Child-Centered Social Work Practice

Introduction

From the writer’s experience, children are among the most challenging groups social workers have to work with, requiring focused social care and attention. For instance, children’s listening skills are still developing and therefore social workers must observe effective communication skills in order to effectively communicate with them while delivering care. However, for a long time, social work practice has seldom focused on the children and their needs (Goh & Taib, 2006 p.224); and according to Morris & Leavey (2006,p.155), social workers have often failed to comprehensively address the needs of the children by neglecting and failing to meet children’s psychological or physical needs. This has led to the concept of child-centred practice that seeks to tailor social work services to the children and focus on their needs. The main objective of this essay is evaluating the professional role of social workers within a range of contexts and regulations such as the Children and Social Work Act 2017, a legislation that encourages multi-agency partnership in the delivery of social care to children and protecting the children’s rights. After demonstrating a detailed understanding of the current and legal responsibilities of social workers in the protection of children and their families, the essay will evaluate a range of frameworks and tools used by social workers to deliver child social care through judgments and recommendations aimed at protecting children from risks and delivering their needs. Afterward, the essay will evaluate the required communication skills that social workers need to develop to effectively communicate with children and their families while delivering care.

The concept of Child Centred practice

It is evident that relationships play an important role in shaping the perception of childcare. For instance, it is common for parents working to view childcare as a burden and tend to delegate the function of caring for their children to hired house workers who are tasked with the responsibilities of managing and meeting the needs of their children. Therefore, child-centred practice adopted by social workers varies widely from one social worker to the other. For instance, Race and O’Keefe (2017, p4) define child-centred practice as providing care by prioritizing the needs and welfare of children. This, implies therefore that child centred practice entails social workers focusing their interventions on the needs of the child. Similar conceptualization is demonstrated by Cromatry et al. (2018, p2) who assert that child centred practice entails social workers tailoring their interventions to the needs of the child. In social work, child-centred social care may revolve around, among other things, residential care for looked after children, advisory and court liaison services, child protection, adoption, services for children with disability and family support (Cromatry et al., 2018, p2). Furthermore, it entails the promotion of the rights of children to participate in the assessment and the entire process of care (Race & O’Keefe 2017, p4). Therefore, and effectively delivered child-centred practice by social workers involves identifying and incorporating children’s views and enabling them to participate in the decisions regarding their care (Davey, 2010, p39). Consequently, the child is placed at the centre of care by developing a care program that considers their needs and adheres to existing regulatory and policy frameworks. The following section illustrates the policy and regulatory framework within which social workers operate when delivering child-centred car. Particularly, the policies and regulation seek to enforce observance of the rights of children within the practice of social work.

Legislation

The Children and Social Work Act 2017

The evolution of child-centred practice in social work is supported by legislative and policy frameworks that have been developed over time to address the aspects of child care. The children Act 1989 and 2004 contributed significantly in the development of child centred practice since they outline key aspects such as child protection and children rights (Race & O’Keefe 2017, p.3). Nonetheless, it is important to note that in 2017, the two regulations were collapsed and merged in the Children and Social Work Act 2017, whose main aim is to issue legislative guidance on how to handle looked after children as well as other guidance on how to support child welfare. This implies that among other things, the Children and Social Work Act 2017 provides the legal basis and guidance for corporate parenting and how to safeguard children’s right within the practice of social care. The legislative framework for social care in England asserts that care should be driven by the well-being of the child. On the other hand, the policy context of social care emphasizes that social care should be designed to create a balance between rules, principals and professional expertise, aimed at making social care to children more child centred and less bureaucratic (Cromatry et al, 2018 p.5). According to NSPCC (2018 p. 3), schools, educational providers and other agencies have a role to play in enhancing child welfare. Achieving child centred practice is thus dependent on crucial social work skills and values that are focused on the child.

Munro (2011, p. 10) emphasizes that child centred social work is focused on helping children. Helping children is a human process and thus children should be treated as human beings with equal human rights, dignity and respect. This is regardless of the fact that children are largely considered as minors requiring guidance on decision making due to their limited capacity, a phenomenon that is taken advantage of by social workers and families by mistreating the children. Nonetheless, the basis of child care regulations that must be followed by social workers are anchored within the role of the police, the local authority and the clinical commissioning group in protecting child welfare. According to the Child and Social Care Act 2017 these agencies must coordinate to ensure that children are effectively protected from any harm on their welfare, and that there is an early identification and mitigation of risks of harm.

For instance, the Act provides the regulations that social workers must follow when reporting about child welfare. It guarantees the children the right of protecting by stipulating that social workers, as people who work with children, have the responsibility of maintaining their safety by reporting any concerns that they suspect might infringe on the child’s safety. Noteworthy, this regulation does not only apply to social workers but also anyone in contact with the child. Similarly, Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 stipulates that social workers with the responsibility of caring for children must coordinate with other agencies such as the police, NHS trusts and young offenders’ institutions to ensure that those institutions protect the children’s rights while delivering their respective services (Department of Education, 2018, p.5). This includes ensuring that all these institutions observe relevant statutory regulations such as mandatory reporting, which requires professionals in the field of social care and education report any cases of female genital mutilation to the police (Home Office, 2016, p.5).

Social care workers working within the UK, under the UK’s child protection system have the responsibility of facilitating investigations and making referrals when a child’s rights are abused. According to Department of Education (2018, p.5) the law requires social workers to work together with other relevant agencies in the identification of children and their families whose rights would be protected by getting early help, conduction of risk assessment and provision of early help of the children and their families. It is a statutory regulation for social workers to assess the child’s welfare and protect their concerns by assisting in the issuance of emergency protection orders, exclusion of the abusing individual from the child’s vicinity, and assessing the child’s needs even without the parent’s consent.

Policy Guidance

In the year 2000, the framework for assessment of children needs and their families was adopted that highlighted the approach towards assessment and addressing the needs of children and their families (Race & O’Keefe 2017, P. 4). Since then, there has been growing emphasis on enabling social workers to engage with children and more policies have continued to be developed to enhance the practice of child centred social work.

A typical example where policies have been directed at is bureaucratization of childcare services. Bureaucratization is considered one of the main challenges to child centred practice. Care for the children adopting the bureaucratization model places the social worker as the expert and the director while the child is the subject who is supposed to follow the instructions of the social worker without question. Munro (2011 p. 10) also observes that bureaucratization in social work kills the spirit of child centred care.

Child Protection Policy, a Theoretical Perspective

Generally, the policy frameworks for child care social work are based on a certain theories of social work that must be acknowledged. Typically, person centred theory is one of the perspectives explaining child centred practice (Munro 2011, p 19). This theory was championed by Carl Rogers and is applied in different fields (Erekson & Lambert, 2015, p.1). However, when the basic tenets of person centred therapy are applied to child-centred practice, practitioners are required to treat the patient with dignity, and respect and focusing the services to the needs of an individual as well as empowering them to exploit their potential (Erekson & Lambert, 2015, p.2). The other theory underlying the child centred practice is the reflective-rational theory (Munro 2011, p. 19), which explains that human behaviour is rational and logical and therefore the social worker can freely choose to either offer child-centred practice or adopt the bureaucratic model of social care. Therefore, the outcome of their actions determines their effectiveness in providing social care. Neoliberal theory is also among the modern theories and can be applied in child centred practice. According to Jessop (2012, p. 2), neoliberal theory discusses a number of issues that are largely political. However, one of the key elements of the theory is championing of individual freedom. This aspect can be applied in child centred practice. In line with the child rights and frameworks to support the rights of the child, Neoliberal theorists support the observance of the rights of the child in social work. The championing of individual freedom by neoliberal theory aligns with the UN convention on the rights of the child (Race & O’Keefe 2017, p. 26). On the other hand, neoliberal theory may also give the social workers a leeway to provide bureaucratic- based social care which does not prioritise the needs of the child. The social worker can argue on the basis of personal freedom to have the right to decide whichever approach that is convenient to them. This would still be in line with the neoliberal theory since personal freedom of the social worker will be at the focus of practice (Jessop 2012, p.5)

There are limitations to child centre practice. According to Tuck (2013, p.12), to accept that some parents may be highly resistant, and hostile may be to raise uncomfortable questions about the nature and limitations of partnership working upon which the structure of safeguarding and child welfare in England has been largely built since the Children Act 1989. However, it would be unfortunate if this contributed to any skewing of emphasis.

Partnerships in child social care

In a document published in 1995 by the Department of Health, it is stated that the objective of any partnership between families and professionals must be the protection and welfare of the child and is not an end in itself (Department of Health and Social Services Inspectorate, 1995, pp. 11–12). Constructing a partnership should be based as far as possible on openness, mutual trust, joint decision making, and a willingness to listen to families and capitalise on their strengths. However, there is clear guidance that words such as equality, choice and power have a limited meaning at certain points in the child protection process. For instance, there are times when professional agencies have statutory responsibilities they must fulfil and powers they must use for the benefit of the child yet, parents many become angry at professional intervention and sometimes refuse to cooperate.

Social Work Communication skills in Child centred practice

Skills are crucial in effective social work, especially when working with children. With the growing emphasis on child centred care, it is evident that meeting the dynamic needs of the children requires crucial skills by the social worker. Karpetis (2017, p. 2) defines skills as interventions involving putting learning into practice. A social worker relies on crucial skills in providing care to the child. Communication skills are the main focus of social work care for children. When interacting with children, the social worker relies on crucial communication skills to effectively understand the needs of the child. However, communication skills might also be misused and the social worker fails to deliver crucial care to the child (Karpetis 2017, p. 2). The social worker's objective in working with children is to enable children to voice their needs and communicate their fears, worries, and dreams with the social worker. This can be possible if effective communication is adopted by the social worker when interacting with children (Karpetis 2017, p.3).Effective communication is based on different types of communication (i.e., the verbal and non-verbal communication) and the social worker ought to utilize these types of communication when interacting with the child (Barnes 2018 p.11). Much as communication is necessary for getting information from the child, child centred social work also seeks to understand the needs of the child and placing the child as a key player in social care, it also entails listening to the child. Unfortunately, Barnes (2018, pg 11) explain that it is normal practice for social workers to often disregard the perspectives of children, not to listen to them and failing to treat them as individual adults.

The Listening Skill

According to Nicky, Helen, Andy, Nicola, Katrina, Katie, Shereen, etc (2010, Pg. 96) there are advantages to listening skills in social worker practice which involved paying attention, being prepared to hear difficult things and validating the child or young person’s feelings. On the other hand, Barnes (2018) has voiced some of the concerns from young people about how social workers may disregard their perspectives, not hear them out and not treat them as individual adults (Skills for Care ,2018, p.2. 3). According to Skills for Care (2018, p.4) Social workers need to utilise listening abilities to check understanding. Likewise, they need to have undivided attention, which includes focusing on what the other individual is saying. To recognise that one is occupied with the discussion social workers can gesture your head, make ‘mmm’ sounds and use empowering words, for example ‘yes’ and ‘I see’ (Ibid, 2016, pg.3.). Demonstrating these positive listening skills that will illustrate to children andthat you are paying full attention to them. Furthermore, sitting down or kneeling to a child’s level will make the child feel as if the centre and more valuable. These are all positive listening skills that can help elaborate a more positive and effective relationship between social workers and the children under their care, meaning that it is the role of the social worker to develop these skills.

Values of Social Work in Child Centred Care

The social work profession is largely guided by values, and these values define the very work of social care (Chechak 2015, p 41). Values in Practice are used to articulate the outcomes, goals and identify preferred means of attaining them (Gambrill, 2011 p. 40). Furthermore, ethical principles of society are defined by values, supporting Chechak’s (2015) explanation that social work is a value-based profession (pg. 45). Core values in social work are crucial in driving the professional and ethical conduct of the social workers with their clients. Child centred care practice requires the implementation of social work values for effective care and management of the diverse needs of the child. With this regard, Banks (2012a p. 60) identify human dignity, promotion of wellbeing of the children and social justice as core values in social work practice. However, Race & O’Keefe (2017 p. 14) point that in modern practice, social work is largely centred on equality, empowerment and participation as core values in enhancing child centred practice. This signifies the existing difference in opinion with regards to the core professional values in child social work, a phenomenon that indicates the need for further research investigation. The values of social work practice are accompanied by the code of ethics. The code of ethics seeks to enforce professional behaviour and adherence to the core values of the practice (Race & O’Keefe 2017 p.4). Professional bodies are tasked with development of code of ethics that guides their members. In regards to social work, international federation of social work and British association of social workers are some professional social worker associations responsible for development of the code of ethics and enforcing professional behaviour among the social workers. However, regardless of the existing core values and codes of ethics, children are generally not put at the focus of the appraisals and their interactions with the social workers are generally insignificant (Race & O’Keefe 2017 p 4).

Conclusion

Child centred practice in social work is a crucial element in meeting the needs of the child and providing social care. From the discussion above, it is evident that child centred care is a promising approach that social workers can rely on when working with children. This practice banks on establishing a cordial relationship and friendship between the social worker and the child. Communication and other skills, as well as crucial values in social work, are quite crucial in providing child-centred care. While there are key issues around child-centred social work practice, effective social work is premised on adhering to the needs of the child as well as observing their rights in implementing the social care programs. With children playing a crucial role in care, social workers will meet their objective of providing social care to the children and managing various child welfare needs.

References

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