Explicit Argumentation as a Supervisory Tool for Decision Making in Child Protection Cases Involving Human Rights Issues

Clinical Supervision in Child Protection Practice: A Review of the Literature

“…Furthermore, clinical supervision is regarded a safe environment for practitioners to share the frequently chaotic nature of child protection practice as well as the typically highly charged emotions (Bartoli & Kennedy, 2015). The family assessment process is conceptualized on administrative terms (as opposed to biopsychosocial), where supervisors provide directions about how the practitioners should state a claim, report the grounds or evidence for this particular claim, justify the relationship that exists between the claim and the evidence, employ evidence to support the claim, rebut the claim, and report additional evidence to support the claim (Duffy, 2011). Finally, any parental criminal activity or parental substance abuse is disconnected from the mental health state of the parents (Hunt et al, 2016).…”

“…The emotions of the practitioners are conceptualized as networks of social transactions that produce public displays and make practitioners feel looked after (Saltiel, 2017). Also, human rights considerations are expected to assist practitioners to make decisions on competing ethical and moral demands (Duffy, 2011).…”

“…In line with the solution-focused brief therapy model, the supervisor asks supervisees to think about the least intrusive measures in their work with parents and stresses the importance of realistic goal negotiations on the assumption that the parents have some knowledge about what would make their life better (Duffy, 2011). In fact, demonstration of trust, collaboration, joint accountability, honesty, openness, and nonjudgmental attitude are believed to cocreate and maintain a “safe” supervisory relationship, within which the supervisor is experienced as trustworthy and predictable after elaborating on issues of power, gender, culture, and difference.…”

Reducing Child Protection Error in Social Work: Towards a Holistic-Rational Perspective

“…Social workers must additionally reflect on the ethical dilemmas inherent in safeguarding the welfare of children and families (Lonne et al, 2009). Rational inquiry into these areas must, furthermore, be commmunicated effectively through explicit argumentation (Duffy, 2011). Reder and Duncan (2004) capture this notion of an holistic appropriation of rationality by arguing that, 'different permutations of reasoning and different types of information are required, depending on context, so that an integration is needed' (p. 109).…”