Working in Statutory Contexts

Andrew Hill, Lecturer in Social Work, University of York

• Analytic Contents viiiList of Summaries of Skills xiiiAcknowledgements xvIntroduction 1Part I Context 7Chapter 1 Legal and Organizational Context 9The Legal Context 9The Organizational Context 18Pressures on Organizations with Statutory Functions 22Further Reading 28Answers to Exercise 1.1 28Chapter 2 Aims and Ethics 30The Aims of Social Work 32Social Work Values 35The Goals and Values of Social Work in Statutory Contexts 38Anti-Oppressive Practice 41Anti-Oppressive Practice in Statutory Contexts 45The Influence of Postmodernism 47Conclusion 50Further Reading 51Part II Skills 53Chapter 3 Skills for Working in Organizations 55Skills for Making Use of Supervision 55Skills for Using Procedures 64Conclusion 67Further Reading 67Chapter 4 Skills for Engaging with People 69Skills for Establishing the Mandate for the Work 69Respecting Human Rights 77Building Partnerships 81Communicating with Children 85Dealing with Violence, Threats and Intimidation 90Conclusion 93Further Reading 94Chapter 5 Skills for Assessing and Planning 95Setting Up Assessments 97Recording Information 105Making Sense of Information: Using Formal Assessment Tools 108Working with Other Professionals 113Conclusion 116Further Reading 116Chapter 6 Skills for Court Work 118Working with Legal Advice 119Preparing Reports for Court 124Negotiating with Other Parties to the Proceedings 131Giving Oral Evidence 134Managing Relationships with Service Users during and after Proceedings 136Conclusion 138Further Reading 138Chapter 7 Skills for Promoting Change 139Motivation to Change 141Negotiating over Interventions 148Thinking Systemically 154Conclusion 157Further Reading 157Chapter 8 Ending, Evaluating and Reflective Practice 158Skills for Managing Endings 159Skills for Evaluation 163Skills for Reflective Practice 169Conclusion 178Further Reading 179Appendix: National Occupational Standards for Social Work 180References 183Index 193

'Students will find this book highly accessible. Hill writes in a clear style and the use of case studies is excellent. I can certainly envisage this book being used widely.'Geraldine Macdonald, Queen's University, Belfast 'This is an excellent book and should be compulsory reading for social work students. It is clearly written, sensitively related to social work practice, with some first-rate examples; above all, it really 'speaks' to the realities of contemporary statutory professional practice in the twenty-first century. Andrew Hill has written a thorough but readable text for students which they will find useful at any stage in their qualification degree.'David Shemmings, University of Kent