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Despite the pivotal role played by parents in the child protection process, little attention has been paid to how social workers perceive them. Exploring representations of parents within Children’s Services – at the levels of policy, organisation and frontline practice – the concept of citizenship is used to construct a typology with ten variants of parent-citizenship. The typology reveals the complexities of parental representations and their relationship to the content of policy, organisational environments and dominant societal themes, as it uncovers how social workers represent parents in their day-to-day practice.
The book is a resource that can be used by students, practitioners, researchers and parent advocacy organisations to evaluate policy and practice and to contribute to the search for the best possible outcomes for families. Arguing that parental participation in the child protection process is essential, the book increases the visibility of parents and contributes to a much-needed dialogue about working with parents in Children’s Services.
Katrin Bain is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at London Metropolitan University.
John Harris is Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick and Assistant Professor at Coventry University.
1 Introduction
Terminology
Structure of the book
2 Parent- citizenship
Parental participation in Children’s Services
Level 1: Non- participation presented as engaging parents
Level 2: Tokenism
Level 3: Voice
Level 4: Citizen power
Power
Representations of parent- citizens
Conclusion
3 Risk, reform, regulation and relationships in child protection
Risk and reform
New risks
A regulated profession
Relationships
Conclusion
4 The demanding- responsible consumer- citizen parent and the poor- neglectful parent
The demanding- responsible consumer- citizen parent
The poor- neglectful parent
Conclusion
5 The franchisee parent
Family, parenthood and child- centred social work practice
Parental risk factors, concerning adult behaviour – effecting sustainable change
Engaging the franchisee parent
Variations of the franchisee parent
Conclusion
6 The partner parent and the respected parent
The partner parent
Family Group Conferences
The respected parent
Signs of Safety
Conclusion
7 The non- compliant parent
Non- compliance
Disguised compliance
Responses to the non- compliant parent
Troubled Families
Conclusion
8 The personalised- depersonalised parent
‘Mum’ and ‘dad’ in the original study
‘Mum’ and ‘dad’ in the replication study
Conclusion
9 The good enough parent
Good enough
Good enough in multi- agency working
More transparency?
Good enough parent
Conclusion
10 The ‘parent- citizen’ in policy, organisation and practice
Parent- citizenship within Children’s Services
Cross- level connections
Citizenship
Repositioning parents in Children’s Services
Conclusion
Appendix A: Documents used in analysis
Appendix B: The research design and process