Anna Gupta (2007) Change for Children? The challenges and opportunities for the children’s social work workforce. Child & Family Social Work, 12 (2). pp. 172 - 181. ISSN 1356-7500
Full text access: Open
Children's services are currently undergoing their biggest changes in a generation. The government is seeking to create a more coherent, seamless configuration of services, with a view to securing improved outcomes for all children. However, there is a current crisis in the recruitment and retention of a range of child welfare professionals, including children's social workers, which must be addressed in order for this ambitious agenda to be achieved. This paper discusses the findings of a series of focus group discussions with social workers undertaking the London Post Qualifying Child Care Award in response to the Children's Workforce Strategyconsultation process. These findings are then analysed within the context of the wider literature on social work practice and workforce development. It is argued that central to the debate on how to sustain a competent and stable social work workforce should be consideration of the consequences of initiatives to audit and assess performance; the promotion of relationship-based social work; and the wider role of social work in preventative and protective services for children.
This is a Draft version This version's date is: 27/01/2007 This item is peer reviewed
https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/a85fd583-9329-4a8d-a74c-c00b4f12fd4f/1/
Deposited by Al Dean (ZSRA118) on 23-Mar-2010 in Royal Holloway Research Online.Last modified on 04-Jan-2011
(C) 2007 Blackwell Publishing, whose permission to mount this version for private study and research is acknowledged. The repository version is the author's final draft.
ATD Fourth World (2005) Getting the Right Trainers: Enabling Service Users to train social work students and practitioners about the realities of family poverty in the UK. ATD Fourth World, London.
Audit Commission (2002) Recruitment and Retention: A Public Service Workforce for the Twenty-first Century. Audit Commission, London.
Banks, S. (1995) Ethics and Values in Social Work. Macmillan, London.
Bell, M. (2002) Promoting children's rights through the use of relationship. Child and Family Social Work, 7, 1-11.
Beresford, P. & Croft, S. (2004) Service users and Practitioners Reunited: The Key Component for Social Work Reform. British Journal of Social Work, 34, 53-68.
Bostock, L., Bairstow, S., Fish, S. & Macleod, F. (2005) Managing Risk and Minimising Mistakes in Services to Children and Families. SCIE, London.
Brandon, M., Lewis, A., Thoburn. J. & Way, A., (1999) Safeguarding Children with the Children Act 1989. The Stationery Office, London.
Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work (CCETSW) (2000) Assuring Quality for Child Care Social Work. CCETSW, London.
Cleaver, H., Walker, S., with Meadows, P. (2003) Assessing Children's Needs and Circumstances: The Impact of the Assessment Framework. Jessica Kingsley, London.
Cooper, A. (2005) Surface and Depth in the Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report. Child and Family Social Work, 10, 1-9.
Cooper, A., Hetherington, H. & Katz, I. (2003) The Risk Factor: Making the child protection system work for children. Demos, London.
Coote, A., Allen, J. & Woodhead, D. (2004) Finding Out What Works: Building knowledge about complex, community-based initiatives. Kings Fund, London.Denney, D. (2005) Risk and Society. Sage, London.
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2003) Every Child Matters Green Paper. The Stationery Office, London.
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2004) Every Child Matters: Change for Children. The Stationery Office, London.
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2005) Children's Workforce Strategy - Consultation Document. The Stationery Office, London.
Department of Health (DH) (1995) Child Protection: Messages from Research. HMSO, London.
Department of Health (DH) (1998a) The Government's Response to the Children's Safeguards Review. The Stationery Office, London.
Department of Health (DH) (1998b) Modernising Social Services. The Stationery Office, London.
Department of Health (DH) (2000) Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families. The Stationery Office, London.
Department of Health (DH) (2001) Children Act Now: Messages from Research. The Stationery Office, London.
Dingwall, R., Eekelaar, J. & Murray, T. (1995) The Protection of Children: State intervention and family life (2nd edition). Avebury, Aldershot.
Dreyfus, H., & Rabinow, P. (1982) Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Harvester Wheatsheaf, London.
Eborall, C. (2005) The State of the Social Care Workforce 2004. Skills for Care, Leeds.
Evans, T. and Harris, J. (2004) Street-Level Bureaucracy, Social Work and the (Exaggerated) Death of Discretion. British Journal of Social Work, 34, 871-895.
Gupta, A. (2002) Sacrificed for Targets? Community Care, 25/4/02
Houston, S. & Knox, S. (2004) Exploring Workforce Retention in Child and Family Social Work: Critical social theory, social pedagogy and action research. Social Work and Social Services Review, 11(2), 36 - 53.
Howe, D. (1992) Child Abuse and the Bureaucratisation of Social Work. Sociological Review, 40 (3), 491 -508.
Laming, H. (2003) The Report of the Inquiry into the Death of Victoria Climbie. The Stationery Office, London.
London Borough of Greenwich (1987) A Child in Mind: Protection of Children in a Responsible Society. Report of the commission of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Kimberley Carlisle. London Borough of Greenwich.
Mason, P., Morris, K. & Smith, P. (2005) A Complex Solution to a Complicated Problem? Early Messages from the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund Prevention Programme. Children & Society,19(2), 131 - 142.
Munro, E. (2004) The Impact of Audit on Social Work Practice. British Journal of Social Work, 34, 1077-1097.
Pallot, J. (1999) Service Delivery: The Audit Dimension. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 58, 43-9
Parton, N. (2005) Risk Advanced Liberalism and Child Welfare. In: Child Welfare and Social Policy: An essential reader. (ed. H. Hendrick), pp.127 -142, The Policy Press, Bristol.
Quinton, D. (2004) Supporting Parents: Messages from Research. Jessica Kingsley, London.
Reder, P. & Duncan, S. (2004) Making the Most of the Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report. Child Abuse Review, 13(2), 95 -114.
Rolfe, H. (2005) Building a Stable Workforce: Recruitment and Retention in the Child Care and Early Years Sector. Children & Society, 19, 54-65.
Rustin, M. (2005) Conceptual Analysis of Critical Moments in Victoria Climbie's Life Child and Family Social Work, 10, 11- 19.
Sellick, C., Thoburn, J. & Philpot, T. (2004) What Works in Adoption and Foster Care? Barnados, London.
The Bridge Consultancy (1995) Paul: Death Through Neglect. The Bridge Consultancy Services, London.
Tilbury, C. (2004) The Influence of Performance Measurement on child welfare policy and practice British Journal of Social Work, 34, 225 - 241.
Training Organisation for the Personal Social Services (TOPSS) (2000) National Occupational Standards for Child care at Post Qualifying Level. TOPSS, London.
Tunstill, J., Allnock, D., Akhurst, S. & Garbers, C. (2005) Sure Start Local Programmes: Implications of Case Study Data from National Evaluation of Sure Start. Children & Society, 19(2), 158 - 171.
Utting, W. (1997) People Like Us: The Report Of The Review Of The Safeguards For Children Living Away From Home, HMSO, London.
Wagner, R., van Reyk, P. & Spence, N. (2001) Improving the Working Environment for Workers in Children's Welfare Agencies Child & Family Social Work, 6, 161 - 178.
Webb, C (2001) Where are we heading? An examination of the perceptions of child care social workers about their daily tasks in the light of two opposing paradigms: the task centred approach and the approach based on therapeutic relationships. Unpublished Masters Dissertation, Queens University Belfast.