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The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long-term casework: Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long-term casework: Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study. / Ferguson, Harry ; Warwick , Lisa; Singh Cooner, Tarsem et al.
In: Child and Family Social Work, Vol. 25, No. 3, 01.08.2020, p. 694-703.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Ferguson, H, Warwick , L, Singh Cooner, T, Leigh, J, Beddoe, L, Disney, T & Plumridge, G 2020, 'The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long-term casework: Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study', Child and Family Social Work, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 694-703. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12746

APA

Ferguson, H., Warwick , L., Singh Cooner, T., Leigh, J., Beddoe, L., Disney, T., & Plumridge, G. (2020). The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long-term casework: Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study. Child and Family Social Work, 25(3), 694-703. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12746

Vancouver

Ferguson H, Warwick L, Singh Cooner T, Leigh J, Beddoe L, Disney T et al. The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long-term casework: Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study. Child and Family Social Work. 2020 Aug 1;25(3):694-703. Epub 2020 Feb 13. doi: 10.1111/cfs.12746

Author

Ferguson, Harry ; Warwick , Lisa ; Singh Cooner, Tarsem et al. / The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long-term casework : Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study. In: Child and Family Social Work. 2020 ; Vol. 25, No. 3. pp. 694-703.

Bibtex

@article{c2525e31ea5044ebb147916e4e020201,
title = "The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long-term casework: Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study",
abstract = "Social work in the United Kingdom is preoccupied with what social workers cannot do due to having limited time to spend with service users. Yet remarkably little research has examined what social workers actually do, especially in long-term relationships. This paper draws from an ethnographic study of two social work departments in England that spent 15 months observing practice and organizational life. Our findings show that social work some of the time has a significant amount of involvement with some service users and the dominant view that relationship-based practice is rarely achieved is in need of some revision. However, families at one research site received a much more substantial, reliable overall service due to the additional input of family support workers and having a stable workforce who had their own desks and were co-located with managers in small team offices. This generated a much more supportive, reflective culture for social workers and service users than at the second site, a large open plan {"}hot-desking{"} office. Drawing on relational, systemic, and complexity theories, the paper shows how the nature of what social workers do and culture of practice are shaped by the interaction between available services, office designs, and practitioners', managers', and service users' experiences of relating together.",
keywords = "child protection, children and families, family support, home visits, organizational culture, social work, ethnographic research",
author = "Harry Ferguson and Lisa Warwick and {Singh Cooner}, Tarsem and Jadwiga Leigh and Liz Beddoe and Tom Disney and Gillian Plumridge",
year = "2020",
month = aug,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1111/cfs.12746",
language = "English",
volume = "25",
pages = "694--703",
journal = "Child and Family Social Work",
issn = "1356-7500",
publisher = "Blackwell Publishing Ltd",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long-term casework

T2 - Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study

AU - Ferguson, Harry

AU - Warwick , Lisa

AU - Singh Cooner, Tarsem

AU - Leigh, Jadwiga

AU - Beddoe, Liz

AU - Disney, Tom

AU - Plumridge, Gillian

PY - 2020/8/1

Y1 - 2020/8/1

N2 - Social work in the United Kingdom is preoccupied with what social workers cannot do due to having limited time to spend with service users. Yet remarkably little research has examined what social workers actually do, especially in long-term relationships. This paper draws from an ethnographic study of two social work departments in England that spent 15 months observing practice and organizational life. Our findings show that social work some of the time has a significant amount of involvement with some service users and the dominant view that relationship-based practice is rarely achieved is in need of some revision. However, families at one research site received a much more substantial, reliable overall service due to the additional input of family support workers and having a stable workforce who had their own desks and were co-located with managers in small team offices. This generated a much more supportive, reflective culture for social workers and service users than at the second site, a large open plan "hot-desking" office. Drawing on relational, systemic, and complexity theories, the paper shows how the nature of what social workers do and culture of practice are shaped by the interaction between available services, office designs, and practitioners', managers', and service users' experiences of relating together.

AB - Social work in the United Kingdom is preoccupied with what social workers cannot do due to having limited time to spend with service users. Yet remarkably little research has examined what social workers actually do, especially in long-term relationships. This paper draws from an ethnographic study of two social work departments in England that spent 15 months observing practice and organizational life. Our findings show that social work some of the time has a significant amount of involvement with some service users and the dominant view that relationship-based practice is rarely achieved is in need of some revision. However, families at one research site received a much more substantial, reliable overall service due to the additional input of family support workers and having a stable workforce who had their own desks and were co-located with managers in small team offices. This generated a much more supportive, reflective culture for social workers and service users than at the second site, a large open plan "hot-desking" office. Drawing on relational, systemic, and complexity theories, the paper shows how the nature of what social workers do and culture of practice are shaped by the interaction between available services, office designs, and practitioners', managers', and service users' experiences of relating together.

KW - child protection

KW - children and families

KW - family support

KW - home visits

KW - organizational culture

KW - social work

KW - ethnographic research

U2 - 10.1111/cfs.12746

DO - 10.1111/cfs.12746

M3 - Journal article

VL - 25

SP - 694

EP - 703

JO - Child and Family Social Work

JF - Child and Family Social Work

SN - 1356-7500

IS - 3

ER -