Whither practice-near research in the modernization programme? Policy blunders in children's services

White, Sue, Broadhurst, Karen, Wastell, David, Peckover, Sue, Hall, Chris and Pithouse, Andrew Joseph ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7971-0595 2009. Whither practice-near research in the modernization programme? Policy blunders in children's services. Journal of Social Work Practice: Psychotherapeutic Approaches in Health, Welfare and the Community 23 (4) , pp. 401-411. 10.1080/02650530903374945

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

In this article, we lament the effects of practice-distant research and associated policy initiatives on contemporary children's services in England. In the last decade, as a result of high profile inquiries into non-accidental child deaths, statutory children's social care services in the UK have been subject to a wide-reaching ‘modernization’ programme. We studied decision-making in the high blame environment of local authority children's services. Our research sought to examine the relationship between performance management and the impact of anticipated blame within the decision-making practices of those providing, supervising and managing these services. We show that systems and technologies can be developed which both assist the users in their daily work and achieve desired organizational goals, but without an ethnographically informed, practice-near approach, unsafe work regimes and practices can ensue.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Ethnography; Technologies; Performance management; Blame environment; Integrated Children's System (ICS); Statutory children's social care services;
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
ISSN:	0265-0533
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2022 07:44
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/26225

Citation Data

Cited 44 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item