Social Work On Trial

This book describes the local and national politics, professional concerns and public interest that surrounded the inquiry following the death of Maria Colwell in 1973.

The Baby Peter and Dano Sonnex incidents were high profile cases in which two key public services, namely child protection and probation, both failed in their tasks of protection of the victims and the public. In this book the author graphically describes media and political reactions and then proceeds to analyze the common problems both social work and probation practice face under conditions of economic recession and drastic reductions in funding. This new paperback version comes with a foreword from Shadd Maruna, Professor of Justice and Human Development and Director of the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Queen's University, Belfast, UK.

The public inquiry that followed the death of Maria Colwell had profound implications for the developing profession and practice of social work in the UK. This book describes both the local and national politics, professional concerns and public interest that surrounded the inquiry and its aftermath.

Exploring major themes in social work education, including pedagogy, practice, and issues in teaching, this book is for both new and experienced social work educators.

The public inquiry that followed the death of Maria Colwell had profound implications for the developing profession and practice of social work in the UK. This book describes the politics, professional concerns and public interest - both local and national - that surrounded the inquiry and its aftermath, and shows how the concerns of this landmark child abuse case have still failed to find a satisfactory resolution today. Social work, then and now, remains 'on trial'.

The Oxford Textbook of Palliative Social Work is a comprehensive, evidence-informed text that addresses the needs of professionals who provide interdisciplinary, culturally sensitive, biopsychosocial-spiritual care for patients and families living with life-threatening illness. Social workers from diverse settings will benefit from its international scope and wealth of patient and family narratives. Unique to this scholarly text is its emphasis on the collaborative nature inherent in palliative care. This definitive resource is edited by two leading palliative social work pioneers who bring together an array of international authors who provide clinicians, researchers, policy-makers, and academics with a broad range of content to enrich the guidelines recommended by the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care.

Originally published in 1980 when about a third of all British children found to be in need of statutory care were living at home ‘on trial’ with parents or relatives. Still under-researched today, little had yet been written about these children, so this book, based on a detailed study of a sample of such children and their families, was welcomed by all who worked in the field of child care. It is especially concerned with the arguments about the ‘least detrimental alternative’ for children at risk. After a summary of the debate about how best to help such children and a survey of the relevant research, tape-recorded comments of parents and social workers are used to describe emotional, health and environmental problems of the families and the help offered at various stages. Comments and discussions are included about the legal and administrative procedures; the social workers’ use of authority, and the parents’ reactions to it; the process of decision making; and the problem of child placement. The book concludes with the author’s suggestions about how the service to such families could be improved.

This edited collection focuses on Africentric social work practice, providing invaluable assistance to undergraduate students in developing foundational skills and knowledge to further their understanding of how to initiate and maintain best practices with African Canadians. In social work education and field practice, students will benefit from the depth and breadth of this book’s discussions of social, health and educational concerns related to Black people across Canada. The book’s contributors present a broad spectrum of personal and professional experiences as African Canadian social work practitioners, students and educators. They address issues that African Canadians confront daily, which social work educators and potential practitioners need to understand to provide racially and culturally relevant services. The book presents students with an invaluable opportunity to develop their practical skills through case studies and critical thinking exercises, with recommendations for how to ethically and culturally engage in African-centred service provision.