Family participation in child protection

Abstract

The paper summarizes a Department of Health funded research study of the extent to which parents and children were involved in the child protection work of seven English social services departments. The child protection process and the social work practice with a cohort of 220 consecutive cases is described for the period before the initial conference and the 6 months following it. The authors draw on interview data from parents, young people and social workers and on social work records to assess whether the process and practice were participatory and the extent to which family members were actually involved in the decisions and the work. They concluded that there was benefit for parents and children in attempts to involve them, even thought only 3% of 378 family members were rated as partners in the protection process and a further 13% were rated as participating to a considerable extent. There was a statistically significant association between the participation of family members and the interim outcomes for the parents and children being rated by the researchers as good or moderately good.

Exploring the Experiences of Parents and Carers whose Children Have Been Subject to Child Protection Plans

“…They further suggest that the treatment a family receives is likely to determine the extent to which the family will co-operate with the agencies, and that the quality of the families' experience may well be an influential factor in the ability of agencies to adequately monitor the well being of vulnerable children. Thoburn, Lewis and Shemmings (1995), in their extensive study of social work practice found that half the parents in child protection cases thought that they were helped or supported by their social worker. It was rare for family members to be involved in decisions about registration, protection plans and help offered, although more parents (about two fifths) were informed or consulted.…”

“…Studies focusing on ethnicity rather than child protection (Thoburn et al (1995); Thoburn, Chand and Proctor (2005); Quereshi et al (2000)) have found that black and ethnic minority families have generally coped no worse than white families; deprivation and income levels and standards of housing tend to be more powerful variables than ethnicity. However, there is agreement that families new to the UK found child protection systems confusing and anxiety provoking.…”

‘You've got to trust her and she's got to trust you’: children's views on participation in the child protection system

“…Codes were developed inductively working from the data (Braun & Clarke 2006). However, inevitably researchers drew upon background knowledge of existing typologies of participation (Arnstein 1969;Hart 1992;Thoburn et al 1995;Shier 2001;Thomas 2002) One researcher initially read through the entire set of transcripts noting down initial ideas and developing codes. Then three researchers each coded the same three transcripts to refine the codes.…”

Parental participation at child protection case conferences: An evaluation of practice in north and west belfast

“…(31) argue that parents' access to reports is especially important as it assists them to prepare their contribution t o t h e conference. As noted, a number of parents in this research did not see reports until just before the conference or until they were actually in the conference room and therefore did not have adequate time to prepare a response to them.…”