16 research outputs found
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Innovation still needed? Service user participation in social care services and practice-led management
This paper considers the extent to which the empowerment of service users to participate in, or become active in, the management of care services is possible without further innovation in the way services are delivered and structured. Can such innovations be successful within bureaucratic and target driven environments? To what extent can leadership based on social work and care values be part of management? Can service user voice about the management of services be sustained beyond tokenism and, if so, how? It concludes that committed and innovative management is needed and that inevitably the pivotal person may well be the first line manager
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Creative connections: Parenting capacity, reading with children and practitioners assessment and intervention
This paper presents some findings from a study of the views of 33 parents from a diversity of backgrounds with children between 0 and 12. Twenty-two parents were using family support services. They were asked about their views on 'parenting capacity' based on the dimensions of The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families (Department of Health et al.) which are now incorporated into the Common Assessment Framework used in Every Child Matters (Department for Education and Skills). They were also asked about reading with their children and how this enhanced their parenting capacities. Their responses were analysed using the parenting capacity dimensions of The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and Their Families. It became apparent that this common activity (parent/child reading) contributed much to children's development and to the quality of the child/parent relationship. It also enhanced parenting capacity as described in the parenting capacity dimensions. This paper presents that part of the findings which illustrates the creative connections that exist between the activity of parents and children reading together and the parenting capacity dimensions social workers use in assessment and intervention. These findings are relevant to practitioners working within current policy and practice agendas in children's services, which promote multidisciplinary working and non-stigmatizing assessments and interventions
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Enhancing outcomes through children’s literature
This article considers how child outcomes can be improved through parent/child reading. The article suggests that while this process is well understood in education, it may be overlooked by other child welfare professionals. The article argues that practitioners can utilize this process when assessing and intervening with children in need and looked after children. It draws from aliterature review and empirical study and summarizes some key findin gs
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Parenting capacity and reading with children: enhancing the assessment framework for children in need and their families.
This thesis draws together two strands of thinking to consider their usefulness, when combined, to vulnerable children, their parents and practitioners who work in children's services. One strand conceptualises the abilities and qualities required by a parent to respond to children's developmental needs, as summarised by the term 'parenting capacity', in the psychological and social work literature which underpins assessment and intervention frameworks for practitioners. The second strand is the psychological and educational literature which considers the contribution of reading children's books to child development and the benefits to child-parent relationships of reading together. Both literatures draw from common knowledge, informed from research into the developmental needs of children and the abilities parents need to raise them. There is also contemporary research and scholarship which interprets the relevance of this heritage in contemporary cultural contexts. To add to and link these understandings, this study explores and discusses the views of 33 contemporary parents. Their views on both what makes for a good parent and the benefits of reading with children were gathered. The parents' views were analysed within the paradigm of the parenting capacity dimensions of The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families, published as government guidance to practitioners in 2000 (Department of Health et al. 2000), which remains relevant to children's services in 2006. The use of this framework which draws mainly from one of the strands of literature that is explored (psychological and social work) means that the second strand of thinking (psychological and education) can be brought into the framework and relevant connections and comparisons made, in order to enhance the understanding of parenting capacity contained there. The study concludes by considering how the findings from this analysis have relevance to child welfare practice in contemporary contexts
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Active service user involvement in human services: lessons from practice
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Managing care and joined up thinking in the curriculum
This paper discusses the curriculum development of a level three undergraduate course in managing care. It was produced and is presented by The Open University. The course is aimed at frontline managers in health and social care. The course team made consultation with service users, carers and managers a priority in developing the curriculum. The paper discusses this consultation process and the learning gained from it. A major contribution was to clarify debates about how far the course should have one core curriculum and how far it should offer specialist options for managers in different settings. Service users and carers had strong views on the need for better co-ordination of services and recognition of individual needs rather than divisions into service-led categories. Managers stressed the importance of reflecting the reality of frontline management. This helped the course team to develop a framework that stresses the commonality in the work and the importance of 'practice-led' management. Service users and managers were involved as critical readers of course texts to ensure that the consultation process continued through the course development. A second strand is the need for the course to be accessible to those not yet in management positions, and extracts from an interactive CD-ROM which presents case study material demonstrate the innovative joined up and accessible approach taken to student learning needs
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Parenting and the Harry Potter stories: a social care perspective
This paper analyses the capacities of the parents in the Harry Potter stories, written by J. K. Rowling, from a social care perspective. It argues that there is a synergy between what the social sciences have discovered about 'good enough parenting' and the insights that can be gathered from entering the imaginative world of literature. This is illustrated by a discussion of the qualities of the parents and parent substitutes in the four books published between 1997 and 2000. It concludes that fictional experiences of childhood create empathy in the reader and enable us to confront the need for imagination as parents and practitioners, while the social sciences keep knowledge grounded and evidenced
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An exploration of how some tutors use learning materials to enable student social workers to link theory to practice while learning in the workplace
This paper reports on the outcomes of a study day, which was held using an appreciative inquiry approach, to explore the way students on a social work applied practice course were linking the learning about theories and methods with their work in their practice learning opportunity. The course tutors who took part in the day shared the methods they had used successfully to enhance student learning in this area. The paper identifies these successful methods and also considers barriers to learning and overcoming them. The other main areas discussed are: working with resistance; reflection on the self; building confidence; case studies and scenarios; agency climates and individual student factors. The paper concludes with a discussion of the barriers and opportunities for theorising about practice in managerial climates