Participatory social work and report writing

Abstract

Participation of children and parents is a central notion in child and family social work. This paper reports on a research dealing with how the participative paradigm comes to the fore in the practice of report writing in the work with looked‐after children. As social work is essentially a language‐centred activity, report writing is a core skill in social work. A participative practice of report writing would imply that the perspective of the children and parents is present in the reports. The results of our research show that a participatory approach to writing reports is not self‐evident. On the one hand, the practice of report writing shows a big diversity in the way the client's perspectives are given attention. On the other hand, the incorporation of the client's voice does not necessarily stand for a participatory approach because it may be used to strengthen professional views rather than clarify clients' perspectives. The case is made in such a way that a participatory approach of child and family social work demands more attention to the practice of writing reports.

Professionals' understanding of partnership with parents in the context of family support programmes

“…This seems to be in line with Beresford (), Poste & Beresford () and Roose et al . () who stated that parents are involved to make them less resistant towards the changes that professionals deem necessary. However, as Roose et al .…”

Constructing the ‘Child at Risk’ in Social Work Reports: A Way of Seeing is a Way of not Seeing

“…As a specific element of professional assessment and documentation in situations where children might be at risk, report writing implies an interesting practice in which social workers inherently wield considerable power (Healy and Mulholland, ). We report on a study conducted with 152 social work students in Belgium, in which we explore the ways in which students construct reports as future social workers in response to a fictional social work case in child welfare and protection, where the notion of the ‘child at risk’ implies the ground and legitimation for intervention (Roose and others, ).…”

Barnperspektiv i barnavårdsutredningar: med barns hälsa och barns upplevelser i fokus

“…Konsekvensen av likartade berättelser innebär att beskrivningar inte alltid utgår ifrån det unika i enskilda individers situation, behov och önskemål (Järvinen, 2002;Ponnert, 2007;Swärd, 1993). Beskrivningar av individers upplevelser och uppfattningar kan i stället ha konstruerats för att passa socialtjänstens uppdrag (Roose, Mottart, Dejonckheere, van Nijnatten & De Bie, 2009).…”