Parental participation in child protection case conferences

Abstract

Child protection case conferences (CPCCs) are a fundamental part of child protection processes within the United Kingdom. They provide a mechanism for professionals and families to share information, enter an assessment dialogue, and develop a plan for intervention and support. The participation of parents is a core feature of U.K. and Scottish CPCCs. This reflects an international trend that recognizes the rights of family members to participate in the decision‐making processes of child protection. This article reports on the analysis of 11 qualitative interviews with parents who had attended CPCCs in Scotland. The findings highlight that parents were profoundly affected by these meetings, which were experienced as distressing. Parents lacked clarity about the purposes of CPCCs and found the large number of professionals in attendance intimidating. The discursive practices and structural arrangements of CPCCs acted to privilege professional voices and marginalize the voices of parents. The findings of this study raise important questions about parental participation in CPCCs in the contemporary context of child protection practice.

Prisoners' understanding and experiences of parole

“…The release of those convicted of serious crimes undoubtedly has an impact on those who have been affected by them. However, as we have previously argued, notions of participation are contested and not without problem (Jackson et al, 2020). Perhaps for this reason a review of international responses to victim participation in the context of early release concluded that victim participation remains limited (Braun, 2019b) and there is still no consensus as to how victim rights can be upheld in the context of early release proceedings.…”

“…The concept of participation is not, however, unproblematic. The findings of the study by Jackson, Kelly, and Leslie (2020) raise important questions about the extent to which participants can be considered to meaningfully participate in formal legal processes. In the context of parole, tensions exist between the judicial function of the Parole Board and the informed rights‐based discourses of prisoner participation.…”

“…In the context of parole, tensions exist between the judicial function of the Parole Board and the informed rights‐based discourses of prisoner participation. As a consequence of discursive practices and bureaucratic arrangements, the voice of the professional is always likely to dominate and be imbued with a higher value (Buckley, Carr, & Whelan, 2011; Jackson et al, 2020) resulting in the exercising of ‘soft power’ that creates uncertainty and affects the thinking and behaviour of prisoners (Crewe, 2011).…”

Parental Non-Engagement within Child Protection Services—How Can Understandings of Complex Trauma and Epistemic Trust Help?

“…This results in finding challenging interpersonal interactions difficult to tolerate because of high levels of affect associated with these exchanges. From a parental perspective, demanding and anxiety-provoking interpersonal interactions describes much of their contact with social workers in child protection systems [46,50]. A scoping review of literature regarding parenting after a history of child maltreatment [51] found that traumatised parenting coping strategies included PTSD fight, flight, and freeze responses to perceived threat, which impacted upon relationships with infants, partners, and professionals.…”

Systemic Reflexivity in Residential Child Care: A Pedagogical Frame to Empower Professional Competence

“…In accordance with Burnham (2005) and Daniel (2012), clients need to feel that professionals are sensitive to their responses and that there is some freedom to engage in ways that make sense to them in terms of family and cultural values, scripts, style, myths, and so on. Empowerment and participation are key principles of child protection (Arbeiter & Toros, 2017;Fuller & Zhang, 2017;Jackson et al, 2020;Lehtme & Toros, 2020;Platt, 2012;Toros et al, 2018).…”