Children's, Young People's and Parents' Perspectives on Contact: Findings from the Evaluation of Social Work Practices

Larkins, Cath; Ridley, Julie; Farrelly, Nicola; Austerberry, Helen; Bilson, Andy; Hussein, Shereen; Manthorpe, Jill; Stanley, Nicky

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bct135

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The evaluation of pilot SWPs adopted a matched control design employing mixed methods (Wiggins et al 2009) to evaluate process and outcomes (both organizational and individual), as recommended when evaluating government pilots (Jowell 2003).The study collected qualitative and quantitative data from the five operational pilot SWPs in England (six were originally planned), their host local authorities (i.e. those local authorities commissioning SWPs) and six com-parison local authorities matched with the host local authorities on key criteria (see Stanley et al 2012a).…”

Section: E T H O D O L O G Ymentioning

confidence: 99%

Investing in the relationship: practitioners’ relationships with looked‐after children and care leavers in Social Work Practices

Ridley

Larkins

Farrelly

et al. 2013

Child & Family Social Work

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A B S T R AC TProviding more consistent and continuous relationships for lookedafter children and care leavers is a current preoccupation in social work in light of many criticisms of the quality of such relationships. Recommendations for more direct work have spurred new models of service delivery in children's services aimed at improving individual outcomes. Independent Social Work Practices (SWPs), a new organizational model piloted in some areas of England between 2009 and 2012, were established to enable social workers and other practitioners to spend more time in direct work and thus to improve the practitioner/child/young person relationship. This paper uses findings from interviews with 169 children and young people across 11 local authorities and 5 SWPs, undertaken as part of a 3-year national matched control evaluation of pilot SWPs, to identify key elements of good quality practitioner relationships with children or young people. Focusing on children's and young people's perspectives and experiences, the study demonstrates that more direct work and consistent relationships are valued. The paper deploys Recognition Theory to further understanding of effective practice as defined by children and young people.

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Section: E T H O D O L O G Ymentioning

confidence: 99%

Investing in the relationship: practitioners’ relationships with looked‐after children and care leavers in Social Work Practices

Ridley

Larkins

Farrelly

et al. 2013

Child & Family Social Work

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“…Achieving satisfaction with contact for all involves a delicate balance of a child's right to actively participate in decision-making about their contact with their right to be kept safe and have stability. However involving children and indeed their parents in decision making can lead to safety and stability over time if social workers take the time to build and maintain relationships with children and their families (Larkins et al, 2015).…”

Section: The Child At the Centre Of The Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children enter care at varying ages for a wide variety of reasons, and reside in a range of placements, but their primary needs are broadly similar. While much of the research and professional literature has focused on the need for state care to provide children with a sense of stability, security and love (Rees & Stein, 2016), there is a growing awareness of the need to promote children's sense of identity (Schofield et al, 2017) and pre-existing relationships with parents, siblings and significant others (Larkins et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting Contact for Children in State Care: Learning from Northern Ireland on the Development of a Framework for Assessing Contact

Wilson¹,

Devaney

2017

Child Care in Practice

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While the principle of contact between children in care and their families is enshrined in law, the precise form and frequency is at the discretion of social workers and the courts. Professionals must seek to balance the twin principles of children's need for protection from the psychological, emotional and physical harm that may arise from having contact with parents and other family members, with the need of family members and children to have their relationships and identity promoted. Courts require clear, structured and unambiguous information about the needs of children and their parents in order make decisions which will have potentially life changing implications for families. In this article we explore one approach to supporting the decision making of legal and social work professionals in relation to the frequency and form of contact by reflecting upon the development by the first author of an approach to assessing the quality and benefits of contact for children in State care in Northern Ireland. We discuss the key principles that should inform decisions and good practice through reflecting on the learning gained from developing and implementing such a structured approach. We conclude that practice has been informed by promoting legal rights without sufficient consideration of the relational aspects of making contact work for each of the involved parties

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“…; Kiraly & Humphreys ; Larkins et al . ; López & Del Valle ; Morrison et al . ; Vanschoonlandt et al .…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

“…Foster children and adolescents often display psychological and behaviour problems Van Holen et al 2015), and more specifically, this also occurs in kinship foster children (Bernedo 2004;Jiménez & Palacios 2008). Many authors underscore the difficulties of kinship care deriving from the relationship between the caregivers and the children's parents, and conflict regarding contact Hunt et al 2010;Kiraly & Humphreys 2013;Larkins et al 2013;López & Del Valle 2016;Morrison et al 2011;Vanschoonlandt et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contact between birth parents and children in kinship care in a sample from Spain

León

Morago

Muñoz-Silva

2016

Child & Family Social Work

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Within the context of kinship care, the main objectives of this work are to study the characteristics of contact between foster children and their birth parents, and their relationship with key variables of fostering, the children and their kinship caregivers. The sample included 189 children from Spain and their kinship families. A semi‐structured placement interview and two scales relating to the child–caregiver relationship and child's psychological adjustment were used with the kinship families. The results revealed a significant percentage of foster children who had no family contact. Various visit types, frequencies and durations were described. Kinship care with contact, compared with placements without contact, was frequently characterized by the absence of professional supervision, and an affectionate child–caregiver relationship; moreover, children with contact were perceived to have fewer serious behaviour and socio‐emotional problems and a greater probability of family reunification. The regression analysis showed that the main predictors for how caregivers assessed contact were the children's emotional reaction during visits and the quality of the relationship between the kinship families and the birth parents. These results suggest the need for further research about contact, which will certainly have a major impact on professional intervention with these families.

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Children's, Young People's and Parents' Perspectives on Contact: Findings from the Evaluation of Social Work Practices

Cited by 17 publications

References 14 publications

Investing in the relationship: practitioners’ relationships with looked‐after children and care leavers in Social Work Practices

Investing in the relationship: practitioners’ relationships with looked‐after children and care leavers in Social Work Practices

Promoting Contact for Children in State Care: Learning from Northern Ireland on the Development of a Framework for Assessing Contact

Contact between birth parents and children in kinship care in a sample from Spain

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