recasting child protection following munro patrick ayre department of applied social studies...
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Recasting Child Protection following Munro
Patrick Ayre
Department of Applied Social Studies
University of Bedfordshire
Park Square, Luton
email: [email protected]
web: http://patrickayre.co.uk
The background
Widespread and persistent concern over standards
Far reaching reforms Little evidence of improvement, in
England at least
Key themes
Failure to learn from experience Lack of effective engagement with
research Process and procedures prioritised over
outcomes and objectives
Key themes
Targets and indicators prioritised over values and professional standards
Compliance and completion prioritised over analysis and reflection
The proceduralisation, technicalisation and deprofessionalisation of the social work task.
Munro and the Mission Statement Fallacy
In the ‘mission statement fallacy’, it is
assumed that if one asserts an objective
with which all relevant stakeholders agree
strongly in principle, this objective will be
realised in practice.
How did we get where we are now? Deprofessionalisation Part of a wider trend Managerialism, McDonaldisation and
the audit culture Management by external objectives Professionals not to be trusted
How did we get to where we are now?
Research
Legal and adversarial context of child protection
Child abuse scandals
Scandals
Public pillorying
Public enquiry with many recommendations
Law and guidance from the government
Climatic conditions
Climate of fear
Climate of mistrust
Climate of blame
Responsible journalism at its best“Today The Sun has demanded justice for Baby P — and vows not to rest until those disgracefully ducking blame for failing the tot are SACKED”
“The fact that Baby P was allowed to die despite 60 visits from Haringey Social Services is a national disgrace.
I believe that ALL the social workers involved in the case of Baby P should be sacked - and never allowed to work with vulnerable children again.
I call on Beverley Hughes, the Children's Minister, and Ed Balls, the Education Secretary, to ensure that those responsible are removed from their positions immediately”.
(The Sun, 13 November 2008)
Climatic conditions
Climate of fear
Climate of mistrust
Climate of blame
Climate of mistrust
‘Child stealers’ who ‘seize sleeping children in the middle of the night’; ‘abusers of authority, hysterical and malignant’, ‘motivated by zealotry rather than facts’ or ‘like the SAS in cardigans and Hush Puppies’.
On the other hand, they are ‘naïve, bungling, easily fobbed off’, ‘incompetent, indecisive and reluctant to intervene’ and ‘too trusting with too liberal a professional outlook’.
Climate of mistrust
The safeguarding worker who took a child away
from its parents
The safeguarding worker who failed to take a child
away from its parents
Climatic conditions
Climate of fear
Climate of mistrust
Climate of blame
Trusting procedures
Procedural proliferation
Blaming and training
The myth of predictability
Blaming and training
Causes of accidents can be traced to ‘latent failures and organizational errors arising in the upper echelons of the system in question Accident sequences begin with problems arising in management processes such as planning, specifying, communicating, regulating and developing.
Latent failures created by these organisational errors are ‘transmitted along various organizational and departmental pathways to the workplace where they create the local conditions that promote the commission of errors and violations (e.g. high workload, deficient tools and equipment, time pressure, fatigue, low morale, conflicts between organizational and group norms and the like’ (Reason, 1995 p.1710). In this analysis, ‘people at the sharp end are seen as the inheritors rather than the instigators of an accident sequence’ (Reason, 1995 p.1711).
Procedures as a net to catch problems
Procedures as a net to catch problems
Procedures as a net to catch problems
Procedures as a net to catch problems
But what are the principles:
Child centred system
Family usually the best place for a child but…
Importance of relationships
Early help is better for children
Variety of available response
Evidence based practice
Uncertainty and risk are inevitable: risk sensible, not risk averse
What we should measure is whether children are receiving effective help
KPIs: Ministers and managers
Outcomes hard to measure, process easy
Easy to obtain, easy to digest (but what do they tell us?)
Quality = KPI scores
False sense of security
Distort resource allocation
?A third of the mix
KPIs: On the front line
Learn by doing
What is important in what I do?
What is good practice?
Supervision: qualitative or quantitative?
Redesigning the system
We need:Clear understanding of the capabilities required by staff,operational structure and systems which enable direct work and values continuity of worker Robust selection process Clear view on what local regulation is absolutely necessary
Redesigning the system
Sufficient professional development activity for the necessary skills set
Frequent case consultations to explore and reflect on direct work and plans
Frequent case supervision for to reflect on service effectiveness and case decision-making
Managers to observe practitioners’ direct work with children and families
Redesigning the system
Teaching culture, where all managers involved in case consultation, direct work with children and families and teaching theory and practice
Learning culture which results in the organisation knowing its service and making adjustments to facilitate its effectiveness
To listen to children families and frontline staff
The basic questions
What are most important challenges facing Middlesbrough in reshaping its services in the light of Munro?
What are the greatest obstacles which lie in the way of progress?
What are the greatest strengths we have in meeting these challenges?
How much progress have we made so far?