Regulating child care: from the Children Act 1948 to the present day

Ball, Caroline

doi:10.1046/j.1365-2206.1998.00091.x

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Under the Children Act 2004, social services for children and families are merging with local education authorities to form ‘children's services authorities’, and there is a renewed emphasis on inter‐professional and inter‐agency working with clearer lines of political and managerial accountability. Despite being much trumpeted by the government as a new dawn for children's services, this strategy – essentially, legal and organizational change – is entirely consistent with previous responses to child abuse deaths: new legislation, new statutory responsibilities, more procedures, precious few resources (Parton 1991, 1998; Howe 1992; Masson 1992; Ball 1998). The drive for new structures and working arrangements tends to downplay both the difficulties of achieving inter‐professional collaboration and the potential benefits of difference and disagreement.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Care, control and change in child care proceedings: dilemmas for social workers, managers and lawyers

Dickens

2006

Child & Family Social Work

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper draws on findings from an interview‐based study of the ways that local authority social workers, social services managers and lawyers work together in child care cases in England. The study shows how stressful social workers can find care proceedings, and how much they look to the lawyers for support. It also shows how the lawyers’ involvement can bring new stresses and dilemmas. The managers are especially likely to resent ‘over‐involvement’ (as they see it) from lawyers, but lawyers are quick to defend their role and responsibilities. The paper shows how the complex, multifaceted dimensions of care, control and change interweave with professional differences in care proceedings: care for children, parents and social workers; struggles for control against the court, the other parties and sometimes the other professionals on one's own side; and responsiveness to change set against wariness about ‘lawyers’ deals’ and undue risk to children. The paper concludes that the valuing of difference, rather than its avoidance or suppression, is at the heart of effective inter‐professional work. It calls for greater recognition of this in current initiatives to promote interdisciplinary working in children's services in England.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Care, control and change in child care proceedings: dilemmas for social workers, managers and lawyers

Dickens

2006

Child & Family Social Work

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This is not a new idea or realisation. Ball (1998) went further to highlight the regulating of the very legal framework that controls parenthood in order to protect children. Much later, Morris and Featherstone (2010) offered the argument that in fact legislation that seeks to protect and safeguard children is contradictory, which is in line with the present conceptual content analysis.…”

Section: Image 1 Driving Toward Effective Child Protection and Safeguardingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Protection Vocabulary in the Children Act 1989: Power, Ambiguity and Heterogeneity

Pentaris

Oresanya

2021

GSWR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Regardless the few decades that an established legislative framework in Child Protection has been in effect, the responsibility of the Law and the Child Protection System is to continuously explore social needs, as they change, transform or new ones are introduced to adapt to the circumstances in the attempts to safeguard and protect children. This paper is not focusing on those adaptations; it draws on this responsibility to argue that in an ever-changing world, wherein needs and demands are shifting, Child Protection Vocabulary needs to be more explicit and adaptive to those changes. Vocabulary like ‘best interest’, ‘resilience’, ‘power’, and ‘vulnerability’ are commonplace in child protection legislation, regulation, policy and practice. That said, the question of interpretation is always of concern; how are the varied agencies, stakeholders, authorities, groups, and individuals approaching safeguarding and child protection when the heterogeneity of the language used is ever-increasing? This paper provides a conceptual content analysis of Child Protection Vocabulary found in the Children Act 1989. The analysis will be drawing on the amendments in Children Act 2004, as well as the Children and Social Work Act 2017, but will preserve its focus on the Children Act 1989 as the foundation for the contemporary Child Protection System. Implications of the findings are provided at the end.

show abstract

“…Importantly, they contributed to the Children Act 1948 which adopted a more 'child centred' approach, with the welfare of the child regarded as of primary importance (Elsley, 2007). The 1948 Act was regarded by many as a major step forward, paving the way for services through the 1950s and 1960s (Ball, 1998). Triseliotis, however, points out that while a lot changed in the post-war years, 'remnants of institutionalism and of the poor law mentality had not disappeared overnight' (Triseliotis, 1988, p.8).…”

Section: Setting the Scene: The Historical Context Of Residential Carementioning

confidence: 99%

Reflecting on the Past: Children’s Services Workers’ Experiences of Residential Care in Scotland from 1960 to 1975

Shaw¹,

Kendrick²

2016

Br J Soc Work

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While contemporary responses to the issue of historic child abuse in the Scottish context have tended to focus upon the experiences of former residents of institutional care, it is clear that much can also be learned from the narratives of former child-care workers. This article draws upon the findings of a recent project, the overall aim of which was to explore children's services' workers experiences of residential care in Scotland from 1960-75. Using an oral history methodology, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-three individuals who had experience of working in, or in connection with, residential child care services, followed by thematic analysis of the data. Results highlighted a range of both positive and negative experiences, and many of the issues still have a contemporary resonance. While we should guard against complaisance and be continually vigilant to safeguard and protect children, we should not allow a focus on risk-averse practice to obscure the merits of the more positive and nurturing elements of earlier residential childcare work.

show abstract

Regulating child care: from the Children Act 1948 to the present day

Cited by 6 publications

References 9 publications

Care, control and change in child care proceedings: dilemmas for social workers, managers and lawyers

Care, control and change in child care proceedings: dilemmas for social workers, managers and lawyers

Child Protection Vocabulary in the Children Act 1989: Power, Ambiguity and Heterogeneity

Reflecting on the Past: Children’s Services Workers’ Experiences of Residential Care in Scotland from 1960 to 1975

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About