Looking At The Child Protection System Social Work Essay

Looking At The Child Protection System cordial Work EssayThe books looks previous and existing literary works on how effective the local government argon at promoting the deals of forbidding African babyren and their families who be snarled in the babe certificate constitution. In previous years at that place have been deaths of African children much(prenominal) Victoria Climbie and khyra Ishaq. There have similarly been deaths of former(a) African children in Britain linked to witchcraft. A theme echoed by the majority of the literary productions is that if complaisant work rehearse and indemnity is to baffle these tragedies in that respect is guide to watch and acknowledge divers(prenominal) contexts of culture and diversity. The briny theme is how to provide affable work interventions and family support that be paganly sensitive and competent to both children and their families who ar at risk of solid harm. There is need for accessible work professi onal to reckon pargonnting practices in African families and protect children hence every child matters was implemented. The laming typography (2009) get along out challenges faced safeguarding children such as, training and workforce retorts still need to be resolved and selective information systems need to be improved and in that respect is still need improve knowledge and skills to understand children and their family circumstances. in any case the laming report nvirtuosod that despite the progress in inter-agency work at that place are still problems of day to day reality of working across organisational boundaries and culture, sharing information and lack of feedback when professionals raise concerns about a child.In this books re opinion I go out be commissioning on scurrilous African children and their families analysing their experiences of the child testimonial system that have come to croak in united kingdom and how the children are protected in the child protection arena. I will be paying attention to severalise themes and debates in inquiry, validity and generalisability of selective information, gaps in research and future implications to practice. I will be using the term contraband African throughout the review of literature however I recognise that there are different races in Africa who share the same culture and beliefs. publications search hearty used for the literature reviewed varies I included journals searched online, books from the library and articles from the internet and real published by the government. As I searched the online journals and books I discovered there was little material about my chosen topic and scarce research on the topic of the inevitably of non-white African children and child protection children. Most studies and literature emphasised on non-white and minority ethnics and obscure parentage children hence the proportion of disgraceful African children can be over-represented in these s tudies and the data cannot be generalised easily to the wider nation. There is need for professionals to have knowledge about the identity and diversity of dingy African children and their families because Britain has seen an enormous growth of African nation over out-of-pocket globalisation and other environmental factors such as war, famine and work opportunities. However not all children from African families get involved in the child protection system.Review of the literature research data and statistics on African ominous children are not constant and highlight mis-representations. According to the 2001 census the population of black African spate was 0.8%. However, these statistics are from 2001 and the populations could have enlarged due to migration and the 2011 census will offer more up to date statistics. Also not everyone reads for the census especially black and minority people who are isolated and who do not have any immigration situation might shy away from t he census in fear of deportation. The discussion sectionalization for education and skills (2006) estimated the number of African children in need to be 8000 in 2005. this accounted for 3% of the overall total- an over-representation compared with the 2001 census in which African children made up 1.4% of the population. Research highlights the over-representation of the African children and their families involved in the child protection system for example, data of African children is combined with afro-Caribbean children and ethnic minority children- statistical data from British children represented 5% of the children on the child protection register in 2005, but census data 2001, black or black children made up 3% of the total population (national statistics, 2003). Research data continues to indicate that black communities are disproportionately represented across kind welfare statistics (graham, 2006 barn et al 1997).Britain has experienced a massive increase in population d ue to people coming into Britain for better lifestyles, escaping war, famine, harassment and looking for better job opportunities. Britain has experience a rise in the number of people claiming introduction and some of them are unaccompanied asylum seeking children. When looking at experiences of black African children and their families and how to offer them distract intervention it is important to acknowledge diversity in terms of religion, culture, linguistic communication and beliefs (Bernard and gupta 2008 gibbs and huang 2003 robinson 2007).Research has shown that black families black African communities and ethnic communities are presumable to live in poverty. There is well documented literature on social exclusion and poverty experienced by black African children which withal is inclined to impact on the parenting abilities of parents. Also looking at histories and backgrounds of black African families is which add to poverty is also highlighted in research, (Bernard and gupta 2008 gibbs and huang 2003 robinson 2007). Research has shown some of the factors that affect African children and their families such as private encourage and asylum seeking, HIV/AIDS, poverty- highlighting grief, loss and separation, (Bernard and gupta 2008).Review of the research allude that black African children are almost twice as plausibly to be looked after, however some of these children will be accommodated under section 20 of the children act 1989 due to being unaccompanied asylum seeking children (Bernard and gupta 2008 robinson 2007 barn 1993). Jones 2001, highlights the conflict amongst the children act 1989 and immigration legislation and policy and Jones argues that social work profession singularly failed to provide critical scrutiny on the status and relationship of immigration and child care lawfulness and the erosion of childrens rights. The number of refugee children arriving in uk is arising annually and the vulnerability of refugee children has l egal, emotional and operable aspects (woodcock, 2003 chase, 2009). There is substantial evidence to indicate that many refugee children and young people from different cultures manifest symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health problems (Hodes, 2000, 2002 Ehntholt and Yule, 2006 Dyregrov and Yule, 2006).Research on social work with unaccompanied children is limited (kohli and mather 2003). Research also states that there is risk of alienating black children in care by not meeting their emotional and psychological needs due to no contact with community with same culture, family and lack of black workers (bran et al 1997 pg 9). However, open research data paint a complex and contradictory motion-picture show and data is combined with other minority ethnic childrenAnalysis of literature draws attention to that the way black African families parent their children and their daily lives had been overlook in many studies in child welfare literature and there is little empirical evidence especially about African parenting in Britain (Bernard, 2002 graham 2006). Research has looked at ethnic values and how they influence parenting in African families involved with the child protection system (brophy et al 2003). Literature highlights that there is need to look at kin-ship and extended families. Family structures have been changed due to globalisation, war and other social factors. There is few research data on impact of culture, gender ideology, socio-economic status and religious belief influencing parenting and also notions of what constitutes pestilential conduct. The few data that exist states that cultural practices appear to act as some part in African children being involved in the child protection system, (mama 2004). Barn et al 2006 challenge popular legend and stereotype that some cultural groups have more punitive penalisation practices. They found no significant differences amidst ethnic groups with regard to sens ible penalization of children-thoburn et al 2005 pg 83 agree. Nobes and smith 1997s study of physical penalization by parents found physical punishment was universal in the 99 two parent families and Thompson et al 2002 found that 67 mothers in newfound forest are of England reported diverse behaviour management evasive action and mothers who used physical punishment reported less behavioural problems in their children than mothers used reasoning. This supports the challenge the stereotypes that cultural groups have more punitive punishment practices because the majority of the above studies involved parenting by white culture in the United Kingdom. Studies on parenting by other black and ethnic cultures are scarce and there is need for research. A growing body of literature emphasises the importance of appreciating the social contexts of parenting and lived experiences of African children for devising sense of child abuse (Holland 2004, Robinson 2007).Black survey is based o n the notion of common experiences that black people in Britain share and it is critical of oppressive research prototype and theoretical formulations that have a potential oppressive effect on black people, (Robinson 2007). An understanding of black frame of reference will alter social work professionals to come up with more accurate and panoptic assessments of African black children involved with the child protection system, (Robinson 2007).Ecological location is important in analysis of impacts of poverty, disagreement, immigration and social isolation on black and minority children (gibbons and huang 2003 pg 3). However there is the danger of over-generalisation and stereotyping because individual members of a culture may vary greatly from the pattern that is typical in spite of appearance that culture (Robinson 1998)Research argues that postmodern theories have gained a strong basis in the profession of social work (pease and fook 1999 learnard 1997). However Their tenet s have been strongly contested by those demanding a more complex understanding of identity, i.e., one that links the personal with the structural or collective elements of human conception alongside the individual ones (Dominelli 2002 graham 2002) and those draft copy on the idea that what holds people together are what they share in common or their sameness (Badiou 2001). The lack of appropriate preventative suppoirt servives and lack of understanding of cultural of black families often result in social work operating against the interests of black children (barn 1993, graham 2002)Anti-discriminatory perspectives and incorporation of knowledge from service users neighborly workers contribute to the lengthening of oppression through their practice by directly or indirectly engaging in structural oppression its institutional and cultural forms that are integral elements in the ways in which social relations in a globalising world have been organised, (dominelli 2007). Key to el iminating structural forms of racism is that of addressing the issue of binary dyads that reaffirm racist dynamics rather than challenging them. Nonetheless, opposition to its perpetuation is evident in many of the responses by service users and practitioners. Social work educators and practitioners have much more to contribute to the elimination of oppression. (dominelli 2007). Social work has operated within a problem oriented modeling which is characterised by deficit and dysfunctional theories of black families (Robinson 2008). Dominelli (1992) argues that black children and families are over-represented in the overbearing aspects of social work and under-represented in the welfare aspects of social work.Problems with communication and working in partnership have been highlighted in literature. Fifty-four young people participated in the research. Chase, 2009 study-The majority (80 per cent) of participants were identified through a single capital of the United Kingdom local Authority, Young people often described complex relationships with social workers and other social care professionals and were also more mistrustful of the interplay between social care and immigration service Hellen, from Ethiopia, saidSome cartridge holders they dont understand you when you are sad. They keep asking you questions. It makes me angry, it makes me want to shout. It makes me remember all the no-account things and they dont understand that. If they ask me (questions) I will suffer for months. The positioning of social workers within the asylum system is a difficult one to negotiate. They are expected to apply social care principles such as the vanquish interests of the child, yet work within very clear organisational boundaries and regulatory codes-frequently fit(p) by resource and funding limitations.The Climbie inquiry (laming 2003) highlights the challenges faced by local authorities when developing information-sharing indexes for keeping insight of the children who are on the margins of auberge and whose lives are characterised by transitions. Literature highlights some of the challenges for social work assessing and making decisions about African children and families whose cultures differ from the majority white population (brophy et al 2003, laming 2003)The fear of being seen as a racist combined with cultural stereotypes can lead to a failure to make judgements and intervene fitly regarding practices that are harmful (burman et al 2004 study)Whilst their views should form part of policy cogitate discussions on current topics, respect for childrens rights may still be lacking. Meanwhile, such notions challenge us to take children seriously and to appreciate their contribution to social reproduction and change (Aubrey and Dahl 2006). Lots of research appear to focus on empowerment through cultural knowledge inviting new opinion about the challenges faced by black communitiesRelevance to policy and practiceThe complex social circumstan ce experiences by many African families devil challenges for parents, children and social work professionals working to safeguard and promote childrens welfareThe framework for assessment of children in need and their families (DoH, 2000) based on the ecological burn down places a requirement on workers to consider families histories and social circumstances and literature of anti-oppressive practice stresses the importance if consideration being paid to power relationships (dlrybple and off 1995). There must(prenominal) be some understanding of the links between peoples personal experience of pressing and structural reality if inequality pg 123In order to safeguard and promote welfare of African children acknowledgement of sources of discrimination and oppression, a commitment to human rights and social justice must be met. Through developing effective relationships with African children and families can professionals begin to understand their individual, emotional as well as p ractical needs. Global mobility and serial changing nature of communities require local authorities to be proactive in gathering information and developing services including interpretation services that are responsive to the needs of African and minority ethnic families. some(prenominal) authors have critically analysed the evidence on service provision for black families in general. A pathologising approach to black families may lead to superfluous coercive intervention and on the other hand a cultural relativist approach may lead to a non-intervention when services are needed (dominelli 1997, chand 2000). Either way appropriate intervention is not provided for black and ethnic minority children. The quality of services in black communities is a focus for debate and raises important issues about the lack of policy initiatives based upon needs and aspirations of local communities (graham 2002)Subjecting cultural practices to scrutiny is a necessary party of the assessment proce ss of professionals are to achieve better outcomes for children. A balance must be struck between sensitively challenging claims that certain types of behaviour are the norm in African families whilst at the same time not losing sight of childrens welfare needs. By drawing on strengths perspective professionals can illuminate how parents draw on cultures a s a resource to parents in circumstance of adversity whilst not excusing behaviour that is harmful to children. The issue of punishment is one of the most controversial areas relating to black families, child abuse and social work (chand 2000 pg 72)ConclusionThis review has highlighted that multiple social, environmental and parental factors interact in complex ways to bring black African children into the child protection arena. Thus, making professional judgments regarding thresholds of concern for African children poses a major set of challenges and, ultimately, practitioners need the skills, knowledge and conceptual tools to sign between the styles of parenting that differ from those of the majority culture, but which are not of necessity harmful, and parents who seek to justify abusive and neglectful behaviour by drawing on cultural explanations to justify their actions.