Supporting Katie in a Social Enterprise Context

This essay focuses on a case study within the context of a social enterprise not-for-profit, providing drop-in, children and families group, family group conferencing, and groups for parents. The company collaborates with the universities, West Midlands Police, local schools, Local Authority Children's Services, Adult Services, and Judicial Services, offering valuable resources for social work dissertation help.

The case study focuses on Katie (not her real name), a 15-year-old Muslim Asian. Currently, Katie is living at home with her mum, father, stepfather, and two siblings. She has been exposed to alcohol, drugs, and domestic violence throughout her life. Over the years, Katie has been placed in care homes for short periods. Katie has started to use drugs, such as cannabis, glue, ecstasy, and amphetamines. Recently, she reported that her stepfather had sexually abused her. The case was referred to the children and family team, where I work as a student social worker. Following the assessment, I was asked to work with Katie directly to establish what had happened and assess the risks. During case management meetings, I reported to my manager.

Assessment

There is no universally agreed definition in social work for assessment. Coulshed and Orme (2012) explain that assessment is a continuing process in which the service user (SU) contributes, whose purpose is to understand people concerning their environment.

The assessment highlights what planning needs to be done to sustain, improve and bring about change (Coulshed and Orme, 2012). Dyke (2016) clarifies that it is a procedure of professional judgment or appraisal of the SU's situation, conditions, and behaviour, and it may also contain risk assessment. These risk assessments' concern is measuring the likelihood of something occurring, its significance to those involved, and the extent of the potential harm it could be for the environment and the SU (Kemshall et al., 2013). Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance (Department of Education, 2018) and Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 layout professional requires for social workers to be obligated to carry out assessments if there are safeguarding risks to children. The provisions provide support to address those needs to improve the child’s outcomes to make them safe. However, an assessment has not been universally defined; professionals can interpret it in their way to manage their workload (Davies, 2010). This leads to different outcomes, depending on the styles and methods used within social care. Various processes and procedures in other counties, for example, may lead to varying thresholds for decisions or risk assessment (Davies, 2010). Assessment can be a complex process with many challenging elements, requiring observation and evaluation of various risk factors and sometimes limited or unreliable information from SU (Macdonald et al., 2014).

Milner and O’Byrne (2015) posit that assessment is a form of exploration containing five stages: preparation, data collection, weighing the data, analysing the data, and utilizing the analysis, which the judgments are made from. Models of assessment are more robust if they focus on the SU voice, involvement, and views (Martin, 2010; Milner & O’Bryne, 2015).

Milner and O’Byrne (2015) recognize that their stages of assessment are not linear, and various versions and viewpoints are needed to acknowledge the complexity and the complicated nature of social work.

The Talking and Listening (TLC) project found that despite calls for social workers to reclaim the importance of relationships in their work, social workers still found it challenging to build and sustain protective relationships where bureaucratic procedures were dominant (Featherstone et al., 2014; Ferguson, 2016).Ruch (2014) highlighted a fundamental mismatch between the way children communicated and the linear process of formal assessments. Milner et al. (2020) suggest that social workers need to understand and recognize their power in evaluations. Hence assessment requires acknowledging, questioning, and, where appropriate, challenging some of the ‘powers’ created within social work. The power issues are evident in the child-centred approach, which encourages the SU to define their problems. The social worker supports and empowers them to overcome the difficulties and make a positive changes. However, the SUs could sometimes feel disempowered and oppressed by the professionals involved (Walker and Beckett, 2011). This may happen as although the approaches set should be influenced by the SUs and their needs, social workers may try to guide them because of their statutory agenda (Beckett, 2010). A critique of the child-centred approach is the difficulty of researching the implementation of pedagogic reform systematically and comparatively. Maton (2013) argues that advocates of child-centred education tend to scrap hostile evidence because the practice being explored was not genuinely child-centred. To some degree, they are right in drawing attention to this. The elusiveness of 'truly' child-centred education was confronted by Berlak and Berlak (2011) in their now-classic account of their visit to the UK in the 1970s.

Thus, the concept of reflection and reflexivity amongst professionals who conduct assessments is essential for ensuring positive outcomes. This has been highlighted by the analysis of critical incident accounts (Parker et al., 2012). This has emphasized that using alternative approaches to assessment allows multiple and diverse understandings. The models developed by Milner et al. (2020) and Fook (2016) use a narrative approach exposed to change and development. Therefore, assessment becomes a process of dialogue and interaction rather than fact-finding. Munro (2011) also emphasizes how social workers can raise the quality of practice by not being bound to the restricted assessment proformas but questioning what information is needed, why, and how it can be used. Kemshall et al. (2013) examine the skills required to undertake risk assessments in social work predominantly with children. Skills such as analytical thinking, problem-solving, negotiation, working under stress, pressure, etc.

When analysing Katie's case study, I followed the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families, focusing on the child's developmental needs, parents' or caregivers’ capacities to respond appropriately, wider family and environmental factors (DoH, 2000). The domain relates to each other, especially in Katie’s case with the environmental factors and the abuse taking place at home, leading her to drug abuse. An assessment triangle is a tool for collecting information to ensure the decision systemically in Katie’s best interest (Children Act1989).

Interventions And Risk Management

The intervention follows assessment to ensure purposeful and supportive work with the SU that meets their needs. In non-directive interventions, 'the worker does not attempt to decide for people or lead, guide, or persuade them to accept his/her specific conclusions' (Germain, 2010, p33). Interventions have different periods and levels of intensity, which depend on factors, such as location, a problem presented, individuals involved, and relevant agency policy and practice. Payne (2014, p) argues that 'the term intervention is oppressive as it indicates the moral and political authority of the social worker.' This concern is also shared by others, with Langan and Lee (1989:83) describing the potentially ‘invasive’ nature of interventions and how they can be used to control others. Social intervention is defined as an action that involves government or non-governmental organizations in social affairs. It includes providing charity and social welfare to alleviate the difficulties, such as providing safety of education and healthcare. These programs are designed to increase social goods and services (Berg-Weger and Morley, 2020 pg 5).

Elde-Woodward (2002) identifies three fundamental levels of intervention. At the ‘micro’ level, social workers concentrate on helping individuals solve problems in their lives. Social workers manage cases for SU to improve the quality of their life, housing, etc. The ‘meso' level applies to communities rather than individuals. At this point, social workers concentrate on bringing people together as a community and find common interests within a group. The macro-level focuses on the importance of economic, historical, socio-political, and environmental influences on humankind (Elde-Woodward, 2002).

While understanding and analysing Katie's case study, I used these levels of intervention to understand the environmental and Community factors involved with her going in and out of care getting and sexually abused. As a student social worker, I must follow the code of ethics for social work (British Association of Social Workers) to promote human rights and social justice. Observing, questioning, and challenging Katie’s family using the legal and human rights framework was beneficial to highlight the flaws and the impact of negativity on Katie’s life. However, some researchers claim that the Code of Ethics (British Association of Social Workers)is merely an opportunistic marketing and public relations instrument, with only banal and meaningless words that claim to protect and safeguard children (Elder-Woodward, 2002). To overcome this obstacle, I created a more interpersonal relationship with my SU, but she felt comfortable and keen to explain things to me after a point with boundaries present.

I used the safety and sign method in assessing the risks that Katie might be facing. This method was used as it is recognized globally as a leading approach to collaborative child protection practice. (Baginsky et al., 2020, p155). Risk assessment is the heart and soul of child protection practice used in social work. The primary purpose of the signs and safety intervention is to build relationships between the social worker and the children (Levenson, 2020, p109). Therefore, I used this method to develop a relationship with Katie to address the abuse and the domestic violence issues she was facing.

Signs and safety place the child at the centre of these programs, explaining why social workers have used them with clients (Levenson, 2020, p109). During my intervention, I recognized the protective factors and strengths, which helped balance safety and risks. The use of better communication skills, such as active listening, enabled me to build a stronger bond with Katie, which ensured that Katie was able to communicate with me freely. This was important through the evaluation process as I used what Katie said about the situation at home to encourage her to reflect on the risks she was exposed to.

However, some social intervention policies, such as conscription, bans on abortion and birth control pills, prohibition of drug use, and persecution based on age, have been labelled by critics as social authoritarianism(McEnery et al., 2021 p 85). The view is that these policies violate freedom and human rights. This intervention has also been criticized as there is no evidence that this model effectively reduces the need for a child to enter home care. There is also a debate on whether the critical aspects of implementation should be considered at the individual or organization level (Farrington et al., 2017 p106).

Despite the comprehensive research on social intervention, it is extensive, and the knowledge on how it can be implemented is limited (Ludwig et al., 2017 p341re). The scarcity of relevant studies in this field is believed to be due to the reluctance of social scientists to work together to address the primary issue. These scientists also fail to pair up with practitioners on social intervention projects (Farrington et al., 2021 p104).

To improve the situation, safety measures that should be put in place to ensure the efficiency of social intervention include training social service workers. This will help them familiarise themselves with the service they provide and use new technologies (McEnery et al., 2021 p 86). Another improvement is conducting regular remote supervision meetings to review the cases at hand and make informed decisions that can be handled remotely. Collaborative research should be undertaken to ensure that the information gap is filled up.

Decision Making And Evidence-Based Practice

Evaluation is a process that critically examines a program, and it involves collecting and analyzing information about activities, characteristics, and outcomes of the program (Hall et al., 2020). Its purpose is to make judgments about a program, improve its effectiveness, and inform programming decisions (Patton, 1987). According to Pack (2014), to upsurge objectivity in preparation, various sources of knowledge and evidence-based practice (EBP) should be used. Webber (2014) claims that knowledge and EBP are interlinked because the use of knowledge forms the foundations for EBP.

The sign and safety tool I used with Katie has successfully highlighted the signs of danger and abnormalities within the case, allowing me to make improvements to her life by removing her from the abusive setting. Mullen and Shuluk (2011) critical evaluation of the general outcomes of social work interventions suggests that a large body of evidence supports the effectiveness of a wide range of social work interventions with a wide range of social problems and populations. They also suggest that two-thirds of SU benefit in measurable ways by particular interventions. EBP motivates social workers to evaluate their practice and develop their general knowledge by reporting and feeding back on work with SU. However, these self-evaluation reports could be biased, favouring the intervention, and thus such internal evaluation should be suspected (Cryns, Gorey& Brice, 1989; Petrosino & Soydan, 2005). Gorey(1996) assessed this potential bias in his meta-analysis. He set out to measure whether study conclusions fluctuated depending on whether an internal or external evaluator implemented the evaluation.

Furthermore, Stepney and Ford (2012) state that EBP draws extensively from theory and supplies a framework for understanding, judgment, and decision-making. This suggests that EBP can assess Katie through reflective analysis of how practice can be modified for individuals. Evaluating SU’s outcomes is the most effective way to determine transformation for the ‘better’; however, these are challenging to measure and cannot be assessed until years after the social work intervention (Beckett, 2010). The requirement of EBP is also supported in the seventh domain of the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF), which confirms the importance for social workers to appraise and assimilate numerous sources of knowledge and evidence. Trevithick (2011) argues that although varying forms of information and expertise are available to SWs, they can be complex and cause misunderstandings. This is also analysed within a review of knowledge conducted by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) on the Types and Quality of Knowledge in Social Care (Pawson et al., 2003).

Legislation knowledge and policy

In the late 1980s, awareness rose about the impact of oppression and discrimination on SUs, communities, and the environment. Social workers are seen as mediators between SUs and the broader state apparatus and social order, almost favourable regarding the relationship between the state and the citizens (Ferguson & Woodward, 2009). Anti-oppressive practice (AOP) is a dynamic process based on the complex changing patterns of social relations, examining the use and abuse of power in individual and organizational behaviour (Clifford, 1995). Clifford (1995) adds that AOP provides the foundation for a social work assessment: social difference, linking personal and political, power, historical and geographical location, and reflexivity and mutual involvement. Concerning Katie, decision-making was complex due to her religious beliefs. I had to be careful not to offend her or her family and damage our relationship. Beckett, Maynard, and Jordan (2005) also agree that it is essential to ensure AOP is upheld and prioritized by moral and ethical judgments because such vital decisions can profoundly impact Katie's life. However, a risk management plan comes with every case in social work, and SWs need to outweigh the harmful consequences, especially for a young girl like Katie (Beckett, 2010). The dynamic force of AOP is the act of challenging inequalities. Challenges are not continuously compelling and often agonize for the person or group being challenged or challenging (Burke & Harrison, 2011). A challenge, at its best, involves changes at macro-and micro-levels. If AOP provides appropriate and sensitive services that are needs-led rather than resource-driven, it has to embody 'a person-centred philosophy; and egalitarian value system concerned with reducing the deleterious effects of structural inequalities upon people's lives' (Dominelli, 2010). The legislation specifies powers as well as duties that social workers are legally compelled to fulfil. Therefore, it the responsibility of the local authority to inspect and deliver services and have the power to protect the children (Milner et al., 2020).

Safeguarding or capacity

Direct work with children can occur in distinctive ways and comprises listening, communication, observations, and interacting with the child (Winter, 2011). Development theories, such as Bowlby’s (1969) attachment theory, can direct work with children to identify the child’s wishes and feelings. Observation is a method that can inform and use attachment theory to aid the assessment process (Sharman et al., 2004). The Children Act 1989 (as amended by section 53 (4a) of the Children Act 2004) necessitates that the local authorities give due regard to a child's wishes and feelings, of which S.22 (4a) Children Act 1989 includes children looked after by the local authority and that all professionals involved are in contact primarily when a safeguarding issue is raised. Nevertheless, some challenges remain in direct work with children (Ruch, 2014). Luckock (2013) argues that the increase in legislative controls has contributed to the bureaucracy within social work. As Ferguson (2011) argues, this might lead to becoming target-driven and service-led rather than client-led. Within Katie's case, I worked in partnership with her school, GP, psychiatrist, and all the health professionals involved as multidisciplinary working is critical to make appropriate judgments and choices.

Conclusion

Social workers do social work assessments to determine if a child needs protection and other additional services. The reviews determine the nature of services required and whether more detailed core assessments should be undertaken. These assessment frameworks do not replace initial assessments at the point of referral. Lead professions appointed to undertake this service initially should agree with other lead services upon a point of referral. Reviews of historical records of the child should be retrieved, which may be accessed electronically or by the paper record. As much as the initial assessment is brief, it must be done thoroughly to ensure decisions are made informed. Research has shown that there are common pitfalls when conduction assessments can be avoided by avoiding judgments, paying attention to details, and considering the probability.

Good assessments are grounded by a thorough understanding of the child and family situation and their needs and strengths.

Practical social work assessment requires an understanding of how the service users relate to their environment. The five stages of evaluation require different versions and viewpoints to recognize the complexities of individual cases and develop the appropriate intervention to ensure that SU’s needs are met. The macro, micro, and meso levels of intervention have been used in this case study to understand the environmental and Community factors that affect Katie. Decisions on interventions to improve Katie’s life arose from the sign and safety protocol by removing her from the abusive environment. AOP was ensured by respecting Katie’s religious and cultural needs. Effective listening and communication were essential in interacting with her. Observation is vital in informing the attachment theory, which helps in the assessment process. In Katie's case, I worked closely with the school and health professionals involved to improve the choices and decisions made.

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