After completing this unit you will be able to:

• explain the importance of key principles in social work with children and families
• explain the tensions involved in practice with a principles perspective
• provide a personal statement of principles.

Session One
The Potential and Limits of Social Work with Children and Families

SESSION OBJECTIVES

After completing this session you will be able to:

• explain how a more specific rather than a general approach to social work might benefit children and their families
   
• describe the potential and limits of social work with children and families
   
• explain some of the tensions in the role of the social worker with children and families.

INTRODUCTION

This first session will introduce you to the background in which social work with children and families takes place. It also provides a basis for you to explore some of the features of this work, and in particular the boundaries within which it takes place, and its inbuilt tensions.

THE STATUTORY BACKGROUND

If you had been a social worker with children and families in the 1950s and 1960s, you would have been very much a specialist children’s worker. You might have worked for a children’s charitable organisation such as Barnardo’s or the NSPCC, or you might have been employed by a local authority Children’s Department. The latter were set up in July 1948 following the implementation of the Children’s Act of that year. Other local authority social work services were carried out from health and welfare departments.

In the 1970s and 1980s many local authority social workers became more generic in their approach, covering the needs of all clients. This followed the publication of the Seebohm Report in July 1968, which proposed integrated personal social services. The work of the previous Children’s Departments was subsumed under the generic Social Services Departments, which came into being in England and Wales in April 1971 with the implementation of the Local Authority Social Services Act of 1970. In Scotland the newly set up Social Work Departments also included probation services. In the 1990s there was a move back to more specialist services concurrent with the implementation of the 1989 Children Act and the 1990 Community Care Act. The new Diploma in Social Work is designed with these developments in mind. Social workers are seen to need a cluster of generic knowledge and skills, along with specific knowledge and skills in a particular area of practice, for instance with children and families.
 

Activity 1

There is a continuing debate about whether social workers need specific training or a more general education. Where do you stand? Do you think you would be able to offer a better service to children and families if you received specific training in work with children and families, rather than training as a generic social worker? As an aid to considering your position I suggest you spend five minutes noting down on a separate sheet:

• the advantages of having a specific focus on children and families in your training

• the disadvantages of having a specific focus on children and families in your training.

Comment

Compare your own response with these:

Advantages

It would take many years of training for social workers to develop the knowledge and skills to cover the needs and requirements of all client groups. It is unlikely that any government will make sufficient resources available for such an investment in the social services. In these circumstances it is better for social workers to be competent in one area rather than trying to be competent in all areas.

Having a particular focus enables social workers and social work students to develop more confidence in their work, and encourages them to keep up to date with their knowledge and skills in their work with children and families.

If social workers have better training in a particular area, the users of the service will benefit. For example, the children, young people and families themselves should receive an improved service, tailored to their needs, delivered by social workers who are personally interested in the issues.

Disadvantages

If social workers have an area of particular practice the problems people face are not seen as a whole, but are broken down into compartments, for example, child care, mental health, disability. But in reality these are all part of the same situation. There is always the danger that we go back to the days when a family could be visited by several welfare workers each dealing with different issues. These might seem to the organisation to be separate issues, but may not seem that way to the family concerned. This is not to undermine the principle of bringing to bear on people's needs and problems the skills and resources of many different workers, all of whom may visit the home.

As you have seen, there are both advantages and disadvantages to having an area of particular practice. We now need to look at what social work can and cannot do for children and families.

THE POTENTIAL AND LIMITS OF SOCIAL WORK FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

When prospective social work students are asked why they want to be social workers, some say that they like working with people, or they want to help people. Others suggest they want to challenge the inequalities they have come across in their lives. Can social workers do both of these? What can they achieve, what should they try to achieve, and what are the limits or constraints on their work?

As you move on to consider these questions, you may find it helpful to bear in mind a general definition of social work:

Social work is an accountable professional activity which enables individuals, families and groups to identify personal, social and environmental difficulties adversely affecting them. Social work promotes social welfare and responds to wider social needs promoting equal opportunities for every age, gender, sexual preference, class, disability, race, culture and creed. Social work has the responsibility to protect the vulnerable and exercise authority under statute.

CCETSW: Rules and Requirements for the Diploma in Social Work, Paper 30 (Second Edition 1991), 1.1, p 8.

Activity 2

Read the following situation study. It raises many questions about the potential and limits of social work. After thinking about it, or discussing it with colleagues, answer the questions that follow.

Karen, a white woman, has two children, Debbie aged three and Andy aged seven. She lives in a three­bedroomed council house on a large council estate on the edge of the city. Karen has put a great deal of herself into a relationship with Roy, which she really believed was going to last. However, Roy, like her previous partner, has left two weeks ago. She is expecting her third child in ten weeks. She is trying to be strong for the sake of the children, but it is a very hard time for her.

She has one very good friend, another young mother who lives next door, but otherwise keeps herself to herself. Before Roy moved in she had suffered harassment from some of her other neighbours, because her eldest child, Andy, is of mixed-race. There are signs that the harassment is starting again, now she is left by herself with the children. The graffiti hasn’t reappeared yet, but Andy has been subject to more name-calling than of late. He has recently been having problems at school.

Write some brief notes in answer to the following questions:

1. What could you do to assist Karen and her family in this situation?

2. What might limit what you could do in this situation?

Comment

1. You could:

• help Karen to understand what has happened, and to put it into perspective

• help Karen with her feelings about what has happened

• help Karen find ways of coping with the situation or changing it

• provide someone for the children to talk to

• help Karen to challenge the housing department to do something about the harassment, or advocate on her behalf with the housing department

• support Karen in her contact with the school

• help set up a support group involving Karen, her next-door neighbour and other women on the estate.

2. The following factors may limit your action.

• Karen and others may be suspicious of social workers.

• Karen may become dependant on you, seeing you as a friend.

• Karen may be getting all the support she wants from her friend.

• Other agencies, such as the housing department and the school, may be reluctant to act.

• Your agency may have limited resources for group work.

Now let’s look at some of these issues in more detail.

Helping Karen to understand

Karen may not need much help identifying what is wrong in her life. However, she may benefit from some assistance to understand what is happening, to put it into perspective, and to find ways of coping with or changing the situation. She may get all this from her friend, but a more neutral, confidential person may be able to provide some distance from the situation. She may or may not be able to share more of her feelings with someone she does not have to live alongside. Karen may see you as a friend, but there must be limitations to that relationship from your side.

Helping Karen with her feelings

It may be that Karen’s feelings about herself, about her former partner and other relationships are overwhelming her and affecting her more than she realises. She may need more professional help dealing with this, which you might provide directly or help her to find someone who could assist. Of course, her friend may notice this need, and suggest she sees her doctor. However, a busy doctor may just put her on anti­depressants rather that provide her with the counselling that might be more helpful. The children, particularly Andy, may benefit from someone to talk to in their own right.

Helping Karen to change the situation

Karen may be dealing with the problems of neighbours by ignoring it. She may have been to the housing office to ask them to do something about it, and a housing officer may be keeping an eye on the situation. However, she may be suffering in silence, or the council may not be doing anything about the harassment. You could help her to challenge the housing department to do something about the harassment or you could advocate on her behalf. She may benefit from similar support with Andy’s school, or she may be dealing with this herself.

Community support

It might be possible to enable some group support to be developed, for instance involving Karen, her next door neighbour and other women on the estate. This could enable them to explore ways of tackling harassment, and its links with racism and sexism. Some social workers are fully committed to helping the community to tackle some of these wider issues. Such community social work may be very beneficial to Karen and her family, directly or indirectly. However, these activities are less and less encouraged, particularly given the resource constraints within which departments have to work.

All this contact would be on a voluntary basis, and it may be that Karen would not be seeking social work help. She may view social workers with suspicion, aware only that they can take the children away. It may be that she does not know that social workers could assist her more informally. This may be because your team is very separate from the community, either physically or in its approach. There is also, of course, the danger here of a hard-pressed, under-resourced social work team being tied up too heavily in statutory work, such as care and child protection.

TENSIONS IN SOCIAL WORK WITH CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

In situations like the one you have just explored, social workers may be seen on the one hand as friendly, supportive people and on the other as possessing the power to intervene in the lives of families. You may be very conscious of such tensions in your role, particularly in circumstances where you do have to make use of these powers. Tensions in this context can cause strains, demands and contradictions.
 

Activity 3

Make a note of what you think may cause tension in your role when working with Karen’s family. Try to suggest two or three points.

Comment

You may have identified some or all of the following points.

If child protection issues were involved in this case you would have to intervene at a formal level. On the information provided so far about Karen’s family this would be unlikely to be an issue in this situation. Otherwise we would be spending our time policing families and the community. But if, for instance, the school suspected Andy’s behaviour was the result of abuse, then you may be required ‘to protect the vulnerable and exercise authority under statute’. (CCETSW: Rules and Requirements for the Diploma in Social Work, Paper 30, Second Edition, 1991 p 8) Depending on the circumstances, this could still be seen as supportive to the family, but may just as likely be seen as interfering.

Whether our involvement is voluntary or statutory, we can achieve very little without the willingness of the family. Even using the authority invested in social workers by statute has its limitations. We cannot make people behave in a particular way nor can we change their environment in the way we and they might wish. We cannot magic away racism, sexism, poverty or poor housing. However, with developed knowledge, understanding and skills, we can challenge what is happening.

You could offer many benefits to Karen and her family, but these are limited to what you can realistically do. There are many tensions in the role of the social worker, who is both caring and controlling, working for the state yet needing to challenge some of its policies and actions.

Review activity

A young acquaintance tells you that she is thinking about becoming a social worker, because she likes working with people. In the light of what you have considered in this session, list those points she might need to be aware of in order to make this a realistic choice of career.

Comment

Advising this young person about social work as a career is not an easy task. You may wish to check your response against the following points.

• You might want to be encouraging, but you might also feel it is important that she is aware of some of the limitations and tensions in the social-work role.
   

• She may only understand these tensions and limitations by learning through experience.
   

• In thinking about giving this advice, did you find that you became clearer about the potential and limitations of social work with children and families and about the tensions involved in the role of a social worker?

Session Two
Anti-Oppressive  Social Work with Children and Families

SESSION OBJECTIVES

After completing this session you will be able to:

• explain the meaning of oppression and of anti-oppressive practice
• give examples of how to tackle oppression in social work agencies and other organisations
• produce personal anti-oppressive practice guidelines.

Introduction

How you tackle and respond to this session will depend on your perspective and social position. You may be someone who has experienced or is experiencing oppression or you may feel you have played your part in the oppression of other people at times. Finding someone to share your thoughts with may be helpful to your learning in the session.

OPPRESSION

I would like you to tackle this topic by reading the following thoughts and then completing the activity that follows.

If you are oppressed in any way,
you may feel oppressed;
but you may not know you are being oppressed,
because your oppressors make it out to be your fault.

But you may not only feel but also know you are oppressed, and you won’t let them get you down.

If you are involved in the oppression of others,
you may or may not feel you are;
you may not be aware of your involvement,
and you would not want to be involved.
But you may not only know but also feel you are being oppressive,
and we won’t let you get them down.
 

Activity 4

Spend a few minutes thinking about how you personally relate to these thoughts. First reactions are important, so I suggest you quickly make a note of these. Then think more deeply about what may be being said, and if necessary add to your notes. When you feel you are ready, answer the following questions.

1. What does oppression mean to you?

2. Who oppresses?

3. Who might be oppressed?

Comment

1. What does oppression mean to you?
   
   You may or may not have been able to identify with the thoughts expressed. We may all be oppressed in some way and many of us are oppressors in other ways. The word ‘oppression’ has connotations of domination, subordination, tyranny and putting down. It also suggests the laying of heavy burdens on people.

2. Who oppresses?
   
   Oppression means different things to different people, according to whether or not they are on the receiving end, or whether or not they are part of the problem.
   Oppression can be by an individual, by organisations or institutions, and by whole societies or groups in society.

3. Who might be oppressed?
   People may be oppressed because of their race, gender, age, class, disability, religion, sexual preference or their views.

TACKLING OPPRESSION

How you might get involved in tackling oppression will depend on whether you are the oppressed or part of the oppression, and on how aware you are of your position. Some people might argue that social work cannot be anything else but oppressive because it is part of the way the state keeps people in order. Others argue that while certain practices in social work are oppressive, these can be challenged by working in ways that are empowering. Whatever your point of view, you need to keep in mind that what you do may not be received in the way you intend. In other words, the users of the service might find what you do as a social worker is oppressive, even though you do not feel that you are being oppressive either by your attitudes or your actions.
 

Activity 5

The following situation study is a brief example of the initial involvement of a social worker in the life of a family for the first time. Think about the account carefully and then answer the questions that follow it.

The social services department receives a referral about the Collins family from a teacher at the Briars Primary School. One of the teachers telephones to report the school’s concern about Arlene Collins, aged nine, who has recently been arriving at school in a rather unkempt state. Recently Arlene’s father, who brings her to school, has himself appeared very depressed.

Things have not been going well for the family lately. Since Arlene’s mum left last year, Mr Collins knows he has let things go a bit. But he is doing his best for his daughter. Arlene has not wanted to talk to anybody – she loves her dad but still misses her mum.

The teacher is well-known in the school for getting things done, and has a good relationship with the local social worker, who has links with the school. The teacher asks the social worker to become involved. The family has not come to the attention of the social services before. The social worker decides to visit to see what the problem is.

1. How might the school have been oppressive?

2. How might the social services as an organisation have been oppressive?

3. How might the social worker have been oppressive?

Comment

1. The school

The following questions highlight my own concerns about the role of the school.

• Why did the school not talk to Mr Collins?

• Would there have been a different approach if Arlene’s mother was around?

• Did anybody try and talk to the child herself?

• Did the school and the social services share the same uncritical view and collude with each others’ prejudices, particularly on the basis of their good relationship?

• Might what seems good to the professionals appear to be collusive and overpowering from other perspectives?

• Was any class or gender stereotyping or labelling present in their discussion?

2. The social services as an organisation

A social services department should have set procedures for dealing with referrals and these have to be followed fully whenever there is any question of child protection. Following the critical conclusions of so many official inquiries it is not surprising that some procedures have been designed with the protection of departmental reputations in mind. Whatever their origins, and however valid they are, such procedures demonstrate the power and authority of social services. However, they also curtail excessive misuse of power and authority.

The social services department and the school are two very powerful institutions, represented by potentially powerful professionals, which impact on families. Combined, their power is immense. It also does not take much to imagine other powerful institutions being involved in such a situation, for example, the police and mental health services. The potential for oppression is always present in these organisations, through their policies and procedures and through the direct and indirect actions of the people who work in them, whatever their intentions.

3. The social worker

Social workers are under pressure to follow agency policy and procedures, and may feel somewhat burdened by this at times. Possible oppression might be revealed by asking the following questions.

• Did the social worker in this situation have to act in the way she did?

• Could she have helped the schoolteacher deal with the situation herself, or at least have advised the teacher to speak to the family about the referral first?

• If there was any labelling or stereotyping going on, did the social worker go along with it or omit to challenge it?

• How did she make contact with the family?

• Did she expect certain behaviour because of prejudice? Did she, perhaps, act on the belief that the man needed particular help because he was a man? Philanthropy can itself be a form of oppression.

Learning from this study

In considering this situation study we have looked at a number of ways social work can be oppressive, particularly when working with other agencies with similar potential for oppression. The social worker, the social services department, the school and the other agencies can collude in keeping people down. They can act together to help maintain the status quo of divisions and inequality. They can also exacerbate this by making sure that those who are being kept down feel everything is their fault. In this way, the oppressed are blamed for the oppression.

Pointers for anti-oppressive practice

Despite the situation study you have just explored, it would be wrong to conclude that social work is always oppressive. Some of the questions raised suggest other approaches to social work which are less oppressive, even within a potentially oppressive system.
 

Activity 6

Re-read your response to the previous activity, and my comments. Then write down three key points that you feel social workers and agencies need to address to tackle oppression in their practice.

Comment

Some of the lessons for me are:

• agencies need to work together, but not in ways that collude against families

• we need to be careful not to act upon our assumptions or the assumptions of others

• we, and the agencies we work with, need to develop ways of directly communicating with the people we work with.

Defining anti-oppressive practice

In Unit One, Session Six, I described anti-racist approach to the family as: ‘… including both culturally sensitive practice and challenging racism. It is not only recognising the effects of racism on black people, but also doing something about it. It is not only about understanding the lack of influence of black people on the system but working to empower black people. For white social workers, it is not only accepting that there are black perspectives on the family, but working with black people to change the system’.
 

Activity 7

Using this description as a basis, produce a brief definition of anti-oppressive social work with children and their families. You could do this by writing a short paragraph explaining what you feel are the key components of anti-oppressive practice.

Comment

My suggested definition of anti-oppressive practice is that it:

• includes both practice which is sensitive to the needs, views, rights and wishes of children and families
   

• challenges oppression in all its forms
   

• acknowledges the effects of oppression on children and families and also does something about it
   

• appreciates the lack of influence of children and families in the system and works to empower them
   

• accepts that there are different perspectives on the family, but works with children and families to change the system.

DEVELOPING ANTI-OPPRESSIVE PRACTICE

So far you have looked at practice in general. However it is equally important to identify any issues which you need to understand more fully as you develop your practice.
 

Activity 8

Spend five minutes listing the key issues you now want to understand more fully. Your list could be in the form of questions to which you want to find answers.

Comment

You will have come up with your own agenda for enquiry, but it could include some of the following questions.

• In what ways are social work and other powerful agencies oppressive, especially if they are mainly white, often male-dominated organisations?
   

• To what extent do institutions such as schools, social work agencies and others support a dominant ideology which maintains inequality and oppression?
   

• What is your own relationship to oppression and anti-oppressive practice, as a black or white, male or female social worker?

Review activity

What is your personal agenda for developing anti-racist practice? Write a list of key anti-oppressive approaches you will now try to pursue in your future work with children and families.

Comment

This needed to be a very personal activity, but it may help you to review your list with a colleague or supervisor. If this is not possible, the following checklist might help you assess your response to the activity.

• Will you recognise the need to discuss fully with the children and families with whom you are working what is happening and what you are doing?
   

• Will you listen carefully to the views and wishes of the people you are working with?
   

• Will you avoid taking on the views and opinions of other agencies or other professional workers without considering whether there might be prejudice involved?
   

• Will you find ways of working which build up people’s confidence and empower them to act, avoiding approaches which undermine their confidence and abilities?
   

• Are you committed to challenging oppression in organisations?
   

• Will you find ways of understanding how people from different groups and communities experience oppression, perhaps through reading or discussion?

Session Three
Partnership with Family Members

Session objectives

After completing this session you will be able to:

• provide a workable definition of partnership
• argue the case for working in partnership with family members
• explain some of the problems in partnership
• provide pointers for good practice in partnership.

1. Make a list of all the things that the word partnership can mean.
    

2. Then select from or add to this list to draw up a definition of partnership with children and families.

Comment

1. ‘Partnership’ can mean:

• working together, collaboration

• a business arrangement

• sharing on an equal basis

• having a common aim

• having some common aims, but with own priorities.

2. When you move to providing a definition of partnership suitable for social work with children and families you need to ensure it takes into account the following:

• working together with family members to a common agreed purpose
   

• sharing decision-making
   

• recognising and respecting different skills, knowledge, resources, values, experiences, wishes and priorities,

but also:

• recognising inequalities in power.

Put very simply, partnership in social work means working alongside people rather than taking them over.

Let’s now consider in more depth what partnership involves.

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP

Working in partnership with people in social work is not always easy. As a social worker you will become involved in complex situations in which different people may have different interests.
 

Activity 10

Read the following situation study and answer the questions that follow.

Sarah, now aged 15, was adopted as a child by Anne and Roger, a professional couple who were unable to have children of their own. Sarah has always known that she was adopted, something positively acknowledged by the family. She has been well cared for by Anne and Roger, she is doing well at school, and appears a well-adjusted young woman.

Recently, for various reasons, Sarah has become very concerned to find her birth mother. Her adoptive parents, particularly Anne, are finding this very difficult and rather threatening. Relationships in the family are becoming very strained, and all three are feeling bad about what is happening. Roger has suggested that they all talk the situation over with a social worker, and reluctantly Anne and Sarah have agreed.

1. What do you think would be the benefits of working in partnership with the family members in this situation?
    

2. What do you think would be the possible consequences of not working in partnership with the family members in this situation?

Comment

This is a very difficult situation, which needs handling very sensitively. Here are some suggestions.

1. The benefits of partnership

• Each member of the family can have their say about the situation and express their own needs, even if everybody’s wishes cannot be met.
   

• Both Sarah and her parents retain some control of a situation which may appear to them to be getting out of control.
   

• The family is likely to remain the best environment for Sarah for a number of years.
   

• The parents are likely to know Sarah better than any social worker could. They therefore have the potential to support her in her resolving her present needs.
   

• Partnership makes it easier to retain a perspective which focuses on the needs and rights of Sarah and her family, rather than on the problems.
   

• Your approach could be a model for both Sarah and her parents.

2. Possible consequences of not working in partnership

• You could be given too much say in the decisions, permitting possible errors of judgement.

• There would be a focus on problems rather than on needs and rights.

• The family might become dependent on you.

• Some members of the family might feel aggrieved that their wishes and needs were not heard.

PROBLEMS IN PARTNERSHIP

In this activity you have looked at the benefits of working in partnership and the consequences of not doing so in relation to Sarah and her adoptive family. However, if you were the social worker taking a partnership approach with the family members, you might also encounter problems. Let’s look at what these might be.
 

Activity 11

Consider the following variant on the previous situation study.

Sarah, now aged 15, was adopted as a child by Anne and Roger, a professional couple who were unable to have children of their own. Sarah did not find out she was adopted until recently, when she discovered her birth certificate by accident among some old papers. Her adoptive parents had not told her as a young child, deciding they would tell her when the time was right. Unfortunately, they had never found the right time until it was too late. Sarah had been well cared for by Anne and Roger, she is doing well at school, and appears a well-adjusted young woman. But now things are going wrong. She has become very confused and all the trust she had with Anne and Roger has disappeared. Her adoptive parents just cannot handle the situation, and feel everything is going to pieces, including their relationship with each other. Roger has become very withdrawn, and Anne is seeing a social worker on the advice of her doctor.

What possible problems might arise in your attempt to work in partnership with the family in this situation? Spend five minutes or so thinking about this and noting down your answers.

Comment

Your attempts might be thwarted by:

Varying reactions to your intervention

Roger may refuse to discuss anything, or may just not be there when you call. The ‘absent’ male partner is a common occurrence in social work. Sarah herself might not co-operate. Any of the family members could have a distrust of social workers.

Conflicting needs

There may be conflict between the needs of the family as a whole, to stay together as a unit, and the needs of Sarah to find her birth mother. There may be conflicts between the different needs of Sarah herself, to have a restored relationship with her adoptive parents, and to seek her birth mother. She may need her family even more, if her attempts to find her origins go wrong.

Time constraints

The time needed to work in partnership with this family may just not be available. Pressure of other work may mean you can spend only very limited time on this one case. Organisational priorities, for instance on child protection, may particularly affect your time.

Deterioration in the situation

If the situation at home deteriorated to any great extent, (for instance Sarah might run away from home and move in with a friend) the partnership approach will come under great pressure as you try to maintain a working relationship with both Sarah and the parents.

Power inequalities

You need to be aware of the inequalities of power in any social work situation. My definition of partnership gives particular recognition to this. It involves not only the professional and statutory powers of social workers, but also power inequalities related to race, gender and class. Social workers cannot pretend that their clients have the same power as they do. Nor should they rely on the belief that using the power they do possess will necessarily bring about change.

I now want you to consider the implications of what you have explored in this session for your own practice.

PARTNERSHIP WITH FAMILY MEMBERS: POINTERS TO GOOD PRACTICE
 

Activity 12

Think of a particular situation from your present or past work with children and families and ask yourself:

Did I work in partnership with all family members? How could I have improved my partnership practice?

See if you can produce a checklist of about six questions which will help you to apply a partnership approach to your future practice.

Comment

This is my attempt at a checklist.

1. Am I working together with each relevant member of the family? Am I sure that I have not missed out some members of the family who may be relevant, (for example other children, members of the extended family)?
    

2. Am I listening to the views, wishes and priorities of everybody involved?
    

3. What skills, knowledge and resources have I recognised in different family members?
    

4. Have I checked out with the family members what objectives are shared between the family and myself and what objectives are not shared?
    

5. Am I and the family working together to deal with the tensions between the needs and concerns of different family members?
    

6. Am I recognising the inequalities of power in the situation, how am I addressing these inequalities?

Later in this unit you will be considering the issues involved in working in partnership with other agencies. You also be looking at the meaning of partnership again in relation to specific topics, for example children with special needs, later in this module.
 

Review activity

Think of a situation in which you didn’t work in partnership with a family as well as you now believe you should have done. Then note down your answers to the following questions.

1. What do you think prevented you from working in partnership at the time?
    

2. What would you now do differently to ensure you did work in partnership in situations like this?

Comment

Try and get the help of a colleague in reviewing your response. If this is not possible, use the following checklist as an aid.

• Was there something in this situation that made partnership particularly difficult?
   

• Am I now more aware of the need to work in partnership and of the things to avoid?
   

• Have I now got a list of positive things to do to work more in partnership with children and families?
   

• In thinking about this situation, is there one key thing I now want to focus on in my future practice?

Session Four
Focusing on People’s Abilities and Resources

Session objectives

After completing this session you will be able to:

• explain the importance of having a balanced view of people
   
• describe what it might feel like to be a client of a service
   
• explain how focusing on people’s abilities and resources as well as their needs and problems is key to good social work practice.

1. Spend up to ten minutes making two lists – one of your positive qualities; the other of your negative ones.
    

2. Then jot down what you feel are the influences which have affected the way you view yourself.

Comment

Your answer will be personal and unique to you. However, the following points are intended to help you reflect on your response.

• Sometimes it is difficult to decide if a particular quality is positive or negative; it could be both, for example being reserved.
   

• Your view of yourself may or may not have depended on your identity as a black or white woman or man, and on your age, class, and sexual preference, and whether you are disabled or non-disabled.
   

• Much depends on your life chances.
   

• If you were feeling low, you may have felt that you had little to offer; but if you were feeling happy, you might have felt more positive about yourself.
   

• You may not want people to make up their minds about you on the basis of your behaviour when you are down.
   

• None of us has total responsibility for what we are or what we feel we are.
   

• The way in which we are treated by other people, especially significant others, can have an enormous impact on our feelings about ourselves.

Developing awareness of ourselves can help prepare us for working with other people. Insights we have gained about ourselves can inform our understanding of the way family members view themselves. I now want to use a similar approach to explore the experience of being a client.

BEING A CLIENT

From time to time in our lives we are all clients of one service or another. We might be clients of a solicitor, or of an insurance agent. We might be clients of an advice service, for example, because we are in debt or because of relationship difficulties. Most of us have had the experience of being clients of a doctor, although we are then called patients.
 

Activity 14

1. Spend a few minutes thinking about an unsatisfactory experience you have had as a client or patient. You may have been seeking help, treatment, advice or information from someone.
    
2. Briefly list:

• how you felt
• how you would liked to have felt.

Comment

Here is my own list.

I felt:

timid, hurt, angry, worthless, insulted.

I would like to have felt:

confident, assertive, valued, respected.

No one is ever at their best when they need assistance of some sort, or when they are feeling low. In this position we enter a power relationship, where one person has something to give which we need, whether that be advice, assistance, information or support of some kind. It is so easy for both parties to slip into a giving and receiving relationship, where the focus is on a problem or need rather than on abilities or talents.

We have learned through socialisation how to behave in such a client or patient relationship. The adviser or doctor has also been trained to take on a specific role. Whatever the origin of our behaviour we may all, consciously or unconsciously, be taking on the roles expected of us. Let’s now look at how we can begin to counter this.

Towards empowerment
 

Activity 15

Think back to the unsatisfactory experience you considered in the last activity, and briefly note down how the adviser or doctor could have helped you to feel more positive.

Comment

You will have thought about changes specific to the situation you were in. Some of these could have included:

• listening more to your view of the situation
   

• recognition of the problems and needs you have, but balanced by a recognition of your positive qualities – seeing what you have as much as what you do not have
   

• respecting you more as a person rather than simply as a client or patient
   

• allowing you to make decisions for yourself.

If people are listened to and recognised for their positive qualities and abilities, they may also be in a position to make decisions for themselves. If advisers or doctors respect people, they are more likely to work in a way that does not take away their right to self-determination. They are likely to work in partnership and in ways that empower people. We will be returning to these key values throughout this unit.

BUILDING ON THE RESOURCES OF SOCIAL WORK CLIENTS

You have seen how important for your self-image it is to be seen for your abilities as well as your needs and problems. You have also explored how you would like to be treated as the client of a service. Let’s now look at how, as a social worker, you can develop an approach that recognises people’s abilities and resources as well as their needs and problems

Women and social work

At this point I want you to focus on social work with women. However, I believe that good practice with women is likely to also be good practice with children, young people and men.

As well as being the main providers, women are also the main recipients of social work services. However, ‘… social work with women tends to revolve around “problem” areas so that interaction with women is likely to be based on a professional/ client model where the woman is being guided, helped or even ‘cured’ by the social worker’.

(Eve Brook and Ann Davis, Women, the Family and Social Work, Tavistock, London, 1985, p 66)
 

Activity 16

List three or four ways in which you could counteract this attention to problem areas. Although you are considering work with women, your points should also be suitable as guides to good practice with all people.

Comment

Whether you are a man or a woman yourself, your list may include:

• recognising strengths

• encouraging clients’ positive feelings about themselves

• recognising with them the context in which they live their lives

• enabling them to increase their self-confidence

• enabling them to decide for themselves

• sharing information with them

• sharing skills them

• enabling the development of resources together.

Review activity

1. Assess your approach to children and family members in relation to each of the points in Activity 16. You could use a scale similar to the one in the learning profile at the beginning of the unit.
    

2. Compile a list of practical ways by which you can improve on any weak points.

Aim to spend up to an hour on this review activity.

Comment

It might help you to go through the activity with a colleague or supervisor. If this is not possible, I suggest you use the following checklist.

• Will the points in my list really help me to focus more on people’s abilities and resources?

• Have I looked honestly at my own practice in relation to these points?

• Have I identified practical ways at improving my practice?

• When will I return to this activity to review whether I am continuing to improve my practice?

Session Five
Listening to Children

Session objectives

After completing this session you will be able to:

• provide a personal perspective on the experience of being listened to or not listened to as a child
• explain the rights of children to be heard
• give examples of good practice in listening to children.

Although we often talk about people having rights, the fact that there are different types of rights is often not recognised by people. However, it is important to distinguish:

• human rights recognised by international codes, such as the right to religious freedom
   

• legal rights, enshrined in the law of the land, for example the right to vote if you are 18 or over. (Such rights can be amended from time to time by the law-makers. One instance is the age of consent.)
   

• moral rights which are not recognised specifically in the law or in any international code, for example the right to a job.

Activity 17

Do you think that children have the right to be listened to? If so, what sort of right is this?

Comment

Many people would argue that children’s rights to be listened to is a human, legal and moral right. Let’s look briefly at each:

Human rights

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 12, states the position very clearly:

1. Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
    

2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.

(See Peter Newell, ‘New report highlights reforms needed to implement Convention’ in ChildRight, November 1991, pp 17-20)

Legal rights

One of the general principles of the 1989 Children Act recognises the importance of ‘the ascertainable wishes and feelings of the child concerned in the light of his (sic) age and understanding’ (Section 1.3(a)). This is followed through in the body of the Act, for example S.22(4)(a), which states that it is the local authority’s duty, so far as is reasonably practical, before making any decision in relation to a child to ascertain the child’s wishes, and S.22(5)(a), which states that the local authority must give due consideration to the child’s age and understanding and wishes.

(See Carole Perry-Jones, ‘But will they listen’, in ChildRight, December 1991, pp 16–18)

Moral rights

Most of the organisations concerned with children will consider that children have a moral right to be listened to as well as a legal right. For example, you will see references to the rights of children to have a voice in the National Association of Young People in Care (NAYPIC) Charter of Rights for Young People in Care.

Being listened to as a child

When we look at matters of principle it is often helpful to start from those individual experiences which have in some way informed our personal perspectives.

As children, there were probably times at home or at school when you were misunderstood or got into trouble because your point of view was not appreciated. The chances are that this was because you were not really listened to.
 

Activity 18

1. Think of a situation when, as a child, your point of view was not really listened to.

2. Note down:

• how you felt in that situation

• what effect this could have had on you in the longer term.

Then compare your notes with the comment that follows.

Comment

Situations you could have suggested include:

• l being told off or even punished for something you did not do, despite your attempts to explain

• l having something important to say, but no one wanted to hear

• l wanting to join in a conversation with adults and being told to be quiet

• l wanting to share your worries or concerns, but nobody took the time to listen.

How did you feel in that situation?

As a child you may have may have experienced such treatment as a matter of course. You may have felt very angry or hurt about this but you may not have been able to recognise these feelings in yourself as such.

On the other hand, you may have only occasionally been taken by surprise by adults not listening to you. You may have been able to dismiss any incident as not that important.

What effect did it have in the longer term?

These incidents could have helped you grow, determined to overcome the odds. But it is more likely that your growth as an individual would have been, at least temporarily, adversely affected. If you were misunderstood or ignored not only because you were young, but also because you are black, or female, or disabled, you might now be aware of the multiplied damage to your self-image. I’d now like to move on to understand the reasons why some adults do not give full attention to children and why they do not try and understand a child’s point of view.

Adults listening to children
 

Activity 19

From your own experience, make a list of reasons why some adults do not always listen to a child’s point of view.

Comment

You could have suggested some specific reasons:

• they are tired or busy

• the children do not really understand the situation

• the child seems to be talking nonsense

• the child goes on and on.

However, you may also have included some wider reasons:

• the power hierarchy in a patriarchal society

• beliefs that children should be kept in their place

• prejudice against particular children

• personality problems of individual adults

• fear in adults of weakness or loss of control

• oppressive behaviour towards female children, linked to oppression of women

• oppressive behaviour towards black people, including children.

In this unit, you are building up your own personal list of pointers to good practice. In the light of your personal insights and your growing understanding of the rights of children to be listened to, make a list of your own pointers in this area, as a social worker with children.

Comment

Check whether you have addressed any of the following points. You could:

• become clear about what the law says about listening to children
   

• continue to work at how, as an adult with power and authority, you actively listen to children and respect their points of view
   

• develop an anti-oppressive approach to listening to children
   

• develop skills of communicating with children
   

• work actively on hearing what children from different cultures have to say
   

• work actively on listening to children with communication and learning disabilities
   

• work with others to challenge policies and practice that prevent children from being heard.

The last three points are, I believe, particularly important.
 

Review activity

I hope that you now feel committed to really listening to children in your future work, so that you understand their points of view. In order to review your learning in this session, I want you to construct an agenda for action for yourself.

Write down five or six practical things you now want to do to ensure as a social worker you do listen properly to children in the future.

Comment

If at all possible you should discuss your agenda with your supervisor or a colleague, but if this is not possible you can use the following points to help you assess your response.

• Are the points on my agenda going to make a difference to the way I listen to children?

• Are they points that I can really do something about?

• How will I be able to check that I am acting on this agenda?

Session Six
Partnership with Other Agencies

Session objectives

After completing this session you will be able to:

• explain the links between families with children in need and a variety of different agencies
• explain some of the issues of partnerships with other agencies
• give examples of good practice for working in partnership with other agencies.

Introduction

So far in this unit we have explored key principles for working directly with children and families. In this session we will be looking at the notion of partnerships with other agencies. It is important to forge these partnerships in order to work effectively with and on behalf of children and their families.

FAMILY LINKS WITH DIFFERENT AGENCIES

The children and families themselves are usually the prime partners of social workers. But this is far from the end of the story. Families do not exist in a vacuum entered only by the social services. They are linked in different ways to different organisations and agencies. We therefore need to look at how far we should involve other organisations, agencies and community groups in partnership.
 

Activity 21

On the diagram below, list the different agencies with which children and families in need may be in contact. Include both agencies with which any family might be in contact with and also those agencies the family might come into contact with because of need. Put an asterisk by such specialist organisations.

Comment

You can see from our completed diagram overleaf that children in need and their families have links with a number of specialised agencies, besides the more general agencies with which all families are in contact.

I now want you to explore how you can work effectively in partnership with these specialist agencies and organisations.

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OTHER AGENCIES

In Session Three you saw that partnership included:

• issues of working together, to a common purpose

• recognising the different wishes, priorities, etc. of the various partners

• recognising inequalities of power.

All these issues are relevant when we consider partnership with other agencies.
 

Activity 22

Below are two statements about partnership with other agencies. Note down:

• which statement you think best indicates good practice

• up to six practical applications of the approach.

Partnership involves working together with agencies and organisations in the community on behalf of children and families.

Partnership involves working together with agencies and organisations in the community alongside children and families.

Comment

I hope you remembered that our prime partners should be the children and their families. It is vital to bear this in mind when you look at any partnership you may have with agencies and organisations in the community. The second statement therefore seems to be the most appropriate one. Sometimes, however, you may need to work with agencies on behalf of children and families. When this is the case your action needs to taken where possible with the agreement and knowledge of the children and the families.

Some practical applications of this approach include:

• gaining permission from the child and family to speak to other agencies
   

• enabling the child and the family to negotiate directly with agencies and organisations, for example, through facilitating meetings, providing resources and information
   

• gaining permission from other agencies for information provided by them to be available in open records; ensuring that reasons are given, if information is not available for the child and/or the family
   

• enabling the child and the family to attend case conferences, reviews and other relevant meetings and working with other agencies to help them accept this participative approach
   

• encouraging the child and/or family to gain support and advice from another organisation such as a local advice centre or an advocacy group such as Black Children in Care, NAYPIC, Children’s Legal Centre
   

• avoiding collusion between professionals.

Mrs Mistry saw you as the duty social worker to request a telephone, because her five-year-old child Nilesh is having to make regular trips to a hospital, 30 miles away, for treatment for a heart condition. She confirms that you may contact the GP and the hospital to support the application.

On contacting the GP, you find that she was on the verge of referring Mr and Mrs Mistry to the social services department, suspecting neglect of Nilesh, since he had missed three appointments for surgery to put in a cardiac catheter. This operation is urgently needed and the delay may be endangering Nilesh’s life. You consult with your senior and agree the need to:

• check with central records about any previous social services involvement
   

• speak to the hospital to check out their view and concerns, and whether a new appointment can be made
   

• speak to the GP to check whether there are any other concerns about Nilesh or his family and use this as a basis for carrying out a GP register check
   

• check with the school to see if they have any concerns.

Activity 23

List up to six points which would guide you in carrying through these tasks in partnership with the other agencies, the child and the family.

Comment

Some points which you may have suggested include:

• recognising that partnership is hard to implement, especially when protection issues are present
   

• not hiding behind the difficulties involved, to avoid accountability to the Mistry family in dealing with other agencies
   

• avoiding going along with any judgemental stereotyping from other agencies
   

• informing the GP, hospital, schools, etc., that you would want to share information they give to you with the child and family if possible
   

• checking with hospital about the possibility of not booking an appointment without consulting the family
   

• upholding Mr and Mrs Mistry’s parental responsibility throughout
   

• listening to Nilesh’s wishes and feelings.

Review activity

Think of a family with specific needs which you know.

1. Make a list of any agencies you think this family would benefit from coming into contact with.
    

2. Select an agency from the list and describe in two or three paragraphs how you could work in partnership with the agency alongside the family.

Comment

It would be useful to discuss your response with a colleague or supervisor, but if this is not possible, you could assess your response by asking yourself the following questions.

• Have I been clear that the agencies will be helpful to the family?

• Have I described practical ways of working in partnership rather than just hopes?

• Have I kept in mind the need to work alongside the family?

Session Seven
Addressing Tensions Between Care and Control

Session objectives

After completing this session you will be able to:

• explain the tensions between care and control
• explain why these tensions occur in social work with children and families
• suggest ways of addressing tensions between care and control.

Introduction

Social work, like education and health services, is potentially a source both of control and liberation. These sort of tensions are inherent in your role. In this session we will be exploring the tensions between care and control, and finding ways of working effectively within these tensions.

CARE AND CONTROL: THE TENSIONS

Care and control are key issues in child care. They are also issues that you know about from experience, either as a carer or as a child.

The term care is used in a number of different ways. It can refer to a feeling, when we say we care about someone. It can also refer to what we do for someone, when we say we care for someone. The two meanings are linked: it would be difficult to care appropriately for somebody if you did not care at all about her or him.

Control is not necessarily a negative term. Many carers, particularly parents, see caring and controlling as just different features of the love they have for their children.
 

Activity 24

Sometimes carers feel they need to convince the children that any controlling they do is because they care. Consider your own experience of caring for children, or your observations of other people caring for children.

In the first column below, write down three controlling actions. In the second column, write down how these actions might be justified in terms of caring.

Controlling action	Link with caring

Comment

Here are three suggestions for comparison:

Controlling action	Link with caring
Keeping child in as a punishment	Avoids the child getting into further trouble
Telling a child to eat up	Wanting the child to grow strong
Removing scissors from a child	Protecting the child from possible harm

CARE AND CONTROL IN SOCIAL WORK

The last activity was concerned with caring and controlling by parents or other carers. The situations in which you need to control other people can likewise be linked to your care about their welfare.

Although concerned specifically about child protection, the Department of Health publication Protecting Children has something useful to say about the tensions between care and control in all social work with children and families:

Child protection work inevitably involves the use of authority. Many practitioners remain uncomfortable about openly acknowledging and using their authority in their work with families … It has been argued that ‘care’ and ‘control’ are opposing concepts and in the past this has led to different practitioners taking what was a good role (i.e. offering support and counselling) or a bad role (i.e. taking legal action); but it is now generally agreed that care and control, as any parent knows, are part of the same process.

(DoH, Protecting Children, HMSO, London 1988, p 11)

Activity 25

Many people enter social work because they care about people and want to work them. Many social workers are even called ‘care workers’. But social work does involve the use of authority and control, and it is often said that social work is a method of social control.

Note down two or three examples from your own practice of how social work might be considered a method of social control.

Comment

Typical situations in which social control becomes an issue include:

• investigation of a child abuse allegation

• supervising a child or young person, or providing supervised activities for children

• writing a social work report for a court.

You may, of course, have suggested other examples.

ADDRESSING THE TENSIONS BETWEEN CARE AND CONTROL

As a social worker you may well see yourself as a carer, and many of the people you work with may appreciate the care you offer. However, many social work clients know very clearly that, no matter how caring we are in our approach, we are still part of a system of control. In certain circumstances we have a mandate to use authority on behalf of society; and we cannot run away from that. What we have to do is to find out how we can work effectively within the tensions between care and control.
 

Activity 26

This activity is designed to enable you to identify ways of coming to terms with the tensions between care and control.

Think of a situation in which a child is being accommodated by the local authority because the child’s parent(s) are temporarily prevented from providing suitable care. The particular child is reluctant to go away from home, although this is necessary. As the social worker you are aware that the child’s situation could be exacerbated unless you can find appropriate accommodation, and ensure the child remains there while the difficulties at home are sorted out.

Spend ten minutes listing the ways you might work effectively alongside the child and the family, within the tensions of care and control.

Comment

Some possible ways include:

• accepting that these tensions exist
   

• spending time with the child, demonstrating that you are taking into account her or his wishes and feelings
   

• keeping the child and the family informed at all times
   

• doing everything possible to work in partnership with the child and the family (for example having parental support for the placement)
   

• involving the child, the family and the principal carers in decision making
   

• ensuring fostering or residential accommodation takes account of the child’s race, religion, culture and language
   

• having agreed and open recordings
   

• establishing honest and open review processes.

In this way you are using the authority you have in an open and honest way, and ensuring that you maintain the key principles of practice you have been exploring in this unit. Working according to such principles may be one way of managing the tensions between care and control.
 

Review activity

Think of a particular situation you have been involved with in your work with children and families in which there were issues of control. Then:

• make an assessment of how you worked within these tensions

• list the points you would want to keep in mind in future work in this area.

Comment

You should if possible discuss your response to this activity with a colleague or supervisor. If this is not possible, I suggest you use the following checklist to help you to assess your response.

• Have I looked at my attitudes towards controlling as well as my actions?

• Have I acknowledged the real tensions involved in social work with children and families?

• Have I given myself clear guidelines for my future practice?

Session Eight
Developing a  Personal Statement of Principles

Session objectives

After completing this session you will be able to:

• review your learning on issues of principle in social work with children and families
• explain how you can apply principles of anti-oppressive practice
• produce your own statement of principles.

REVIEWING YOUR LEARNING

You may have found this quite a challenging unit. If so, I hope it has also been stimulating. You now need to review what you have learned about principles of social work practice with children and families. This will enable you to develop a personal statement about your own principles.
 

Activity 27

Look over the seven sessions completed so far, and write a one-paragraph summary of each of the key principles of practice as you see them. You should take time over this exercise. I have completed one summary as an example.

The Potential and Limits of Social Work with Children and Families
As a social worker with specific training and experience, I will have the knowledge, understanding, skills and values to enable families to have their needs met as far as possible. However, I need to recognise that I cannot be a miracle worker or all things to all people. Nor would I want to be, because social work is not always helpful nor can it eliminate inequalities in society.

Comment

Here are the rest of my summaries.

Anti-oppressive Social Work with Children and Families

Social work is not immune from the rest of society’s oppression, and we have to have an active determined anti-oppressive approach to our work. This demands a critical analysis of both agency policies and practice and our own attitudes and behaviour.

Partnership with Family Members

Partnership with family members is about working together to a common agreed purpose, sharing decision-making, recognising and respecting different skills, knowledge, resources, values, experiences, wishes and priorities. With partnership, we can be more enabling and effective. Without partnership, we can create dependence, undermine the people we are working with and simply get it wrong.

Focusing on People’s Abilities and Resources

From my own life experience, I know how important it is to recognise what I can do as well as what I can’t. Becoming a client can harm people. Social work can be more effective if the focus is on people’s resources rather than their problems. This focus is a prerequisite for social work training which is enabling.

Listening to Children

Children are people too, and have a right to be listened to and to have their views taken into account, particularly when decisions are being made about their future. Serious consequences can arise when children are not listened to. As social workers, we need to develop skills in listening to all children.

Partnership with Other Agencies

Children and families in need have links with many agencies and organisations. We may need to work in partnership with many of these agencies, and it is crucial in relation to child protection. However, partnership with other agencies is not always easy to implement, and we must maintain our partnership with the children and families at the same time.

Addressing Tensions Between Care and Control

Although we might argue that care and control can be part and parcel of the same thing, the people we are working with may not see it that way. We have to accept that, as social workers, we are involved in social control, and we have to address the tensions between that and our motivation to care. One way of doing this is to ensure we are working in line with key principles of practice when using authority.

INTER-RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PRINCIPLES

In looking at principles of practice we need to avoid the danger of viewing each principle in isolation. Different principles relate in some way to each other. For instance, in Session Seven, we saw how maintaining other principles such as partnership can help us address the tensions between care and control. Anti-oppressive practice is one key principle which needs to be seen in the context of other key principles. To practice in an anti-oppressive way needs to be our aim in all situations.

It can be helpful to assign particular guidelines for good practice to specific issues. For example, in May 1989, The National Association of Probation Officers, NAPO, produced the following set of guidelines for working with lesbians and gay men. Many of their suggestions have a link with the sorts of principles we have discussed, particularly in relation to anti-oppressive practice and social control.

1. Homosexuality should be seen as a legitimate sexual choice.
    

2. No attempt should ever be made to counsel lesbians and gay men out of their choice.
    

3. Members should avoid stereotyping and making offensive comments, and challenge them when they are made – whether by clients or by colleagues.
    

4. Offices should carry information about available facilities for lesbian and gay men and this information should be accessible to clients.
    

5. Gay men and lesbians should not be assumed to be deviant or inclined to law-breaking simply because of their sexuality.
    

6. In working with black lesbians and gay men, members should be alert to the dual nature of the discrimination they face in a racist and homophobic society.
    

7. Sexual orientation should not be referred to in reports or records unless it is relevant to the offending behaviour and only then with the client’s permission, (unless the offence makes it obvious). It should always be accompanied by explanations of discrimination.
    

8. Sexual orientation should never be seen as a reason in itself for a recommendation for supervision and attempts by courts to propose this should be resisted.
    

9. Similarly, sexual orientation should never to seen as a reason in itself for proposing psychiatric reports or treatment and attempts by courts to do this should be resisted.
    

10. Lesbians and gay men should not be considered unsuitable as parents on grounds of their sexual orientation alone.
     

11. Where supervision includes work in relation to a client’s sexual orientation it should focus on enabling them to contact appropriate resources and challenging discrimination and negative images.
     

12. A consideration of the effects of heterosexism should be an integral part of all training programmes.
     

13. Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 should not be allowed to inhibit services to lesbians and gay men.

Activity 28

1. Make a note of any ways you feel the NAPO guidelines could be improved.
    

2. Suggest three or four ways by which you could encourage anti-oppressive practice in your workplace with lesbians and gay men.

Comment

1. Although I feel these guidelines have much strength, the following improvements could be made.

• An additional point could be inserted that it should not be assumed that every young person and adult we work with is heterosexual.
   

• Aspects of partnership could be addressed more fully.
   

• More could be said about focusing on gay and lesbian people’s own resources.

2. You might be able to encourage anti-oppressive practice by:

• putting these guidelines on the agenda for discussion at a staff meeting, or training session
   

• actively developing positive images of gay men and lesbian women as contributors to society, as colleagues and customers
   

• using these guidelines in your own practice
   

• challenging oppressive practice in the workplace.

Note down three or four ways in which you could ensure that:

• your statement of principles is relevant in the years to come

• you act according to those principles.

Comment

These are my suggestions.

• Be prepared to review your statement on a regular basis, perhaps every six months, preferably in supervision.
   

• Be willing to discuss your statement with other people, perhaps with some of the children and families with whom you work.
   

• Be willing to completely rewrite your statement if necessary.
   

• Monitor your work with particular families against your statement of principles.