Family experiences of children’s social care involvement following a social work change programme

Archard, Philip; Laird, Siobhan E.; Clawson, Rachael; Morris, Kate

Abstract

Social work change programmes rooted in a particular practice theory and design are increasingly a fixture of UK local authority social work and the focus of a small but developing body of research. However, in this research to date, there has been a lack of engagement with the perspectives of families. In this article, we detail findings from 23 family interviews undertaken as part of an independent evaluation of a social work change programme in a single local authority. These findings afford insight into the positive influence change programmes can have on engaging families and re-routing practitioners to work in a relationship-based way. They also illustrate the limitations for reshaping practice in the context of rising levels of need, a paucity of supportive provision, and administrative burdens remaining the same as before the introduction of a change programme. As part of the article, we offer some brief reflections on the recruitment of families for evaluative study to assist other researchers and local authority professionals who may be involved in comparable evaluations in future.

Citation

Archard, P., Laird, S. E., Clawson, R., & Morris, K. (2017). Family experiences of children’s social care involvement following a social work change programme. Journal of Social Work Practice, 32(3), 237-250. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2017.1326473

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 23, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jun 23, 2017
• Publication Date: Jun 23, 2017
• Deposit Date: Sep 20, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: May 11, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Social Work Practice
• Print ISSN: 0265-0533
• Electronic ISSN: 1465-3885
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 237-250
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2017.1326473
• Public URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2017.1326473
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02650533.2017.1326473
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=cjsw20