1st Edition
Social Work with Children and Families Developing Advanced Practice
There is an increasing emphasis on post-qualifying training for social workers, especially in the complex and demanding area of working with children and families. This essential textbook is especially designed for practitioners studying at this level.
Accessible and thorough, the text focuses on a mixture of conceptual and organisational topics, skills, law, policy and key practice issues. It includes chapters on:
- Social work values and ethics
- Risk, uncertainty and accountability
- Direct work with children and young people
- Promoting security and stability
- Working with reluctant service users
- Assessment of parenting
- Working with poverty, drugs and alcohol
- Going to court and the legal framework
- Children and young people going home
- Supporting others in their professional development.
Using case studies and activities to link research, theory and practice, Social Work with Children and Families takes a wider look at the role and tasks of an experienced social work practitioner, and the skills and knowledge needed to develop professionally from this point.
Introduction Part 1: Child and Family Centred Social Work 1. Hearing Children’s Voices and Respecting Children’s Wishes and Feelings Part 1: Trust, Communication and Support 2. Hearing Children’s Voices and Respecting Children’s Wishes and Feelings Part 2: The Legal Framework, and Putting it into Practice 3.Reflection: Theory, Knowledge, Identity and Power in Working with Children and Families 4. Assessment of Parenting: Constructing Meaning From Detail 5. Narrative and Understanding the Family’s World: Questions and Stories in Working with Children and Families 6. Social Work and Poverty: A Complex Relationship Part 2: Social Work and the Management of Risk 7. Risk in Child and Family Social Work Part 1: The Idea of Risk and Uncertainty in Social Work 8. Risk in Child and Family Social Work Part 2: Probability and Prevention 9.Working with Resistance: The Challenge of Working with Involuntary Service Users 10. Drugs and Alcohol and Child and Family Social Work 11. Being In Care and Going Home: Working with Parents Towards Reunification 12. Supporting Others in their Professional Development Conclusion
Biography
Penelope Welbourne is Programme Lead for the MA in Social Work at the University of Plymouth, UK. She has research interests in the areas of child protection, child law and children’s rights and the development of social work as a profession.
'This is an excellent and very timely book. Clearly written and very up to date. It will prove invaluable for anyone who is interested in developing the skills of child and family social workers whether these be practitioners, managers or trainers.' – Nigel Parton, NSPCC Professor in Applied Childhood Studies, University of Huddersfield, UK.
