'White knuckle care work' : violence, gender and new public management in the voluntary sector

Drawing on comparative data from Canada and Scotland, this article explores reasons why violence is tolerated in non-profit care settings. This article will provide insights into how workers' orientations to work, the desire to care and the intrinsic rewards from working in a non-profit context interact with the organization of work and managerially constructed workplace norms and cultures (Burawoy, 1979) to offset the tensions in an environment characterized by scarce resources and poor working conditions. This article will also outline how the same environment of scarce resources causes strains in management's efforts to establish such cultures. Working with highly excluded service users with problems that do not respond to easy interventions, workers find themselves working at the edge of their endurance, hanging on by their fingernails, and beginning to participate in various forms of resistance; suggesting that even among the most highly committed, 'white knuckle care' may be unsustainable

No sign of harm : issues for disabled children communicating about abuse

While all children may be the victims of abuse, disabled children are particularly vulnerable. This paper explores the views of professionals working with children using alternative/augmented communication systems on the issues relating to communication about abuse. Interviews were carried out with 20 staff from eight establishments for disabled children across Scotland. It describes the range of alternative/augmented communication systems used and the barriers to communication about abuse. Staff generally accepted the importance of providing the appropriate vocabulary in augmented communication systems, but systems that provide such vocabulary were not widely used. Staff considered that a major difficulty concerned the level of understanding disabled children might have about concepts of abuse. They were unsure how the appropriate vocabulary could be introduced in a natural way and how links could be made between the signs and their meanings. Staff saw themselves as those most able to protect the children, but it was felt that discovery of abuse was more likely to come from them noticing physical signs, behaviour or mood changes than from the child communicating explicitly about abuse. The need for appropriate training and increased coordination between social work, health and education is highlighted

Hold on: physical restraint in residential child care

Guidance for developing best practice, policy and improved outcomes for children and young people in residential child care. Children in residential care can exhibit disturbed and violent behaviour which can result in them being aggressive to themselves and to others. Over many years practitioners, managers and policy-makers have tried to find ways of dealing with children whose behaviour is dangerous with a range of interventions such as crisis intervention and crisis de-escalation, as well as the use of sanctions such as restricting leisure activities and control of pocket money. There has also been some debate about the use of physical restraint by residential child care staff when the child or those around him or her need to be protected from the child's aggression without hurting or humiliating the child

Raising Sex Trafficking Awareness Among School Nurses

Sex trafficking, a type of human trafficking, has become a public health concern. Sex trafficking is taking place on a large scale in the United States. Children in the United States are at greatest risk. Raising the awareness of healthcare providers about sex trafficking is imperative. An unsung hero that may hold the keys to this awareness in the healthcare profession is the school nurse. The school nurse is trained in many areas, and upholds practice standards, but sex trafficking is not currently included in their repertoire. As nurses, they already hold a trusted position. With education, proper resources, and updated practice standards, the school nurse could be at the forefront of eliminating the untoward effects of sex trafficking among children in the United States

Child abuse, child protection and disabled children : a review of recent research

This paper reports the results of a scoping study which reviewed research about child abuse, child protection and disabled children published in academic journals between 1996 - 2009. The review was conducted using a five stage method for scoping studies. Several studies have revealed a strong association between disability and child maltreatment, indicating that disabled children are significantly more likely to experience abuse than their non-disabled peers. Those with particular impairments are at increased risk. There is evidence that the interaction of age, gender and/or socio-cultural factors with impairment results in different patterns of abuse to those found among non-disabled children although the reasons for this require further examination. It appears that therapeutic services and criminal justice systems often fail to take account of disabled children's needs and heightened vulnerability. In Britain, little is known about what happens to disabled children who have been abused and how well safeguarding services address their needs. Very few studies have sought disabled children's own accounts of abuse or safeguarding. Considerable development is required, at both policy and practice level, to ensure that disabled children's right to protection is upheld. The paper concludes by identifying a number of aspects of the topic requiring further investigation

The emotional organisation : passions and power

There can be little doubt that emotion has come of age in organization studies. Over the past two decades it has emerged from the margins of the field to become a legitimate sub-discipline that engages with, and deeply informs contemporary conceptions of managerial work. Few scholars have contributed more to this mainstreaming than Stephen Fineman, who has consistently championed a social understanding of emotions as both a constructed product and a constituent aspect of the emotional arenas in which they arise. This latest collection of essays richly demonstrates the maturity that this sub-discipline has now achieved. The book is threaded through with critical perspectives on emotion work that explore issues of power and voice through the lenses of postmodern, poststructuralist, and postemotional critiques. These multi-faceted analyses will be warmly welcomed by those organizational researchers who take seriously the view that emotions are here to stay

'Nae too bad': job satisfaction and staff morale in Scottish residential child care

In 2003, the National Children's Bureau and the Social Education Trust published a report - Better Than You Think -on staff morale, qualifications and retention in residential child care in England (Mainey, 2003a; Mainey, 2003b). It found that levels of morale and job satisfaction were not low despite the adverse environment in which residential care operates. Residential care in the modern world is intended to be mainly a temporary placement for some of the most demanding young people who need to be looked after and accommodated. The sector also continues to struggle with the aftermath of a number of high profile public inquiries of the abuse of children and young people in residential care (Kent, 1997; Marshall, Jamieson & Finlayson, 1999; Utting, 1997; Waterhouse, 2000). Residential child care in Scotland is under pressure to improve standards of care in a climate of negative media attention and public suspicion. It was in this context that the Social Education Trust funded a parallel study of job satisfaction and staff morale in Scotland (Milligan, Kendrick & Avan, 2004)

Exploring the perceptions of staff towards children and young people living in community-based children's homes

This article examines the perceptions of staff working in community-based children's homes. Data from interviews with staff, using the repertory grid technique, are analysed and presented in the form of a case study. Particular consideration is given to the child-worker relationship and how it might affect the quality of care provided. The findings are selected from a doctoral study and suggest that despite significant changes in the residential sector, many staff feel powerless to address the real issues and problems affecting children. Rather than confront the realities of the situation and implement strategies that empower staff, it would appear that current developments in social work continue to de-prioritize the needs of children. The authors argue that a fundamental change in residential care is needed if social work is to meet the needs of many of the most vulnerable children in society

Safer recruitment? protecting children, improving practice in residential child care

In the wake of a number of high-profile cases of the abuse of children and young people in residential child care, there have been repeated calls for the improvement of recruitment and selection of residential child care staff. This paper describes the findings from a survey, undertaken in 2005, of operational and human resource managers who have responsibility for the recruitment and selection of residential child care staff in the voluntary and statutory sectors in Scotland. This research was commissioned by the Scottish Executive to identify which elements of safer recruitment procedures had been implemented following the countrywide launch of a Toolkit for Safer Recruitment Practice in 2001. Research findings show that although local authorities were more likely than voluntary organisations to have gone some way toward implementing safer recruitment procedures, the recruitment process lacked rigour and commitment to safer procedures in some organisations. The article discusses the current barriers to the introduction of safer recruitment methods and proposes some possible solutions for the future