Against the Odds
An evaluation of child and family support services
1st Edition
Published on 31. March 2003
114 pages
978-1-907969-27-0 (ISBN)
Description
Looks child and family support services in one local authority, exploring the success of the service in preventing the removal of children from their families, and in resolving the problems experienced by them. The conclusions are relevant throughout England.
The report will be of value to practitioners working within child and family support services, particularly practitioners and managers who are developing policy and practice in this field.
The report will be of value to practitioners working within child and family support services, particularly practitioners and managers who are developing policy and practice in this field.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-1-907969-27-0 (9781907969270)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Geraldine M. Macdonald | Emma Williamson | Geraldine Macdonald
Against the Odds
An Evaluation of Child and Family Support Services
Book
03/2002
National Children's Bureau
€29.22
Article exhausted; check different version
Content
- Intro
- Against the Odds
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Acknowledgements
- 1. Introduction
- The scope of the research study
- The use and abuse of research
- 2. Evaluating child and family support services
- Preventive services
- Measures of effectiveness
- The evaluation study
- 3. Profile of the study area,staff and families
- The study area
- Profile of the teams
- 4. Reasons for referral to child and family support services
- Referral to social services
- What the families said
- Reasons for referral to the child and family support service
- 5. Types of problems presented by children and families
- The broad picture
- Relationship problems
- School related problems
- Child abuse and neglect
- Health problems
- Problems that workers did not highlight
- 6. The knowledge and values that informed the teams' approach
- Reasons for working in child and family support
- Knowledge base
- Values and skills base
- Evidence-base for practice
- Differentiating between method and process
- What families thought of child and family support workers
- Child and family support in the wider context of social services
- 7. Assessments
- Assessment in the context of social work
- What is assessment?
- Lack of assessment in the closed files
- Does the 'Assessment Framework' address these problems?
- Plans for intervention
- Were families clear about the assessment?
- Whose responsibility?
- 8. Agreeing goals and action plans
- The first meeting with families
- Working agreements
- Action plans
- 9. The service response and expectations of success
- Aims and content of work with families
- What the families expected from the service
- The need for a 'joined-up' approach to family support
- 10. Outcomes
- Amount of contact with the CFSS
- Families' views of the services provided
- What changes occurred?
- Outstanding problems reported by families
- Would you recommend this service?
- Preventing accommodation in public care
- Preventing school exclusions
- 11. Too little, too late? The route to child and family support
- Patterns of contact with social services
- Change in children's lives
- Development of problems over time
- Were problems resolved?
- Lack of response from key agencies
- The need for better and earlier intervention
- 12. Support and professional development
- Keeping up-to-date with research
- Support and training
- 13. Conclusions
- The context of the work
- The content of the work
- The challenges ahead
- Appendix 1. Further details about data collection and some of the problems encountered
- Data collection
- Engaging families
- Appendix 2. Further detailsabout the families who were interviewed
- Timing of the interviews
- The children and their families
- Appendix 3. The limitations of data from the closed files
- Limitations of the data about service provision
- Appendix 4. Evaluating the quality of assessments
- Appendix 5. Resources for evidence-based knowledge: useful websites
- References
- Index
