Karen Healy

A case of mistaken identity The social welfare professions and New Public Management

Social welfare professions have been highly exposed to the corrosive effects of New Public Management (NPM) on professional identity and influence. In this article, I argue that ambivalence from within the social welfare professions, and in society more generally, towards professional recognition of these occupations enables NPM to enact an agenda of de-professionalization. Further, gendered assumptions about professional identity, and particularly about the caring professions in which there is a high concentration of women workers, are pivotal to the destabilization of the professional social welfare workforce. I draw on examples from the Queensland Department of Child Safety workforce reforms to illustrate how NPM discourse intersects with, and is enabled by, well-established ambivalence towards professional recognition within and outside the social welfare professions. I suggest that a gender analysis can deepen our understanding of the substantial impact of NPM on social welfare professions and can enable these professions to develop effective responses to the substantial threats they now face.

Participatory action research and social work A critical appraisal

Participatory action research (PAR) is widely endorsed by social workers as consistent with their commitment to social justice. This paper critically appraises the applicability of PAR to the diverse organizational and cultural contexts of social welfare work. The author interrogates participatory researchers’ assertions about power, method and action. Questions are raised about the use of PAR in the Asia-Pacific region where a cultural aversion to the public expression of dissent is frequently encountered. The author argues that some of the limitations of PAR can be overcome by radically opening it to insights from practice and from postmodern theories.

Social enterprise: is it the business of social work?

The paper explores the relevance of social enterprise to social work practice and policy development. Social enterprise refers to a broad set of approaches that use business acumen to address social goals. A marginal activity in social work for a long time, recently social enterprise has been thrust into the spotlight in debates about the future of social policy and community services. It is important that social workers understand the meaning and implications of social enterprise if they are to apply it critically and reflectively in practice and participate in contemporary debates about its relevance in promoting individual and community empowerment. The paper provides an overview of the meaning of social enterprise, outlines the reasons for the renewed focus on social enterprise and related concepts in social policy debates, particularly community economic development, and examines its underlying values. It concludes with a discussion of questions and concerns surrounding the implementation of social enterprise in Australia.

Social workers in the new human services marketplace: Trends, challenges and responses

This paper examines employment trends in social welfare occupations and challenges to the industrial and cultural recognition of professional social work in the new human services market place. Following examination of the threats posed by market reform and the crisis in public confidence in some domains of human services work, I focus on three key concerns. First, through analysis of Census data from 1996 to 2001, I compare trends in the employment of social workers, welfare workers and community workers. Second, drawing on the work of Nancy Fraser (1997), I argue that the challenges facing social workers can be understood as problems of ‘recognition’. Using this framework, I examine the external contests to the valuing of professional social work and also the internal challenges, that is, threats from within the social work profession to the industrial and cultural recognition of social work. Finally, I will consider how social workers, particularly new graduates, can respond to the challenges facing them in the new human services marketplace. I propose that social workers should claim a position as practice leaders and I outline practical strategies for achieving this goal.

Social Workers’ Preparation for Child Protection: Revisiting the Question of Specialisation

Abstract Child welfare work is a key field of practice for social work graduates and for graduates of a growing range of disciplines. In the present paper, the authors drew on a survey of 208 child welfare workers and interviews with 28 senior personnel in child and family welfare agencies to analyse perceptions of the educational preparation of social workers and other human science graduates for this field of practice. The findings indicated that child welfare workers and employers are ambivalent about the value of social work and other generic social science and human services programmes as preparation for tertiary or statutory child protection practice, which involves investigation, assessment, and intervention in child abuse and neglect. The authors argue that the social work profession must better balance generic and specialist aspects to prepare graduates for practice in specialist fields of high social work involvement, particularly in tertiary child protection work.

An institutional comparison of child protection systems in Australia and Norway focused on workforce retention

By any standard, child protection work is a demanding field of social services work. Throughout much of the post-industrial world, child protection agencies face significant problems in recruiting and retaining front-line staff with the abilities required to undertake this often complex and stressful work. The capacity of these agencies to achieve their social policy objectives can be compromised by workforce instability. Despite a growing body of evidence about the contribution of local organisational and caseworker characteristics to workforce turnover, policy-makers face a dearth of information about how the broader institutional context of child protection systems contributes to challenges in workforce retention. This lack of evidence is notable given the varying rates of caseworker turnover observed internationally, particularly between social policy regimes where different institutional contexts shape workforce conditions. This article aims to contribute to the evidence base for improving workforce retention in child protection services through an institutional comparison of child protection systems in Queensland (Australia) and Norway. We analyse the role of the institutional conditions in shaping the nature and scope of child protection work, characteristics and responsibilities of caseworkers, and their financial remuneration for this work. We discuss how these institutional effects help to explain the differences in workforce turnover among child protection workers in Queensland and Norway.

A Comparison of Out-of-home Care for Children and Young People in Australia and Sweden: Worlds Apart?

Abstract In this paper we present a comparative analysis of out-of-home care in Australia and Sweden. We compare the age structure of the out-of-home care population and the types of out-of-home care services provided to children and young people in both countries. Our analysis reveals that in Australia the out-of-home care service system is focused mainly on children who are deemed to be abused or neglected within their families, while in Sweden the majority of the out-of-home care population are teenagers who cannot live with their families for emotional or behavioural reasons. These population differences intersect with variations in the forms of service provision in both countries, with a much greater reliance on home-based care in Australia than in Sweden, while there is more extensive use of residential care in Sweden. We envisage that this paper will demonstrate how the age structure of the out-of-home care population, though rarely considered in international comparative child welfare research, reveals much about the assumptions on which State intervention with children and young people is based. We intend that this analysis will assist social workers to better understand and address the gaps in the quality and comprehensiveness of out-of-home care service provision to children and young people in both countries.

Responding to Uncertainty

Abstract This paper examines the educational implications of recent transformations in the organization of welfare services. Three educational approaches are identified: acquiescence to the managerial ethos that increasingly characterizes public welfare provision; renewed commitment to critical social work principles; and new approaches which combine critical and postmodern perspectives and embrace uncertainty and dialogue as a basis for educational practice. The paper argues that postmodern ideas, though continuously problematic, can be used within critical social work education to continue progressive struggles under conditions of rapid change and uncertainty. The authors use excerpts from their dialogue with each other which reflect some of the differences between them and their own particular responses to uncertainty.

Social Work Methods and Skills

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Families affected by the imprisonment of a parent: Towards restorative practices

Over the past decade imprisonment rates in Australia have substantially increased. As imprisonment rates rise, so too do the number of families affected by the imprisonment of a parent. Yet the needs of parents in prison and their families have received little attention in social policies and service delivery practices. As the specific issues faced by parents in prison and their families cross many areas of government and community services responsibility, they all too easily slip from policy agendas. This paper outlines the challenges to, and potential for, restorative practices with families affected by the imprisonment of a parent. It draws on recent research undertaken by the authors into the family support needs of parents in prison and their families.