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My setting is a small rural Church of England Voluntary Controlled primary school with approximately 75 children and approximately 12 teaching staff including the head and teaching assistants. The staff work, on a part and full time basis. There are 3 mixed ability and mixed age classes. Class 1 consists of reception, year 1 and half of year 2 children. It is interesting to note that the half of year 2 children are all boys. Class 2 is the other half of year 2, year 3 and half of year 4, again mainly boys. Class 3 consists of the rest of year 4, 5 and 6. This is an old village school with modern additions. There are two separate play areas including hard surface and grass areas and play equipment.

In 2009 education league tables my setting was in the top third. The setting performed below national average in 2008 for year 6 Standard Attainment Tests (SATS) however in 2009 we were slightly above the national average. In 2009 30.8% of year 6 children were identified as having special needs, from a class of 13. (bbc.co.uk. Accessed 22 Id April 2010) In the last OFSTED report 2007 the setting achieved an overall score of 2- Good. The major feeder for the setting is the local pre-school.

I view my own role in the setting is to enable and support each child. It is of key importance that I, as it is for all practitioners to I view my own role in the setting is to enable and support each child. It is key importance that I, as it is for all practitioners to identify any need of a child be it physical or emotional or in way affects the holistic well being of the child.

“All early years’ staff are committed to putting children first: ‘the welfare of the child is paramount’ (Children Act 1989).” (Hobart and Frankel 2003:123)

All barriers to a child’s growth and life chances must be addressed. If a child has a need that may not be fully met by the practitioners alone within the setting the lead practitioner must be informed to alert and call in the team of outside agencies to meet with the parents and practitioners in the setting to provide the best service to ‘ meet the needs of that child. This is in line with the Governments vision of integrated front-line delivery of services to improve future outcomes of children and their families.

(It is crucial for practitioners to act as facilitators. To meet the needs of a child the role of a practitioner is to first identify the need and if necessary share the information with other specialists and other outside agencies to aid the process of better outcomes for that child. Individual Learning Plans and Common Assessment Forms are useful tools for collaborative working. Communication is the key to executing strategies and building positive working relationships. It is a vital role of my practice to develop and maintain relations to the other organisations. Relationships develop and change over time. It is through critical reflection and analysis that practitioners can think and improve their practice.

There are many different ways that the Setting communicates with the different groups. There are different levels of formality and speed required. For example in a child safeguarding situation, urgent action may need to be taken. Action could be initiated by a means of a telephone call followed by written statements. Other forms of communication include minuted meetings, for example parents and a Local Educational Authority and Practitioner meet to discuss an Action Plan for an individual child. Written reports form the core of an Individual Learning Plan for a child with additional needs. Other reports include OFSTED Action Plans agreed with the Head Practitioner and the Governors.

For example member A of the Behavioural Support Team called a meeting with the Head Practitioner and the two named Practitioner supporting a child with challenging behaviour. The reason for the meeting was to discuss the effectiveness of the latest action plan that they had created for a child in class 1.

The Head Practitioner had received the plan of new strategies but had not shared the information with the other practitioners therefore the new methods of dealing with certain behaviour had not been implemented due to the lack of communication between members at the Setting.

On reflection of this critical incident, I wonder why the child’s parents were had not invited to the meeting to share their views on how best to support their child in the Setting. This is an example of top-down management. In my role as an Early Years Works I need full access to the information necessary for individually supporting each child otherwise Every Child Matters will not work.

The power is most definitely with the specialist to instruct the setting to carry out a plan of action with different support mechanisms. This is as a direct result for government inclusion policy, but the practitioner cannot implement the plan if the setting does not have an open or transparent communication policy. It is probably a weakness in management skills and a lack of democratic leadership skills that the lead practitioner does not share information. Alternatively this could be as a result of an overloading of responsibilities on one Head Practitioner. Thirdly the Head Practitioner may not trust the confidentiality of the staff.

In his book, The Reflective Practitioner, Donald Schon talks about the benefits of reflection. (infed.org Last Accessed 16th April 2010) This allows practitioners to explore the interactive processes which have impact on practice and outcomes of children, their families and their community. Through reflection practitioners may gauge the effectiveness of action taken at the Setting. Through reflection practitioners may focus and think about their own values and beliefs.

Reflection is an important tool to evaluate and improve one’s practice. The process allows a deeper understanding of the impact of practice on a child’s development. Knowledge gained from the whole procedure should shape practice and the sharing of information and experiences with other practitioner will raise issues for discussion which will ultimately benefit both practitioners and children. This method should lead to improved practice and greater understanding of issues in the setting.

I have critically reflected on improving the communication links between the practitioner and behavioral unit. One way round this, could be for the behavioural team to feel sufficiently confident to send the information directly to the Early Years Practitioner who is working directly with the child. There may be an issue of power or positioning. Possibly the behavioral team perceive themselves as professional elite and recognise the Head Practitioner as equal in professional status

Another member of the behavioural support team, older, wiser and more experienced, took a different approach regarding the same child.

Met with behavioural support worker B regarding child possibly on the Autistic Spectrum. He asked for feedback on the child’s behaviour and well being. He specifically asked if the child was ‘happy’ and engaging with the other children. He asked my opinion on what I thought would be the best strategy in supporting learning as he said “you have built up a relationship with the child” and he understood that I worked closely with the child on a day to day basis. (Reflective Journal November 2009)

On reflection the practitioners including myself, would have been in a better position to comment if more information had been made available to me, in preparation to the meeting. I would like to have been fully informed and kept up to date with the latest information as I was one of the named persons for that child. This made the meeting a waste of time as I was unable to comment on how the child had responded to the new board and methods as I had not created the new teaching resources. The Head Practitioner had received the previous report and recommendation from the behavioural unit but this information was not shared with any of the other practitioners. Consequently no action had been taken by the practitioners supporting the child. (Reflective Journal October 2009)

My ability to reflect on failures and successes in the use of different communication styles between professionals will enable me to ask for information in order to do my job. So reflection is an important process which aids professional development and practice. The aim is to include and enable all children using specific plans for inclusion. A practitioner professional duty is to use critical thinking and critical action as a tool to improve life chances and promote a healthy quality of life for individual children. This will bring the government policy of Every Child Matters into reality within my Setting.

“The Government recognises the crucial role of parents, carers and families in improving outcomes for children and young people and the need to provide support for parents, carers and families in order for them to do so. The Government also recognises the important role of the local community.” (Last Accessed 30-04-10 at bbc. co. uk)

Through ‘joined up working’ and positive partnerships, the needs and holistic wellbeing of every child should be met to realise the Governments vision of Every Child Matters.

The issues involving power and position of practitioner are complex. The flow of power has a direct effect on how a child and their family are supported. Power itself is a very tricky idea. Finding out where the power is involves at least two manoeuvres. First, we ask ourselves: who is in a position to influence or control the lives of whom? Secondly, we ask ourselves: in whose interests is this influence or control exerted?” (Walmsley et al 1997:131-132)

The question of power and status has a direct effect on relationships. Those who are at a similar level of position may be more inclined to share information, than with a person that they perceive to have a lower social status. Unequal power in relationships and partnerships may have an immense impact on the processes needed for joined up working and could directly affect the outcome for children.

It is important to understand the relationship between personal and social construction. The flow of power is a two-directional process. Each person’s actions are influenced by their values and beliefs. These actions effect children, families and the wider community. Their values and beliefs are affected by the community in which they live, so these values are shaped by social structure. Our social identity may change depending on experiences, relationships and social interactions. (Wabsley 1997:235-237)

Different practitioners have different views on their role. Beliefs of others may differ from the beliefs of self. For example other peer practitioners do not believe that it is also their responsibility to support and interact heavily with parents and family. They are happy to deal with other education professionals but they see parents as an obstacle to their work. There are also parents who do not wish to engage with practitioner. There are numerous reasons as to why parents and carers may not work effectively with the Setting. The barriers may be physical or concerning difficulties in communication. (Hobert and Frankel 2003:136) For example a lack of time for developing relationships or if they have the opinion that the practitioners are interfering or making judgements on the way they live; or had a poor educational experience and may feel intimidated by the educational environment. They may also not understand the value of engaging with the Setting.

The Government policy aims to bring about change with emphasis on empowerment and community development. This needs good partnerships between families, practitioners and the groups in the wider community.

This is not possible if all the practitioners do not share the same vision or if parents do not want to participate in partnerships with the Setting. Some parents are hard to reach and it can be problematic in deciding the best course of action. A practitioner needs to attempt to engage with parents whilst maintaining a professional distance. Parents and family are crucial members of ‘the team around the child’.

For all of a child’s needs to be met all groups that can provide a service to benefit the child must participate and work together towards a common goal.

13?Values are therefore linked to wider ideas which are woven into the social fabric and are often mixed and contradictory. We therefore need to expose and examine our own assumptions as professional workers.” (Lea 2010 Including and Enabling professional practice and inclusion notes)

The Government provide the Schools, National Health Service, Police and other agencies to support the family. The Government also conduct research to develop social policies to regulate and shape children’s lives to ultimately improve each child’s social outcome. Policies and frameworks for example, the Early Years Foundation stage and Every Child Matters are designed to guide Setting, Social Workers and other Health Professional to give every child a fairer chance in life.

Communication is an important step to try to improve the chances and opportunities of all children. If a setting fails to communicate effectively with an agency there have been extreme consequences for the child and family.

“Three children a week are dying of abuse or neglect at the hands of parents or guardians,…. including some already on the child protection register.” Last Accessed 2nd May 2010 at dailymail.co.uk

There may be an impact on the child due to domestic violence. Practitioners need to be vigilant and in tune with the child’s usual behaviour to notice differences in the attitude, health and well being of the child.

15 The Setting is the core of the diagram. Setting practitioners spend the most time with children and families and in a position to have the closest relationships.

The next group have less time in contact with the child, but have regular input for the support of the children in the setting. They are a part of the local community as well as the setting.

The third including OFSTED and LEA professionals are called in by the school specialists may have intensive time with a limited number of children on a 1:1 basis.

The fourth include Emergency services and the wider community groups. The motivation for community contact is to be ‘proud’ and social cohesion.

Finally the Government has overarching policies and how they resource and affect children families and the Setting.

The long-term outcomes may include children engaged with their community and this may lead to a sense of belonging and an increase in health, positive behaviour and well being. inter-professional and inter-agency working has a huge positive impact on the welfare of children. Government funding, resources and how practitioners support children impact on their self-esteem, progression and multiple issues concerning their life chances. It is the practitioner’s responsibility to ensure that the resources always get through to the individual child

Early Year practitioners are agents of change. They have the responsibility to ensure high quality early year provision. Their duty to meet the Early Year Foundation Stage involves the aim to constantly improve practice and work in partnership with parents and the wider community.

The building of supportive relationships with children requires listening effectively to their voice and all the voices of other groups and organisations that interact with the Setting and can influence the child’s life chances ‘Through reflection in action and reflection on action’ a practitioner may use experiences to aid professional development and meet the expectations of the Government.

The EYFS process is designed to take down the barriers between professions. The ‘team around the child’ should have shared values and aims in terms of the outcome of the child and family and consequently the community bought together by the government initiative. The EYPS will allow a better understanding of how the different groups collaborate and this should improve every child’s life chances. (ECM para) This builds on the core aims of Every Child Matters which was designed to give a fairer chance to all children. Be Healthy, economic independence.

The long-term Government vision is to narrow the gap between the children who achieve and those who do not by providing services to children and their families which is focused on the following five outcomes.

aˆ? Being healthy

aˆ? Staying safe

aˆ? Enjoying and achieving

aˆ? Making a positive contribution

aˆ? Economic well-being (Pugh and Duffy 2006:10)

The children from certain groups such as looked after children, traveller children, children with disability and the Gifted and Talented are often considered to be vulnerable to not having all their needs met. The development of Children’s services aims to integrate health, social and educational teams. For true integration to a team and take collective responsibility of the child.

The sharing of information is often crucial to position resources to best meet the needs of children. This encourages the development of good quality partnerships should lead to improved services for the child and their family.

This is politically driven, and if the government changed will there be the priority on the funding and focus of EYFS and ECM.

Political opinions “It is the government’s aim to have EYPs in all Children’s Centres offering early years provision by 2010 and in every full day care setting by 2015.” (Children’s Workforce Development Council Introduction and information guide:5)

The Labour government has focussed on child poverty using many initiatives. These include Family Tax Credits and Sure Start provision. These are part of a concerted programme created because it was identified that your start in the early years is directly related to your life chances. It has been recognised that the quality of parental skills is of importance. Research suggests that the level of education of practitioners has a direct effect on the outcome of the children in their care.

This is why the Government is up skilling the Early Years Workforce and promoting good parenting skills. There is research evidence of the benefits of good attachment for a child’s whole development.

The process of critical self reflection allows for the improvement of my own performance and the performance of my Setting. Every team member needs to jointly reflect on the ways that we can improve out communication and management of our links with the multiple agencies and the wider community. As a team this should be a part of our continual professional development.

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Based on the information provided, what needs, risks and strengths can you identify in relation to the individual or family in the case study? How would you plan the assessment, including consideration of theneed for a multi disciplinary approach?

Case study E:

James Downing is 16 years old, white andlives at home with his mother, Sarah, her same sexpartner, Teresa, and his younger sister Joanne, who is 13 years. Jameshas no contact with his birth father, who left Sarah when she was pregnant withJoanne, but he does have a close relationship with his paternal grandparents,who live nearby. James has been in trouble with the police since he was 13years old, and has numerous convictions for care theft, possession of cannabisand ecstasy and for house burglaries.

Sarah has asked a social worker to visither, since she feels that she can no longer cope with the situation and feelsthat the whole family is in danger of `fallingapart’. Joanne is beginning to stay out at friends all the time and clearlydoes not want to be at home, where there are frequent arguments. Teresa worksin a very demanding job, involving a lot of travelling, and Sarah feels she isspending less and less time at home because of James’s behaviour.

Research published in Child Protection:Messages from Research (Department of Health, 1995 cited in Horwath, 2001)states that families often feel they lack control and autonomy when dealingwith social services departments. This becomes particularly problematic whenassessments focus on family weaknesses and disadvantages. Hence a holisticapproach utilising strengths and identifying need is required. This approachforms the crux of the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need andtheir Families.

Sarah has identified the family difficultiesand has requested support – this is encouraging, suggesting commitment to thewell being of the family, and to change. It is important to highlight thisstrength to the family and emphasise that together we will work to build uponthis. James has a close relationship with hispaternal grandparents, adding to the family resilience and acting as animportant resource during periods of difficultly. Hence grandparents should beengaged with the planning of the assessment.

The family’s economic status is not clear;however there is at least one family member in employment. Traditionally thisis interpreted as a familial resilience factor. Awareness of differingperspectives is essential – the nature of Teresa’s work and the effect of theemployment on the family as a whole is currently unknown and hence couldequally be viewed as a risk factor by the family.

James has established offending behaviourand has been involved with illegal drugs in some capacity. Family and professionals will generally view this as risky behaviour; however it must beconsidered that criminal activity could be viewed as a strength within somesocial groups, hence it is essential to ascertain all points of view, withoutprejudgement and then consider ways forward together.

There maybe risk linked to the lessening orloss of James’ attachment to Teresa as she is spending less and less time athome. Equally, there could be risk attached to the potential loss ofattachment between Joanne and James, as Joanne is stay(ing) out withfriends.and clearly does not want to be at home. The family is under a greatdeal of strain, and it seems Joanne and Teresa are coping with this by shiftingaway from the household. This gives some insight as to how the family functionsunder stress; this will need to be explored further with Sarah and Teresa to identify the processes that will ensure the family achieve theirdesired outcomes when faced with difficulties.

James has no contact with his father, raising concerns around paternal attachment and possible negative life events/experiences due to separation. The assessment will need to explore how James and his family view this separation; again each may hold conflictingviews and this must be sensitively addressed.

One must consider that the immediate family unit, the extended family and professionals may all have differing perceptions of families with same-sex caregivers; some view this as strength whereas others will see membership of a minority group as a risk. Family members themselves may negatively discriminate on the basis of sexuality. Prior awareness of the possibility of conflicting opinions will enable the worker to react thoughtfully and mediate effectively. The social worker should critically evaluate their own practice continuously, checking for assumptions, stereotyping and cultural bias.

Preparation for the assessment should begin with ensuring an appropriate social worker is allocated. The team manager should consider the field workers knowledge and understanding of the issues pertaining to this particular family (for example youth offending, discrimination/oppression based on sexuality/gender, attachment issues etc), as well as ensuring the worker is an appropriate match in terms of race and gender.

Once a suitable worker is allocated thecase, he/she will need to refer to all information gathered previously. This will prevent the family repeating sensitive information again, and will enable the social worker to identify gaps in information that need to be filled during the assessment.

Assessments and subsequent care plans are more effective if the child and family feel empowered and involved throughout the process (Department for Education and Skills, 2001). Indeed this is a duty of any professional working with children as outlined in Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child:

the child who is capable of forming his or her own views (has) the right to express those viewsfreely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being givendue weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child

The social worker must engage with James and his family at the outset, establishing how and where theassessment will be carried out, exactly what help is requested and identifying desired outcomes.

As outlined in the Framework for theAssessment of Children in Need and their Families, the social worker andfamily should identify the relevant agencies to be involved in the assessment and ensure it is clear to all professionals and the family the precise role andpurpose of each professional. Advice and information will be sought by identifying all key informants, recording their details and organising aschedule to collect information from these people or organisations. The following would be a minimum essential list of informants:

FamilyGP and other relevant health professionals

Youth Offending Team
James’school/college
Paternal grandparents
Joanne’s school

Prior to any interviews taking place, a list of essential questions should be drawn up to give structure and purpose to the meetings. Following these initial discussions, further interviews may beneeded with Connexions, local police, wider family, or other community groups, in order to build a comprehensive picture of the family.

In planning any assessment, there should be a clear statement of intent, outlining the purpose, limitations and timescales of the assessment. This must be shared with the child and their family. For all assessments this will include the main principles of the Children Act 1989. The particular focus for this assessment should only be decided upon after further consultation with the James and his family.

In what ways does the information provided in the case study raiseissues of power, disadvantage and oppression? You are asked to carry out an assessment of need? How would you attempt to work in an anti-oppressive way?

Case study C:

Razia Akhtar is a 26-year-old single woman, of South Asian Muslim origin, (although born is Britain) who is currently in hospital, following a rapid deterioration in her physical health. She has now been given a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. Razia lives alone in a small terraced house, and is very keen to return home as soon as possible. Her older brother and his wife, Mohammed Khan and Shanaz Begum, who live on the next street, have suggested that she moves in with them, but she is very reluctant to do so. The hospital staff feel that Razia is being very unrealistic about her future, and that she needs to come to terms with the fact that she willbe dependent on others for the rest of her life. Her present condition is such that she will need quite a high level of personal assistance, with someone to get her up in the morning and help her to bed at night.

The hospital based social worker is asked to carry out an assessment to determine Razia’ needs once she is discharged from hospital.

Power describes the capacity to influence or control people, events, processes or resources (Thompson,2003, pg 152). If utilized in a negative fashion, power can be a significant barrier to equality and lead to oppression and disadvantage. Imbalances of power can manifest in a variety of social work situations; in this case study there are potentially a multitude of disparities of power, which require critically reflective practice to ensure equality and empowerment are promoted.

When debating issues of oppression and disadvantage, we must consider the process leading to it – negative discrimination. Negative discrimination is defined by the identification of negative attributes with regard to a person or group of people (Thompson 2003). Generally negative discrimination relates to social and biological constructs and can be based upon sexual orientation, gender, class, race, disability, age and so on. Negative discrimination creates the circumstances that give rise to oppression, which is defined by Thompson (2001) as:

inhuman or degrading treatment of individuals or groups; hardship and injustice brought about by one group or another; the negative and demeaning exercise of power (pg 34)

In relation to Miss Akhtar, we should consider the power that is implied through hospital staff having superior medical knowledge, skills and expertise in relation to Miss Akhtar. From the case notes provided, it appears that current thought relating to Miss Akhtar’s long-term care is based upon the medical model; the impairment is seen as the problem and her dependence is emphasized (Adams et al, 2002). Thompson(2001) says social work should take a demedicalised stance and look past thepathology, utilizing the social model of disability as described by Adams et al (2002). The social model suggests Miss Akhtar’s needs should be considered in a much wider context, ensuring her social and mental health are given equal consideration to her medical needs. Viewing societal constraints as the problem and not the individual creates the frame of mind to consider how to remove barriers to mainstream social, political and economic life. The social worker should liaise with Miss Akhtar and look towards an solution-focused (not impairment-focused) care plan where by within the assessment, barriers are identified and solutions sought collaboratively, utilizing Miss Akhtar’s strengths.

Miss Akhtar has an autoimmune degenerative disease and again, it is well documented that individuals with physical disabilities are more likely to be subjected to oppressive practices. Dehumanizing and medicalised language can result in a loss of esteem and a sense of disempowerment for the physically impaired service user. This can be prevented by avoiding jargon and providing lots of opportunities for questions and open discussion when working through the assessment with Miss Akhtar. Professionals should continually check themselves for use of infantilizing language andensure they engage in mature, adult discourse with Miss Akhtar.

Miss Akhtar’s religious and cultural needs should be explored and understood as central part of the assessment. These needs must be identified as quickly as possible, to ensure the worker can besensitive to Miss Akhtar’s Islamic or other customs, without making cultural assumptions. Karmi (1996) examines the Islamic emphasis on modesty; hence the worker should consider with Miss Akhtar the extent to which her modesty should be preserved throughout the assessment. It should be explored if Miss Akhtar would prefer female medical staff and social care professionals only to be involved in the assessment and clear guidelines should be established around preservation of modesty and the practice of physical examinations.

It is accepted in many Muslim communities that the most senior male of the family will take responsibility for a female relative’s care. Hence it is possible there may be an imbalance of power between Miss Akhtar and Mr. Begum, dependent on their personal beliefs and how far these correlate with each other’s religious and cultural ideals. If there is a difference in these ideals, the social worker should strive to empower Miss Akhtar by discussing choices and involving a culturally matched advocate if Miss Akhtar desires, in order to mediate within the family. This must be managed sensitively, as Miss Akhtar, Mr. Begum and the social worker may all hold very different views regarding patriarchal hierarchies. The diversity of these views should be acknowledged and respected within the assessment. It is important to be aware of ethnocentrism, as described by Thompson (2003), whereby situations are viewed from the norms of a majority culture and those values projected onto the minority. This can be countered by critically reflective practice, which will promote consciousness of power and oppression, leading to a decreased likelihood of the worker making inaccurate ideological inferences.

Discrimination and oppression can arise through an imbalance in the distribution of financial or other material resources. This is a concern in this case study as Miss Akhtar’s economic status prior to her illness is not clear. Miss Akhtar may experience barriers in accessing the same level of financial resources as previously. Hence the social worker and potentially Mr. Begum could be in positions of power as they are likely to have control over the allocation of resources. This should be countered by being very open with Miss Akhtar and avoiding closed decision-making and mystery. Again, this promotes equality as it avoids welfarism, whereby it is assumed the Miss Akhtar requires welfare services dueto her disability (Thompson, 2003).

Due thought must be given to use of language and culturally biased humour throughout the assessment. Miss Akhtaris an ethnic minority in the UK; as such Thompson (2003) states discriminationcan occur at personal and cultural levels. It is the role of the social workerto critically reflect on their personal prejudices, which could lead to discriminatory stereotyping. Personal discrimination is enveloped by inequity at a cultural level, whereby ethnic minorities, and hence Miss Akhtar, maybe subjected to a general felling of not belonging and polarization, by the use of culturally-specific language and humour.

A central theme throughout these case studies is the need to put the service user at the heart of all planning, decision-making and reviews. Care packages imposed upon users will be ineffective; users must be enabled to help themselves, whilst the social workertakes every opportunity to stand in the users shoes and see life from thetheir perspective.

References

Adams, Robert et al (eds) 2002 CriticalPractice in Social Work. Basingstoke, Palgrave.

Great Britain (1989) Children Act 1989(C41). London, Stationery Office

Department for Education and Skills (2001) Learningto Listen: Core principles for involvement of Children and Young People. Availablefrom: www.dfee.gov.uk/cypu

Department of Health (2000) Frameworkfor the assessment of children in need and their families London, TheStationary Office.

Horwath, Jan (eds) 2001 The Child’sWorld: Assessing Children in Need. London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Karmi, Ghada (1996) The EthicalHandbook: A Factfile for Health Care Professionals. Oxford, BlackwellScience LTD

Thompson, Neil (2001) Anti-discriminatoryPractice 3^rd Ed. Basingstoke, Palgrave.

Thompson, Neil (2003) PromotingEquality: Challenging Discrimination and Oppression 2^nd Ed. NewYork, Palgrave

United Nations (1991) United NationsConvention on the Rights of the Child (online). Available from:http://www.unicef.org/crc/fulltext.htm

There is a wealth of governmental documentation and policy reforms upholding the notion of agencies working in partnership to support vulnerable children. Previously to these reforms there had been a history of fragmentation between agencies and the therefore a inherent failure to share information resulting in catastrophic gaps in the support of vulnerable children. This was emphasised by Lord Laming (2002), and then the subsequent investigations and publication of the Climbie report (2003) post the preventable death of Victoria Climbie. The perceived importance of early identification and intervention as demonstrated in Every Child Matters. (2003, p3), DoH/DfES. (2004) ‘We have to do more both to protect children and ensure each child fulfils their potential’ and the need for ‘more co-located, multi-agency service in providing personalised support’.

The Children’s Act. (2004) was the culmination of the Green Paper DfES. (2003) Every Child Matters:Change for Children Agenda, which dictated that every local authority has power to administer grouped budgets and implement a Children’s Trust in order to pull together services to meet the specific needs of an individual child. Wilson, V. & Pirrie, A. (2000) states that although partnership working is upheld as extremely beneficial for all children, those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have formed the focus of much of the educational multi-agency activity. The aims of coordinating these services through a shared working practice across the health and education arena whilst providing a therefore seamless service of support and a one-stop shop for all provisions, supported with the collaboration of Multi-agency working, are strongly emphasised within a plethora of governmental literature DfES. (2003/2004). Joint working is therefore unequivocally viewed as the means of providing a more cohesive and therefore effective integrated approach to addressing the needs of the child and family, and in doing so, overcoming many additional stresses that are imposed on families through fragmented support and services and therefore giving the child the best possible start in life DoH. (2006). Although no one argues against the benefits of integrated services Stiff. (2007), and there is clear decisive backing and direction for local restructuring and reorganisation to shape services to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children more effectively, the detail surrounding the configuration and delivery of local services has not been prescribed Rutter, M. (2006). There is minimal research-based evidence regarding the efficiency of multi-agency practice or suggesting which activity carried out by those agencies is most useful, with no absolute model of the many factors influencing its success Salmon, G. (2004). However, the Government has demonstrated a substantial commitment to local authorities developing multi-agency partnerships, providing considerable flexibility for those local authorities and communities to develop their own multi-agency activities, tailored to meet specific needs of their individual areas. However it has often proved difficult to establish the exact impact of multi-agency working, mainly because of the difficulty of isolating why and how a particular outcome has been achieved. This is changing as major programmes are evaluated, Atkinson et al, (2002) states that other commonly identified outcomes of multi-agency work are an increase in access to services not previously available and therefore a wider range of services, easier or quicker access to services or expertise, improved educational attainment and better engagement in education by pupils, early identification and intervention, better support for parents, children’s needs addressed more appropriately, better quality services, a reduced need for more specialist services and benefits for staff within those services.

Introduction to the SEN Team (SENCo)

There are many teams working within the umbrella of education and child services, one particular team is that of the Special Educational Needs team, this case study will focus on the role of the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). The role of the SENCo has been formally established Cowne, E (2003) since the 1994 code of practice DFE (1994) when all schools in England and Wales were required to have a designated teacher in the role of special educational needs coordinator (SENCo). But many schools had SENCo’s before that date, as the role had been developing since the mid 1980’s when training of SENCo’s had begun in most LEAs. The 1994 code of practice DFE (1994) detailed the tasks that should be covered in the role of the SENCo. These tasks included liaising with external agencies including the educational psychology service and other support agencies, medical and social services and voluntary bodies DFE (1994, para 2.14). A revised code of practice Dfes (2001) added the responsibility of managing the SEN team of teachers and learning support assistants within the educational establishment where recently publications.parliament.uk (2006) it’s significance was re-affirmed. ‘SENCo’s play a key role in building schools’ capacity and skills in meeting children’s SEN because of their crucial role in advising other members of staff on SEN matters, linking with parents and working within the multi-agency arena.’ There is substantial literature related to SENCo’s authored by researchers, academics and practitioners, in particular, the nature, remit and working conditions of SENCo’s have been the subject of considerable interest. At school-level, the expectations on, activities of and working condition of SENCo’s remain highly variable.

Barriers – how are they overcome (Theory and practice)

The achievement of effective multi-agency working within the SEN arena has proved more difficult to achieve than was initially anticipated. In order to create a climate of change where SEN professionals and agencies can work effectively together it is needed that the participants understand what the barriers to change are. Some of the barriers to achieving more effective multi-agency working within the SEN environment that have been identified by DFes (2007) are professionalism; conflicting priorities of different agencies; dealing with risk and the need to change the culture of organisations. Working in collaboration with other professionals and agencies involves SEN and multi-agency workers moving out of their comfort zone and taking risks. Anning, A. (2001, p.8) highlights, ‘However, little attention has been given to two significant aspects of the operationalisation of integrated services. The first is the challenge for SEN workers of creating new professional identities in the ever changing communities of practice (who I am). The second is for workers to openly communicate and share their personal and professional knowledge in order to create a new version of knowledge (what I know) for a new multi-agency way of working.’ Lownsbrough, H. and O’Leary, D. (2005) states that ‘Despite the genuine support of Every Child Matters, all SEN professionals are faced with the constant challenge of not reverting back to their comfort zone of their organisational boundaries, their professional authority and life inside these traditional boundaries can be far less complex and threatening, and after years of working in a particular fashion they are not easily forgotten. Although no one argues against the benefits of integrated services of multi-agency working Stiff, R. (2007), and there is clear strategic backing and direction for local restructuring and reorganisation to configure SEN services to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children more effectively. There is still little research-based evidence regarding the efficiency of multi-agency strategies or suggesting which activity is most useful, with no comprehensive model of the issues influencing its success Salmon, G. (2004). However, Government has demonstrated substantial commitment to local authorities developing multi-agency partnerships of which SEN is part of, and also providing considerable flexibility for local authorities and communities to develop their own multi-agency activities, tailored to meet their own local needs.”Joined-up” working has deep implications for the professionals working within the SEN teams, and for the agencies that commission their services. In multi-agency team work, professional knowledge boundaries could have a tendency to become blurred, professional identity can become challenged as roles, and responsibilities change. Some SEN team members may struggle to cope with the fragmentation of one version of their professional identity before a new version can be built. Moreover, the rapid pace of SEN reform leaves little time for adjustment as SEN teams move (often within tight time scales) from strategic planning to operational implementation, with little time for joint training Birchall, E. & Hallett, C. (1995).

However, it could also be said Freeman, M, Miller & Ross, (2002); Harker, Dobel-Ober, Berridge & Sinclair, (2004) that SEN team members are more likely to deliver on their objectives with sufficient planning and support from partnering agencies that established the teams in the first place which inturn leads on to empower inter-professional collaboration which include not only enhancing coordination structurally, but also establishing a culture of ”commitment” at a strategic and operational plane to overcome professionally differentiated attitudes.

4. The Way Forward

It has been said Bowlby, J. (1988) that children need a secure base from which to explore the world. SEN practitioners also need a secure base in the knowledge that has been acquired though training and practice. Perhaps there is a need for an individual to value what they know and be confident about their knowledge. At the same time to be aware that their professionalism relies on constant updating of working practice and skills via work training and further education, and being aware that there is always something new to be learnt or shared. SEN Professionals now and in the future need to be able to draw on the professional skills that they have, but not to be dominated by them. If they are secure in what they know it could be said that this should enable them to have the confidence to challenge their own thinking and to be open to the different perspectives of other multi-agency professionals. Therefore it can be said that If SEN professionals are to challenge themselves and others through collaborative dialogue they would also need to be emotionally contained themselves Bion, W. (1962). This act requires good honest SENCo leadership and a culture where trusting relationships can be built. Harris, B. (2004) described trusting relationships as broadly taking place within three dimensions, based in conceptions of ’emotionality’. Effectively these dimensions add up to conditions in which staff first experience a sense of their own value within an organization, in which they feel comfortable about their own abilities and needs; second that through supportive relationships within the organization they reflect upon practice, in dialogue with colleagues, and thirdly they work together to create change and improvement in the setting, or organization, confident of support. Clearly, in order to build effective and trusting relationships SEN team members would need to understand themselves and to have the confidence to share more with others. This process of cultural change is essential if multi-agency working is going to be able to provide better services to children and their families alike.

‘… there appears to be a dearth of evidence to support the notion that multi-agency working in practice brings about actual benefits for children and families’ The local authority and government agencies have been working together for a long time and not entirely new practice. Jones and Leverett quote ‘However, the drive towards integrated working which includes the entire children’s workforce (that is, every individual who works, on an employed or voluntary basis, with children and their families across sectors such as health, education, early years and childcare, play work, social care, police, youth support and leisure services) under the ‘interagency’ umbrella is a more recent and ambitious innovation’ (Jones and Leverett, 2008 pg 123)

Multi-agency working can be analysed using three primary policy contexts. ‘First, the context of influence, where policy discourses are constructed and key policy concepts – for example, partnership or multi-agency working – are established. Second, the context of policy text production, or the documents that represent policy’ (Jones and Leverett, 2008 pg 125). ‘These are usually expressed in language which claims to be reasonable and for the ‘general public good’ (Bowe et al., 1992). They include texts such as the SEN Code of Practice (DfES, 2001) or the new Working Together to Safeguard Children guidelines (HM Government, 2010). ‘Such texts are then responded to within the context of practice, or what actually happens on the ground – for example, schools, childcare or health settings – as a result of a particular policy’. (Jones and Leverett, 2008 pg 125)

Jones (2000) added a sixth context, the ‘context of hidden values’. This means positive effect outcomes on policy; such as, legislation that promotes interagency cooperation in children’s services. They aim to protect children’s welfare and improve wellbeing. However, Jones suggests ‘that there may be a range of hidden meanings and outcomes. At a central level, policy can be cleverly constructed to disguise a particular set of intentions, values and beliefs. Intentionally or otherwise, policy may be a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ (Jones, 2000)

‘There is also evidence that practitioners construct their own meanings related to policy, whether these are intended or not. Commenting on the tendency of policy makers to centrally design forms, e-templates and assessment tools’. (Jones and Leverett, 2008 pg 126) Both, Garrett (2006) and Axford et al. (2006) ‘note how these are sometimes resisted by practitioners because they are perceived as exerting central control over hitherto fairly autonomous areas and suspected of being a cost-cutting device’ (Axford et al., 2006, p. 172). Consequently, policy could actually sustain or create circumstances that maintain or exacerbate problems. Rather than being a solution to the perceived problem, the interaction between policy and practice may cause a new set of problems. (Jones and Leverett, 2008 pg 126)

The key point is that policy is at three levels local, front line and central. At central level the ideas are made concrete and then articulated nationally and locally. At the time the policy enters the workforce such as schools, practitioners’ perceptions can consequently be affected. The question is:’ to what extent is the vision enshrined in central policy on multi-agency working likely to change as it travels on its journey from central government to individual practitioner?’ (Jones and Leverett, 2008 pg 126)

Governments have a tendency to construct their vision for policy as a statement of aims or intended outcomes. Sometimes the vision is embedded within a wider framework; for example, governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (Jones and Leverett, 2008 pg 126)

‘In England, children’s wellbeing was defined as the five mutually reinforcing outcomes originally presented in the Every Child Matters Green Paper’ (DfES, 2003, p. 6):

‘SHEEP’ is an acronym that stands for:

S – Stay safe

H – Healthy

E – Enjoy and achieve

E – Economic wellbeing

P – Positive contribution

The next steps is to translate these visions into learning which can be implemented into practice by people working in such sectors.

‘The five outcomes were integrated into the development of the common core skills and knowledge for the children’s workforce’ (DfES, 2005) consisting of:

‘Effective communication and engagement with children, young people and families

Child and young person development

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child

Supporting transitions

Multi-agency working

Sharing information’. (DfES, 2005)

Despite variations, the UK government agreed that all children will benefit from closer working between practitioners and agencies.

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is a key part of delivering frontline services that are integrated and focused around the needs of children and young people. The ‘CAF will promote more effective, earlier identification of additional needs, particularly in universal services. It is intended to provide a simple process for a holistic assessment of a child’s needs and strengths, taking account of the role of parents, carers and environmental factors on their development’ (ECM, 2008).

The CAF form is designed to record and, where appropriate, share with others, assessments, plans and recommendations for support. ‘Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places a statutory duty on key people and bodies to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children’. (HM Government, 2004)

The ECM states all agencies are required to have:

‘Senior management commitment to the importance of safeguarding and promoting children’s welfare

A clear statement of the agency’s responsibilities towards children, available for al staff

Safe recruitment procedures in place

Effective inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children

Effective information sharing’ (ECM, 2008)

‘The rationale for the CAF is to help practitioners develop a shared understanding of children, which avoids families repeating themselves to all other agencies. The CAF helps to develop a common understandings of what needs to be done and how. ‘Do not reassess when the information is already there’ (Parents in consultation about assessment, in Scottish Executive, 2005b, p. 23)

‘The argument is simple and on the surface persuasive, the impetus based on helping individual children. But the relationship between assessment procedures, their purpose and their outcomes is rarely straightforward’ (Jones, 2004). ‘Assessment is a lifelong process with social consequences and may be influenced by contextual factors and professional value positions. It is literally a point at which ‘certain children are judged to be different’ (Tomlinson, 1982, p. 82).

‘Some parents’ and children’s views of their services have highlighted their wanting ‘a coordinated service that is delivered through a single point of contact, a ‘key worker’, ‘named person’ or ‘link worker’ (Sloper, 2004, p. 572). Within the CAF, a similar role was produced, the lead professional (LP) who takes responsibility for coordinating the action identified as a result of the CAF process and will support the child and their family as necessary.

One of the daunting aspects of the CAF is the number of professionals that practitioners will engage with, such as health, education, social services and voluntary agencies. It can be also quite daunting in finding out who the support services are and their contact details. However, with the CAF process it can be away of overcoming tension previously encountered around multi agency working and sharing information.

‘Just as children and their families have a contribution to make to shape the services they receive through the various forms of partnership discussed in previous chapters, so they can contribute to the development of practice and practitioners. This can happen at many levels through evaluation, feedback, consultation and research, as well as direct involvement in training. Practitioners and the organisations they work for need to recognise that children and their families have specific knowledge that cannot be ‘learnt’ from anywhere else’. (Rixon, 2008) ‘Children are party to the subculture of childhood which gives them a unique ‘insider’ perspective that is critical to our understanding of children’s worlds’. (Kellett, 2005, p. 4)

‘Like many who regularly consult children and young people, we find that their views are always serious, concise, thoughtful and highly relevant – and cut through the pre-existing agendas and diplomatic avoidances that beset many consultations with ‘professional’ adults. We find that even very young children are more than able to analyse and give clear views on many issues within their experience’. (Morgan, 2005, pp. 181-182)

‘How is the success of more integrated ways of working to be judged? One element of evaluation might be to consider to what extent integrated teams or new initiatives or structures have overcome obstacles and enabled more positive ways of working’. (Stone and Rixon, 2008)

‘As we have discussed, government policy and the literature on children’s services all emphasise the importance of agencies working together and the value of partnership structures, yet: Despite such exhortations, there appears to be a dearth of evidence to support the notion that multi-agency working in practice brings about actual benefits for children and families. (Townsley et al., 2004, p. 6)

However, Michelle Warren quotes ‘According to Consultancy 4Children (Policy into practice, 4Children, 2009) ‘consistent evidence indicates that parents and children are best served if the support on offer is joined up and well coordinated’. It would be appropriate to recognise that although services may be provided in one setting, there is still a risk of services not being joined up, because of different agencies (and competing interests/perspectives) involved. (Warren, 2010)

However, Howell states ‘Previously we actually made it incredibly difficult by making children and parents and carers make their own way through the services all being assessed quite separately and getting very mixed messages. So multi-agency working is essential where a child needs it. We mustn’t get confused and think multi-agency working has got to be the only way of working. In some cases it’s actually the school that will make the difference and that’s the agency where the vast majority of children will achieve the best outcomes’. (Howell, 2008)

However, Townsley highlights the actual benefits for families and children. Howell states ‘There are tensions between agencies, some of them driven by the different starting point that different agencies have. So the nature of the targets that agencies are measured by are actually quite different. The health targets that health services are measured by are significantly different from the kind of targets that schools work to and particularly are quite distant from the outcomes of ‘Every Child Matters’. (Howell, 2008)

As with any Multi agency working, it is crucial to assess whether any new projects or initiatives have been set targets against criteria that can be measured. This is particularly a reflection for evidence based interventions which have been associated with issues, such as value for money. In relation to this, many have targets which have been set and inevitably raise questions whether it is the correct one to be assigned with a particular target. ‘Practitioners recognise that targets can enable clarity and equity, and focus attention on important areas of practice’ (Banks, 2004).

However, Townsley et al. (2004) states ‘review a number of studies that reveal little evidence of improved outcomes of multi-agency working across a range of services and settings. Their review also makes clear that the task of evaluation itself is a complex one. Inherent problems include: difficulties in generalising from individual case studies; diverse views of different stakeholders as to what counts as success; the length of time needed to evaluate change; and causality and attribution’. (Glendinning, 2002, cited in Townsley, 2004, p. 6)

Consequently, Howell states ‘Children’s participation and engagement is fundamental to the redesign of services – particularly with a multi-agency perspective. It’s part of the learning about what makes a difference – the whole issue around personalisation puts the client, the person receiving the services, as the co-designer of their solutions’. (Howell, 2008)

To conclude, ‘A formative approach to evaluation that encourages dialogue and ongoing improvements to both policy and practice would appear to offer a positive way forward. However, this is not without its challenges and there are still issues to be addressed, not least training and clarification of roles and responsibilities. It is up to individual practitioners to promote an inclusive approach to professional difference and to develop a range of different models enabling collaboration, respect, reciprocity, realism and risk-taking. (Leverett and Jones, 2008)

Summary of Findings

This study explore the different type of motivations of Self Determination Theory, and its three key needs (competence, relatedness, autonomy) towards the social networking game. Therefore, the research question “What motivates college students to play social networking game?” is explained according to the results of the study. It was found that although more people play the game to spend their leisure time, but the major needs for them is the competence as we can see from the data collected, competence has the highest overall mean value. According to Ryan and Deci (2002) humans thrive to experience mastery and to get a sense of confidence. It is also the search for optimal challenge that motivates people to maintain their performance and to improve their skills so that they could reach another higher level. The need for competence is satisfied if an individual feels masterful, efficient, and confident towards the thing that they are doing for example in playing the game. So from this study, we found that competence needs is the major reason that they engaged in the social networking game.

In this study, we found that both needs competence and autonomy are partially related with each other as need of competence is satisfied if an individual feel masterful, efficient, and confident towards the thing that they are doing and when he/she successfully reached the goal after overcoming many obstacles, the sense of competence will formed (Takatalo, 2010). This is similar to the characteristic of the needs of autonomy as it is also mean that having a feeling of control over a particular performance and the way they are performed.

In Section A which is aimed to test the competence level of the players, we found that most respondent think that they are only have least motivation if their rank in the game has been dropped. Which mean the rank in the game will not affect much of the engagement of the players in game. Not only that, we can see that rank is not a very important element that why players engage in the game as they not necessary will continue to play the game even if they successfully maintain in the high ranking in the leader board. However, most of the players are still feeling quite happy when they successfully achieve their favourite position on the leader board in social networking game. As according to Sweetser and Wyeth (2005), positive feeling towards the game and sense of competence could be form when the players are feeling in control in the game, and thus, players are feeling happy when they completed the task and reach their favourable rank. We can also see that most of the players are very enjoy in playing those social networking game. Social networking successfully provides the happiness for the players to engage in them. Although many college students will not be motivated to play the game when their ranking is dropped, but if once they reach their rank and successfully in high rank, they will feel more motivated to play.

In Autonomy, from the study we can also see that most of the players seldom search for information before they play social networking game. They are also seldom spend the time to search for all the information or guideline such as blog, cheats and many others in order to win the games. This shows that they are barely play the game for their own sake without searching for the information. Peers play an important in influencing the people to play a particular social networking game. This can be proved by the results as more respondent are influenced by the friends to engage in the game. However, people do not spend much of their time to play social networking game in a day as they do not like to engage in the game for very long hour. Not only that, they also seldom send the help request to friends to overcome the difficult task. They might think that they are able to challenge the tasks by themselves in order to get the feeling of control over a particular game and this, they will feel autonomous. As mentioned by Ryan and Deci (2002), Autonomy is also means that having a feeling of control over a particular performance and the way they are performed. In order for an individual to feel autonomous, an individual need to feel satisfied or accepted with the actions that they select to engage in. We can also see that from the statistic they are prefer the game that are more challenging in order to get the sense of autonomous. They do not like to play the game which is easy as it may lead to boredom.

The need for relatedness is the need to feel meaningfully connected to important others (Ryan &Deci, 2002). In our results, we can see that people are seldom interacting with their friends or gaming partner in social networking game. According to Rigby and Ryan (2011), an individual’s sense of relatedness will be diminished if he or she is feeling isolated or having the indifference by the others. In this case, the need of relatedness will be reduced as they do not often engaging with the other players. Besides, they also seldom play the game that related to their daily life as they think that it is not important element to decide whether they should play a particular game or not. Most of the respondents also do not learn certain life skill by playing those social networking game as they are only play the game for their own sake. By the way, they do feel that by playing the games, their friendship among each other will become closer. It means the social networking game provide a good platform for the people to stay closely to their relationship. Lastly, they will feel sense of accomplishment when their friend ask them do help in the game which able to make them happy.

Implications of Findings

Implications of findings on this Self-Determination Theory and practice are discussed in this section.

Implication of theory

This study aimed to test the validity of the construct in the Self-Determination Theory especially with the three key needs on social networking gaming. This theory might be functional for researcher to develop the motivational theory based on the results that have done in this study. The three elements in Self-Determination Theory (autonomy, competence, relatedness) provide different results to study different needs of college student on social networking gaming and thus, this theory provided a guideline for the researcher to further investigate. The three constructs in this theory might give the inspiration for the scholars to develop their new theory based on the constructs.

Implication of practice

Our results can provide a guideline for the social networking gaming developer to create the game that can really motivate or engage those college students to play in. Based on the statistics with the result of three different needs (competence, autonomy, relatedness) of Self Determination Theory, social networking developers are able to evaluate it and develop the game according to these so that they will produce an interesting game to the people. From this study, major need is competence as most of the people are motivated to play the game which is challenging so that they can challenge themselves to overcome the difficult tasks. So, future game developers are able to refer this direction to create the games which are good enough to motivate the people to engage in it.

Limitations of Study

In of progress of this research, a few limitations were found. The research method that we used is non-probability sampling method. Samples selected to participate in the research but the result of the research could not represent what other population’s thought. Snowball sample is one type of non-probability sampling method, we used snowball sample in this research as we distributed our questionnaire to our peers who are engaging with the social networking game and ask them to send the survey to their peers who are gamers too. In this case, the first person we distribute is important as he or she might influence others answer and influence the final result. This is because the first person has the strong impact on the sample. In the other words, snowball sampling might lead to bias in result and thus, it affects the overall statistics. Thus, this result could not be generalized.

Suggestion for future research

Our study is based on the sample of college student collected in our country. In order to generalize the results, a future research should be carry out and adjust the model with different samples such as segmented by age or geography. This is to see whether the different age groups like children or adult have the similar motivations in social networking game or not.

Motivation of college students on social networking game is an interesting topic to study as it is very broad for researchers to discuss. But this aspect of research was seldom done by the researchers because more of the researches are focusing on the impact that social networking game bring to the teenagers or college students. So, more future studies are needed to examine the relationship between the motivation and teenager’s behaviour in order to figure out more significant and specific results. Local researchers needed to put more effort in studying this aspect, this is because there are a few number of researches have done the study about this kind of topic in other countries, but as the cultural background are different among the cultures, it is important to do a cross-culture student of social networking games so that we can determine the difference among cultures.

Besides that, there are a lot more theories that are suitable to use to study the motivation of people in engaging the game. Researchers are able to use different theories to study about the topic so that we will see different result which might be fresh in this industry. Self-Determination Theory is a broad theory which contains a lot of sub theories. These sub theories are also very useful in determining the motivations of the people towards the game. Perhaps a future research study can be done by using all these theories to get a new result and see whether the relationship of the theories that used in the study are functional or interesting or not. The examples of the mini theories under Self Determination Theory are Cognitive Evaluation Theory, Organismic Integration Theory, Causality Orientations Theory, Basic Psychological Needs Theory and many others.

Motivational Interviewing in a Multicultural Setting

Lawrence, Massachusetts is a city rich in cultural diversity and heritage. The Latino population alone boasts seventy three percent and continues to grow (Brown et al, 2013). This brings unique challenges to the therapeutic setting that relate directly to Latino cultural values. There are also challenges that Latinos face that are correlated to substance use. Literature states that Latinos are more likely to binge drink and use drugs more heavily (Franklin & Markarian, 2005). Lawrence also has a very young Latino population, resulting in the highest proportion of the population being under five and eighteen years old in Massachusetts (Jaysane & Center, 2002). This is imperative to note in a city that reports a high level of substance use among youth. Of many of the challenges that Latino’s face with substance use, they are one-third less likely to enter residential treatment in the state of Massachusetts (Caroll et al, 2009). This illustrates a community that has a great need for substance use treatment, yet is currently having that need unmet. As a social work intern, I will have the opportunity to practice with Latino clients and families within my community through in home therapy services. Therefore is vital, as a social worker, to better know the Latino clientele within Lawrence and the distinct factors that might set them apart from other clients within therapeutic settings.

Latinos in Therapeutic Settings

Latinos represent a very diverse group each having a unique history of social, political, and economic factors that have caused their migration into the United States, or their families migration. This diversity continues to manifest across ethnicity, race, generations, language, but especially nationality. Many Latinos identify first and foremost by their country of origin and will often differentiate, “I am Puerto Rican” over the official “I am Latino”. However, though individuals hold this diversity ascribed to their subgroup, many Latinos share core cultural values that are based on mutual experiences such as migration history, access to education and employment, as well as socioeconomic status. Due to acculturation and other psychosocial stressors, language, and poverty, Latinos may be particularly vulnerable within treatment and treatment organizations (Caroll et al, 2009). These shared experiences can impact communication styles such as the willingness to disclose sensitive information which in turn impacts the clinical setting as traditional therapy models often assume direct disclosure from the client. This creates a dysfunctional environment in which Latino clients, ones that do not follow Westernized norms, risk finding therapy to be invasive and opposing with their core cultural values. Therefore it is vital for social workers to consider cultural differences within the clinical setting. Mental health services among foreign-born, monolingual Spanish-speaking Latinos remains low when compared with bilingual Latinos born in the United States (Anez et al, 2008). This is because mental health providers are challenged to develop cultural and Spanish friendly services that will effectively address the needs of a diverse Latino community.

Substance Use Factors

Substance use is a significant problem among Latinos, who represent the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. However, treatment-related disparities have been identified as being relevant to Latinos. Specific factors that have been identified as contributing to these disparities include the following: cultural and language barriers, poverty, stigma, the lack of bilingual and bicultural staff, and the lack of treatments that are receptive to Latinos’ needs (Anez et al, 2008). The necessity for trained professionals who have the ability and empathy work with the distinct needs of Latinos is great within the therapeutic process. These noted discrepancies are of great concern because it is well documented that Latinos “… have increased morbidity and mortality rates, high incidences of suicide, school dropout, alcohol use, illicit substance use, and HIV infection (Anez et al, 2008).” Regardless of an apparent need for mental health services very few members of the Latino community actually seek professional help. It appears that these services are not considered to be a primary source of support. In fact, fewer than one in eleven Latinos contact mental health specialists, and often seek services from a primary care provider first (Anez et al, 2008). This illustrates a client group that is currently at an unmet need for alcohol and drug use treatment. Latino clients might have a reason; clients frequently complain that they feel abused, intimidated, and harassed by non-minority personnel (Sue, 2006). Latinos as a group are largely marginalized within greater society; it does not help to do so within the therapeutic setting. Many social work theories originate from a monocultural standpoint, when social workers unconsciously inflict these standards without regard for other cultures, they may be engaging in cultural oppression (Sue, 2006). Social workers must enter the therapeutic setting aware of their own prejudices in order to learn and grow from them.

Latino Youth in Therapy

Lawrence reports a high level of substance use among youth. In 2002, a survey was conducted within the city which collected the responses of 2,206 high school students resulting in respondents revealing that the majority of substances used are alcohol (52.9 percent), inhalants (39 percent), cigarettes (25.2 percent), and marijuana(19.9 percent) ( Jaysane & Center, 2002). The reported substance use rates among Lawrence youth can increase the risk of dropping out of school for many, as the drop-out rate of high school within the city has been very high in current years. Rates as much as fifty percent of high school classes dropping out between their freshmen and senior years have been reported ( Jaysane & Center, 2002). There have been a number of factors attributed to the drug use of Latino youth. For example, the role of the family has been identified as being the most important component of addiction treatment for the client. It has been shown that parent’s attitudes, and the use of drugs, play a key role in the drug use behavior of twelve-seventeen year old Latino youth ( Franklin & Markarian, 2005). Adolescents in particular have a potential ambivalence when it comes to quitting substances. However Latino youth also share an additional cultural ambivalence attributed with the Latino identity.

Motivational Interviewing in a Multicultural Setting

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a client-centred counselling approach that uses certain techniques in order to produce motivation to change among ambivalent clients (Miller and Rollnick, 2013). Latinos can be considered ambivalent clients as a result of cultural and systemic factors that are experienced collectively as a group. Ambivalence in this sense can be defined as needing to make a change, but seeing little to no reason to do so (Miller and Rollnick, 2013). MI has been found to be highly effective in the treatment of substance use disorders. However, many Latino’s do not seek needed treatment for substance use. There have been a number of cultural values that have been reported to affect the therapeutic relationship to varying degrees; the three most prominent being personalismo (personal relationships), respeto (respect), and confianza (trust) (Anez et al, 2008). MI is a therapeutic model based upon respect and trust as it is a collaboration which honors the client’s experiences and individual perspectives. Latinos have also been reported to work towards engaging in pleasant conversational exchanges, and to avoid unpleasant ones, often trying to avoid conflict. MI permits the integration of these cultural values within the therapeutic setting, as it also avoids argumentation within the therapeutic relationship. This method differs from other more challenging styles that might advise a client about changes that need to be made, instead MI creates a more cooperative therapeutic setting where the Latino client’s internal motivation is drawn out and explored. This means that the counselor is not leading sessions or dictating the client in anyway. Instead the counselor’s role is to guide the client, listen to the client, and offer knowledge when needed. This method is ideal when working within the Latino community, especially when most therapeutic approaches have shown to cross with their core identity. Clients are experts on themselves; no professional can know them better than they know themselves (Miller and Rollnick, 2013). If the counselor has the ability to show the Latino client their support of the clients personal expertise, it can create a positive relationship and rapport within the therapeutic setting, and in turn creates a catalyst for change.

Motivational Enhancement Therapy

Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) has been proven to help individuals resolve ambivalence around engaging in treatment as well as stopping substance use. The approach persuades change quickly through motivational methods. Research found on MET methods suggests that its effects depend on the type of drug used by participants as well as on the goal of the intervention. For example, MET has been used successfully with people who are addicted to alcohol and who want to reduce their problem drinking (Caroll et al, 2009). Brief motivational interventions (BMIs) such as this have also been identified as being particularly effective methods when working with Latino adolescents who have substance use disorders, in fact, “Brief motivational interventions (BMIs) have been identified as particularly promising for use in efforts to reduce or eliminate adolescent [alcohol and other drug] use problems (Cordaro, 2012)”. The client-counselor relationship and the counselor’s ability to engage with the Latino adolescent, has also been found to be a key factor within the motivational therapeutic setting. First impressions count as the initial therapy session appears to be significantly correlated to the client’s dropout from the intervention (Cordaro, 2012). In summary, the ability for the counselor to build rapport with the client from the first session is one of the most important factors when working with the Latino community, in particular with youth.

Client Approach

This coming fall I will begin an internship providing in-home therapy services with Lahey Behavioral Health in Lawrence, Massachusetts. I will unquestionably have the opportunity to work with Latino clients and families within the community. When working in family systems, I might come across a situation in which a client within that system might have a substance use issue that needs to be addressed. When addressing the substance use issue with either an adult or an adolescent, the first impression and rapport is extremely important during the initial session, as it has been shown to be linked to successful client engagement. My focus for motivational interviewing would rely on building a positive and strong relationship with my Latino clients so as to build enough trust to persuade towards change talk. It is important for me to note that Latino clients hold an admiration for older adult’s that is attributed to the life experience and a general perception that their wisdom holds significant value, younger generations are taught to respect their elders and greet adults with a courteous “Senor” or “Senora” (Anez et al, 2008). Pretending my client is significantly older than I am I would approach therapy in the following way. First I would begin by asking the client how they would like to be addressed, this would provide the client the ability to structure a conversation around names or nicknames that their friends or family call them, or possible formal titles such as “Senor” or “Senorita”. It is also important for me as to be able to address the client respectfully, and to take a careful note of pronunciation. I would structure questions around cultural values, such as being a buena genta (likeable person), family values, respect, trust, and personal relationships (Anez et al, 2008). . In terms of being a likeable person, I could structure a question such as, “How important is it for you to be viewed as someone who is likeable?” this shows me the importance that the person holds on their image and how others view them. I would also be interested in knowing how the client interacts in interpersonal relationships outside of therapy; this can be achieved by asking, “When you are first getting to know someone, what helps you feel comfortable?” or “What does it take for you to develop trust with someone?”. This can help me gain an understanding of the client’s strengths, stressors and coping mechanisms. I would also ask, “How do you handle conflict?” or ““Can you tell me about a moment when your trust was broken?” This can give me an understanding of how the client handles and copes with hard situations, or if the client has a resistance to talking about hard situations within a therapeutic setting. I would further ask the client what their expectations of trust are within our therapeutic setting, summarizing the session with a shared agreement using the values of trust put forward by the client. This shows the client that I value trust and the client as an expert.

Over the course of many sessions I would continue to understand the client’s value system as well as where they stand in terms of change talk. Open-ended value questions would give me an insight into what really matters to the client. I would ask the client what they value the most in life, which can sometimes help to be a motivation for change. This can especially be motivating if the client values their family, a child, being employed or having an education. Once the client has reached the point of talking about their values, I would spend time using a number scale in order to help guide conversation around where my client is in terms of changing, making sure to have all documents used with the client translated if fits the clients need. The clients identified goal during this time might be to reduce the amount of the substance used. Once a goal has been identified and set with the client, I would continue to guide the client into conversation with questions such as how life was like before drug use; questions about the future, as well as what advantages and disadvantages are in terms of their current drug use patterns. I would summarize that session with a collaborative treatment plan that the client feels is realistic for them, and will continue to check up on how the client is doing with the treatment plan during each following session, making additional adjustments along the way and talking about the process.

Summary

The community of Lawrence, Massachusetts is home to a large proportion of Latinos and the population continues to grow, bringing with them unique challenges especially pertaining substance use and therapy. Latinos drink and use drugs more heavily, a trait that often cascades to younger generations. Latino clients are in need of substance use help, however they are less likely to enter treatment, leaving the need largely unmet. As a social work intern, who will be conducting in-home therapy for families within the city of Lawrence, it is my responsibility to ensure that the cultural values of my clients are integrated into the therapeutic setting. As a Latina social worker, clients might not be as resistant to my therapeutic methods as they might to a non-Latino social worker. As a Latina, I understand and share many core cultural values with Latino clients. Because of this, I might have the ability to build a stronger rapport, one that is essential during the beginning stages of the client-counselor relationship. However, I do not speak fluent Spanish. In fact I only have the ability to speak a limited amount of words, and a few phrases. This largely limits my ability to work with clients who are predominantly in Spanish speaking households, as I am not bilingual. There is also the possibility that I might be looked down upon because I do not speak Spanish, as if I have betrayed my culture and heritage. It is important for me to be aware that these opinions exist, and to notice that they might come up during counseling sessions. If they do I would do my best to redirect the questions back onto my client in a calm and collected manner. In general, MI is the best approach when working with Latino clients as it has been proven to work with ambivalent clients as well as clients with substance use disorders. MI also fosters an environment that is inclusive towards the cultural values of Latinos, and fosters the collaborative therapeutic process between the client and counselor. When the cultural values of the Latino community are taken into consideration, it fosters change, and retains client engagement within therapy.

References

Anez, L. M., Silva, M. A., Paris Jr., M., & Bedregal, L. E. (2008). Engaging Latinos Through the Integration of Cultural Values and Motivational Interviewing Principles.Professional Psychology: Research & Practice,39(2), 153-159.

Brown, N., Chesbro, T., Lee, D. H., & Puza, H. (2013). Lawrence, Massachusetts Greenway Plan. University of Massacusetts, 1-50.

Carroll, K. M., Martino, S., Ball, S. A., Nich, C., Frankforter, T., Anez, L. M., et al. (2009). A Multisite Randomized Effectiveness Trial of Motivational Enhancement Therapy for Spanish-Speaking Substance Users.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,77(5), 993-999.

Cordaro, M., Tubman, J. G., Wagner, E. F., & Morris, S. L. (2012). Treatment Process Predictors of Program Completion or Dropout Among Minority Adolescents Enrolled in a Brief Motivational Substance Abuse Intervention.Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse,21(1), 51-68.

Franklin, J., & Markarian, M. (2005). Substance Abuse in Minority Populations.Clinical Textbook of Addictive Disorders, 321-339.

Jaysane, A. P., & Center, M. P. (2002). The Community Context of Health in Lawrence, Massachusetts.Lawrence, MA: Merrimack College.

Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). The Spirit of Motivational Interviewing.Motivational Interviewing:Helping People Change(3rd ed., ). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Sue, D. W. (2006). Principles and Assumptions of Multicultural Social Work Practice.Multicultural Social Work Practice. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.

In this day and age the rapid development of the word and the growing assimilation of countries can hardly fail to affect the development of new theories which attempt to explain the relationship between countries and the existing inequality between developed countries and countries of the third world. Two theories which analyze the development in third world countries are the modernization theory and the dependence theory. These two theories, while being rather different, still have several similarities in their views on the modern world and relationships between developed and developing countries.

As Alvin So explained, there are three chief and historical essentials which were constructive to the foundation of the modernization theory of development after the Second World War.First, the United States rose as a superpower.While other Western nations, such as Great Britain, France, and Germany, were undermined by World War II, the United States came out of the war stronger then before, and became a world leader with the execution of the Marshall Plan to reconstruct Western Europe.[2]Second, the idea of communist began to move throughout the world.What was once the Soviet Union spread its influence to Eastern Europe, China, and Korea.Third, there was the breakdown ofEuropean colonial empires in Asia, Africa and Latin America, creating numerous new nation-states in the Third World.These budding nation-states began searching for a form of development to support their economy and to improve their political independence. The modernization theory’s intellectual lineage has been traced back to Aristotle. Aristotle first recommended that states, just as plants, went through a natural pattern of growth. Just like Aristotle, Americans in the early Republic assumed that if societies grow in a natural manner, they must also perish. The thought that the progression of human development could be understood and controlled dates to the early nineteenth century, when France and Britain were struggling to bring back their trade empires. Since then it has tended to reappear at times and places where systems of dominance required explanation and rationalization.

The modernization theory looks at the internal factors of a country with the assumption that, with aid, “traditional” countries can be developed in the same way more developed countries have. The modernization theory tries to recognize the social variables which cause social growth and development of societies, and then tries to explain the social evolution. In order for a country to have a profitable, sophisticated, modern economy the country must follow a pattern of development. This is a very systematic theory as it means do one thing and another will happen. In order for this to happen, there need to be prerequisites for takeoff that will lead to takeoff in which will lead to mass-consumption(Mahler 45). A missing component of this theory is that the modernization theory assumes all countries will follow the set path to development. There are actually numerous variables in which will affect a states’ ability to in fact develop. An example of this is the fact that Mexico is geographically designed in a way that will cause it to have a weak economy due to the deserts, forests, and mountains. This makes it so that only 12% of the land is arable. The fact that there are no major rivers doesn’t help either. These issues all help to making it tricky for Mexico to develop because it restrains transportation, which in turn weakens the possibility of exporting and importing goods in a proficient manner.Another problem with the modernization theory is that it assumes that all states have the necessary preconditions to develop. This is not true as many states do not have proper leaders and government. The explanation for this is that if a state is controlled by weak leadership, it will in turn influence its ability to develop. For example, Saddam Hussein, made it so that his country could not develop because he took all of the wealth for himself. Perhaps, if Hussein had spread the wealth throughout his country, this will have helped education and increased invention. This could have made it so that his country developed in a more efficient manner.

One policy implication the modernization theory suggests is that the third world countries should look up to the developed western nations, while the Western countries should pass on more modern values, institutions, technology, and financial investment to the Third World countries. Another implication is that in order for the third worlds to develop, they should be moving along the path that the United States has traveled, hence move away from the ideas of communism. (READING)

A theory in which is opposed to the Modernization model which was created largely as a response to it is the Dependency theory. Dependency theories developed in opposition to the optimistic claims of modernizationtheory which saw the less developed countries being able to catch up with the West. They stressed that Western societies had an interest in maintaining their advantaged position in relation to the LDCs and had the financial and technical wherewithal to do so. A variety of different accounts of the relationship between the advanced and less developed states evolved within the broad framework of dependency theory, ranging from the stagnationism and ‘surplus drain’ theory of Andre Gunder Frank (which predicted erroneously that the Third World would be unable to achieve significant levels ofindustrialization), to the more cautious pessimism of those who envisaged a measure of growth based on ‘associated dependent’ relations with the West.

The major contribution to dependency theory was undoubtedly that of Frank, a German economist of development who devised and popularized the phrase ‘the development of underdevelopment’, describing what he saw as the deformed and dependent economies of the peripheral states-in his terminology the ‘satellites’ of the more advanced ‘metropolises’. InCapitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America(1969), he argued that the Third World was doomed to stagnation because the surplus it produced was appropriated by the advanced capitalist countries, through agencies such as transnational corporations. Frank himself insisted that growth could only be achieved by severing ties with capitalism and pursuing autocentric socialist development strategies.

According to the dependency theory, the Global North exploits the Global South. One reason for this is that the south is highly dependent on the wealth of the north; therefore unable to advance themselves because of the vicious cycle that then ensues. An example of this vicious cycle can begin with a country being very poor and/or economically unstable. They then allow a multinational corporation to set up camp in one of their cities. This leads to many new jobs for this city, but the people are hired for very poor wages. Then the products that are produced get siphoned off by the Global North, in turn preventing that states “mass-consumption” abilities which is a generalized way that the south gets exploited by the north and the multinational corporation comes out making huge profits at the expense of desperate people just trying to survive and willing to work for pennies.

The depencde theory has several implications. First, Promotion of domestic industry and manufactured goods. By imposing subsidies to protect domestic industries, poor countries can be enabled to sell their own products rather than simply exporting raw materials. Second, Import limitations. By limiting the importation ofluxury goodsandmanufactured goodsthat can be produced within the country, the country can reduce its loss of capital and resources. Thrid, Forbidding foreign investment. Some governments took steps to keep foreign companies and individuals from owning or operating property that draws on the resources of the country.

In conclusion, both theories admit the leadership of western countries and their currently dominant position in the modern world, while undeveloped countries are characterized by socio-economic and political backwardness. At the same time, the two theories agree that the cooperation between western countries and developing countries is constantly growing and leads to their integration. However, it is necessary to underline that Modernization theory views such cooperation and integration as a conscious and voluntary act from the part of developing countries, for which modernization in the western style is the only way to overcome the existing backwardness, while supporters of Dependency theory argue that such cooperation and integration is imposed to developing countries by more advanced western countries, which simply attempt to benefit from their cooperation with developing countries and their westernization becomes a way of the establishment of control over and growing dependence of developing countries on developed ones. Regardless, the existing differences, both theories still raise a very important problem of relationships between developed and developing countries and the dominance of western countries and western civilization in the modern world.

Assessment is a vital function of social work acting as the starting point of the process and if not carried correctly can impact on the social workers relationship with the service user. There are no universal definitions for assessment however Whittington (2007) suggests the process is a meeting between a social worker and someone seeking help or services, which maybe held with an individual, family or a group of people. Sutton sees assessment as an ongoing cycle and describes it using the acronym ASPIRE, Assessment, Planning, Intervention, Review and Evaluate. Models for assessment include ecological, strength based, person centred which are often used when assessing a child. The Ecological model focusses on the service user’s environment including close family circle and their wider community, placing the service user firmly in the centre. Bronfenbrenner (1979) states there are 4 layer of environment which effects a service user, microsystem which considers immediate family, the mesosystem looks at relationships with extended family, neighbours, friends, work and school, the exosystem includes both the micro and mesosystem but also contains social infrastructure of the labour market, education systems, health and Social services, the final layer macrosystem includes systems including government policy, legislation and culture. Ecogram’s are illustrations often used to demonstrate these layers which can benefit to everyone involved to enable them to see everyone who is involve in his life.

Parker and Bradley state the strength based model focusses on the positives in a service user’s life, focussing on increasing motivation, capacity and potential for making real and informed life choices. This model also requires an extensive knowledge of the service users’ environment, living system and wider system to be able to work with them using their strengths. Within this model the power imbalance between the social worker and service user is reduced as the service users is seen as the person with the knowledge of the issues. The person centred model has a similar function as the Ecological and strength based model which places the service user at the centre of any assessment and decisions made during this process.

As well as assessment models the social workers also use a variety of approaches including questioning, procedural and exchange. The Questioning approach uses a set of questions to obtain information, the social worker can have preconceived ideas about the service user which could lead the questioning in a direction which may not identify the issues which the service user may see as their main concern, this approach can be seen as a power imbalance in favour of the social worker. The Procedural approach is a systematic process set out by an organisation or framework, with set criteria which identifies eligibility, follows the rules and policies which dictates what the service user is entitled to, this approach also leaves a power imbalance as the social worker dictates what services the service user is entitled to. The Exchange process ensures partnership working where the service users is seen as the expert with an understanding of any issues, information gathered within this process is used to enable the service user to see their potential and resources available to meet this potential.

There are specific pieces of legislation and policies which have an impact on the child assessment process, The Children Act 1989 states the welfare of the child is paramount, with an overarching system for safeguarding children, it indicates roles different agencies play and introduced the concept of parental responsibility rather than parental rights. A key principle is that Local Authorities have a duty to provide services for children and their families and all children should have access to the same range of services. The Children Act 2004 updates not supersede Children Act 1989. The aim is to encourage integrated planning, commissioning and delivery of services as well as improve multi-disciplinary working, remove duplication, increase accountability and improve the coordination of individual and joint inspections in local authorities. The Children’s act does not specifically state children referred automatically have an assessment, however if a child is deemed in need then the child must have an assessment, a decision which must be made within 24 hrs., once this decision has been made an assessment needs to take place within 7 days. The decision is based on Children’s act 1989 (section 17 subsection 10) outlines the criteria for a child in need, which states:

(10) a child shall be taken to be in need if—

(a) He is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him of services by a local authority under this Part;

(b) His health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without the provision for him of such services;

Stefan can be seen as a child in need due to his current behavioural issues at school and the ongoing issues with in his family home, both could have an impact on his health and development. If Stefan is displaying behaviours within school this is having a significant effect on his education and therefore development.

The social worker will carry out an assessment based on the Framework for the Assessment and Children in Need and their Families 2001 which is based on three areas, often viewed as a triangle, Child developmental needs including education, Emotional & Behavioural Development, Family & Social Relationships, Stefan is displaying behaviours while at school which is having an impact on his ability to learn. There have also been domestic violence situations within the home, it is not documented if he witnessed this, however the UN convention of the child states that hearing a domestic violence attack is just as detrimental to the child as witnessing the act and therefore has the same affects, this may be a factor for Stefan. Stefan and his mother are receiving support from her sister, but Stefan may have a role in the care for his mother or younger sister. Parenting capacity including Ensuring Safety, it has been highlighted Rhian, Stefan’s mother has physical and mental health issues which resulted in Stefan and his sister being left in a local park questioning Stefan’s safety. Family and Environmental Factors including Resources, Income, Employment, Housing, Wider Family & Functioning. Stefan’s mother is unable to work due to her physical and mental health which may have financial implications on the family.

As well as the children’s act 1989 and 2004 and the Framework for the Assessment and Children in Need and their Families 2001, wales has a Children’s & families measure 2010 which was published to tackle child poverty. Section 67 of the measure looks at children’s needs arising from community care needs of their parents and applies to any child whose parents may be in receipt of care from the local authority or arranged by the local authority, or they may be in need of such services the authority must decide what services they can provide to the child and / or their family. Section 68 of the measure addresses the child’s need arising from the health conditions, including mental health, of their parents and applies when health services are provided to or funded by the NHS, the NHS must consider the effects of the medical condition on the child and if the child requires support from the local authority. Both sections relate to Stefan’s current situation, Stefan’s mother has physical and mental health issues which also may have impacted on the family.

The Human right convention of the child (1989) also has an impact on the assessment process, the convention was agree by international governments and stated all children had rights as individual’s not just objects which are cared for. The convention is made up of a 45 articles which outline the rights of a child, Stefan’s rights include a child must not be separated from their parents unless it is in their best interest, every child is able to have a say about what affects them and they must be taken seriously, each child has the right to live somewhere which is able to meet their physical, social and mental needs. If they do not then the government must support families who cannot afford to provide this, Governments must do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and mistreatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them. Another pieces of legislation which needs to be complied with is the Welsh language act, Stefan currently attends a welsh school and his mother is a welsh speaker, Stefan may feel more comfortable if the assessment was carried out in welsh which Stefan is entitled to under the act.

When working with a child the social worker needs to use a variety of skills, adapt their approaches and values which include ensuring the process is child centred, at the child’s level of understanding and abilities, advocate on behalf of the child, use observational skills to observe interactions with any significate people. Parker and Bradley state research shows children prefer to be listen to, professionals to be available and accessible, non-judgemental and non-directive, have a sense of humour, straight talking, to be able to trust and, where appropriate, to have confidentiality respected. The social worker must also ensure the process is collaborative working with people involved in the service user’s life including professionals. By using these skills the social worker also complies with the Care council of wales Code of practice which states the social worker must promote the independence of Service Users while protecting them as far as possible from danger or harm. By using the fore mentioned skills the social worker using anti-oppressive practise to ensure the service user is empowered in their continued support.

Before and during the assessment process the social worker needs to ensure the issues are not pre-judged, Stefan’s behavioural issues may not be due to the issues at home he may have a learning disability, being bullied at school or finding the work hard which is causing him difficulties, Stefan may be a carer for his mother or sibling which is the issue, often what is perceived as the main issues are not necessarily the same for the person being assessed, if any of the above issues have been highlighted then appropriate assessment would be requested. Other issues which need to be considered would be where to hold the assessment, Stefan may feel unable to speak openly if carried out in front of his parents or within the family home, by carrying out any assessment meetings within his school environment either setting could make him more vulnerable, careful thought needs to be given to where assessment is carried out.

While working with a child there are many ethical issues which can arise, when there is evidence a child is being neglected and their safety at risk the social worker has a decision to make, Stefan has been left in a local park due to his mother forgetting him the ethical dilemma may be if Stefan is providing a caring role for his mother and sister removing him from the situation may cause his sister to become more vulnerable and take away a support system from his mother. Another ethical issue could be within the current economic climate carrying out an assessment but being unable to offer the services required by the child and their family, when dealing with a child such as Stefan the social worker needs to gain as much information as possible however the more people who know about the situation could cause Stefan to be more vulnerable, Stefan is also entitled to privacy and the more people who know about the situation could make Stefan vulnerable amongst his peers. The final issue could be Stefan’s parents are currently refusing support, the rights of the parents to refuse services verses the right of the child to have adequate service provision.

Andrew is fifteen. He has been accused of sexually assaulting his younger sister and may be charged with this in the near future. Some of his family have a history of mental disorder and he has a history of learning and behavioural difficulties, as a result of which he has been attending a residential special school.

He does not acknowledge the accusations against him and is reluctant to discuss them.

INFORMATION FROM INTERVIEW –

Andrew presents as a tall, slim-built youth who is restlessly anxious, looking away for most of the interview, and repeatedly yawning in an exaggerated manner to indicate how little he wants to be involved in the discussion. Despite this he is essentially polite in manner and answers all questions, at least in some measure. His apparent level of intelligence puts him in the mild range of impairment, and he is also very sensitive to anything that he thinks puts him at a disadvantage or makes him look “thick”. He has some social skills, although these are not always used and sometimes he appears socially disinhibited.

He has a reasonable vocabulary and powers of speech. There are no behavioural stereotypies (repetitive apparently purposeless movements) and no perseverative behaviour (continuance of behaviours after their original purpose has been served). However, his powers of concentration are limited and he is easily distracted from discussion. His attention is focused on his perceived likelihood that he will automatically go to prison, regardless of whether he is charged or not. He hopes that a combination of his medical history and denial of the allegations will be enough to get him through any legal processes.

Andrew says he hasn’t been charged with anything “because I ain’t done nowt”. Nevertheless he is able to say that ‘sexual assault’ means “trying to make somebody do something – have sex, how to make babies” and that ‘penetration’ means “putting a finger up someone – up (the) clitoris of women”.

He has already been officially asked on one occasion about “for what’s going on now basically” but can describe no details and says that he “ain’t bothered because I haven’t done it”.

CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES –

Andrew has his own room at his special school and has made one or two friends. The activity that he enjoys most, and gets most from, is “studying motor vehicles” and he has developed an ambition to become a mechanic.

He comes home for some weekends and for holiday periods.

At present he feels he “hasn’t got a life anymore”. This is both because of the possible pending charges and because he feels “people are dropping dead around me”. A “close friend (female)” of his died recently, and his life has not felt the same since his father died unexpectedly the day before his birthday four ago, and his paternal grandmother died about a year afterwards.

He would like to become a motor mechanic, but thinks this will not be possible, unless he can get training in prison, because of his possible court case.

PERSONAL AND FAMILY HISTORY –

He is the youngest member of his family, although his own list of his siblings and half-siblings is slightly different to that provided by his family.

His father died from a heart attack and his mother has a lot of problems with her health.

He was excluded from his first school for “throwing a brick at a teacher or something like that – they were doing my head in all the time”.

MEDICAL HISTORY –

He has been diagnosed as having “ADHD” (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), and says that this is why he is at boarding school. He says that he “used to get all mad and hate people and take it out on them” but that this has improved more recently.

Two years ago he tried to hang himself with two belts because he “just felt like it – I couldn’t be bothered living anymore – I did it for fun – I thought it was funny”. He also tried to cut his wrist, and still has a faint scar from this. He continues to have periodic thoughts about a quick premature death as a way of not having “to put up with living anymore”. Although these thoughts reflect a depressed view of life there is no indication that he currently has a depressive illness.

He has previously taken the antihyperactivity drug Ritalin, but has now discontinued this and describes it as “doing my head in”.

SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT HISTORY –

He first became sexually aware at a very young age, as a result of being given information either by one of his sisters or a friend. His father told him not to have sex until he was older so as to avoid having children.

His strongest sexual experience so far has been with a girlfriend who he described as “the nicest person you could meet – even though my sister called her a ‘smackhead’”.

He denies the allegations about his sister and describes them as “all lies”.

Questions –

What identifiable risks, giving your reasons, does Andrew present a) in the short term and b) in the longer term? Rank them once in their order of certainty, and again in their order of importance.

Construct an interview strategy to help investigating police officers further question Andrew about the allegations regarding his sister, explaining your rationale.

Case Study 2
Mr D Case Study
Read the following case study carefully. Using your knowledge of risk assessment, mental disorders and offending behaviour and interview and treatment strategies answer the following questions:

Describe the type(s) of mental disorder Mr D may be suffering from

Consider whether those disorders are likely to contribute to the risk he poses of future violence

Identify those risks that Mr D poses to himself and others

Consider whether you would discharge Mr D from hospital at this time and give your reasons why

(Point 5 is optional) Highlight what challenges Mr D may pose in treatment and how you might overcome them.

Background
Early Childhood

Mr D was born to a 16 year old mother and conceived following a one night stand. Mr D recalled an unsettled childhood due to his mother handing over his care to her parents. Mr D described how he liked living with his grandparents, however he also described how his grandfather frequently used alcohol and his grandmother was strict and did not allow him to socialise with other children. Behavioural problems were noted from the age of 4.

Throughout this time period Mr D began having severe tantrums which involved hitting and kicking and Mr D was referred to the Children’s Hospital at the age of 8. This followed a severe attack levied against his grandfather involving a knife. Throughout the interview process Mr D remained closed about his relationship with his grandfather. Later reports indicate he was sexually abused by his grandfather but Mr D refuses to discuss this subject.

Mr D was taken into care at the age of 8, where again he reported an unsettled period of time characterised by isolation and bullying. Mr D was able to live with a foster family whom he described as supportive for the next two years and it is of note that there were no behavioural difficulties noted for Mr D within this time period. Mr D appeared to settled with this family and their two sons, which allowed him to form secure attachments with this family. Unfortunately the family needed to emigrate to South Africa, and although he was asked to go with them, Mr D chose to remain close to his grandparents.

Mr D spent the next five years in Children’s homes, interspersed by foster placements which broke down. Mr D returned to live with his grandparents following this period. Previous reports indicate conflicting points of view about this time period, some indicating that Mr D had more positive relationships with his grandparents and mother at this time, but with others highlighting that his grandparents did not really speak to him.

Education and employment

Mr D attended approximately five different schools as he was moved due to his living situation changing. Mr D recalled an unsettled period of time at school as he was bullied. He also described himself as ‘hyper, I would scream and shout a lot’ and recalled finding lessons boring. Records indicate that Mr D began refusing school at the age of 4 and has a significant history of truancy throughout his education. Mr D left school with no qualifications but school reports describe him as exceptionally bright.

Mr D has never been in formal employment. After leaving school he was unemployed for 2 years as he reported he could not find a job that interested him and he was having difficulties with his mental health. Following this, Mr D has been detained due to the conviction for his index offence.

Substance and alcohol misuse

Mr D reports a substantial history of cannabis use and a history of binge drinking.

Psychiatric History

Mr D first came into contact with mental health services at the age of 8 when he was admitted to the Children’s Hospital for 6 weeks following a violent attack on his grandfather. An ECG and neurological examination at the time were found to be normal, however Mr D’s mother recalled a ‘black patch’ being found. Following this Mr D was referred to an Adolescent Unit at the age of 14 due to behaviour problems such as refusing to attend school and standing naked in the window. Later that year, Mr D was admitted to the hospital and was described by the doctor as an ‘isolated and withdrawn individual, having no self confidence who responded with aggressive outbursts when frustrated’. Mr D self-harmed by cutting his arms with a piece of glass.

After being convicted of two incidents of indecent exposure at the age of 17, Mr D received outpatient treatment initially, but following another charge for indecent exposure Mr D was admitted as an inpatient. At this point he was talking about injuring people before they had the chance to injure him.

On the 9th April 1987 Mr D was again charged with indecent exposure and was remanded under section 35 of the Mental Health Act (1983). During his assessment there, it was noted that he was hearing voices telling him to commit acts of violence. No specific diagnosis was made at this time, although a condition of residence and psychiatric treatment was made. Following his 18th birthday he was moved to Arnold Lodge Hospital. Whilst there it is reported that Mr D’s mental health appeared to deteriorate and violence towards others increased. At the age of 20 Mr D was transferred to a Hostel in Liverpool as it was thought that he would benefit from integration with other people, however three months after this he was discharged after assaulting another resident.

Mr D managed to live in the community on his own for approximately two and a half years before he committed his index offence. At this point he was remanded to HMP Hull for approximately 2 months. Mr D attempted to hang himself during his first night in custody. He was then transferred to Wathwood hospital due to him exhibiting paranoid ideation and experiencing auditory hallucinations commanding him to harm a female prison officer.

Whilst at Wathwood Hospital, initially Mr D’s presentation seemed to improve to the point that he was granted conditional discharge by a Mental Health Review Tribunal, however at this point Mr D’s fixation with a female member of staff began to cause concern. Mr D began exposing himself to female members of staff and his mental health deteriorated. Mr D’s presentation continued to decline over the next two years in terms of incidents of violence, aggression and sexually inappropriate. His mental health also fluctuated with episodes of paranoid ideation, delusions, thoughts of harming himself and incidents of aggression.

Forensic History

Mr D has three previous convictions for offences of indecent exposure. There are seven previous convictions for driving offences (e.g. driving whilst under the influence, reckless driving, driving without a license, insurance and MOT) and 4 convictions of acquisitive offending (2 offences of shoplifting and2 burglary offences). Mr D has no other convictions for violent offences apart from the index offence, however there has been other violence evident in Mr Driver’s past when he has been a patient in hospital.

Index Offence

Mr D was convicted of the murder of his neighbour. The offence occurred in the context of ongoing difficulties Mr D was experiencing with his neighbours in terms of loud music they were playing in the early hours of the morning. Mr D had raised this problem with his neighbours and it is reported that they responded to this in a less than positive way. Mr D then tried to involve the council to alleviate the problem, however this appeared to have had no effect. On the day of the index offence, the victim was taking his rubbish out and Mr D approached him from behind and struck him once in the back with a 5 inch bladed knife. Mr D immediately ran away from the scene and made his way to the Family and Community Services Department with whom he was in regular contact and the police were contacted and Mr D was subsequently arrested. The victim had removed the weapon himself and in the meantime had made his way to nearby premises to seek assistance. He later died of his injuries in hospital.

Mr D’s account of the offence is that he had been living next to neighbours who were ‘noisy’. He said he had lived next to them for about six months and ‘I kept knocking, asking them to turn it down, they just said it was their house’. When asked how many times this had occurred Mr D said, ‘probably approached them about 5 or 6 times’. Mr D stated that he didn’t phone the police at all, but that he did phone the housing association. He said that nothing happened as a result of this and the music continued.

On the last occasion that Mr D asked for the music to be turned down before he committed the index offence Mr Driver stated ‘he started threatening me and said ‘I’m not turning the music down’ and was arguing. I can’t remember what was being said, but I just kept asking him to turn it down. He was shouting and I think I hit him first, we had a scuffle and the police were called. The Police told me to get in touch with the housing association’. Following this incident Mr D said that a few weeks passed and the music continued. Mr D stated that he had been going out shopping he had been carrying the same knife that he eventually stabbed the victim with.

On the day of the index offence, Mr D reported being woken at 9am by music being played. He stated, ‘I felt really stressed and angry. I got up, got dressed, I was standing in my kitchen and could hear it (the music) and I saw him going to the bin. I’d come to the end of how I was feeling and looking for a way out’. Mr D stated, ‘I got a knife and stabbed him in the lower back. When asked what might have happened to resolve the situation had the index offence not occurred Mr D said, ‘If I hadn’t seen him, I probably would have gone on carrying the knife and gone round to his house’. In terms of why Mr D felt he committed the offence, he stated, ‘I couldn’t stand them playing loud music’. Mr D went onto say ‘Yes I regret it, its led to me being kept in hospital. There is nothing else I could have done. He deserved it because he wouldn’t turn down his music’.

Assessments

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -3rd edition (WAIS III)

This assessment examines general cognitive abilities, specifically thinking and reasoning skills. It explores non-verbal reasoning skills, spatial processing skills, visual-motor integration, attention to detail and acquired knowledge such as verbal reasoning and comprehension. Mr D presented with a full scale IQ of 130.

International Personality Disorder Examination

Mr D was assessed for personality disorder using the International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE: Loranger; 1999). The IPDE is a semi-structured clinical interview developed to assess personality disorders defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10; World Health Organisation, 1992). Mr D’s current presentation indicates that definite diagnoses of Antisocial and Narcissistic personality disorders are warranted. The Antisocial features most relevant in Mr D include a lack of concern for the feelings of others, reckless behaviour, consistent irresponsibility, disregard for rules and punishment, low tolerance to frustration leading to acts of aggression and violence, and a proneness to rationalise and blame others for his own behaviour. The Narcissistic features which Mr D presents with include a grandiose sense of self-importance, a belief that he should be treated differently, an overinflated sense of self-entitlement, arrogance in his behaviour and attitudes, a persistent pattern of taking advantage of others to achieve his own ends and an unwillingness to recognise or identify with the feelings of others.

Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R

The Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R, Hare 1991, 2003) is a rigorous psychological assessment, widely regarded as the standard measure of psychopathy in research, clinical and forensic settings. It measures different aspects of a person’s emotional experience, the way they relate to others, how they go about getting what they want and their behaviour. High levels of psychopathic traits as measured by the PCL-R are associated with high rates of re-offending and future violence (however a low PCL-R score alone does not imply low risk) and can impact on responsivity to therapeutic intervention. Mr D presented with moderate levels of psychopathic traits which fell just below the diagnostic cut off for psychopathic disorder. Items that he scored on include failure to accept responsibility for his actions, irresponsibility, lack of remorse, callous disregard for others, grandiose sense of self worth, manipulation and early childhood problems.

Presentation in interview

Mr D presented as a difficult and challenging patient to interview. He was dismissive at times, questioning my experience, qualifications and competence. He stated that psychology was not a proper science and would prefer to talk to the ‘proper doctor’ i.e. the psychiatrist. Mr D appeared to have some knowledge of psychiatry and psychology and used technical terms throughout. He appeared to have little insight into his mental disorder stating that he does need to take medication and that everyone is like him. Mr D stated he does not under stand why anyone would think he poses a risk to people and that he should be discharged from hospital immediately.

Case Study 3
Ms W Case Study
Read the following case study carefully. Using your knowledge of risk assessment, mental disorders and offending behaviour and interview and treatment strategies answer the following questions:

Describe the type(s) of mental disorder Ms W may be suffering from

Consider whether those disorders are likely to contribute to the risk she poses of future violence

Consider what techniques/strategies/considerations you would use when interviewing Ms W

Highlight what further areas of work you may wish to undertake with Ms W (concentrating on what areas of her presentation you would like to explore/assess further and why)

Background
Early childhood

Ms W was the eldest child of three, the other two children being boys. Ms W recalled an unhappy childhood due to the sexual abuse she experienced from her father (for which he received a conviction) and then the emotional detachment that was apparent between her mother and herself. Social services records support Ms W’s account of her early childhood. In addition to being sexually abused by her father, Ms W also reported being sexually abused by an uncle and a next door neighbour.

Ms W also reported that the relationship between her mother and father was a turbulent one and although she did not witness any physical violence, she did hear arguments which resulted in her repeatedly banging his head against the wall through the stress this caused. Ms W’s behaviour became uncontrollable both within school and the community, in terms of fighting at school and committing petty crime such as shoplifting.

Whilst still living with her parents, at the age of 14, Ms W became involved in a relationship with a man who was much older than her, in his 60’s. This further contributed to the deterioration between Ms W and her parents, and her parents subsequently placed her in care. Ms W remained in care until the age of 17, and upon leaving she was given support from social services and moved into independent housing in which she was happy on her own.

Education and employment

Ms W reported that her school performance was average; teachers would not have found her a management problem, but that she did get distracted easily. Whilst at school she was subject to bullying from peers and this resulted in her engaging in fights outside of school. Ms W left school with no formal qualifications.

Ms W obtained employment as soon as she left school and worked as a ‘packer’, a cleaner and in a pet shop. All of the employment she engaged in was in a short period after school, with her last job being held at the age of 20. Ms W reported that the last job she had needed to leave because her mental health was causing her difficulties and she needed to attend various appointments.

Following this period of employment, Ms W was unemployed for the next 16 years due to mental health, drug and alcohol difficulties. Ms W claimed incapacity benefits and before coming into custody she reported having an income of approximately ?800 per month.

Substance and alcohol misuse

Ms W reported that she began drinking at the age of 14 or 15 as she would visit pubs with her partner at the time. She suggested that she became a heavy drinker at age 20 and that she needed alcohol every day as otherwise she would suffer with withdrawal symptoms. Ms W would consume approximately 12 cans of Stella a day or 2 bottles of 2 litre Cider. Ms W’s drinking caused her health problems in the form of liver failure and pancreatitis. Ms W was under the influence of alcohol when committing the index offence and this followed a period where she had tried to go through a detoxification process without medical support. It is of note that Ms W reported hearing voices whilst she completed this ‘home detoxification’ process.

In terms of drug use, Ms W remembered beginning to use substances at around the age of 18. She reports using acid tabs, microdots, magic mushrooms, speed, heroin (smoking) and cannabis. She also reported that she would take prescription medication if the opportunity arose. Ms W recalls that she would use whenever she had the money to do so and that she would frequently take drugs and drink at the same time. She estimated that she would spend approximately ?14 per day, but that this would depend on what funds she had available at the time. In the early 1990s Ms W was diagnosed with drug induced psychosis.

Psychiatric history

Ms W first recalled being in contact with psychiatric services in her 20s. She was first seen by a psychiatrist due to the hallucinations she was experiencing and she voluntarily stayed in hospital for a few months. Ms W had spent time in group mental health homes and has had support from psychiatrists, CPNs and social workers.

Ms W had attempted to commit suicide on a number of occasions through taking overdoses. She was diagnosed with depression in her late 20s and has been on a number of anti depressant drugs which she combined with drink and non prescription drugs.

Whilst in custody Ms W was taking antidepressants, anxiolytics and anti psychotics. The latter were prescribed due to Ms W experiencing hallucinations and also mood instability. Ms W had most recently been diagnosed with ‘Generalised Anxiety Disorder with features of depersonalisation and derealisation’.

Forensic history

Ms W had three previous convictions. Two were received in 1989 which were both fraud offences, and then the third in 1990 for burglary and theft of a non dwelling. Ms W cannot recall specific details regarding the situations. Ms W had no other convictions for violent offending, apart from the index offence, but there has been other violence present in Ms W’s past especially within interpersonal relationships.

Index offence

The offence occurred in the shared home of Ms W and her partner. Two weeks before the index offence occurred, police had been called to the home after Ms W had taken an overdose of her partner’s medication. When Ms W’s partner had attempted to summon help, Ms W threatened her with a knife to try and prevent this. On the 10th June 2006 when the offence occurred, it was alleged that Ms W had been drinking cider from the early hours of the morning. Ms W insists that she was so drunk that she has no recall of the stabbing which then occurred and all that she remembered was seeing the blood on her partner’s stomach. After stabbing her partner in the stomach she then threatened to cut her throat with the knife. The stab wounds caused a near fatal injury. The victim was able to summons help by activating the emergency pull cord for the accommodation’s warden.

Assessments

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -3rd edition (WAIS III)

This assessment examines general cognitive abilities, specifically thinking and reasoning skills. It explores non-verbal reasoning skills, spatial processing skills, visual-motor integration, attention to detail and acquired knowledge such as verbal reasoning and comprehension. Ms W presented with a full scale IQ of 75. The assessment showed that Ms W processes information more effectively when presented visually rather than verbally and that she struggles to concentrate for long periods of time.

International Personality Disorder Examination – Screening Questionnaire (IPDE-SQ)

This assessment is a screening questionnaire which indicates whether there are certain personality traits which need further investigation using the full International Personality Disorder Examination assessment. The IPDE-SQ indicated the possible presence of paranoid, schizotypal, emotionally unstable, avoidant and dependent personality disorders but this should not be considered as a formal diagnosis.

Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III (MCMI-III)

This assessment is used to evaluate elements of personality and also pathological syndromes within psychiatric populations. On this occasion the MCMI- III was used to provide a more comprehensive picture of Ms W’s personality and presentation in combination with the outcome of the IPDE-SQ. This measure was not used to diagnose personality disorder but to contribute to the understanding of Ms W’s presentation. The Millon highlighted that Ms W presented with anxiety, drug dependence and post traumatic stress disorder and may possible present with thought disorder and major depression.

Presentation in interview

Ms W presented as a shy, pleasant individual with very low confidence and who suffered with anxiety. It was evident that she was lacking in confidence in terms of speaking to people and being sure of her own opinions. She had also seemed to struggle in terms of her level of concentration.

Over the course of the sessions Ms W’s mood could be quite volatile, changing from happy to depressed in the period of a couple of hours. Ms W consistently spoke of thoughts of self harm throughout the sessions and when feeling depressed would project these feelings onto others as having caused them. Ms W also presented at times as quite paranoid in terms of thinking that people were talking about her. Ms W also disclosed that she was experiencing visual hallucinations particularly when she felt stressed.

Task 1

The government has been able to understand the social policy responsibilities that it has towards Maori with respect to Article 3. By giving citizenship privileges to Maori, Article 3 forbids prejudice and needs the Government to be pro-active in decreasing social and financial differences between Maori and the non-Maori. This does not mean that Maori have continued the social policies what are proposed by the government, but arguments have not been essentially focused on matters with regard to Treaty interpretation.

The primary Treaty arguments in the area of social policy gradually relate to the explanation and implementation of Article 2. Petitions by Maori in this area are for superior sovereignty or tinorangatiratanga. Such petitions are founded on Article 2. The Government has not acknowledged the usefulness of Article 2 in the field of social strategy and Maori claims for sovereignty have been refuted. However, it is necessary to analyse the implementation of Article 2 to social policy by laying emphasis on two fields of social policy, namely the health segment along with the Department of Social Welfare’s Iwi Social Services procedure.

It is evident that the Government’s attitude to Treaty matters in the social policy field is presently vague and erratic. This might appear to be perplexing, not merely to Maori, but even to workforces of Government organisations that work in the region. Such a situation involves a great deal of danger for the Government, owing to the fact that where the Government does not take a distinct initiative, it might find the steps being initiated by the courts or even by the Waitangi Tribunal. The Government would have to decide between ignoring the concerns or choosing a pre-emptive position, after discussing freely with Maori concerning their hopes for social services policy progress.

-Partnership: Social service organisations must ensure that the needs of Maori are taken into account when interacting with Maori or when creating policy that could affect Maori.

-Protection: Social service organisations must keep resident’s information confidentially.

-Participation: Maori can access and participate in all social services.

-Permission: Maori can be permitted to participate in their cultural and traditional activities.

Task 2

1) Aotearoa New Zealand Society

Aotearoa New Zealand is composed of various ethnicities.

All social services must be constructed accessible to all ethnicities.

Social workers have to understand and respect multicultural needs when working.

2) Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Social service providers and social workers must be well-acquainted with the four principles in Te Tiriti.

3) Te Reo, Tikanga, and development of Iwi and MA?ori

Social work practice must be provided MA?ori following their customs, values, and the rights under Te Tiriti.

4) Gender and sexuality

Gender or Sexual discrimination is not permitted by The Human Rights Act.

Social work practice must be provided without prejudice or bias.

5) Human development process through the life span

Human development may cause changes.

Social workers have to consider the culture to understand the changes.

6) Social Policy in New Zealand

Social policy can be impacted and changed by the government.

Social work practice has to follow the changed policy.

7) Aotearoa New Zealand social services

New Zealand social services accept and respect multi culture.

8) Organisation and management in the social services

Organisation and management in the social services have a wide level.

9) Research methodology in the social services

Research methodology in the social services should reflect variable needs of people when performed.

10) Users of the social services

Social service providers have responsibility to inform clients of their rights.

11) Law and social work

There are lawful duties that enact the social work practice.

Legal procedures provide guidelines for the client to be safe.

12) Personal development

Social work practice plays important roles in improving social worker’s development.

13) Social work ethics

Social work ethics impact on the social work practice to be professional.

14) Models of practice, including Iwi and Maori models of practice

Maori health model are based on Te Whare Tapa Wha (four cornerstones of Maori health).

15) Working with particular client groups

Social work practice must be appropriate to any particular client according to their own needs without prejudice or bias.

16) Cross cultural practice

Cross cultural practice identify which factors are prohibited to the clients by their culture when providing services.

17) Current issues in social work practice

Social workers need to be well informed of recent information and issues regarding social work practice.

Task 3

The first situation involved working with the socially exploited women of the Maori community, many of whom were victims of domestic violence. Dealing with this particular situation required the employment of the Social Learning Theory of social work. This theory is based on Albert Bandura’s viewpoint, according to which learning takes place through reflection and imitation. Different behaviour will linger if it is reinforced. In accordance with this theory, instead of merely listening to a new instructions or guidance and using it, the guiding process would be made increasingly beneficial if the new actions are demonstrated as well. In the case of dealing with socially exploited women from the Maori community, the integration of this theory involved working alongside women who have been able to recover from the trauma and violence that were subject to. This can be supplemented with the provision of real-life accounts of the lives of women who have been able to get back to life after experiencing such exploitation. The victims would then be able to relate to their situation in a better manner, thus bringing about more effective results, within a comparatively shorter time period. (Orange, 2011)

The next situation was the case of working for the benefit of those residents who suffer from psychosocial developmental issues. This involved the integration of the Psychosocial Development Theory, which is an eight-level theory of individuality and psychosocial development expressed by Erik Erikson. Erikson was of the belief that everyone needs to pass through eight phases of growth all through their life cycle, namely hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity, love, care, and wisdom. Every stage is then split up into age groups from early stages to older grown-ups. People who have been subject to any kind of social oppression and exploitation would need to be treated in a specific manner by the social services workers, so as to help them overcome those hurdles and emerge free from such drawbacks.

In the execution of the duties that were necessary in both these fieldwork cases, there were a number of core values that guided the entire procedure. These included service, social integrity, self-respect and worth of the individual, value of human relations, honour, and capability. The needs of the individuals being treated were, and continue to be, of utmost importance all through the procedure that involves guiding and inspiring them to gather the necessary courage to soar above their situations and emerge victorious. It is also important to ensure that the dignity and respect of the victim be upheld at all times, so as to ensure them that they have a chance to regain their hold over their lives and live it to the fullest, accomplishing the aims and ambition that they have been cherishing. These core values are reflective of the essence of this social work service that ensures compliance with the latest policies and policies that pertain to this field of work.

Task 4

First Instance: This instance involved a client named C, who was 25 years old. She and her husband were supposedly having frequent arguments owing to his drinking habits. Unable to cope with his alcohol abuse and often violent and abusive behavior, C began to show signs of depression. It was at this point that she sought help with us. The Crisis Intervention Model was applied here, wherein C provided me with all the relevant details pertaining to her situation and the way things used to be before she started showing signs of depression. I had to be sensitive to the delicate aspects of this situation, which required me to make apt use of the core values of self-respect and worth of an individual. I also had to ensure that her dignity was upheld all through my sessions with her. Dealing with C required me to gain her trust by engaging in informal conversations with her, after which I had to present her with practical ways of coping with the stress of her relationship, while seeking ways to counsel her husband on his drinking problems. C has been receiving help and guidance for the past four months.

Second Instance: This instance involved a 16-year-old boy named K, who was involved with drugs and alcohol since the age of 14. The boy had been abandoned by his parents, who were also drug-abusers and alcoholics, after which he maintained no contact with him and lived with his friends. K has been using a number of drugs, and has recently started using crack. He has been using inhalants since he was 13 years of age and has been consuming alcohol in considerable amounts on a regular basis. However, he recently felt the need to seek help for his condition, due to which he decided to seek help from our social services centre. The Rational Choice Theory was then used to deal with his situation, wherein every action taken by an individual is viewed as rational, which requires the decision to be made after the calculation of the risks and benefits involved with it. This kept his dignity and self-respect in mind and ensured that my actions did not demean him in any way. K then needed to be guided in his choices and counselled regarding the consequences of his lifestyle choices. K has been receiving guidance and counselling for the past six months.

Apart from these two long-term instances of relationships with clients, there have been a number of similar situations, most of which have involved women who have been subject to domestic abuse, and children who are dealing with alcohol-abuse, drug-abuse, and abusive parents. Several instances of children suffering from trauma, owing to traumatic childhood experiences have also been handled. Such instances required the team to ensure that the dignity of the client is maintained, irrespective of what their background might be.

Task 5

My experiences thus far have brought about considerable changes in several aspects of my life. The first change would be that of understanding the essence of social service is the core values that it strives to uphold at all times. Irrespective of the situation that the client is going through, the primary task of the social worker is to ensure that the dignity and respect of that client is reinstated at every step. The next effect that the new learning had on me was that of helping me to gain a deeper understanding of the diversity of human issues, each of which have to be handled in a precise, systematic manner. (TeKaiA?whinaAhumahi, 2000)

These experiences will be of immense help to me in my future social work practice as they have given me the much needed exposure to the wide range of situations that social workers have to deal with on a daily basis. Since my practice has essentially been with cases of women and children, it would be of benefit to me in dealing with such cases in my future practice.

As a social worker who is skilled to work alongside Maori, I needed to gain a sound understanding of both the governmental and individual significance of Rangatiratanga to Maori consumers in the 21st century and the community accountability linked to it. My practice has helped me understand that a MA?ori viewpoint takes into consideration that any client communication is mindful of whanau, hapu, iwi. Attitude is an important aspect that I needed to develop. This is in relation to the applicant’s skills to recognise consciousness of their own limits (cultural prejudices, lack of information and comprehension) and to cultivate honesty to cultural multiplicity and a readiness to study from the rest. It required an established pledge to the continuing progress of an individual’s cultural consciousness and procedures along with those of co-workers. (Durie et al, 2012)

Skills are another necessary aspect that I had gained along the way, which involved the incorporation of understanding and approaches necessary to allow workers to relate bi-culturally, guide clients to match up their own aims and desires, and to guide social workers to get rid of all kinds of discrimination. Ability to engage in social work with Maori groups thus necessitates that the social worker: takes part in culturally appropriate manners in an inclusive way; expresses how the broader perspective of Aotearoa New Zealand both traditionally and presently can influence practice content, presents useful sustenance to Tangata Whenua for their endeavours, possesses an understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi, Te Reo and tikanga, and endorses Mana Whenua and benefits in their zone. All in all, the experience gained by me thus far in my experience will be beneficial to me in gaining competence in the future. (O’Donoghue&Tsui, 2012)

Sungkuk Hong 13020801