Philip Gillingham

Risk assessment in child protection: problem rather than solution?

Abstract Risk assessment in child protection services has been promoted as the most reliable way to ensure that maltreatment to children is prevented and has become central to practice with children and families. However, recent research in Australia has suggested that children are being left in unsafe situations, leading to further maltreatment, by the very agencies responsible for their protection. The present article explores the reasons why child protection has become central to child protection practice and presents a wide ranging critical appraisal of risk assessment and its application. It is argued that risk assessment is a flawed process and, as a central tenet of practice, is implicated in any problems that childrens protective services face. Consequently, any future reconfiguration of services for children in need of protection needs to include a re-evaluation of the efficacy of risk assessment.

Computer-based Information Systems and Human Service Organisations: Emerging Problems and Future Possibilities

Abstract Computer-based information systems (IS) have been implemented in human service organisations over the last 30 years in the belief that new forms of technology will make the delivery of services more efficient in a number of ways. However, research is emerging that demonstrates that current systems may have unforeseen and unintended consequences for human services practice and may actually impede the delivery of services. In this article, this research is explored and related to examples of problems with information systems drawn from the Australian context to suggest that different forms of IS need to be developed for use in human service organisations. It is proposed that an ethnographic approach to research that focuses on the interactions between individual users in different parts of the organisation and which captures the organisational and social context for these interactions may provide insights to guide the future design of IS.

Child protection, risk assessment and blame ideology

In this article we use qualitative data drawn from a sample of child protection cases 10 demonstrate holV the process of al1ributing blame to parents and carers for child maltreatment is a sign!ficanr influence 011 decisionmaking, sometimes to the detriment of assessing the flltllre safety of children. We foctls on two cases which both demonstrate how the process of apportioning blame can lead to decisions which might not be considered 10 be in the best interests of the children concerned. We conceptualise blame as an ideology with its roots in the discourse of the risk society, pelpetuated and sustained by the technology of risk assessment. The concept of blame ideology is offered as an addition to theOlY which seeks 10 explain the influences on decision making in child protection practice.

Designing, Implementing and Evaluating a Social Work Practice Skills Course: A Case Example

Practice skills, such as communication and interviewing skills, are an integral part of every undergraduate course that aims to provide professional qualification for social workers. While there is substantial literature about the skills required to be a proficient social work practitioner, there is a dearth of literature about how to teach such skills and particularly how students experience such a course. By critically reflecting on the design, implementation and evaluation of a social work practice skills course, this article is offered as a contribution toward filling an identified gap in social work education literature. The course evaluation particularly highlights the importance of face to face interaction between students and teachers to the process of learning.

Implementing Electronic Information Systems in Human Service Organisations: The Challenge of Categorisation

The deficits of current designs of electronic information systems (IS) that have been implemented in human service organisations (HSO) have been presented in detail in evaluations and public inquiries, and attention has now turned to how they might be redesigned for the future. In this article, findings from the first stage of a programme of ethnographic research with HSOs at varying stages of designing, implementing, using and evaluating IS are reported. Specifically, insights are offered that will assist with the challenge of deciding how information about service users and service activity should be categorised within an IS.

Repositioning Electronic Information Systems in Human Service Organizations

The electronic information systems (IS) that have been implemented in human service organizations have been heavily criticized, in particular that they have undermined frontline service delivery. Attention has turned to how they might be better designed for the future but understanding why IS have not performed as intended remains important to avoid past mistakes. Drawing from research that aims to improve future designs of IS, the reasons why positioning IS as a panacea for organizations is problematic are explored in relation to the tasks IS can be realistically expected to support within a human services organization.

Exploring the Possibilities of an Expanded Practice Repertoire in Child Protection An Alternative Conceptual Approach

• Summary: This article discusses research that explored an alternative to proceduralized child protection practice informed by the risk paradigm, by expanding the repertoire available to practitioners through combining features of the risk paradigm with social constructionism. This approach incorporates three dimensions: theories of knowledge and power, related professional roles, and practice skills. In this article, we discuss and critically evaluate only the first dimension: theories of knowledge and power. Through dialogue facilitated by semi-structured questions, we explored practitioners perspectives about the relevance and appropriateness of the alternative approach for practice. • Findings: The practitioners participation and feedback offer insights into complex connections between `theory and `practice with the practitioner as a positioned subject and mediator of practical meanings of formal concepts. • Applications: 1) Recognition of each practitioners interpretation of formal concepts and how they are applied in actual practice, even within shared organizational contexts. 2) The importance of dialogue to expand the range of possibilities that maintain openness to ongoing learning. 3) The value of theoretical pluralism that may offer greater opportunities for professional discretion, rather than single self-contained approaches that may constrain effective and ethical practice.

Predictive Risk Modelling to Prevent Child Maltreatment and Other Adverse Outcomes for Service Users: Inside the ‘Black Box’ of Machine Learning

Recent developments in digital technology have facilitated the recording and retrieval of administrative data from multiple sources about children and their families. Combined with new ways to mine such data using algorithms which can ‘learn’, it has been claimed that it is possible to develop tools that can predict which individual children within a population are most likely to be maltreated. The proposed benefit is that interventions can then be targeted to the most vulnerable children and their families to prevent maltreatment from occurring. As expertise in predictive modelling increases, the approach may also be applied in other areas of social work to predict and prevent adverse outcomes for vulnerable service users. In this article, a glimpse inside the ‘black box’ of predictive tools is provided to demonstrate how their development for use in social work may not be straightforward, given the nature of the data recorded about service users and service activity. The development of predictive risk modelling (PRM) in New Zealand is focused on as an example as it may be the first such tool to be applied as part of ongoing reforms to child protection services.

The Australian Association of Social Workers and Social Policy Debates: A Strategy for the Future?

Abstract It has been argued that the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) not only has a mandate, but also an important role to play in influencing social debates for the benefit of the users of social services and, further, that as a professional association, it is ideally positioned to do so. However, the AASW has been criticised for failing to meet this mandate and have any lasting impact on the formulation of social policy. In the present article, the author considers the process by which the AASW engages in social policy debates and speculates on the historical, cultural, and structural factors that may impede its ability to do so. From this analysis, strategies are suggested for the AASW to increase its impact on the formulation of social policy.

‘Building Bridges’: A Case Study of a Collaborative Research Process

Abstract ‘Building bridges’ is a metaphor we have used to describe a collaborative research process involving social work academic and senior practitioners from government and non-government child protection and family service organizations in Victoria, Australia. The purpose of the research was to develop a ‘practice-generated approach to policy implementation’ in child protection practice. The research sought to explore the appropriateness of social constructionist approaches for child protection practice that might enhance the existing risk paradigm. This article aims to critically evaluate the process of ‘building bridges’ and its outcomes, by focusing on how potential and actual differences between organizational contexts, namely universities and various service-providing organizations, may influence relationships between theory and practice. We critically reflect on our research process comparing it with idealized forms of collaborative research discussed in the literature.