The contemporary refocusing of children’s services in England

Abstract

Purpose: To provide an analysis of the changes in child protection policy and practice in England over the last thirty years. In particular, to critically analyse the nature and impact of the 'refocusing' initiative of the mid-1990s. Approach: Policy analysis Findings: While the period from the mid-1990s until 2008 can be seen to show, in a veryuneven way, how policy and practice attempted to build on a number of the central principles of the 'refocusing' initiative the period since 2008 has been very different. Following the huge social reaction to the death of Peter Connolly, policy and practice rapidly moved in directions which were quite contra to the 'refocusing' initiative's aims and aspirations such that we can identify a 'refocusing of refocusing'. Such developments were given a major impetus with the election of the Coalition government in 2010 and have been reinforced further following the election of the Conservative government in May 2015. Value: Places changes in child protection policy and practice in England in their political and economic contexts and makes explicit how the roles and responsibilities of professionals, particularly social workers, have been subject to change.

Developing an Open Dialogue inspired model of systemic social work assessment in a local authority children's social care department

“…The sacking of Sharon Shoesmith, Haringey's director of children's services, was the first time a senior leader's career had been ended following a child's death. Parton and Williams describe ‘a sense of very high anxiety amongst government officials, children's service managers and practitioners’ (, p. 87), leading to the ‘re‐discovery of reactive child protection’ (ibid). Parton and Williams () argue that the policy landscape shifts dramatically after 2008, away from early help and ‘every child matters’, towards an interventive stance.…”

“…The coalition government of 2010 abandoned the ‘every child matters’ agenda, and in appointing Eileen Munro to review child protection services (Munro , , 2011b) signaled a paradigm shift, ‘placing professional expertise at the centre of a reformed child protection system’ (Parton and Williams, , p. 88). While Munro's reports contain a clear message about the importance of early help, most attention was given to proposals for a new assessment process, information systems, and the development of national performance targets.…”

“…Parton and Williams describe 'a sense of very high anxiety amongst government officials, children's service managers and practitioners ' (2017, p. 87), leading to the 're-discovery of reactive child protection' (ibid). Parton and Williams (2017) argue that the policy landscape shifts dramatically after 2008, away from early help and 'every child matters', towards an interventive stance.…”

Video Interaction Guidance: A Return to Traditional Values and Relationship-Based Practice?

“…It has been well-documented that recent developments in social work have led to a shift away from direct work with children and families towards an overly bureaucratic and prescriptive accountability system (Parton and Williams, 2017;Munro, 2011). Such a shift has seen social work, degraded by managerial structures designed to improve accountability and risk management but which have materially changed the way social workers interact with service users (Cross et al, 2010).…”

Care in crisis—Is there a solution? Reflections on the Care Crisis Review 2018

“…In part as a response to the public inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie (Laming Report, ) in England, Every Child Matters: Change for Children (Department for Education and Skills, ) brought about significant developments in safeguarding children whereby the focus was broadened out from cases where the focus was on the risk of significant harm, to a position where improvements in outcomes for all children were to be maximized. This shift to a duty by the state to safeguard the welfare of all children might have led the way to considerably more opportunities for relational work with families whereby earlier interventions prevented situations escalating to a chronic level and alleviated problems such as poor educational attainment, antisocial behaviour and crime (Parton & Williams, ) However, the death of Peter Connelly (Baby P) in 2007 resulted in widespread opprobrium about child protection systems and practice and in effect saw a move back to a narrow form of child protection concentrating on prescribed risk assessment, with associated rises in referrals to children's social care, 47 inquiries, applications for care orders and the numbers of children taken into care.…”