Exploring child welfare practice with parents who use substances from an epistemic injustice perspective

Endicott, Angela 2024. Exploring child welfare practice with parents who use substances from an epistemic injustice perspective. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Child welfare practice in the UK takes place with some of the poorest and most marginalised people within our society. The impacts of poverty and inequalities are a readily used lens in research relating to child welfare. Since the publication of the ‘Hidden Harm’ report in 2003 there has been a focus on parental substance misuse and its impact on children within the child welfare system. Until recently, the research and evidence base largely connected parents use of drugs and/or alcohol with harm for their children. A more critical narrative is emerging questioning the accepted discourse that runs through research, policy and practice in light of the knowledge we now possess around structural factors such as political agendas, poverty and inequalities. It is this gap this research aims to address. This thesis uses data from a three-month ethnography based in a local authority in Wales. Time was spent between two children’s services teams and additional interviews with social workers from adult services and parents who were involved with child welfare services were undertaken. This research adopts the novel theoretical approach of epistemic injustice to explore how social workers practice with families who have been identified as using substances. Three main themes emerged from the data. Firstly, this study revealed how the credibility of families’ voices were reduced through distortion, smothering or silencing. Secondly, families’ experiences were defined by significant disadvantages through the knowledge and systems of intervention that shaped social work practice. Finally, findings around the intersectionality of disadvantage with epistemic injustice are highlighted. This research argues that for child welfare practice to be considered just, it needs to be informed by epistemic injustice. This research calls for future research, policy and practice to focus on the different ways that marginalised families can experience harm through epistemically flawed knowledge, practices and structures.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	2 July 2024
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2024 14:04
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/170216

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