Critical Practice in Social Work Robert Adams, Lena Dominelli and Malcolm Payne CRITICAL PRACTICE IN SOCIAL WORK Also edited by Robert Adams, Lena Dominelli and Malcolm Payne: Social Work: Themes, Issues and Critical Debates* Other titles by Robert Adams: A Measure of Diversion? Case Studies in IT (co-author) Prison Riots in Britain and the USA Problem-solving with Self-help Groups (co-author) Protests by Pupils: Empowerment, Schooling and the State Quality Social Work* Self-help, Social Work and Empowerment Skilled Work with People Social Work and Empowerment* The Abuses of Punishment The Personal Social Services: Clients, Consumers or Citizens? Social Policy for Social Work* Other titles by Lena Dominelli: Community Action and Organising Marginalised Groups Women in Focus, Community Service Orders and Female Offenders Love and Wages: The Impact of Imperialism, State Intervention and Women’s Domestic Labour on Workers’ Control in Algeria Anti-racist Social Work, 2nd edn* Feminist Social Work (co-author) Women and Community Action Women Across Continents: Feminist Comparative Social Policy Gender, Sex Offenders and Probation Practice Getting Advice in Urdu International Directory of Social Work Anti-racist Perspectives in Social Work (co-author) Anti-racist Probation Practice (co-author) Sociology for Social Work* Community Approaches to Child Welfare International Perspectives Beyond Racial Divides Ethnicities in Social Work (co-authors) Other titles by Malcolm Payne: What is Professional Social Work? Social Work and Community Care* Linkages: Effective Networking in Social Care Modern Social Work Theory, 2nd edn* Writing for Publication in Social Services Journals Social Care in the Community Teamwork in Multiprofessional Care* Power, Authority and Responsibility in Social Services: Social Work in Area Teams Anti-bureaucratic Social Work *Published by Palgrave – now Palgrave Macmillan Critical Practice in Social Work Edited by Robert Adams, Lena Dominelli and Malcolm Payne Consultant editor: Jo Campling Selection, editorial matter, introduction and Chapters 1 and 31 © Robert Adams, Lena Dominelli and Malcolm Payne 2002 Individual chapters (in order) © Lena Dominelli; Sarah Banks; Chris Clark; Nick Frost; Beverley Burke and Jane Dalrymple; Audrey Mullender; Lena Dominelli; Robert Adams; John Pinkerton; Helen Cosis Brown; Alastair Roy, Corinne Wattam and Frances Young; Kate Morris; Kevin Haines; Keith Popple; Margaret Lloyd; Di Bailey; Bob Sapey; Tim Stainton; Mo Ray and Judith Phillips; Caroline Currer; Malcolm Payne; Joan Orme; Julia Phillipson; Malcolm Payne; Judith Milner and Patrick O’Byrne; Terence O’Sullivan; Jill Manthorpe and Greta Bradley; Robert Adams; David Peryer 2002. 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First published 2002 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 0–333–92553–X paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Editing and origination by Aardvark Editorial, Mendham, Suffolk 10987654321 11100908070605040302 Printed in Great Britain by Creative Print & Design (Wales), Ebbw Vale Contents Notes on the Contributors xv Introduction xx Robert Adams, Lena Dominelli and Malcolm Payne What critical practice is and why it is important xxi What you can gain from this book xxi How the book is structured xxii How you may use this book xxii 1 On Being Critical in Social Work 1 Malcolm Payne, Robert Adams and Lena Dominelli Critical practice is still relevant in social work 1 Critical practice in social perspective 2 Thinking critically: working with families 3 Practising critically 6 Using theories in being critical 8 The importance of language and understandings 10 Conclusion 11 Further reading 12 v vi CONTENTS PART I Values into Critical Practice 13 2 Values in Social Work: Contested Entities with Enduring Qualities 15 Lena Dominelli Defining values 16 Practising values 21 Values and critical practice 25 Conclusion 26 Further reading 27 3 Professional Values and Accountabilities 28 Sarah Banks The importance of accountability 28 The nature of accountability 29 Accountability and blame 30 Multiple accountabilities 33 Accountability, transparency and critical reflection 34 Conclusion 36 Further reading 37 4 Identity, Individual Rights and Social Justice 38 Chris Clark Rights and justice in social work 38 Practising rights and justice: five models 39 Critical practice and citizenship 44 Further reading 45 5 Evaluating Practice 46 Nick Frost Evaluation as a form of practice 46 Issues, tensions and controversies 47 A creative evaluation practice? 50 Utilising and integrating evaluative evidence – a model 53 Conclusion 54 Further reading 54 CONTENTS vii 6 Intervention and Empowerment 55 Beverley Burke and Jane Dalrymple Intervention and empowerment in critical practice 55 Constructing critical practice with Dawn and her children 57 Continuing reflections 61 Further reading 62 7 Persistent Oppressions: The Example of Domestic Violence 63 Audrey Mullender The persistence of domestic violence 64 The failure to offer women effective help 65 Rediscovering social work skills – a way forward? 66 Conclusion 70 Further reading 71 8 ‘Glassed-in’: Problematising Women’s Reproductive Rights under the New Reproductive Technologies 72 Lena Dominelli The new reproductive technologies: forces for changing thinking and behaviour 73 Issues for social worker involvement 76 Conclusion 79 Further reading 79 PART II Developing Critical Practice 81 9 Developing Critical Practice in Social Work 83 Robert Adams What it means to practise critically 83 Engaging with contexts 84 Engaging with ourselves 85 Engaging with knowledge 86 Engaging with practice 89 Engaging with paradoxes and dilemmas in developing our own critical practice 91 Conclusion 95 Further reading 95 viii CONTENTS 10 Child Protection 96 John Pinkerton Introducing the practice 96 Values: measuring up to a vision 97 Knowledge: testing working hypotheses 100 Skills: negotiating within a context of inequality 102 Conclusion 104 Further reading 105 11 Fostering and Adoption 106 Helen Cosis Brown Fostering and adoption practice in their current context 106 Critical application of research to practice 110 Dilemmas and tensions – ‘safe caring’ 113 Conclusion 114 Further reading 115 12 Looking After Children and Young People 116 Alastair Roy, Corinne Wattam and Frances Young Introduction 116 Communication – relationship skills 117 Access 121 Organisational context 123 Conclusion 124 Further reading 125 13 Family-based Social Work 126 Kate Morris Introduction 126 Legal and policy framework 127 Importance of family connections 129 Family group conferences: an example of family involvement 131 Conclusion 134 Further reading 135 14 Youth Justice and Young Offenders 137 Kevin Haines The politics of juvenile crime 139 Intervention, intervention, intervention 139 CONTENTS ix New Labour and youth justice 140 The managerialist approach 142 Reconnecting with the past 143 Fundamental principles for positive critical practice 144 Conclusion 147 Further reading 147 15 Community Work 149 Keith Popple Introduction 150 Defining community work and community 150 Traditions of community work 152 The role of the community worker 156 Conclusion 157 Further reading 157 16 Care Management 159 Margaret Lloyd Social workers or care managers? 159 Issues and dilemmas for the practitioner 161 A framework for good practice 164 Conclusion 167 Further reading 168 17 Mental Health 169 Di Bailey Exploring encounters with service users 171 Weighing options for intervention within the practice context 172 Making informed judgements, reflection, and critical appraisal 174 Conclusion 180 Further reading 180 18 Physical Disability 181 Bob Sapey Disability and social work 181 Challenging practice 182 Conclusion 188 Further reading 189 x CONTENTS 19 Learning Disability 190 Tim Stainton Introduction: constructing difference 190 Defining learning disability 191 Medical, psychological and normalisation approaches 193 Rights, citizenship and self-determination 195 Conclusion 197 Further reading 198 20 Older People 199 Mo Ray and Judith Phillips Critical debates in social work with older people 200 The contribution of critical practice 204 Conclusion 208 Further reading 208 21 Dying and Bereavement 210 Caroline Currer Critical practice with people who are dying or bereaved 210 Dying 212 Bereavement 214 Responding to grief: the social work role in relation to dying and bereavement 216 Conclusion 218 Further reading 218 PART III