Squaring another circle in policy and practice: Personalization and adult safeguarding

Abstract

AbstractAdult social care policy and practice in England have been dominated by two competing imperatives, namely personalization and safeguarding. They have largely followed parallel tracks, with practitioners and managers, service users, and care-givers having to manage the complex interface between choice, autonomy, risk, and protection. Not surprisingly, practice approaches have shown considerable variation towards service users with and without decision-making capacity, with respect to their choices about risk. Levels of legal knowledge among practitioners and managers have also been patchy, introducing additional uncertainty about how to approach complex cases where empowerment principles appear to clash with safe, protective outcomes. This paper considers the research evidence on outcomes of current policies on personalization and adult safeguarding, and reviews proposals in the Care Bill for reform of this key area of policy and practice. The paper concludes with implications for practitioners and...