video recordings eliminates at one stroke many of the problems that researchers have with the unspecified accuracy of field notes and limited public access to them”

However the generalization of the research may not be possible. “The weakness of case study is that it is not possible to generalize statistically from a small number of cases to a population as a whole” (Someth and Lewin 2006 p.34)

References
Punch, K.F. (2000) Introduction to Social Research Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. London: Sage Publication.
Somekh, B. and Lewin, C. (2006) Research Methods in the Social Sciences. Sage Publication: London.
Silverman, D. (2006) 2nd Edition. Qualitative Research. Theory, Method and Practice. Sage Publication: London.
Denscombe, M. (2008) Ground Rules for Good Research, a 10 guide for social researchers. Open University: Buckingham.

The purpose of this paper is to review the recent literature on the recent state of theoretical and practical issues affecting the attainment of work-life balance within organizations. It also challenges some of the metaphorical assumptions associated with work/life balance. The balance between work and life is becoming an important strategic component in the Human Resource Management arena. Hence, to successfully maintain key human resource functions such as attracting and retaining talented staff within the organization, policies should be focused towards endorsing work-life balance.

Introduction

For the past ten years there has been increasing interest in work-life balance and has drafted innumerable attention from popular presses and scholarly journals. This increase in attention is in part ambitious by recent concerns stipulating that an imbalanced work/life relationship can reduce the health of individuals resulting in lower work performance and can have negative impacts on family life.

The concept of “work/life” balance began to emerge in the 1980’s and 1990’s where companies first started to offer work/life programs. While the first effect of these programs were mainly to sustain women with children. Theses included maternity leave, home-based work, flex-time, employee assistance programs (EAPs) and child-care referral. During the 1980s men also began voicing work-life concerns. However, today’s work/life programs are less gender-specific and recognize other commitments as well as those of the family.

The issue of work/life balance began to emerge to the forefront of research and organizations when Rosabeth Moss Kanter revealed the phenomena in her influential book “Work and Family in the United States: A Critical Review and Agenda for Research and Policy (1977).”. However, the term ‘work-life balance’ was first coined in 1986 in reaction to the unhealthy choices that many Americans were making in favor of the work place, as they opted to neglect family, friends and leisure activities in the pursuit of corporate goals. The articles published at that time suggested a sharp increase in the working hours of the Americans and this had started to affect their families and individual heath. Work life balance then slowly started gaining grounds in the various organizations. By the end of the decade, work-life balance was seen as more than just a women’s issue, affecting men, families, organizations and cultures. Since, then it has developed in to a multidimensional facet with factors affecting the both the individual and is critical for organizational success.

It is formidable to note that the term ‘work/life balance’ is widely but an official definition of this term still remains indefinable. Even though there are many conceptualizations of work-family balance occurring in recent literature, a direct developed measure of the construct does not exist. This unreliable measure of work-family balance undermines the ability to fully explore the rudimentary facets of this phenomenon. However, this negatively impacts investigations into the policies with respect to individual and organizational outcome variables.

Within organizations and corporations there is increasing attention among organizational stakeholders (management, executive directors, owners etc.) for the introduction of work/life balance policies. This has become a predominant issue within the workplace. Many organizations have implemented proficient polices and programs with the objective of improving employee experiences of work-life balance. In the absence of a well developed measure of work-family balance, assessing impact of such interventions empirically becomes problematic. However, there is the need to fully understand and find an effective measure of work/life balance. This allows human resource practitioners to employ a proactive approach towards seeking innovative ways to augment their organization’s competitive advantage. It will also aid in finding a balance between challenges of the work/life dilemma and recommend complimentary solutions. In attempting to find an effective measure of balance, the organization would then be capable of assessing the impact of the policies created on employee discernment of balance. This can also promote inter-organizational assessment of the levels of perceived work-life balance which can provide useful information to organizational stakeholders for policy drafting.

Definition of Work Life Balance

Work/life balance can be defined as “the absence of unacceptable levels of conflict between work and non-work demands” Greenblatt(2002). It incorporates the achievement of a reasonable level of involvement among the various roles in the lives of individuals and assesses their ability to deal with simultaneously with the complex demands of life. There are various definitions of work/life balance that is commonly associated with an equilibrium or sustenance of a sense of harmony in life. However, the meaning can take on different characteristics as it can mean different things to different groups. For example, work/life balance is different within different stages of life every individual experiences. An individual who has recently graduated from university and is not married would have a different conception of work-life balance compared with an individual who may be married and has responsibility to their spouse and children. Johnson (2005) suggests that one’s perception of work-life balance is dependent on the individual’s environment, age and lifestyle. Another important consideration is the level of conflict between work and family spheres especially when there is role conflict (Kossek and Lambert 2005). Furthermore, the job requirements of the individual in the workplace would often hamper with their family life responsibilities. (Williams 2008).

The meaning is dependent on the circumstances of the discussion and the researcher’s viewpoint. There are some acceptable definitions regarding work/life balance and some definitions may overlap and some are evolving which are discussed further.

The Traditional view of work/life balance

The traditional view of work/life balance assumes that it involves the commitment of equivalent quantity of time to paid work and non-work roles. There are generally five major perspectives used to explain the correlation between work and life stipulated by Zedeck and Mosier (1990) and O’Driscoll (1996). The first perspective is the segmentation model which theorizes that work and non-work are both independent domains of life that are separate and have no influence on the other.A This appears to be offered as a theoretical possibility rather than a model with empirical support.A The spillover model is the complete opposite of the segmentation model hypothesizes that both spheres are interdependent on each other either in a positive or negative way.A The research into this sphere can support its proposition however it is deemed having little value as it is too general.A This standpoint needs a more meticulous proposal about the causes, nature and effects of spillover.A The other models examined are more detailed adaptations of the spillover model. The third model is the compensation model which states that the demands or satisfactions that is lacking in one sphere can be made up in the other.A For example, work may be routine and undemanding but this is compensated for by a major role in local community activities outside work.A The other model is an instrumental model whereby an activity in one sphere accentuates the other sphere.A The traditional example is the instrumental worker who will seek to maximize earnings, even at the price of undertaking a routine job and working long hours, to allow the purchase of a home or a car for a young family.A The final model is a conflict model which states that each sphere has multiple demands, thus requiring individuals to prioritize and make choices that can lead to conflict.

The contemporary view of work/life balance

The contemporary view stipulates that the concept is recognized to be more complex and a number of different issues are to be incorporate. Contemporary studies have explored and measured six aspects of work/life balance that can provide a valuable construct for theoretical advancement and practical human resource interventions. The framework consist of six conceptualizations of work-life balance found in recent literature are as follows multiple roles, equity across multiple roles, satisfaction between multiple roles, fulfillment of role salience between multiple roles, a relationship between conflict and facilitation and perceived control between multiple roles.

Work-life balance defined as multiple roles

This view is drawn from an individual’s multiple life roles which stipulate that the non work (personal/ family) demands are spilled over into the working day of the individual that negatively affects the health and work performance of the individual. This can be referred to as a multiple demand ‘carry over’ which is referred by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) as bidirectional, denoting home-to-work and work-to-home spillover. It is now accepted that there are positive as well as negative carry over with recent research identifying the bidirectional constructs of work-family facilitation and enhancement, as well as conflict. Within recent works Greenhaus and contemporaries have defined the multiple role conflict of work/life balance generally as ‘Work-family balance reflects an individual’s orientation across different life roles, an inter-role phenomenon’ (Greenhaus, Collins & Shaw 2003).

Work-life balance defined as equity across multiple roles

The multiple roles definition of work-life balance as further examined by Greenhaus that explored with further focus on the fulfillment across an individual’s multiple life roles or the equality of time. Work-family balance was therefore defined as “the extent to which an individual is engaged in and equally satisfied with his or her work role and family role. There are three components of work family-balance that are time balance, involvement balance, and satisfaction balance” (Greenhaus, Collins & Shaw 2003). Time balance refers to an equal amount of time devoted to work and family roles and involvement balance refers to an equal level of psychological involvement in work and family roles. Satisfaction balance stipulates that there is an equal level of satisfaction with work and family roles. The individual components of work/life balance can represent either a positive balance or negative balance depending on the levels of time, involvement, or satisfaction which are equally high or equally low.

However, the work/life balance can be viewed a continuum anchored that is skewed to one end by disparities in favor of a certain role (family, personal roles). It can also be relatively balanced state to extensive imbalance in favor of the other role (work). Work/life balance can be conceptualized as an independent variable of an individual’s desires or values. Bielby and Bielby (1989) observed that married working women may emphasize their family ”in balancing work and family identities” and Lambert (1990) discussed ”maintaining a particular balance between work and home”. The term balance here is used to represent an array of diverse patterns of dedication, rather than parity of dedications across roles. It can be inferred that an individual who gives extra priority to one role than the other is relatively imbalanced even if the distribution of commitment to family and work is highly consistent with what the individual wants or values. This conjures the controversial question whether such imbalance in favor of one role is healthy or not.

Work-life balance defined as satisfaction between multiple roles

Kirchmeyer research have focused on the importance of individual satisfaction with multiple roles defined work-life balance as ‘achieving satisfying experiences in all life domains and to do so requires personal resources such as energy, time, and commitment to be well distributed across domains’ (Kirchmeyer 2000). Clark (2000) also focused on individual satisfaction within the description of ‘work/family border theory’ and defined work-life balance as ‘satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role conflict’ (Clark 2000).

Work-life balance defined as a fulfillment between multiple roles

This aspect focuses on the individual satisfaction where there is an overlap with the acknowledgment an individual’s perspective the multiple roles in relation to its importance. This point of view recognizes that the salience of roles is also not a static evaluation but may change over time with diverse familiar life changes such as work promotion, new baby, sick spouse or parents etc. Greenhaus and Allen then defined work-life balance as ‘the extent to which an individual’s effectiveness and satisfaction in work and family roles are compatible with the individuals’ life role priorities at a given point in time’. Similarly, work and life balance research should focus on ‘whether one’s expectations about work and family roles are met or not’. Eby, Casper, Lockwood, Bordeaux and Brinley (2005).

Work/life balance defined as a relationship between conflict and facilitation

Recent research has revealed the psychosomatic constructs that map work-life balance, noticeably conflict and facilitation. Consequently, work-life balance is been defined as an absence of conflict and a presence of facilitation where “low levels of inter-role conflict and high levels of inter-role facilitation represent work-family balance” (Frone 2003). The assessment of the four bidirectional conflict and facilitation constructs can be used as a framework to test this definition: ‘Balance is a combined measure whereby work-family conflict was subtracted from work-family facilitation, and family- work conflict was subtracted from family-work facilitation’ (Grzywacz & Bass 2003).

Work-life balance defined as an apparent control among multiple roles

This aspect is the least supported within the research literature. It states that work-life balance can be interpreted as a degree of independence where an individual perceives themselves having control over their multiple role demands. Fleetwood states that “Work-life balance is about people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work” (Fleetwood 2007). Apparently, work-life balance can also be seen as a result of individual sovereignty over the roles most salient to the individual. Therefore, an individual could reduce their work hours to spend time with for example their children which can be perceived as effective work-life balance.

Finding a balanced work/life measure

The brief review of the literature denotes that there has been limited systematic effort to clearly develop one clear definition or one specific measure of work-life balance. It is important to work towards a consensus of the precise meaning of work-life balance. With the emergence of a specific definition of work-life balance, it would foster decisive outcome variables to authenticate the contemporary theoretical models that describe the relationship among common moderators, outcome variables and the background of work-life balance. This would ensure that a detailed measure of work-life balance could also be used to contrast the levels of perceived balance among the levels within an organization. This would be significant for comparisons among the levels of balance among organizations. It would incorporate questioning employees to rate their present discernment of work-life balance to avidly create an effective measure of balance. The development of a systematic scale would also be necessary to sufficiently authenticate such a measure.

The review of the literature reveals that is difficult in capturing a simple holistic measure of the meaning of work-life balance. A basis for recognizing the common threads of meaning can develop using the six definitions of work-life balance previously reviewed. Some definitions consist of the concept of ‘perceptions of good balance’ as imperative to the significance of work-life balance. The realization that levels of work-life balance can change over time according to the salience of specific life events is also important to note. This would acknowledge the repeated readjustment to several demands that most employees cope with over their period of employment.

An integration of the two core meanings or definition of work-life balance can equate the following definition, “Work-life balance is the individual perception that work and non-work activities are compatible and promote growth in accordance with an individual’s current life priorities” (Kalliath 2008). The literature proposed that any appraisal of work-life balance should include individual preferences of current roles. This definition further acknowledges that an effectual balance would lead to positive improvement within the work and non-work spheres. Consequently an individual’s work/life precedence can be voluntarily changed to incorporate the development of non-work activities (eg new baby, travel vacations) or growth at work (working harder to gain a promotion). This definition of work-life balance has to be operational within the context to measure validation and development across variant samples.

Theoretical Framework: Work-Family Border Theory (Clark, 2000)

The theoretical framework employed to understand the balance between work and life is the Work-Family Border Theory. The work-family border theory (Clark, 2000) and boundary theory (Ashforth, 2000) each contribute to the study of work-family connection by depicting the circumstances under which changeable degrees of work-family integration are likely to positively or negatively affect an individual’s well-being. These theories deals with how people build, preserve, negotiate and cross boundaries. It shows how people depict the lines between work and family (Clark, 2000).

In both theories are similar by an incorporation or segmentation as indicated primarily by displaying characteristics of flexibility and permeability. It is suggested that both are integrate evident when two or more spheres are highly flexible and permeable with respect to one another. The Boundary theory and work-family border theory are common with respect to the extent of work-family integration depending on similarities among these domains with each other (Desrochers & Sargeant, 2004). However, the two theories diverge on the nature of the relationship and implications for work-family balance.

The difference among roles is the determination of the clarity of how substantial the boundary is between one domain and another that consequently influences the possibility of work-family conflict Ashforth (2000). (Desrochers 2005). This theory has a propensity to focus on transitions within an organizational context Matthews (2007). Even though, reference is made to conversion between organizational roles and non-organizational roles (conversion between work roles and family roles), Clark (2000) states that the transparency of the work-family border is distinguished from the correspondence of role domains in which these two factors interact to influence work-family balance. Matthews (2007) states that this theory is mainly focused on the approach of people transitions between the work and family domains.

The Work-family border theory denotes how individuals negotiate and control both the borders between work and family spheres and try to find a balance between them (Clark, 2000). The design of this theory is focused on finding a framework to undermine the criticism and gaps of previous theories on work and family (Akdere, 2006) by dividing the boundaries within the employees’ life. The theory seeks to deal with how the segmentation and incorporation, management and border creation and border crossers have on the relationships of work and home factors influence on work-family balance. The term “border-crossers” are referred to employees that are intending on making constant daily alterations between their work and family lives.

The distinguishing factor between Work-family border theory and boundary theory in that its definition of borders not only encompasses psychological categories but also the substantial boundaries that divide place, people and time that is associated with work versus family spheres (Desrochers 2005). However, Clark (2000) research tries to comprehend the progression of work-family conflict. The earlier approaches were inadequate as they lacked predictive ability and offered modest direction in either forecasting work-family conflict or solving problems that arise from trying to find a balance between work and family responsibilities (Clark, 2000).

Not all individuals are characterized engage in this transition of border-crossing as the language and customs are highly alike within both spheres. Within work domain the language and behavior that is expected are diverse from the expectation within the family domain and consequently a more extreme transition is required. The underlying concept of work-family balance theory refers to “satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home, with a minimum of role conflict” (Clark, 2000). The foundation of this theory is built upon the roles between spheres and has the possibility for further clarification on the work and family conflict processes between the family and the workplace (Bellavia & Frone, 2005). The fundamental concepts of the work-family border theory are the work and home domains, the borders between work and home, the border-crosser with other important domain members.

The Work and Home Domains

The work and home are regarded by Clark as being two different domains that has differential behavior rules, and thought patterns. The differentiation among the work and home domains can be classified in two distinct groups that are the differences in value ends and differences in value means (Rokeach, 1973 as cited in Clark, 2000). The Work primarily deals with satisfying the means and ends of providing an income and giving a sense of accomplishment, while home life satisfies the ends of attaining close personal relationships. Within the work sphere the desired ends of responsibility and capability were ranked as the most important whereas the life aspect the desired ends of loving and giving were ranked the most significant means in achieving happiness in the home (Clark 2000). Due to the differentiation in spheres, individuals often find a balance that assimilates both work and life to some degree (Clark, 2000). With respect to the way in which individuals deal with differences of the two domains can be explained on a continuum with one end being integration and segmentation on the other Nippert-Eng (1996).

The Borders between Work and Family

Within the context of the border theory, an individual’s role takes place in a detailed sphere of life and these domains are distinguished by borders that demarcate from either being psychological, chronological, or physical (Clark 2000). The physical borders define where domain or behavior takes place regarding to the workplace or within the home (Clark 2000). Within the research frameworks, the literature is geared towards more controlling and setting time schedules in examining the role conflict boundaries, however less consideration is given to space Ahrentzen (1990). The temporal border refers the time in which work is finished and when responsibilities of the family initiate (Hill 1998). The psychological borders refers to the rules an individual creates that dictate their emotions, behavior patterns and thinking patterns which are appropriate within a specific domain such as work but not family life (Clark, 2000). Psychological borders are used by individuals to identify the rules that create the physical and temporal borders. It is created as an endorsement which “a process in which individuals takes elements given in their environments and organizes them in a way that makes sense” (Clark 2000).

Work-Family Conflict

The various predictors of work/family conflict can be grouped into two general categories role environment and personality. The Role environment consist of several types of role related predictors of work/family conflict such as behavioral involvement, psychological involvement, role-related stressors and affect, and role related resources.

Behavioral involvement represents the amount of time devoted to work and family roles. As more time is devoted to one role, it would be expected that less time would be available to meet the demands of another role. Consistent with this notion, a number of studies have found that the time devoted to family activities and chores is positively related to levels of family to work conflict, whereas the time devoted to work is positively related to levels of work to family conflict.

Work and family stressors, dissatisfaction, and distress have been examined as potential causes of work-family conflict. It is generally hypothesized that role characteristics can produce role-related dissatisfaction or distress, which may lead to cognitive preoccupation with the source of the distress or to reduced levels of psychological and physical energy. The resulting increase in cognitive preoccupation or reduction in energy can undermine an individual’s ability or willingness to meet the obligations of other roles (Frone, Yardley, 1997). Consistent with this line of reasoning, past research has found that work demands, work-role conflict, work role ambiguity, and job distress or dissatisfaction are positively related to reports of work/life balance conflict.

Work and family social support have been explored as potential resources that reduced work-family conflict. For example, a supportive supervisor may not make excessive demands that would cause an employee to work at home. Likewise, a supportive spouse or other family member may provide direct assistance with demands at home, thereby reducing the likelihood that an individual is preoccupied with these problems at work. Past research has found that higher levels of social support at work are related to lower levels of work-to-family conflict, whereas higher levels of social support at home are related to lower levels of family-to-work conflict (Adams, 1996).

Personality. Although most research has explored role characteristics as potential causes of work-family conflict, a few studies have begun to examine personality dispositions as causes of work-family conflict. Various personality characteristics, such as mastery, hardiness, positive affectivity, and extraversion may be conceived of as individual resources in that they capture a tendency to actively cope with problems at work and home, thereby reducing the likelihood of work-family conflict. Other personality variables, such as negative affectivity and neuroticism, may be conceived of as individual deficits in that they capture a tendency to avoid problems at work and home, thereby increasing the likelihood of work-family conflict.

Several recent studies have found that high levels of hardiness, extraversion, and self-esteem were associated with lower levels of both work-tofamily and family-to-work conflict (Bernas & Major, 2000; Grandey & Cropanzano, 1999; Grzywacz & Marks, 2000). One study reported that high levels of neuroticism were associated with higher levels of both work-tofamily and family-to-work conflict (Grzywacz & Marks, 2000).

Managing the boundary between the work and family spheres

The review of the literature have show that little studies have examined an individual’s perception within the boundaries of work and family roles (Nippert-Eng 1996). The analysis of borders can elucidate the extent in which individuals can control the issues determining work and family balance (Guest 2002). This allows for the analysis of physical and psychological controls, an examination of the nature of border permeability and the extent in which they can be managed or moved. This is consistent with the centrality of the issue where individuals perceive the parameters of work and family activities, which create personal meaning and the management of relationships among families and work Zedeck (1992). Kirchmeyer (2000) views living a balanced life as reaching a level that satisfies experiences within all life domains and requires individual resources such as commitment, energy and time to be well distributed across domains. Similarly, Clark indicates that work and family balance is a satisfaction and good functioning of roles at work and at home with least role conflict (Clark, 2000). Furthermore, another definition of balance stipulates that a balanced life is productive, healthy and satisfying including facets of love, play and work (Kofodimos 1993).These definitions of balance share two important elements. There is the notion of equality, or near-equality, between experiences in the work role and experiences in the family role (Reiter, 2007). Clark (2000) and Kirchmeyer (2000) imply similarly high levels of satisfaction, health, functioning and efficiency across the various roles. Furthermore, the definitions of work and family balance implicitly consider two constructs of equality that are inputs and outcomes. The inputs are the personal resources (Kirchmeyer, 2000) that are applied to each role. Kirchmeyer (2000) states that balance within work and family requires that each role be approached with approximately an equal level of involvement, time, commitment or attention. The balance achieved can either be negative or positive. A positive balance refers to an equal amount of attention, time, involvement, or commitment, whereas negative balance refers to an equally low level among these inputs. These inputs determine an individual’s level of role commitment in accordance with the time dedicated or psychological involvement in each role. There is difficulty in determining an individual who is substantially balanced as being more betrothed in the work role than in the family role. The other component of balance is the resultant outcomes that are experienced in work and family roles. A frequent outcome included in definitions of balance is satisfaction (Kirchmeyer 2000; Clark2000).

The relationship between work/life balance and quality of life

The balance between work and life is denoted to promote well-being. It is suggested that an imbalance in work will stimulate high levels of stress, cause a reduction in the quality of life and diminish an individual’s job performance (Kofodimos 1993). Within an organization the promotion of work/life balance can be promoted by an organizational change approach proposed by Hall (1990). This organizational change can take effect, by companies and individuals considering the advice given by literary publications providing on how to promote a greater balance in life (Cummings 2001; Fisher 2001).

However, the question arises on how work/life balance can enhance an individual’s quality of life. With respect to individuals, multiple roles can protect and create a buffer from the effects of negative experiences in any one role in an individual’s life (Barnett & Hyde, 2001). Work/life balance not only produces this buffering effect but can directly promote well being. Marks and MacDermid (1996) states that individuals who are believed to have a balanced life are deemed ”primed to seize the moment” when they meet a role demand since one role is seen no less than the other. Within this way of thinking individuals who are perceived to have balance experience lower levels of stress when enacting roles due to the assumption that they are participating in role activities that are salient to them. It is evident that individuals that have a balance have experienced less role overload and less depression compared to individuals that were deemed imbalanced MacDermid (1996).

Furthermore, when an individual has a

This essay explores how the identity Looked after child contribute to oppression and discrimination in two specific areas of Education and Health. The essay will analyse the role of legislation and policy in combating or promoting discrimination and oppression. The history, societal attitudes, views of the children and theories underpinning looked after children will also be discussed within the essay. Finally I will focus on the implications and relevance to Social Work practice.

For the purposes of clarity I will start by defining ‘oppression’, ‘discrimination’ and ‘stigma’. Thompson (1997) identifies oppression as the disregarding of individuals or group of people’s rights resulting in inhuman or abusive treatment with dominance and power by one group over another. For Thompson (2006), discrimination refers to a process of unfair or unequal treatment of individuals or groups resulting in undermining the interests of people from a less powerful category within society. From the two definitions of Oppression and Discrimination it can be deduced that the common elements are abuse of power and privilege associated with degrading treatment of the less fortunate individuals or groups of people in society. Apart. from discrimination and Oppression it is important to mention Stigma as another attribute that is prevalent and used as a tool for social exclusion.

Diversity in Society Assignment 1016433

Goffman, (1963), and Parker and Aggleton, (2003),’s theories of stigma help us to understand how stigma is constructed and its influence in people’s lives. Goffman (1963), describes stigma as “an attribute that is deeply descending within a particular social interaction, where the person possessing the attribute falls short of societal expectations”. Parker and Aggleton (2003) interpret stigma as a tool of preserving or undermining social structures. They view stigma and discrimination as functional systems which maintain boundaries between those in power and those without. Through such power, social inequalities are developed leading to creation of social norms. Social norms formulate stigma as they govern interactions between people and reinforce power structures that serve to isolate those that are regarded as outsiders. Both theories help us to understand the roots of stigma, prejudice, negative attitudes and its impact to Looked After children after Children.

The last three decades have experienced a huge overhaul and introduction of legislation and policies seeking to address the needs of children. The Children’s Act 1989 (CA 1989) reformed Law relating to children and in particular set out the framework for the provision of support for children and families and for the protection of children in England and Wales. This was in line with the the United Nations on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC 1989) which was the first legally binding International instrument to promote the rights of children throughout the world. Burke and Parker (2007).

Diversity in Society Assignment 1016433

It is important to mention them following initiatives when discussing issues relating to the welfare of children: The Quality Protects 1998, Chidren Leaving Care Act 2000, Adoption and Children Act 2002, the Choice Protects policy, the Children’s Act 2004, Every Child Matters 2004, Care Matters (Green and White Papers) and The Children and Young Persons Act 2008. Some of these initiatives and legislation were introduced to reinforce Safeguarding children and also in response to reports of abuse, neglect and harm to children in different institutions of residential care in the UK with the most publicised individual cases such as the deaths of Victoria Climbe ( 2000). It was revealed that Staff working with vulnerable children were not adequately trained, rigorously checked on recruitment, no support and vigilance towards diversity and openness. A number of inquiries like Laming Report (2003) recommendations are also worth mentioning which revealed significant failings within the individuals and organisations which are meant to be looking after children. As a result there was a lot of media coverage and society as a whole questioned the role of government, laws and all individuals working with children and vulnerable people. The Children’s Act ( 2004) emerged in response to addressing these shortcomings and to improve services. In 2009 Lord Laming was also asked by the government to provide an emergency progress report on issues surrounding safeguarding children following yet another death of a child Baby P in 2007. He identified and reinforced that systematic and individual failures as the cause of death to a child whom they were supposed to look and care for. Laming report (2009)

.. Research has questioned how effective and how far the above initiatives reduced the discrimination of Looked after children. Examples of such research just to name a few: Children experience of the Children Act (1989), Discrimination Against Young People in Care: Remember my message (1993), The Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care in England Project (2006), Barriers to change in the Social Care (2000),Busting at the seams (2010) and the recent Panorama BBC programme on experiences of children leaving Care. The UK is a multicultural society and Diversity should be understood and be a tool for most of the policy makers and legislators to make laws which promote equality. Diversity according to Blaine (2007) is associated with the presence of differences in society in relation to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class and sexual orientation. These differences are neither good nor bad but some of the differences are associated with inequality and disadvantage. Social work practice is concerned with empowerment, anti discriminatory practice, social justice and redressing inequality in line with human rights. Burke and Parker (2007)

Cocker and Allain (2008) identify Looked After Children and Young People as children in the care of the local authority, through a Care Order made by a court or voluntary agreement with their parent(s) to accommodate them. They may be looked after in a children’s home ,by foster carers, or other family members. All unaccompanied asylum seeking children are also Looked After Children.

Diversity in Society Assignment 1016433

According to (Dfes Statistics 2010) reveal that there were about 64,400 looked after children as at 31 March 2010, an increase of 6 per cent from 2009 and an increase of 7 per cent since 2006.. Mostly the main reason of being in care, was because of abuse or neglect (52 per cent.There were 3,400 Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) who were looked after at 31 March 2010. This is a decrease of 12 per cent from 2009. As these statistics reveal there is an increase in the number of Looked after children to date although there is a decrease in the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children (DfES 2010)

Hogg and Vaughan (2002) views identity as associated with the process an individual becomes who they are in the sense of personhood and other’s view of who they are. Furthermore a person has multiple identities and these needs to be seen as part of the whole individual as disregarding some aspects would be misleading and reductive of the individual’s identity. Graham (2000) further highlight that identities have different meanings and are not fixed but change over time as a result of environment, personal circumstances and outside influences. These influences will significantly affect the social experience and the self image of those defined, through, for example the experience of negative discrimination.

Diversity in Society Assignment 1016433

All aspects of a child’s identity needs to be recognised and acknowledged regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or religion. By developing a positive identity children are motivated and their self esteem is enhanced for them to feel a sense of value, belonging and worth Blaine (2007). However Cocker and Allain (2008) argue that not all environments are positive in fostering this idea. When this occurs the child becomes withdrawn and shy to open up and engage. Having a looked after child identity endangers a child to be different, socially excluded, marginalised and denied equal opportunities in accessing services. Assessing Children in Need and their Families: Practice Guidance (2000) As such Social workers need to adopt and work with a culturally sensitive approach and apply the balancing act to enhance the resilience concept. Masten (1994) cited in Daniel et al (2002)

Burke and Parker (2010) further argue that the Social Work context and the involvement of a Social worker in a child’s life applies and identify the child as different. This is revealed by the bureaucratic and comprehensive paperwork, regular review and educational meetings, visits, contact arrangements and procedures and guidelines are associated with the looked after child but are not experienced by most children in normal life settings. However this arguement is dismissed by Garret (2003) cited in Burke and Parker (2010) when he affirms that paperwork and bereacratic procedures are essential tools for a social worker to use in helping them identify and address important developmental needs of the child but should however encourage more one to one contact with the child rather than spending time on paperwork.

In Education Research has revealed that Looked after children do not perform well and are likely not to have (GCSE) and most likely risk being expelled from School due to behaviour. Statistics show that a third of the 60 0000 looked after children obtain a GCSE and a further fifth obtain fewer than five GCSEs. Although these figures are lower than a few years ago, they are still much higher than for children as a whole: more than half not obtaining five or more GCSEs compared to less than one in ten children as a whole. this includes Black minority and white as well DfES (2010). Because of their identity as Looked after children they are disadvantaged and discriminated against at School and in matters related to education. The Social Exclusion Unit (2003) published a document ( A Better Education for Children in Care which highlighted 5 reasons for the low attainment levels ranging from Instability caused by insecure placements, bullying, lack of support and encouragement at home , time out of school due to expulsion, support and encouragement and emotional, mental or physical health. From the above five highlighted issues it can be summarised that the home environment plays a crucial role in enhancing education. Schofield and Beek (2009) suggest parents and people at home where the child lives need to be supportive and encouraging to the child learning success. School environment should promote learning that develops a child holistically to facilitate the self discovery method and accepting themselves as they interact with other children.

This is not always the case as children are disrupted of continuity in settling and making friends if placement breaks down. Sometimes bullying at school results in low self esteem Although most local authorities have put in place a number of inter disciplinary services looking at the physical, mental well being of children. However in Jackson and McParlin (2006) in their article (the education of children in care professionals are seen to be making assumptions and jumping into conclusions ending up giving labels and long prescribed long term solutions to short term problems unnecessarily. This is associated with neglect and discrimination. More training and awareness of diversity, anti discriminatory practices and individualised person centred approach should be reinforced.(Every Child Matters 2004)

Roger Morgan (2010) argue that the problem of poor school performance in looked after children lies in the care and education system not in the children. They argue that the care and education systems do not address pre care experiences of the child low attainment and also failure to address the aftermath or the impact of separation when children are removed from their families. The child may be suffering from undiagnosed post traumatic stress which can erupt in any confined environment such as school classrooms. They also argue that teachers have no knowledge of the child’s history. Teacher training does not equip teachers with knowledge of the care system and on addressing behaviour from Looked after children. There is also the emphasis on exaggeration of difficulties and the overuse of the term ( Challenging behaviour focuses to address the present problems arising from the child’s pre-care experiences and disappointments of being in care. The Authorities should rather focus on explaining and addressing the underperformance. They further highlight the study by (Jackson et al.’2005) where a research with students in Higher education who had a care background was carried out over a 5 year period. The respondents experienced a high level of trauma, abuse and neglect but were placed in foster homes that were supportive and valued education. The findings revealed that foster families who support education and celebrate the child’s achievements are more likely to compensate to some level the pre care experiences and promote higher attainment in education. It is important to place children in placements which are supportive to the child’s success in education, foster resilience and offer a safe place to grow and achieve. To support children’s wellbeing the government has put in place the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 with a commitment to promote the wellbeing of children and those who are involved in their care. Children Act (2008)

In accessing Health facilities Looked after children face difficulties with mental health issues. Mostly their Health needs are overlooked and not met as they are labelled. Axford (2008) in her article exploring social exclusion noted this difficulty as more prevalent among children from Black Ethnic Minority background who face a cultural, language and racism within organisations that are meant to support and look after them especially asylum seekers. There is lack of relevant and appropriate delivery of service in assessing the physical and mental wellbeing of children before placement and continuous monitoring of wellbeing through individual health plan. This can be attributed to lack of awareness and knowledge on the part of and role of carers and foster parents. This leaves the responsibility to the child who will most of the time ignore health issues and abscond appointments. (Young Minds )Training of carers and foster parents need to be promoted to improve delivery of service… In working with looked experiences of the Children Act (1989) highlighted that there are continuing myths about the Act which are still disadvantaging Looked After children. Also children still feel they are not fully aware of their rights under the Act as they face day to day regulations and successive barriers. Children still feel they do not receive what the law says they should. A typical example was in socialising with restrictions on risk assessments for overnight stays by teenagers in care. This has brought a sense of discrimination and marginalisation as it is for normal teenagers to do overnight stays. Prout (2000) cited in Glenny and Roaf (2008)further picked up another conflict and tension among within government departments and targets when he mentions that control and self realisation are both present in legislation and policy but in tension. On one camp there is the idea of viewing children as individuals with a capacity for self realisation within a safe societal environment while in the other camp there is the idea of viewing children as vulnerable and requiring control, regulation and surveillance. One example Youth Matters four challenges to help teenagers achieve the ECM outcomes.( DfES 2005, 2:12)

Social workers need to listen, engage and work in partnership with looked after children. In a research by Sally Holland (2010) Journal of Social Work to explore the Ethics of Care as being marginalised and not being implemented and recognised it was evidenced that lasting relationships are disrupted by placements and children often acknowledged their links to their past and significant people in their lives. This highlights the importance of their individual pathway in promoting their wellbeing and interpersonal relationships and future achievements. Clarke (2010) emphasises the need to sustain and promote lasting care relationships with formal carers and social workers to avoid the consequences of loss ,neglect and worthlessness by listening to their story, exploring and putting their needs and choices first. Oliver et al (2010) Briefing Paper Advocacy for Looked After Children when they unveiled that Reseach has also highlighted that there were some ambivalence within professionals as to what extent children must be involved in decision making to matters concerning their care as well as resource barriers. To overcome these constraints Winter (2009) suggested regular contact, feedback, advocacy and putting the needs of the child first need to be priority as children value being listened to and having their wishes fulfilled by active participation in matters concerning their wellbeing.

I also have personal experience when I was involved in a consultation exercise with Young Persons leaving care as part of my coursework.. The Young Persons highlighted that sometimes they did not receive any feedback from social workers when they contact them. Also they mentioned that there was a lot of bureaucracy which they felt treated them as different and treated them discriminatory for example social work visits at school and regular reviews or educational meetings. They felt they wanted to be treated as normal children not Service users. Barriers to Change in the Social Care (2000) suggest and support that there should be a Human rights approach in working with looked after children.

Glenny and Roaf (2008) suggested Early intervention is essential to support children and families before problems either from within the family or as a result of external factors, which have an impact on both the child and family. Government departments, statutory and voluntary organisations have an obligation to work in partnership for the success of early intervention agenda. These teams should work together establish protocols which will help to ensure early indications of being at risk of social exclusion are addressed and receive proper attention.

McLeod (1998) highlighted the need to acknowledge Child development stages. He mentions that children accept and discover themselves through stages and exposure to promote self awareness, confidence, self esteem and positive attitudes. McLeod highlighted Freud’s psycho-analysis theory (1859-1939), Erickson’s psycho-social development theory (1950) and Bowlby’s attachment theory(1969,1973,1880,1988). This view is shared in the literature review by Hunt (2003) cited in ( Charlotte Ritchie 2005 Critical Review) which highlights that although there is no concrete evidence of kinship care over non kin foster care there are indications that chances are the former promotes the child’s wellbeing and welfare than the latter. This shows how important it is for Social Workers to be aware of child developmental needs and how valuable family ties are. Schofield and Beek , (2005) cited in Shaw (2010) shares the same views that past relationships with family and professionals has an impact on the child’s wellbeing and ability to cope with life on their own. Active parenting focusing on the child’s needs and positive engagement with the child will help and promote skills to deal with difficult situations in life. It is also good to for social workers to promote resilience as a tool of empowering children so that they are equipped to face challenges and deal with their past and future. Daniel and Wassell (2002)

The importance of identity is further echoed by (Goerge, 1990;Testa et al., 1996; Testa, 1997; Wulczyn and Goerge, 1992) cited in (Charlotte Ritchie 2005) in her critical Paper of exploring the significance of Kinship care when she states that Identity, attachment, cultural heritage and self esteem are further maintained and consolidated when a child remains with their family and relatives than non relative placements. This will also go a long way in alleviating the Placement shortages currently experienced by ethnic minority foster placements and also reinforce the value of cultural sensitivity in Social Work. Bates et al (1997) suggests that assessment framework should foster identity and acknowledge diversity in order to promote a child’s perception of themselves and their environment. Social workers need to employ anti-discriminatory practice with a lot of opportunities and resources for self discovery. They need to support the child to discover and accept themselves. It is important to offer options to situations that promote identity in order to understand themselves and others as children need to have their own identity to mirror on.(:Assessment for Children in need Practice 2000) The Children and Young Persons Act (2008) also emphasise that its commitment to promote a child’s well being and the people involved in the care of the child.

Although there has been notable initiatives in addressing the needs of Looked after children for the past ten years a lot still has to be done in terms of societal attitudes, resources and safeguarding. To achieve the every child matters outcomes all the stakeholders need to work together by putting the needs and act in the best interest of the child. By listening and engaging with Looked after children practitioners, politicians and policy makers will be able to improve Children’s quality of life. Anti discriminatory practice, empowerment and equal opportunities practices are part of the answer. . 3624words

The road up ahead unnoticed was damp in strong rain let loose against a grey sky that hung in desperation. Then shouts shook up the vicinity as a short craggy boy came in view, just enough to be seen chasing after a grown man. Dark skinned he perspired of fear while he threw large stones in the direction of his pursuit. His father straddled along howling while doing the same. The chase moved on almost reaching the street corner when the grown man abruptly turned about, drew out a long knife and unsurprisingly took in the direction of the boy.

Five weeks before today, I had at my desk a 13 year old girl admitted for sexual abuse which occurred in an out of campus activity over the weekend, and involved two boys ages 14 and 15. I took up the intake interview for document support for criminal charges.

The girl was an obvious difficult untrue to her shattered self, torn between betrayal and the worth of protecting friendship.

I was in some sort of conflict myself, appalled with the clinical findings, and given the ages of these children involved. Both accused and the victim belong to families of lower income brackets with parents working in the informal sector.

Later at night what first came to mind was a concept put forward by Reginald Revans in the 1940s that “People had to be aware of their lack of relevant knowledge and be prepared to explore the area of their ignorance with suitable questions and help from other people in similar positions”. Revans developed on the idea individuals successful with self development are those in adversity who struggle to understand themselves. The formula prescribes L = P + Q where L is learning; P is programmed thought or what is taught or read knowledge and Q is questioning to create insight. Apparently what I hoped to attempt, if any, was to learn in the execution of my task.

In my circumstance as a social worker in child protection for disadvantaged communities; many deep, painful thoughts had me that I questioned if I could make sense of it at all. But work itself, frequent with disordered and dysfunctional children and families, brought me to understand the importance of perfecting the tool of reflective practice. Reflection nourishes the soul as it is a tough discomfort to take issues of the self to the fore. Whatever else is said of it, the tool can elicit insight and appreciation, and develop certain faculties of the mind. It is through reflective practice that I am competent and confident to work positively toward the best outcome in the interest of child with whom we work. This I began to write a few lines every night about my tasks, thoughts, fears, and achievements which helped me to focus and determine the real issue.

Reflective practice is an element of learning through the involvement of self in exploring ones responses in an experience (Boud, Keogh and Walker, 1985). One must begin by understanding the purpose and definitions of reflective practice well explained in the writings of Johns and Freshwater (1998). The process requires methodical recording events and experiences in diaries and journals (Zubbrizarreta 1999 and Tryssenaar 1995), or professional development diaries to return and improve interpretations (Clouder 2000). The method is taken further by Gillings (2000) in placing emphasis on a sincere commitment to self enquiry and a readiness to change through honesty and openness. This argument is supported by Atkins (2000) by determining self-awareness of temperament and conviction as essential to the reflective process.

Ann is a transferee to the university where she easily became friends with gang groups. One weekend she was invited to come join a swimming event on June 28, 2008. After swimming these teenagers decided to drink and others took a dose of marijuana. Ann managed to get too drunk that was left behind with two boys who promised to take her home. Ann was raped that night. The activity held outside campus was not led by the academe that jurisdiction and responsibility is argued.

L O G

I thought it would be a sweeping case for it concerned eleven minors of the same campus, having managed to access liquor and drugs. I believed there was neglect and unkindness on the part on all participants of the activity for leaving a vulnerable girl to the care of bullish boys, and passed judgment that this was some fraternity issue. Because I knew of the forensic evidence and laboratory results, it was difficult to let go.

As I struggled with myself, I discovered the later developments in reflective practice threshed that individuals reach a limit reflecting alone, unaided (Boud, Keogh and Walker, 1985) and that there is more benefit to adopt reflective practice in a group setting or one-to-one forum through supervision (Fisher 1996). Other articles refer this as a guided reflection or learning sequence by studying ones feelings that an evolving of ideas and appreciation spills out. Mann (2008) presents shared reflection to reap benefits of continuity, trust, peer support and an opportunity to reframe. Possible harmful outcomes in spite the aim to provide self direction are also expressed in other works 1-busy work, 2-lack of impact, 3-rejection by clients, 4-misplaced confidence, 5-reflection without learning, 6-intellectualizing reflection, 7-inappropriate disclosure. The article points out that shared reflection is enabled by free expression of opinion when there is a common perceived usefulness of the activity and prior reflective practice experience. However the actual implements of shared reflection could differ as to organizational climate and allocation of time for reflection. But with the many work constraints, shared reflective activities was not possible at the moment.

I adamantly guided Ann to pursue a criminal case. A complaint against the boys was filed in the court under IS No 08-1777. However, with the law protecting minors below 16 in place, the prosecutor dismissed all criminal charges with reason that these boys are below age of maturity.

It was not long that these kids are back in campus. Inquiries on the incident were in sequels which the small institution claiming lack of jurisdiction had nothing to do and nothing more could be done. Cruelly enough, the boys taunt Ann in campus that she reports to her father who in return assaults one offender. Ann’s father is charged for frustrated murder and child abuse on the boy still not proven guilty.

L O G

I was totally devastated with the fact offensive sexual conduct shall pass without incarceration or remorse, seeing that the laws that protect children in conflict a twist. In as much as the boys are exempt from criminal liability, differentiation between wrong and right and the admittance of fault is not examined. While the state protects these boys from punishment, the state did not protect Ann.

Gillian Ruch (2008) points out that there is more literature on definitions of reflective practice, when less thought is given to the conditions to facilitate its development. Insofar as this tool recognizes complexity and uncertainty inherent in social work practice, there should be more emphasis on the need for practitioners to work within safe, clear, collaborative and communicative working practices that are interdependent -in respect reflective practice.

Ann fell into depression; thinks it was her fault (she was too drunk) because she allowed the boys to abuse her. She caused all the troubles (her father beat up one of the boys who files a child abuse case against him and the fraternity wanted to avenge) She inflicts pains on herself (wrist slashing), ran away from home and seeks refuge from gangsters. Smokes, drinks, had some theft issues and turned promiscuous.

L O G

I felt responsible in some way for this behaviour and inadequate for not being able to do more. I though hard of ways to develop a positive self and positive self image for Ann. I involved too deeply with the family, encouraging parents to seek out opportunities to praise, reinforce, and recognize accomplishments. It consumed me, trying to get Ann to an improved ability to trust others in a developed sense.

Models of reflective practice originate in different fields of study, typically depict an iterative process but are not explicit of the role of emotions. A simple model of reflection is to return to the experience and take feelings into account by recognition of emotion, attending to the feelings and developing a new perspective (Boud, Keogh and Walker 1985).

Behaviour

Ideas

Feelings

Returning to experience

aˆ?

Utilizing positive

feelings

aˆ?

Removing obstructing

feelings

Re

–

evaluating experience

New

perspectives on

experience

Change in

behaviour

Readiness for

application

Commitment to

action

Experience(s)

Reflective processes

Outcomes

Looking at my case from a critical perspective, I have prepared a simple log.

L O G

What was I trying to achieve?

I wanted badly to help Ann who was a naughty smart, completely lost in the age of adolescence.

Why did I respond as I did?

My frustration is coupled with the knowledge of several studies that have shown that as age increases in disadvantaged communities, boys have more liberty than girls to explore outside the home (e.g. Jones et al., 2000). And because these disadvantaged communities are less safe, the decline in a girl’s independent activities has crippled the overall growth of society.

What were the consequences of that for the patient, others, myself?

I have given my all to this case, but have time and fund constraints with the volume and limited manpower of our organization. Ann was sent to the Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, another NGO with structured methods on handling child sexual abuse cases.

How were others feeling?

I came to meet the members of the child’s family, who struggled through the issues and difficulty at hand. On the other part, the families of these boys manifested a displaced confidence.

How did I know this?

I kept in constant communication with the mother until a year after that I left work.

Why did I feel the way I did within this situation?

I knew that I could have done more. And I believe there is a need to evaluate the legislation.

Did I act for the best?

The constant weight of workload pressure and prioritization is often of concern to us as child protection workers.

What knowledge did or could have informed me?

Policy developments like these are important to be placed in the fore to promote better understanding of the real levels of risk to children in the various forms of social interaction.

Does this situation connect with previous experiences?

Not particularly, although admittedly I was drawn into this case.

How could I handle this situation better?

I should have been upfront with the family of the legislations in place such that the matter would be dealt with outside legal perspective.

What would be the consequences of alternative actions for the patient/others/myself?

There should have been a coordinated approach, assigning each child to a social worker effectually collaborating findings and cure for child disorientation.

How do I now feel about this experience?

Anger. I felt consumed by this experience and sore.

Can I support myself and others better as a consequence?

Yes. I have learned to distinguish the limits of my work and the level of attachment I can allow myself.

How available am I to work with patients/families and staff to help them meet their needs?

I extend myself in certain situations that compel or affected me more than the work should.

Social work in disadvantaged communities is hefted with several constraints, if not stressful to a practitioner. A serious dilemma is that child protection and community is particularly influenced by poverty and other forms of inequality. It can be said that a harsher impact of transnational integration would be an increased number of anxious people, so much more in poorer communities, where support systems are unsurprisingly ineffectual with a shorthanded social workers group.

In these depressed areas, where the core family unit is continually stressed, abuse easily coughs up. Adolescent sexual abuse is an experience relating to a broad spectrum of challenges across social work development, with suicide as the most severe outcome where much is lost. Other post trauma behaviours common are sexual risk-taking and substance misuse, depression, anxiety, and panic aggression and delinquency.

With the escalating figures on abuse, my department puts up response to the WID (Women in Development), WAD (Women and Development) and GAD (Gender and Development) programs of the Government.

It is among five pilot projects focused on women, children and family, catering a broad geographical coverage with mandate as Training Center. We use a total management approach particularly in severe cases of violence. We work closely with networks such as the Anti Child Abuse Network (ACAN, a national network), Gender Equality and Development (GEAD network in the city of Baguio) and the Regional Organization of Gender Focal Point (ROGFP).

The department six years in existence is established through British funds. This concluded in 2006 leaving behind a vacuum in the handle of Family Needs-and-Risk-Assessment of victim survivors, including other forms of help (coordinating temporary shelter and home visits).

My work as a social worker involves entering the lives of children and families in distress, conflict or trouble. To do so requires theoretical competence and self awareness. Reflective practice ensures that my motivations and past experiences are used to enhance our practice and to help me recognise our impact on others. With it I am also able to establish boundaries when working with children that I have become less assuming, although it does take experience, time, and skill. Noticeably, it has reduced my negative experiences as a service provider. I have the ability to step back and look at the bigger picture we are able to work more effectively with a service user.

Reflection ensures confidence that our responses arise from the client’s situation rather than our past or needs (Lishman, 2002). It prompts the evaluation of practice and gives way to opportunities to learn from experience by identifying what worked well and what may need to change. Reflective practice helps us to keep our commitment of continuous professional development and reinforces the importance of the attitude and keeps accountability at the forefront of our practice (Thompson, 2002).

A crucial aspect of reflection is being able to use the criticism faced and utilize it-that is, turn the situation on its head, and learn something positive from it. Schon (1983) has explained, professional knowledge is grounded in professional experience.

L O G

In one time I consoled the mother of this young girl by telling her not to worry because this circumstance will make her stronger and wiser. And she snapped at me in disappointment that it was the least of her interest to gain strength and wisdom at the expense of her child.

For long I was in moral conflict over the case. More so because it was a strong issue in the area of my work and to circles I involved in. Contradictions from interest groups mounted, many simply for the benefit of group funding among others. It was very sad because those hurt from the occurrence could not be helped. Deep inside me I questioned if we did protect the child and should be protect a child who abuses another child. The reflection of my inner conflict is drawn in the tree below.

Child Protection

RA 7610 Anti Child Abuse

It was devastating and I was

frustrated.

Do the most significant and

influential ethical theories

deny the existence

of

natural

rights?

I should have been

upfront with the family of

the legislations in place

such that the matter

would be dealt with

outside legal perspective.

Action is wrong because it

ignores Ann’s rights.

In as much as the boys are

exempt from criminal

liability, differentiation

between wrong and right

and the admittance of

fault is not examined.

While the state protects

these boys from

punishment, the state did

not protect Ann.

Ann fell into

depression;

inflicts pain

on herself

(wrist slashing), ran away

from home and seeks

refuge from gangsters.

Smokes, drinks, had some

theft issues and turned

promiscuous.

Have I failed to protect

and preserve public

interest because of a

selective indifference to

information,

understanding, and

knowledge that bear on

the preservation of

human values and the

solution of problems ?

Should policy

developments

as this

important be examined to

promote

better

understanding of the real

levels of risk to children in

the various forms of social

interaction?

It consumed me, trying to

get Ann to an improved

ability to trust others in a

developed sense.

On the other part, the

families of these boys

manifested a displaced

confidence.

Is policy effective with

the

harsher impact of

transnational

integration

and

increased number of

anxious people, so much

more in

poorer

communities, where

support systems are

unsurprisingly ineffectual

with a shorthanded social

workers group.

With all confusion, it was my constant reflective practice that held me through. I then took upon myself to pursue that this tool as a functional process to be performed at individual level by members of the team and in case conferences. The specific objectives include: (a) Increased awareness of RA 7610, Special Protection of Children against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act and RA 9262, An Act Defining Violence Against Women and Their Children, providing for Protective Measures for Victims, prescribing Penalties therefore, and for other purposes; through reflective practice methods and approaches focused on the family as a basic social unit, and extending to schools, universities, workplaces and the communities. (b) Reporting reflection after conducting immediate extensive treatment and protection and preventive psycho-social services through testing and treatment, advisement and counseling. (c) Shared reflections on particular cases for the containment of severe conditions that further endanger lives and situations of victim survivors, families and communities. (d) Shared reflection that explores potential roles of victim survivors and families in the reflective practice initiatives for community learning. (e) To log these activities for the advancement of research methods and further betterment of programs and services delivery.

At this point I thought it useful to reframe the work process. Reflective practice should be central to reframing a process flow of intervention in my department. The revised diagram puts forward the value of dialogue after every process step which could change the difficulties experienced through my individual account (Errington, Robertson 1998). It is thought that reflective practice adopted in a group setting by practitioners should be inextricably linked to social workers settings. The interaction also establishes rudiments of supervision by the department head as suggested in the writings of COT (1997), conducting group reflective practice supports and promotes professional development and continuing education.

REFRAMING INTERVENTION CHART

Patient with guardian is received by WCPU Social worker
Guardian is made to complete the consent form
Trauma intake interview if a patient is conducted, discussion with caretakers, companions and relatives
Gathering, distillation and relaying of crucial information to the clinician before the interview and exam
Collaboration with hospital staff members on-call
Physician and social worker interview the Guardian/ caretaker
Refers patient and family for temporary shelter, meal, food, financial assistance from LGU
Submits and follows up lab specimen results
Reflective Practice
1 PATIENT INTAKE
Rigorous documentation of interviews, risk assessment and care of the survivors
Worker conducts risk assessment for the child and family and decides on a plan of action that best protects the child and the family
Refers child to a psychiatrist if needed
Coordinates and refers client to other agencies like OSCWD, CPTCSA, PNP and others
SW provides advice and crisis counseling
4RISK ASSESSMENT
(Social worker)
The physician carries out an appropriate forensic interview that is child sensitive, using a developmental approach
Social worker listens to interview an transcribes interviews as necessary
2 FORENSIC INTERVIEW
The physician and social worker assess and refer patients who require counseling to the psychiatrist
Psychiatrist conducts regular therapy sessions for the child until the child shows, significant improvements in diagnosis
5 PSYCHIATRIC CARE
Physician performs non-traumatizing medical examination that adheres legal requisites for evidence collection, including colposcopic pictures
Physician also examines child for medical problems not associated to the abuse
Physician devises and implements a medical treatment plan
Assisting the physician in the conducting of the physical examination and gathering of specimen and other medico-legal evidences
Social worker passes and follow-up laboratory request. Refer lab results to physicians concerns and informs patient
Contact and get food from dietary for the patient as needed
When necessary, referrals are made for medical services not provided by WCPU
3 MEDICAL EXAMINATION
When summoned, WCPU physicians appear in court to provide expert testimony about the findings
6 COURT TESTIMONY
Reflective Practice

While the work of Gillings (2000) guides reflection of feelings to deliberately evaluate the experience, it is expected that a particular situation is adequately analysed and that the development of an action plan follows. By reframing the process flow, there is better chance that a holistic action plan evolves each time shared reflection takes place and additional information integrated to the case. This requires that professional development diaries (Clouder 2000) become part of the workflow, where documentation of group reflections preserves the learning experience for the reference of future learning groups. Importantly, each group reflective practice should begin with the understanding of what the team is trying to achieve. The sensitivity articulated by Atkins in Burns and Bulman (2000), is that there must be commitment and willingness to listen to the views and insights of other practitioners. By so, it allows for new posits for practitioners to apply in the handle of new experiences. In effect, an individual member presents a challenge and has these views and perspectives provoked by questions of fellow practitioners, and share the process leading to appropriate actions. It is an application of the work of Kristina Gower (2002) that through the process of shared reflection, an avenue is set for the individual to focus on themselves and what they are grappling at work.

It is argued in many writings that shared reflection when practiced effectively and with consistency, enables practitioners to be open with each other and capable of trust. I think it is most needed today where globalisation has caused upon a change in the social structures of communities and social workers are faced with new sorts of challenges. By mere process of jotting down thoughts in a descriptive manner, unloads the emotions held within. What is more is when it is read, it is an act of distancing from self, allowing one to see if our responses were appropriate to the situation.

Shared Reflection Session

Adapted from National Primary and Care

Trust Development Programme 2008

Present your challenge, insight, issue, or question

Set members question you constructively to challenge views and understanding, perceptions, and assumptions

New insights, understanding or ideas

Test actions in the workplace

Draw conclusions and mark learnings. Integrate the new knowledge into the practice

Bring results back to set. What worked? What did not? Why?

Each time group reflection is carried out, a new interaction or form of reflection occurs, or individual reflection is deepened. The chart below depicts continues growth expected of dialogues amongst practitioners. Proper recording of the analyses, conflict and interaction must be ensured for future growth of the department.

By and large, globalization altered the traditional roles in society that sense of community is hard to come by. The greater impact however falls on less developed nations where close family ties have tangible effects on income sources, equally personal growth. While conventional theory avers family as the fundamental social institution, it is opposed by the changing times. The present phenomenon sees the family unit split on a massive scale leading to less safer communities for the child.

Because it is so, reflective practice intertwines with the practice of social work. Interactions in delicate matters of family, and in situations of discomfort, it is essential that social workers maintain reflective practice to unearth insights as much as for the interest of self preservation in pressing issues by constant self awareness. While practice is located within the ancient tradition of experiential learning and in the recently defined perspective of situated cognition, both return us to the basic comprehension that not all problems are of equal dimensions. What is more is not the scope or dimensions of the problem but the significance of the problem to the child we work with (Osterman, 1993).

This is reinforced in the manuscript Changing Lives review of social work by Peter Lewis, where it relates the emphatic need for more reflective practice. Appointed director of children’s services at Haringey, a first response was to send off social work staff on reflective practice courses at the Tavistock Clinic (cooper, 2010). Of course, a huge obstacle to reflective practice and clearly widespread in England comes with the tightening budgets, even when studies have increasing shown the relevance of reflective practice as an essential part of social work decision making. That is the sheer volume of the work and its impact, as a social worker, one is stressed and overwhelmed that is likely to overly identify with a child at work or with the parents. As a result it becomes difficult to maintain objectivity and stand back.

Kim Poupart (2010) relents that “People get stirred up by child protection work. For example, if someone is forced to look at slides of abuse it is painful for them to see. Unless they can reflect about how upset and angry they feel they will be unable to manage their feelings in relation to the work and decisions they need to make.” The study elaborates on the important elements of reflective practice which allows for a deeper understanding of: (1) The role emotion plays in decision-making, (2) Patterns finding the evidence for gut feelings, (3) Confirmation biases or reluctance to abandon a pre-formed opinion, (4) Attribution error on attributing behaviour to personality traits rather than the context, and (5) Hindsight error.

While reflective practice in social work cannot be disguised, credence on personal attributes should be upheld. These personal attributes contributing to the perfection of reflective practice are: values, perception of the world, self-perception, emotional status and interaction with the external environment (Maree C, 2010). The observed skills leading toward such competencies are developed at early portions of the profession. Course curriculums have incorporated cognitive-structural theories, human development theories, and exhaustive study of postmodern writings on reflective practices in group and individually. Neil and Sue Thompson (2009) suggest that “At the heart of reflective practice is the idea that our actions should be informed by a knowledge base that we engage with actively.” In which case responses are not by routine or by habit but rather through sincere and considerate understanding of the situation faced, thus ensuring the practitioner sees beneath the surface of things.

In conclusion, reflective practice contributes to professional development and in a manner quite difficult to measure. Particularly in my case, it was the source of great strength with the several difficult decisions and challenges unearthed in child protection work.

I could honestly say that this case was a moral challenge since it compelled implementing a law that I do not think is entirely good. Similarly, we run the risk of reinforcing existing inequalities and potentially oppressive processes in the absence of proper reflection and reflective practice. In some organizations, this is seen to come in the way of work, especially to traditional bosses who think that adding processes is an upshot of not having enough work to do. Through reflective practice I come to appreciate All things equal, I strongly believe that it there are good choices and better outcomes for children when reflection is performed. I see things differently.

This project centres on the response from a group of service users who have been diagnosed with dementia and attend a day care service in the Perth and Kinross area to a consultation regarding the future delivery of care for older people in Scotland. Clearly, the Scottish government has stated that with the population of people aged 65 and over in Scotland expected to increase by up to 21 per cent by 2016 and 62 per cent bigger by 2031, as well as the increasing cost of funding health and social care – hospital and care homes particularly, there is an urgent need to do things differently in order to be able to continue to provide sustainable and affordable and high quality care for older people in Scotland (Scottish Executive 2010). With the projected growth in the number of older people expected to create additional significant demand on care and support services; the question thus arise; what is to be done to reshape the delivery of care services in the future given these projections? The consultation exercise focused on two main areas; responsibility for paying for the personal care of older people and the type of care that service users prefer.

Free personal care for older people (aged 65 and above) was introduced in Scotland in 2002 after the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 (hereafter referred to as CCHSA 2002) received royal assent. The background for the introduction of the policy is in the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Long Term Care (1999) which states that personal care should be available after assessment, according to need and paid for from general taxation. Scotland alone as Bowes and Bell (2007) noted, of the jurisdictions of the United Kingdom implemented the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Long Term Care (as above). In respect of the CCHSA 2002 which is the legislation that implements the policy of free personal care, personal care is defined under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 as including help with continence management, personal hygiene, mobility, assistance with eating, support and counselling services, personal assistance such as help getting up and out of bed, as well as help with medication.

Many social policy commentators and researchers as well as various stakeholders have described Scotland’s free personal care policy in various ways. Blair (2002) for instance views the free personal care policy as representing the very least that could be offered to older people with enduring ill-health, while Age Concern Scotland (2009) described the policy as successful in helping older people remain living independently in their own home instead of moving into residential care. While Dickenson et al. (2007) viewed the advent of the policy as a ‘defining moment’ in the development of political devolution in the United Kingdom, Bowes and Bell (2007) described it as a ‘flagship policy’ of the Scottish Parliament and representing a ‘considerable investment’ by the administration. In a much less enthusiastic tone however, Ferguson (2005) noted that the recommendation made by the Royal Commission on Long Term Care (stated earlier) was initially rejected by the Scottish Executive as being too costly and that it was later accepted by the Scottish Executive in order to avoid parliamentary defeat.

However, despite the success of the policy thus far and its political impact as briefly highlighted above, there is a growing concern in relation to its long term sustainability especially with the projected growth in the population of older people in Scotland (mentioned earlier) and the concomitant pressure on the public purse. For example Sutherland (2008) and Bowes and Bell (2007) both highlight the inadequate consideration of the cost of the policy, as well as the report of the Scottish Parliament Audit Committee (2005) which was very critical of the Scottish Executive’s failure to fully understand the cost of the policy.

Bell et al. (2006) noted that there had been an apparent shift in the balance of care towards increased provision of care at home in Scotland before the introduction of the policy of free personal care and has remained the case since the policy was introduced, and remains one of the strongest points in relation to the aims of the policy. Bell et al (2006) further posit that the free personal care policy may have served as a logical solution to what the Royal Commission on Long Term Care (1999) termed the ‘particularly problematic boundaries between health and social care’ in relation to people with chronic conditions such as dementia whose social and personal care needs result from a medical condition. If we agree with Bell et al here, we can see implications of the policy of free personal care within the integrated services and processes such as single shared assessments – designed to encourage and support flexibility in services thus providing better choice for service users, while also promoting equity through standardisation (Alaszewski et al 2004).

The main aims of the policy of free personal care according to Scottish Executive (2005) include; encourage and help older people to remain and stay in their own homes for as long as is practicably possible and reasonable to do so, as well as provide personal care services on an equitable basis based on an assessment of people’s needs. Only one of the service users (out of a group of twelve) who participated in the focus group consultation for this project said she would prefer to go into residential care rather than to receive care at home. This further highlights the already well documented preference of older service users for care in their own home rather than move into residential care – a major aim of the policy.

Why the Policy is important: The policy of free personal care has been shaped by, and since its inception has shaped other policies in a number of ways – both expected and un-anticipated. This interaction with other policies has been mainly in community care and spans social care and health, pensions and benefits, housing, rights and citizenship settings. One of the policy aims pursued by government in the United Kingdom has been the de-institutionalisation of social care; whereby social care is moved away from institutional settings to the community which according to Godfrey et al. (2004) reflects the general preference of older people to receive care at home and within their own communities (also expressed by the focus group participants for this project). The free personal care policy can be seen as a very important policy therefore as it supports care at home (a view shared by the focus group participants for this project) by providing older people with a lot more choice; for example, they can choose when and if they will move from home care into residential care.

According to the John Rowntree foundation (2006) the policy of free personal care for older people in Scotland has created a fairer system of care as well as well as reduced means-testing and money worries for those families with modest or limited means. This is also one of the important issues raised by some of the service users who participated in the focus group I facilitated for this project. Some of the participants revealed that things would definitely have been very difficult for them if they did not get assistance with personal care. To further buttress the above point, some of the service users who participated in the focus group were not in support of the government being responsible for the provision of personal care but did however support the provision of free personal care for those with limited means or who do not have a family to support them. One of the points also highlighted by service users during consultation was that the free personal care policy has helped their carers (informal carers) as well because it allowed them more time to carry out other less hands-on support and tasks such as social outings.

Some of the issues the policy aims to address include; a greater understanding of the role of the family, the provision of informal care and the mechanisms which can be further developed to provide support for the provision and recognition of the important contribution s of informal care. The overall design of the future social care makes looking at the policy of free personal care very important because of its direct and indirect interaction with other policies and areas of social care mad health, as well as housing, benefits and pensions, citizenship and rights. Some of the interactions of the policy with the wider objective of shifting the balance of care away from institutional settings towards care at home have already been mentioned. The policy of free personal care has implications for housing, for instance if more and more people are going to be receiving care at home, to be able to live independently with support therefore, perhaps a good number of houses would require adaptations especially for those service users with mobility problems whose own houses may not have been built to barrier free standards. If also look at pension credits, for example, according to the Help the Aged (2005) one implication of the introduction of the policy of free personal care is that local authorities have directed increased efforts towards service user’s income maximisation – meaning local authorities will want to make sure service users claim pension credit if they are eligible for it because it will local authorities will be paying less in fees and thus saving money.

Erskine (1998) argues that the point of departure for thinking about social policy includes the consideration of social issues (for example, the changing demographic structure of society) and the experience of social groups (for example older people) and thus leads to ‘social action’ (Alcock 2008) aimed at addressing the issues identified.

One of the reasons I selected the free personal care policy for my project – apart from the fact that it directly affects the service user group with whom I worked during my practice learning period, there is a wealth of evidence from research which suggests that the current system of adult social care is not sustainable in the longer term especially with the projected growth in the number of older people who will be needing care as well as the severe squeeze on public spending. Clearly, an increase in longevity would be regarded as a sign of success in the improvement of healthcare it also presents a huge challenge. Consequently, the provision of high quality care services and support for older people, given the demographic changes and reduced public finances is regarded as one of the three biggest challenges facing Scotland – alongside economic recovery and climate change (Scottish Executive 2010).

The policy of free personal care is part of the overall vision of the Scottish government to modernise adult care services, make it fit for purpose, a systems that gives choice and control to service users, is responsive to the needs of a 21st century Scotland and shifts the focus away from ‘crisis response’ towards a more preventative approach (Scottish Executive (2010). The provision of high quality care and support for older people is a fundamental principle of social justice and is an important hallmark of a society that is both compassionate and caring, Scottish Executive (2010). This is one of the very reasons why the policy was selected for this project; to gather evidence from service users in relation to their views and opinions on the future of care services and support for older people in Scotland. The value of user involvement and participation in the planning and development of the services they receive cannot be over-emphasised as will be discussed in the next section of this paper.

This project focuses on service users who have been diagnosed with dementia or a cognitive impairment and attend a day centre service in Perth.

Part Two: Reflective Account

Service users’ selection and involvement: One of the reasons I facilitated a response from the service users in my placement agency for the consultation and policy used in this project was because the service users themselves are important stakeholders and are at the receiving end of implementation – they experience it on a daily basis. Service users can be viewed as experts by experience and as such their views and opinions are invaluable assets in the planning and delivery of adult social care services.

All the service users who participated in the consultation live in their own homes and are in receipt of free personal care and thus have firsthand experience of the impact of the policy and are also in a good position as (service users) to share their perspectives on how adult care and support services can be further developed to meet future needs. After initial meetings with my Link Worker and the other members of staff during which the purpose of the consultation was discussed and ethical issues looked at, I spoke with service users individually (with the assistance of three members of staff) in the day centre. I discussed the purpose of the consultation, took the names of those who indicated their willingness to participate, and informed them about the consent form to be made available before the focus group, as well as negotiated a suitable time and date. My placement agency being a day care centre which the service users attend on a daily basis, what I did was to put up information about the time, aims and date of the consultation on the notice board in the dining room as well as the one in the activity room from about two weeks before the date of the focus group. One of the reasons I did this was so that service users are constantly reminded of the date and details of the consultation.

In relation to user involvement, as Ross et al. (2005) points out, there is no single blue print for user involvement as it calls for working with a diversity of perspectives. Importantly, as an emerging social worker who firmly believes in the principles of anti-oppressive practice or what Thompson and Thompson (2001) termed ’empowering practice’ I wanted an approach that would foster service user participation, and support their engagement as much as possible in the consultation. I decided to use Beresford’s (2002) democratic model of user involvement as against the consumerist model because it is much more in line with the purpose of the consultation itself – bringing about change through collective action as well as to give service users more say and control in decisions that affect their lives. In applying the democratic model of user involvement for instance, I encouraged open participation in the focus group. I did not select a particular service user to participate in the focus group discussion, rather what I did was to encourage everyone to participate and the response was very positive as twelve out of thirteen service users participated in the focus group discussion. Two of the participants in the focus group had special needs – visual and hearing impairment respectively. I arranged with one of the three members of staff who co-facilitated the focus group to work the two service users using individual work sheets to record their views and opinions. I provided each participant with a copy of the aims of the consultation, as well as a copy of the agenda for the focus group discussion. I also used one of the pre-focus group meetings that I had with the service users to encourage their involvement; for instance one of the service users asked me if I would like them to tell me only what I wanted to hear during the focus group discussion and I told the service user that I was not looking for them to tell me only what I would like to hear, rather they should express their opinions and perspectives on the issues we were going to discuss. I believe such an approach to user involvement is important for increasing the confidence of participants in the focus group.

Data collection: I used a qualitative rather than a quantitative method of data collection for the project and this was mainly informed by a consideration of what Becker and Bryman (2004) termed the main concerns and preoccupations of the qualitative method – actors (for example service users), meanings and descriptions, as well as an emphasis on flexibility, process and context. The main qualitative method I used was the facilitation of a focus group with the service users in my placement agency as participants. I used a focus group approach to gather data from the service users because it generates data in a narrative rather numerical form. It was also very important for the data collection method to be flexible and take account of the circumstances of the data subjects – in this case the service users are elderly people with dementia or a cognitive impairment and it was very important to put this into consideration. The focus group approach was the most suitable method because it provided a forum within which the service users could discuss important aspects of a policy which directly affects them, and their views on the future of adult social care services is very useful because they are important stakeholders. If we also look at it from the point of view of service user empowerment and anti-oppressive practice, the focus group approach also gives the service users control as they are able to share and discuss their experiences and the interaction amongst the different participants would generate a lot of data as well as being useful and enjoyable. Other sources of data used in the project include; government policy and legislative documents, literature review, as well as publications/evidence reviews from voluntary groups/organisations such as Age Concern Scotland and the John Rowntree Foundation.

Ethical and effective practice: As part of the consideration of the ethical aspects of my work with the service users who participated in the focus group which I facilitated in the course of carrying out this project, some of the things I did include; encouraging participation was voluntary and that consent was obtained from all the service users who agreed to participate in the focus group. I provided each service user with a consent form which they signed as evidence that they consented voluntarily and that they had the right to withdraw their participation at anytime. I also made sure none of the service users was intentionally or indirectly excluded from participating in the focus group (as mentioned earlier), or disadvantaged.

As mentioned earlier, I two of the participants in the focus group had special needs – one was visually impaired but not blind while the other was hearing impaired and used hearing aids. Some of the things I did to enable their participation in the focus group for instance includes; providing written information in large print format as well as making arrangements for one of the co-facilitators to work with them. I also ensured that they were able to take part in the discussion; for example, asking them politely for their opinions while also making sure (given group dynamics) that the discussion was not being dominated by only those who could actively discuss.

Part Three: Assessing the Impact on Users and other Key Stakeholders

Several participants in the focus group revealed that the free personal care policy has been of help to them and has enabled them to remain at home rather than moving into residential care. Nearly all the participants agreed that personal care should remain free. However, there were strong responses from some of the participants in relation to responsibility for paying for personal care; one participant was very strong on his position that the family should be responsible for paying for personal care, another argued that while he was not against the idea of the family taking responsibility for paying for personal care, he was being considerate of those who did not have a family or who simply could not afford it because they had very limited or no means at all. The participant with the latter argument suggested that older people should be means tested for the receipt of free personal care. Another participant also argued that older people should continue to receive free personal care because they had spent their working years paying taxes and national insurance and should therefore be taken care of by the state. All participants in the focus group emphasized the important role of informal care and the support they receive from their family members, only one of the participants revealed that she would prefer to go into residential care – her reason being that she lives alone in her home and would feel safer in residential care. Several participants said they would prefer to remain in their own homes for as long as possible and free personal care has been contributory to making this possible.

There is a strong suggestion from the government documents consulted for this project and publications from key organisations such as the John Rowntree Foundation, that the free personal care policy has been very successful as confirmed also by the participants in the focus group for this project. However, there is also a strong tone of concern (in most of the government publications and evidence reviews) vis-a-vis the financial implications of the policy given the projected growth in the number of older people by the year 2032. For example, if we look at housing, a greater proportion of older people receiving care at home would perhaps increase the demand for housing and housing related services (Scottish Executive 2010). Age Concern Scotland (2009) noted with concern that much of Scotland’s housing stock is not easily adapted for someone with mobility problems, and with the balance of care increasingly shifting towards care at home (with free personal care and personalisation as potent drivers) there are implications for local services and the design of communities in the future.

Most of the participants in the focus group were diagnosed with an early onset of dementia – meaning their dementia has not reached an advanced stage and so do not lack capacity. One impact of free personal care for this group of service users is that it has given them choice; they can choose to receive care at home or take up residential care. Nearly all the participants expressed preference for care at home, increased support, choice and flexibility for their family and informal carers, as well as support to keep them (person with dementia) in their own home for as long as possible – even during advanced stages of dementia. Participants also said they would like to see more choice and control; some of the participants expressed disappointment in the fact that while they are often consulted with about their opinions, some of the important things they need are not provided. The service users would like to be more involved in decision making as one of the participants in the focus group said; ‘I can tell you a problem that is niggling me and close to my heart and you can go away and promise to do something about it without doing it.’ Generally, the participants in the focus group appeared to be more concerned about the quality of the services they receive than the cost or who pays for it. The participants all said they wanted services that are reliable as well as responsive to their individual and changing needs.

Two of the participants with other disabilities – visual and hearing impairment respectively, also agreed that while the free personal care policy has added to the financial resources at their disposal, they still feel they have a number of unmet needs. For example, they mentioned transportation and being able to go on social outings, cleaning their homes as well as taking care of their garden as some of their needs which remain unmet. They also appear to have a holistic view of what free personal care entails; they believe it covers all aspects of care for older people. These two participants also noted that while the free personal care policy has enabled them to receive care at home, it is likely that as their conditions deteriorate they may still have to go into residential care and this may perhaps be the case for the larger proportion of older people with disabilities.

In terms of the wider implications of the free personal care policy, one of main objectives of the reshaping care programme (Scottish Executive 2010) for which this project is based overall, as I mentioned earlier is a shift in focus from crisis response to preventative approaches, Scottish Executive (2010). This renewed emphasis on preventative and early intervention approaches by the Scottish government Dickinson et al. (2007) believe would be helped as free personal care may make older people more willing to contact their respective local authorities and thus provide some scope for early intervention and preventative work.

As we can infer from the findings and evidence from research presented in this report thus far, the provision of free personal care is just one aspect of the overall picture of services and support for older people in Scotland. There are (as discussed earlier) significant implications for other key areas of public policy including housing, transport, pensions as well as employment.

Part Four: Critical Analysis

The introduction of the policy of free personal care in Scotland as Ferguson (2005) puts it, marks the beginning of policy divergence between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. Ferguson’s assertion also echoes Mooney and Wright’s (2009) account of the difference in the way the four nations which constitute the United Kingdom view, experience and organise policy responses to their social problems. The policy has been largely welcomed and viewed by various stakeholders as part of a Scottish solution to Scottish problems. Drake’s (2001) assertion that social policies are not created in a vacuum but are guided by values, principles and objectives is perhaps useful here when we look at the overarching principles and values which underlie the policy of free personal care. For example, Scoot and Mooney (2009) posit that the promotion of shared citizenship and social justice, as well as the alleviation of the effects of economic inequality are some of the essential principles of the policy. While these principles and values were never quite in doubt in relation to what the policy stands for, one of the points raised during consultation (in the focus group with participants from my placement agency) and as stated by the Care Development Group (2001) is the issue of equity of access for different user groups – in this case for example, service users with dementia. According to the Care Development Group, free personal care is right in principle because it removes the discrimination previously encountered by older people with chronic or degenerative conditions such as dementia who require personal care.

The findings in this project are critically analysed (in this section of the paper) in relation to the specific topics covered in the focus group. The three topics are; responsibility for paying for care, the preferred type of care, and planning for the future.

Responsibility for paying for care: As I mentioned in previous sections of this paper, participants in the focus group expressed mixed views concerning responsibility for paying for personal care. Although most participants agreed that personal care should be provided for older people and paid for by the government, there were some participants who held very strong opposing views and argued that the family should either pay for personal care or at least make some financial contribution (co-payment) towards it. Another participant also suggested the introduction of means-testing to the policy so that only older people with limited means receive free personal care. Overall, participants in the focus group discussion did not appear to be too concerned about the cost or who pays for personal care. The participants revealed that they were more concerned about the quality of the services they receive, ensuring that such services meet their individual needs and are able to remain in their own homes for as long as possible and spend time with their families. Sutherland (2008) reminds us that while free personal care is currently available to older people at the point of delivery, someone still had to pay for it – presently the taxpayer.

On the question of who should be responsible for paying for personal care, findings from the focus group fall under two broad categories; selective access and universal provision. Both categories perhaps raise a number of interrelated issues including; rights, citizenship, choice, empowerment, as well as the redistribution of welfare resources which according to Hills (2008) is central to the appraisal of social policy. If we apply Drake’s (2001) conception of the function of rights to the above findings from the focus group, most participants view free personal care as something they have a right to (as older Scots who had spent their working lives serving the country in different ways) receive and it confers certain benefits on them; choice and empowerment particularly as they can now choose whether to receive care at home or move into residential care as one participant even revealed ‘at least I will not have to sell my house to pay for my personal care.’ While it was evident from the focus group as I mentioned earlier, that service users had a holistic view of what free personal care entails, some of them were also not aware of or perhaps considered the wider implications of the cost of the policy – for example the implications for housing as I also discussed earlier. The cost of the policy in the longer term has been highlighted in worrying terms by many writers and commentators on social policy, as well as the by Scottish government. Considered against the backdrop of Scotland’s changing demographics, evidence from the literature consulted for this project suggests that the policy may not be sustainable in the long term. For example, in an independent report on the free personal care policy by Lord Sutherland (2008) it was argues that a more holistic view of public funding arrangement would be required because the policy is only sustainable (under the current arrangement) over the next five years after which the impact of a rapid increase in the number of older people and demographic change will begin to set in. The question then arises; why was the financial implication of the policy not strongly considered before the machinery of implementation was set in motion? There are a number of arguments emanating from several of the literature consulted for this project in relation to the financial cost of the policy and there are suggestions as I highlighted earlier, that costing the policy has been inadequate and that the policy had more of a political aim (Sutherland 2001; Eccles 2001).

Blair (2002) posits that social policy plays a pivotal role in the construction of later life itself. Blair’s argument that older people are often discussed and defined in reports through the psychological distance of demography, deficit and economics (Blair 2002) is evident in most of the reports and evidence reviews consulted for this project thus beclouding the reality that many older people are already doing well for themselves without or with very little state support as one of the participants in the focus group discussion said ‘we are already doing enough to take care of ourselves but what is wrong with receiving free personal care, have we not worked for it’?

The preferred type of care: As I reported in previous sections of this paper, only one of the participants in the focus group said she would prefer to move into a residential home. She cited fear and insecurity when her health deteriorates as the main reason for her choice of residential care. As is already well documented in research (Dickinson et al. 2007) older service users would prefer to stay out of the formal system of care for as long as possible given the choice. Although participants in t

Discuss the extent to which effective development policy depends on good research

Introduction

In development, for one to know what aids development, why a particular system works and how effective an approach taken towards improving development is, a proper research has to have been done. Development policy is a decision made or designed to improve a condition from a problematic state to a better or an improved form. Research is said to be ‘a careful study that is done to find and report new knowledge about something’ (Merriam-Webster). Some types of research done are reviewing existing research, field experiments, secondary analysis (reviewing information from existing archives), qualitative methods, survey, case studies, and cost-benefit analysis (research done to determine the cost and benefit from an action), amongst others (Dukeshire and Thurlow 2002). Research is an important part of policy making because without research, pressing policy questions will not be answered as it’s hard to make a policy without identifying a problem, the context in which the problem is based and possible solutions that a policy could enforce.

In a research at the IMF in 2011, Moises Schwartz, the director of IEO states that “Research is at the heart of innovation and improving policymaking”. He goes on to say that research, at the IMF, helps develop and improve conceptual models that serve as the foundation for policy recommendations. In this paper research will be used in relation to evidence-based

This paper discusses how research influences policy, the gap between researchers and policy makers and how good research is needed for effective development policy making.

Research and Development policy

One cannot make a policy if one doesn’t know what that policy is to address. Without research, policy makers will not be informed about the problem that requires a solution through careful planning and decision making. The way research is done and presented could influence deeply the policy making process (Dukeshire and Thurlow 2002).

For the creation of effective development policy, not just a policy under huge probability that it might work, proper research has to be done. Furthermore, for the improvement of quality of life and reduction in poverty, a proper use of research and evidence in the making and practice of development policy, is required (Court et al 2004). Research promotes credibility and also plays an important role on how policymaking is thought of by country authorities and also, research improves the gathering and spread of global knowledge (IMF 2011).

Effective development policy requires researches that are relevant to the particular policy question. Researches done for a specific development policy question will look at the problem from all spheres, gather knowledge about the problem from the place the problem is situated and the people it affects, carry out a thorough case study and could also ask indigenous people to suggest solutions as they know better what will work for them and then make recommendations which will influence the development policy making. This entire process will ensure that the policy is effective as the decision will be based on research that addressed the problem directly and evidence produced. People in a community, through participatory approach, a research technique, could identify problems in their society and proffer solutions to these problems (green et al 1995; Frankish et al 1997).

The 1999 white paper on modernizing government adopted evidence based policy as part of its philosophy as it expressed its expectations of policy makers to bring up new ideas, take a different approach to the way things have been done in the past he use of research in the policy making process and also to create policies that will proffer effective long term solutions. Research helps policy makers be well informed about a situation a policy is to address however “…there is nothing a government hates more than to be well-informed for it makes the process of arriving at decisions much more complicated and difficult” ( Skidelsky 1992). In my own opinion, research restrains the government from making a “one fit all” policy. It is easier for a government or donor institutions to make a ‘one fit all’ policy than going through the process of research, gaining adequate knowledge about a particular problem and having to make policies that fit specific contexts or societies and not been able to make a general policy that is not based on specific contexts or a countries specificity.

In basil jones paper on linking research to policy, he says to achieve effectiveness and efficiency better sector work has to be done alongside research and analysis in development process which will in turn influence policy making. Without research or proper knowledge of a development problem, it is hard to make right decisions that will enable effective solutions.

There is a great link between research and policy making although, it has been said that there is a gap between policy makers and researchers. It said that researchers make their findings inaccessible, sometimes lengthy, in a different language and uneasy to decipher just in time for policy decisions (Jones, 2011). Also, researchers do not research on problems facing policy makers but answer questions based on the tools and resources they have (World Bank 2010).

Development policies are made based on finding solutions to development problems and research seeks to study and find possible and optimum solutions to those problems. Thus, without proper communication between the researchers and policy makers, it will be impossible to make an effective development policy as it is impossible to make a developmental progress if these two actors are working individually or separately.

Conclusion

it has been noted that governments and donor institutions tend to make ‘one fit all’ policies that will cut across different countries without taking into consideration the different countries peculiarity or its institutional context and sometimes are accused of making policies based on existing data from doctored research plans and conclusions that fit an existing policy or research done before without making room for new researches (Brettenwoods project, 2011). For example, the prevalent view amongst staffs of the IMF is that research findings need to be in relation with current IMF policies and evaluations done at the IMF showed that some researches were done with the conclusion and an already present policy in mind and some researches had different conclusions and recommendations separate from the analysis done in the research (IMF 2011). Furthermore, some NGOs have distorted the policy making process which renders the policy incapable and in turn creating negative effect on the poor by not engaging in research based evidence (Harper 2001). Above, it was noted that there was a significant gap between policy makers and researchers which needed to be bridged. Bridging the gap between these two actors In the development process could be done by making good use of researches that have been done and researchers communicating their findings to policy makers(court and young 2006).

Also these donors should not make it all about the funding but also gaining or gathering and sharing new knowledge which can only be gotten from good research (Jones 2011). Policy questions should be the basis for a research and not just research based on the resources available to the researcher or what attracts the interest of the researcher at that time. Furthermore, in considering the future of development, results that influence policy and practice and relevant to poor people’s needs could be gotten by the improving the researchers effectiveness to produce such results. This was stated in a 2008 research strategy of DFID.

Finally in answering the question to which extent effective development policy depends on good research, before a policy is made, there has to be an evidence of a problem and the evidence of the problem and knowledge gathered about the problem is held in mind before a decision is made to improve the condition of a problem, so basically there cannot be a policy without a research of some kind. Therefore, a development policy depends on research but an effective development policy that will properly address a problem that is being faced will depend on a good and thorough research. This paper has discussed the link and gap between research and policy, the dependency of policy on research and also the benefits of an evidence based policy.

References

“Research” Merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. web 26 February 2014

Social work as a practice was not defined as a profession until the early 20th century even in other countries there are different ideas as to what a social worker is; for example in some developing countries what in the United Kingdom as a youth worker is seen as a social worker. In England a probation officer does not need to be a qualified social worker whereas in Scotland it is necessary for the individual to be qualified. In Scotland social workers are registered with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and have to abide by their professional code of conduct, which is important as a national guideline due to social work being such a diverse area. It is important for social work to abide by these guidelines but also to use theories that are of relevance to inform their practice.

Social work theory throughout the years has continued to be an important part of social work practice. The purpose of this assignment is to critically discuss and analyse the relevance to two of these theories into practice using the O’Donnell family. The two theories this assignment will look at is the attachment theory, Erikson’s eight stages of man and also to look at anti oppressive practice. It is important to look at these different types of theories as they are all important dynamics that are necessary for social workers to understand the society, individuals and politically and socially influenced world in which they have to work in.

An example of a mid range theory is the theory of attachment, the first theory of attachment was written by John Bowlby; Bowlby believed that the attachment between mother and infant was important to the child’s future development. Bowlby also believed in four characteristics of attachment: proximity management, safe haven, secure base and separation distress. If a child suffers separation from their primary carer (their mother) then this may manifest into social problems later in life however if the child has unpredictable contact with their mother then it will have insecure attachment. Bowlby later looked at attachment throughout different ages and stages of development, to understand how a person that losses or is separated from an individual they had developed an attachment with would be affected. It has been identified that attachment behaviour is inbuilt as it can be triggered if a child is scared or frightened. If a child feels loved and valued by their primary caregiver it is highly likely that the child will develop a good level of self-esteem and perhaps may be more confident and independent in later life due to a feeling of belonging and acceptance. However should a child feel they are rejected or neglected by their primary caregiver it is like they may feel unwanted and unlovable. The positive example of attachment would allow the child to develop a trusting bond which would not be the case with the negative attachment example. This relates to Erikson’s eight stages of man; this is an infant’s stage of psychosocial development which has two paths a child can take depending on the care they receive trust versus mistrust is established.

This theory of attachment was developed further by Mary Ainsworth in the 1970’s in her study “Strange Situations” based on observing children aged twelve to eighteen months, she described three types of attachment that she discovered during her studies these were; secure, ambivalent and avoidant attachment. Secure attachment is seen as the most preferred and beneficial to a child’s positive development; the care given by the primary caregiver would be attentive and provide a solid base for the child to progress emotionally, socially and intellectually. Ambivalent attachment tends to occur when the primary carer is unreliable and unstable this would be classed as emotional neglect which may leave the child unsure of their place within the family which may result in the child displaying distressing or anxious behaviour. Children who are victims of this type of behaviour may be very attention seeking in order to gain the focus of those around them that they do not get at home. A child however that is a victim of avoidant attachment would perhaps be less likely to show their true feelings or talk about them as they are afraid of those they are close to leaving them. The child’s lack of emotional response would possibly be because the primary caregiver in these cases will perhaps show more care and attention when the child is content however if the child shows visible signs of distress or need they will pull away from them. In some cases children exposed to avoidant care givers may take drugs or alcohol to cope with their fear of rejection from others.

This attachment theory was even further developed by Main and Solomon in the 1980s they outlined a further type of attachment called disorganised attachment or insecure attachment, a child’s primary caregiver in this stage is confusing to the child. Children who are subject to these varying behaviours tend to fear the loss of that attention even though they are given the attention they require.

A child who has been unable to have a secure attachment, for example through abuse, fostering or adoption, is more likely to have problems in future with their relationships with others or suffer emotionally.

Attachment theory has been used in social work to work with children and families and has more recently become part of mental health practice. It is important to acknowledge in social work how a person’s past in terms of the family unit they were brought up in and the level of care they received can affect them in the present; also how the individuals past experiences can affect their own children. However it is also important for social workers to look other theories as well to help inform their practice and not focus on a singular theory. This theory is also a past orientated theory as it looks at how the past effects the present.

In relation to the O’Donnell family Kate would appear to have been a victim of avoidant attachment due to being left by her mother and taken into care at an early age. Because of her past she may be fearful of her children rejecting her as her self esteem would have been affected due to being in and out of care homes. This difficulty in attaining meaningful attachments may also have contributed to her being a lone parent and Kate is repeating history with her own children as they are developing a meaningful attachment with her friend Frances. It is also significantly appropriate to examine how this is affecting Kate’s children and how this may manifest later if intervention is not made by social workers to bring a closer bond to the primary carer.

A further mid range theory that was touched upon in a previous passage was established by a psychosocial psychologist by the name of Erik Erikson. Erikson’s theory was loosely based around Freud’s past works however it was developed into what is called Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man. According to Erikson at certain ages throughout a person’s life they will go down one of two developmental paths, however it is necessary for those using this theory that it is not simply one path or the other. Erikson acknowledged the fact that although a person should go down the The eight stages are Trust versus Mistrust, Autonomy versus Shame, Doubt, Initiative versus Guilt, Industry versus Inferiority, Identity versus Identity Confusion, Intimacy versus Isolation, Generativity versus Self-Absorption, and finally the last stage Integrity versus Despair. The first stage takes place in infancy this is when a child is most vulnerable as they rely entirely on their care givers; if the child comes to know that they can rely on their primary caregiver as the care giver is continuously there for them then they will develop to trust more than a child whom is ignored or has unreliable caregivers and develops mistrust. Each oof these stages has an impact on the next stage of development and therefore it is detrimental to producing a balanced human being that the child passes through with more positive experiences of emotional development than negative. In the second stage autonomy versus shame this takes place when a child is around the ages of one to four the third stage initiative versus guilt takes place between the ages of four and six, if a child has in stage four the child between the ages of six to twelve industry versus inferiority

In stage five identity versus role confusion this takes place in adolescence generally between the ages of twelve and twenty; at this age an up and coming adult is most likely to be at the peak of peer pressure and will be discovering who they are both as a person and sexually. This can be a very hard time for individuals but with a good base they will be likely to find who they are with easae however it is possible that they will become confused for example the loss of a father figure for a boy may result in that person being unable to undersand why the Erikson’s eight stages of man have been criticized due to the fact that it was based ona study of men, it can be seen as a rigid document and does not take into account individual factors. For example an individual whom has a severe learning disability and perhaps has been psychologically examined to be at a mental age of five will not suffer from the complexities of stage five although that may be their corresponding age with Erikson’s chart. Although this criticism should be kept in mind, Erikson’s stages of man can be a useful tool as a guideline for use in social work.

Although Erikson’s model may seem very black and white it is important to remember that during each stage of development in order to have a healthy perspective in life, it is important in each stage that the strongest is the positive from the scale, there must be some level of negative development; for example a little bit of mistrust is healthy as to trust naively would eventually result in a individual putting themselves in danger. Trust versus Mistrust takes place during infancy; the route in which the infant’s personality takes depends on the parent to provide those needs that the infant cannot satisfy itself. If the mother does not take care of her child through neglect the infant will not develop basic trust and will take a negative step on the psychosocial scale. Autonomy versus Shame, Doubt takes place during early childhood, starting in a child’s second year of life, once again children are reliant on their parents to support them during this stage. This is when a toddler tries to become an individual. If the child’s vulnerability does not get the necessary support from the care givers then they will develop a sense of shame and doubt. Initiative versus Guilt takes place also during childhood normally developing during the ages of four and five; this is where a child tries to establish their own boundaries as they try to establish their identity

In stage four, Industry versus Inferiority, taking place up until puberty, this is when a child tries to be recognized for their achievements, for example at school for doing a project, however if they do not get this desired recognition and feeling of achievement then it can result on them developing a feeling of inferiority, inadequacy. Parents still play an important role in this stage however as it takes place primarily at school, teachers are important. Stage five, identity versus identity confusion takes place during adolescence this is when the individual try to find a sense of themselves, this Stage six, intimacy versus isolation is the first stage to take place during adulthood, intimacy with other human beings can only happen when identity is established. The intimacy can be with a friend or a lover it involves merging personalities with others. It is important for an individual to have this intimacy otherwise it can result in them being alone and withdrawn. Stage seven, Generativity versus stagnation, this is the second stage an individual goes through in adulthood, people who are generative are productive, tolerant and able to care for others and themselves equally. It is not always expressed through parenthood sometimes it can be through being a teacher. Those who are unable to develop in this stage result in a feeling of being stuck as they are unable to care for other people properly. The eighth stage is integrity versus despair, this takes place during old age, an individual in this stage establishes integrity being satisfied with their life and believing it was important and had a purpose. The person who reflects on life positively, according to Erikson, have an acceptance of death. However, a person who reflects on their life, feeling full of regret of their past it is also shown through a report to researchers that those who were more feeble through their body’s degeneration felt as though they had little control (Geppert & Halisch, 2001) and therefore despair would occur as they were not as willing to accept death. (Cloninger, 2008).

Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development was based on clinical evidence there has been further research into this work specifically in the adolescent stage of identity versus identity confusion. This research was accomplished by James Marcia whom