Investing in the relationship: practitioners’ relationships with looked-after children and care leavers in Social Work Practices

Ridley, Julie, Larkins, Cath, Farrelly, Nicola, Hussein, Shereen, Austerberry, Helen, Manthorpe, Jill, Stanley, Nicky (2016) Investing in the relationship: practitioners’ relationships with looked-after children and care leavers in Social Work Practices. Child and Family Social Work, 21 (1). pp. 55-64. ISSN 1356-7500. (doi:10.1111/cfs.12109) (Access to this publication is currently restricted. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided)

Abstract

Providing more consistent and continuous relationships for lookedafter children and care leavers is a current preoccupation in social work in light of many criticisms of the quality of such relationships. Recommendations for more direct work have spurred new models of service delivery in children’s services aimed at improving individual outcomes. Independent Social Work Practices (SWPs), a new organizational model piloted in some areas of England between 2009 and 2012, were established to enable social workers and other practitioners to spend more time in direct work and thus to improve the practitioner/child/young person relationship. This paper uses findings from interviews with 169 children and young people across 11 local authorities and 5 SWPs, undertaken as part of a 3-year national matched control evaluation of pilot SWPs, to identify key elements of good quality practitioner relationships with children or young people. Focusing on children’s and young people’s perspectives and experiences, the study demonstrates that more direct work and consistent relationships are valued. The paper deploys Recognition Theory to further understanding of effective practice as defined by children and young people.

Item Type:	Article
DOI/Identification number:	10.1111/cfs.12109
Additional information:	Unmapped bibliographic data: M3 - Article [Field not mapped to EPrints] U2 - 10.1111/cfs.12109 [Field not mapped to EPrints] JO - Child and Family Social Work [Field not mapped to EPrints]
Uncontrolled keywords:	Care Leavers , EVALUATION, Looked-after children, Recognition theory, Relationships, Social Work Practices
Subjects:	H Social Sciences
Divisions:	Faculties > Social Sciences > School of Social Policy Sociology and Social Research Faculties > Social Sciences > School of Social Policy Sociology and Social Research > Personal Social Services Research Unit
Depositing User:	Shereen Hussein
Date Deposited:	13 Nov 2018 11:49 UTC
Last Modified:	29 May 2019 20:54 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/68309 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)
Hussein, Shereen:	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7946-0717