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Thinking systemically-thinking politically: building strong partnerships with children and families in the context of rising inequality
- Authors:
- FEATHERSTONE Brid, BROADHURST Karen, HOLT Kim
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 42(4), 2012, pp.618-633.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Excessive standardisation, with its emphasis on inspection and audit, has led to a number of unhelpful practice effects. Prompted by findings from the Munro Review of Child Protection, this paper provides a critical analysis of the combination of changes that appear to have undermined social workers' ability to develop strong partnerships with children and their families. It argues that many aspects of the Munro Review are welcome, but, without a clear understanding of the likely impact of the wider political context within which recommendations are located, its analysis and recommendations for practice may be undermined. This article challenges readers to consider how neo-liberal policies have in the past, and are likely in the future, to lead to the intensification of inequalities, thus undermining effective family work. Efforts to deal with excessive rules and procedures, or the revision of performance targets, as suggested in the Munro Review, will not mitigate the corrosive effects of rising social inequality. Social workers must consider the likely regressive impact of impending public sector and welfare cuts and challenge any moves to sideline family support and restrict social work to a narrow focus on child protection.
Investing in children, regulating parents, thinking family: a decade of tensions and contradictions
- Authors:
- MORRISA Kate, FEATHERSTONE Brid
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Society, 9(4), October 2010, pp.557-566.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
This article maps out the contradictory arguments within which families are positioned in the current climate, with ‘moral panics’ about family life. These are in part driven by concerns over children’s safety and well-being, and concerns over anti-social behaviour. The article goes on to describe the contested and underdeveloped backdrop to ‘whole family approaches’, whereby families with care and protection needs are caught in a conflicting set of policy and practice expectations concerning responsibility to care, whilst being positioned as families that fail. The authors raise questions about how supported families are to navigate their way through these permissive and punitive policies and practices. In conclusion, the authors suggest that there is an urgent need for more bottom-up research informed by the ethic of care to develop the kinds of policies and practices that might make it more possible for them to do so.
Social work and the current economic crisis: why tackling inequality is vital
- Author:
- FEATHERSTONE Brid
- Journal article citation:
- Irish Social Worker, Summer 2010, pp.6-7.
- Publisher:
- Irish Association of Social Workers
Since the financial meltdown in 2008, there has been much analysis from a wide range of sources about what went wrong. They have attempted to explain why it happened, and what can be done about it. The author suggests that there has not been enough recognition of the need to place tackling inequality at the heart of a new vision. It is argued that social work academics and practitioners should join with other constituencies to ensure that the effects of inequality are challenged, and a fairer Ireland emerges from the current crisis. The article highlights why inequality matters, and how it affects Ireland today. The author concludes that social workers ‘on the ground’ are only too familiar with the damage inequality does, and that social work academics can play a very important role in supplementing social observations with a rigorous international evidence base to provide an alternative to the failed economic and social policies of recent years.
Contemporary fathering: theory, policy and practice
- Author:
- FEATHERSTONE Brid
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 224p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Bristol
Since 1997 child welfare services have faced new demands to engage fathers or develop father-inclusive services. This book locates fathers, fathering and fatherhood within historical and social landscapes and in so doing addresses issues seldom taken up in practice settings. It explores diversity and complexity in fathering in different disciplines such as psychoanalysis, sociology and psychology and analyses contemporary developments in social policies and welfare practices. Contents include: the contemporary context; the historical context; Freud and his legacy; psychological perspectives; sociological perspectives; the politics of fatherhood - contemporary developments; contemporary social policies; working with fathers; reflections on a decade of working with fathers.
Rethinking family support in the current policy context
- Author:
- FEATHERSTONE Brid
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 36(1), January 2006, pp.5-19.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This article uses the concept of ‘the social investment state’ to understand key aspects of New Labour’s policies in relation to welfare reform. It argues that ‘investing in children’ and creating ‘responsible parents’ are vital features of many of the policies and service initiatives which have emerged since 1997. Such features have considerable implications for policies and practices in the arena of family support. The article goes on to outline aspects of an important critique of the social investment state which has emerged from those engaged in research and policy analysis who argue for a ‘political ethics of care’. It argues that this perspective offers important possibilities to family support advocates not only for critique, but also for articulating much needed policy alternatives to those currently being promoted by New Labour. It also signposts the importance of conducting ongoing research into the meanings which are being attached by individuals to complex and contested terms such as ‘family’ and ‘support’.
Contemporary child care policy and practice
- Authors:
- FAWCETT Barbara, FEATHERSTONE Brid, GODDARD Jim
- Publisher:
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 188p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Basingstoke
This book seeks to provide analysis of contemporary developments in child care policy under New Labour and the resulting policy and practice implications. The authors draw on sociological debates, the growing children's rights literature and wider developments within social policy in order to provide a thorough and balanced guide to contemporary developments in this rapidly changing field. Ideologies behind recent initiatives in a wide range of practice areas are explored, and the implementation of key development are appraised.
Taking fathers seriously
- Author:
- FEATHERSTONE Brid
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 33(2), March 2003, pp.239-254.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This article explores changing family structures and the attendant consequences for the lives and identities of fathers. It identifies key initiatives that have been developed by the post-1997 Labour administration in relation to fathers and explores the thinking behind such initiatives, as well as more general initiatives in relation to supporting families. It identifies an important theme promoted by the administration that fathers are actual or potential resources for their children. It then goes on to look at how fathers appear to be constructed within child protection social work where notions of threat appear more dominant as a theme in relation to men generally.