Journal of Childrens Services最新文献

{"title":"COVID and the club: conversations with Boys & Girls Club leaders on providing services during the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"T. Prochnow, M. Patterson, M. R. Umstattd Meyer","doi":"10.1108/jcs-10-2021-0039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcs-10-2021-0039","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCs) provide numerous avenues for youth to connect, be physically active and have healthy meals/snacks. These services are often provided to low-income families at reduced cost to bridge the gap in after school and summer childcare. However, many of these clubs were forced to dramatically change their services during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine how 13 BGCs in Texas, USA, experienced COVID-19 and persevered to provide services.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Interviews were conducted with 16 BGC leaders from 13 different BGCs. Open-ended questions were used to elicit leaders’ experiences with the pandemic, services their clubs were able to offer, barriers overcome and supports crucial to their ability to serve their communities. Thematic analysis was used to generate findings from these interviews.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000BGC services changed significantly during the pandemic. Normal activities were no longer possible; however, leaders (alongside their communities) continually provided services for their families. Further, leaders reiterated the power of the community coming together in support of their families.\u0000\u0000\u0000Social implications\u0000While BGC leaders had to adapt services, they found ways to reach families and serve their community. These adaptations can have dramatic impacts on the social and physical well-being of children in their communities. Learning from this adversity can improve services as clubs start to build back.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This study provides vital context to the changing care and setting children were exposed to during the pandemic response. Additionally, these results provide understanding of the adaptations that took place in these services.\u0000","PeriodicalId":45244,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Childrens Services","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45838157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Revisiting social workers in schools (SWIS) – making the case for safeguarding in context and the potential for reach","authors":"Jennifer Rafter","doi":"10.1108/jcs-04-2021-0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcs-04-2021-0015","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Recently, there have been renewed calls to place social workers in schools. Although these are not unchartered waters, contextual understandings of safeguarding have reaffirmed the centrality of schools in the lives of young people and keeping them safe. Yet, schools can only do so much to support young people. Safeguarding practice reviews continue to highlight the shortcomings of contextless assessment. This paper aims to make the case for a broader approach to safeguarding practice by placing social workers in schools.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000A scoping review was undertaken to elicit social workers in schools (SWIS) literature from the UK, as well as international examples. Keyword searches revealed a lack of consensus on shared/agreement terminology for SWIS. The literature was organised thematically, as a mechanism to open up the extent, range and nature of research activity in relation to SWIS.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Findings are presented in three themes: misunderstandings of SWIS – what do they actually do?; micro versus macro interventions; and the concept of reach.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000The main implications of this study are to sharpen the focus on the centrality of schools in the lives of children and young people; to expand school-based initiatives as a way to reach young people at risk; to re-centre practice to local, community orientation with an emphasis on early help; and to bring together pockets of good practice and learn from successful partnership models.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000Little attempt has been made to contemplate the past and present and rethread school-based initiatives. There is an absence of attention afforded to the theoretical foundations of SWIS. This paper identifies a gap in interest from the early iterations of SWIS, with a recent upsurgence in attention.\u0000","PeriodicalId":45244,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Childrens Services","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49612512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A synthesis of contextual safeguarding and commonly used child safeguarding theoretical models and approaches","authors":"Nhlanganiso Nyathi","doi":"10.1108/jcs-02-2022-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcs-02-2022-0008","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This paper aims to argue that contextual safeguarding complements existing theoretical models and approaches. Its successful integration with dominant thinking and practice in safeguarding potentially offers new insights to improve system-wide practice.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000A theory synthesis design was used to purposively identify, summarise and compare selected safeguarding theoretical models and approaches to establish both convergence and divergence.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The arguments provided in this paper suggest that synthesising theory offers a confluence of perspectives that promise to develop a more eclectic and holistic approach to safeguarding practice. The paper demonstrates how contextual safeguarding can be integrated with existing theoretical models and approaches.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000This is a conceptual paper and therefore is not based on empirical data.\u0000\u0000\u0000Practical implications\u0000This paper's conceptual insights include that integrating contextual safeguarding with existing theoretical models and approaches can broaden the knowledge base to whole system-wide safeguarding practice in the UK. The paper also confirms that the methodology used is feasible, although more work is required to test its efficacy on a larger scale. The conceptual paper argues for synthesis of contextual safeguarding and commonly used child safeguarding theoretical models and approaches to deal with both intra and extra familial forms of risk of harm to children effectively.\u0000\u0000\u0000Social implications\u0000The neglect and abuse of children is a topical issue; hence, this paper has social implications regarding understanding of how the issue child abuse and neglect in the UK and globally should be dealt with.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000There is a dearth of studies that have gone beyond binary comparisons of contextual safeguarding and other theoretical models and approaches, which leaves a significant knowledge gap that has prompted the purpose of this paper.\u0000","PeriodicalId":45244,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Childrens Services","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44279526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Care leaver’s outcomes in Ireland: the role of social capital","authors":"P. Mullan","doi":"10.1108/jcs-05-2021-0023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcs-05-2021-0023","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This paper aims to explore the outcomes experienced by young people leaving care in Ireland today through the theoretical lens of social capital.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This paper presents selected qualitative data and its analysis that was gathered through a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews with three key informants (care leavers). In gathering interview data, the Biographic-Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) was selected, as it allowed the research participants a great deal of autonomy in recounting significant events from their own lives.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000In drawing upon the lived experience of these care leavers, this work will discuss how their in-care and post-care experiences shaped their exposure to and development of sources of social capital, which in turn proved to be a significant factor in shaping their in-care and post-care outcomes.\u0000\u0000\u0000Social implications\u0000Care leavers remain systemically disadvantaged in comparison to young people who have not been in care. Research has shown that children in care and care leavers are often disadvantaged educationally and experience higher rates of homelessness, unemployment and social isolation. This paper discusses the role of “social capital”, i.e. relationships that provide access to social and material resources and opportunities, in shaping care leavers exposure to and experience of these disadvantages.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000To the best of the author’s knowledge, this work is the first in the Irish context to draw on the concept of social capital to explore its role in shaping the in-care and post-care experiences of care leavers in Ireland.\u0000","PeriodicalId":45244,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Childrens Services","volume":"331 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41257301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From care packages to Zoom cookery classes: youth work during the COVID-19 “lockdown”","authors":"Aileen Shaw, Bernadine Brady, P. Dolan","doi":"10.1108/jcs-06-2021-0027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcs-06-2021-0027","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This paper aims to explore the experience of one large Irish youth work organisation, Foróige, to measures introduced during the initial phase of COVID-19 in 2020. In the face of the unprecedented crisis including the closure of schools and curtailment of many youth services, this paper examines how the organisation responded and adapted its service offering.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 senior managers and youth officers in Foróige to explore their perspectives on the organisation’s response. Participants were purposively sampled from across the operational management functions and also from regional levels and youth workers engaging in work “on the ground”.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Shifting from a face-to -face, relationship-based to a distanced mode of engagement with young people, colleagues and volunteers required significant adaptation of Foróige’s service model. Innovation took place both in the delivery platform and fundamentally, in its service orientation. The accelerated move to online youth work brought about by the pandemic enabled the organisation to embrace and learn from the challenges and opportunities posed by digital technology. Responding to the immediate and tangible needs of young people in receipt of services, staff found themselves working with families at the more basic levels of intervention.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This paper provides new insights into the nature of non-profit service innovation during a time of unprecedented crisis management. It highlights characteristics of organisational agility that can assist organisations in managing crises, while also pointing the way towards a more flexible operating model for youth work service delivery.\u0000","PeriodicalId":45244,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Childrens Services","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43366125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Children’s participation in practice: comparing the views of managers and practitioners in an early intervention and prevention programme","authors":"E. Tierney, Leonor Rodríguez, Danielle Kennan, C. Devaney, Bernadine Brady, J. Canavan, Cormac Forkan, A. Cassidy, P. Malone, Caroline McGregor","doi":"10.1108/jcs-04-2021-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcs-04-2021-0014","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Participation is the active involvement of children and young people in decision-making regarding issues that affect their lives. It is crucial in the context of child protection and welfare systems and how they respond to the needs of children and young people. The purpose of this paper is to report on the evaluation of child and family participation in an early intervention and prevention programme implemented by the Irish Child and Family Agency. It provides an analysis of a comprehensive, “whole organization” approach to understand how participation is embedded in policy and practice.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This paper reports on a comparative qualitative case study of the perspectives of managers and practitioners about participation practice, identifying the facilitators and barriers, as well as their perspectives of the sustainability of participation within the agency and its partners. The authors draw on two complementary, theoretically informed studies evaluating participatory practice within the Agency using qualitative interviews with participants.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Overall, managers and practitioners had a positive attitude towards participation and identified examples of best practices. Facilitators included training, access to resources and the quality of relationships. Challenges for meaningful participation remain, such as the need to engage, hard to reach populations. Differences were identified regarding how embedded and sustainable participation was.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This paper provides a critical understanding of participation in practice and how to embed a culture of participation in child protection and welfare.\u0000","PeriodicalId":45244,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Childrens Services","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41327241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“Sometimes I feel at home” adolescents’ narratives of everyday life in residential care","authors":"Marianne Buen Sommerfeldt","doi":"10.1108/jcs-12-2020-0086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcs-12-2020-0086","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000A residential care is home for children who live there and is simultaneously a workplace for employees aiming to safeguard the needs and development of children. Studies have shown that adolescents’ descriptions of life in residential care are connected to feelings of otherness and deviance. The purpose of this study is to explore how adolescents in residential care in Norway relate residential care as a home to their experiences of everyday life in this context and to their relationships with the employees.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This study draws on individual, qualitative interviews with 19 boys and girls (aged 15–18 years) living in residential care homes in Norway. The interviews explored their narratives of everyday life in residential care. The adolescents were encouraged to tell about yesterday and were asked follow-up questions regarding everything that had occurred during encounters with employees. The Norwegian Center for Research Data approved the study.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The analysis shows tensions in the adolescents’ accounts between the institution as an abnormal context and their own subject position as normal. By drawing upon the terms “stigma” and “recognition” in the analysis, the study shows how recognising relationships between the youth and staff decreases the potential to experience stigma.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This study contributes to existing knowledge on social work in residential care. The paper shows how the institutional framework and employees’ practices impact adolescents’ self-understanding and their experiences of residential care as a home.\u0000","PeriodicalId":45244,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Childrens Services","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43059302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"‘I don’t want my face on the front page of The Sun’: the ‘Baby P effect’ as a barrier to social worker discretion","authors":"Ciarán Murphy","doi":"10.1108/jcs-03-2021-0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcs-03-2021-0013","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The backdrop to the Munro Review of Child Protection was a narrative propagated in the British national press, and perpetuated particularly by the then opposition Conservative Party, that the case of “Baby P” evidenced the English child protection system was “failing” and in need of reform. Subsequently, the review asserted that the system had become “over-bureaucratised” and “defensive” at the expense of social worker discretion in the interests of the individual child, highlighting the need for “radical reform”. This paper aims to report on the extent of, and continued barriers to, social worker discretion within the contemporary English child protection.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000As an ethnographic case study of a single English child protection team, the study used a sequential and iterative mixed method design, encompassing observation, document analysis, focus groups, questionnaire, interviews and “Critical Realist Grounded Theory”.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The study found that social worker discretion was continuing to be undermined by the “Baby P effect”; not only in the sense of increasing numbers of children within the system but also by the perpetual fear of being “named”, “blamed” and “shamed”, akin to Peter Connelly’s social workers.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The paper considers how discretion is manifested in contemporary child protection, especially in the context of the “child-centred” system envisaged by the Munro Review. It concludes that the British media and politicians have a continued role to play in reducing the risk associated with the social worker’s discretionary space.\u0000","PeriodicalId":45244,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Childrens Services","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42277042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Indigenous youth transitioning from out-of-home care in Australia: a study of key challenges and effective practice responses","authors":"Philip Mendes, Rachel Standfield, Bernadette J. Saunders, S. McCurdy, J. Walsh, L. Turnbull","doi":"10.1108/jcs-08-2021-0034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcs-08-2021-0034","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This paper aims to report on the findings of a qualitative study that explored the views of 53 service providers assisting Indigenous young people (known in Australia as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth) transitioning from out-of-home care (OOHC) in Australia.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000A qualitative approach was adopted involving semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 53 representatives of state and territory government departments, non-government organisation service providers and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs) across Australia. The project was designed to gain the perspectives of those working within the system and their views on how it interacts with Indigenous care leavers. Interview questions aimed to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the leaving care support systems available to this cohort, as well as the key challenges facing service providers in supporting them. Finally, the study aimed to make recommendations for policy development in this area and identify potential best practice service responses.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The study found that the OOHC service systems continue to fail Indigenous care leavers, their families and communities. Study findings revealed that Indigenous care-leavers face substantial challenges and that the support systems for those leaving OOHC are often culturally insensitive and ineffective. Many Indigenous OOHC leavers lacked the supports they needed to develop safe and ongoing relationships with their traditional Country, family and communities. To promote more positive transitions and outcomes, effective practice responses were identified, including culturally safe programmes and proportional funding for ACCOs to advance greater self-determination.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This research is the first national study in Australia to examine the specific transition from care pathways and experiences of Indigenous young people. The findings add to the limited existing knowledge on Indigenous care leavers globally and should inform practice and policy innovations with this cohort in Australia and beyond.\u0000","PeriodicalId":45244,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Childrens Services","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42994654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Introducing a contextual lens to assessment and intervention for young people who engage in harmful sexual behaviour: an Australian case study","authors":"Susan Rayment-McHugh, D. Adams, Nadine McKillop","doi":"10.1108/jcs-06-2021-0024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcs-06-2021-0024","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Intervention for young people engaging in harmful sexual behaviour has been largely based on individual-level conceptualisations and assessment. Prevention efforts reflect this individual-focus, relying primarily on offender management and justice responses. Risk of sexual abuse, however, is often situated outside the individual, within the broader social and physical systems in which young people are embedded. Lack of recognition for how contextual factors contribute to sexual abuse narrows the focus of prevention and intervention, overlooking the very contexts and circumstances in which this behaviour occurs. This paper aims to demonstrate the utility of contextual practice with young people who sexually harm, and implications for prevention.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000An Australian case study is used to showcase the “why”, “what” and “how” of a contextual approach to assessment and treatment of young people who sexually harm.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Contextual approaches extend the focus of clinical practice beyond the individual to include the physical and social contexts that may contribute to risk. Adding a contextual lens broadens the approach to assessment, affording new opportunities to tailor the intervention to local contextual dynamics, and identifying new targets for primary and secondary prevention.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This is the first known attempt to extend understanding of contextual approaches to clinical assessment and intervention for young people who sexually harm, using a case study method. The case study showcases contextual assessment and intervention processes that challenge traditional thinking and practice in this field. Importantly, the case study also reveals new opportunities for primary and secondary prevention that emerge through this contextual clinical practice.\u0000","PeriodicalId":45244,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Childrens Services","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43303205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}