Abstract
AbstractLimited research has been conducted in relation to social work and the impact upon kinship carers' own children in a UK context. This paper argues that pressure from government policy imperatives and organizational priorities creates tension and conflict in the professional self in the context of kinship care and with kinship carers' own children. It will examine the professional self through social work narratives utilising the two concepts economy of performance and ecology of practice. This paper focuses upon data from four focus groups and 16 semi‐structured interviews carried out with 29 social workers within one local authority in the north of England. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Only data related to the professional self are examined. The discussion explores how social workers attempted to navigate the tension in their everyday practice. It illuminates the impact upon their performance in kinship care and implications for practice with carers' own children. The conclusion reveals the need for social workers to create a space within which kinship carers' own children's voices are heard.
Highlights
This paper argues that pressures from government policy imperatives and organisational priorities in relation to use of kinship care creates tension and conflict in the professional self, which, in turn, has implications for practice with kinship carers’ own children
The findings in this study reveal that, at times, the degree to which kinship carers’ own children are listened to, despite consulting and gaining the child’s view, indicates the disparity between what social workers are expected to do and how they respond when faced with the reality of practice
The discursive construction of policy initiatives, targets and indicators, as interpreted within the organisational context, had a profound impact upon social workers’ use of kinship care arrangements and upon kinship carers’ own children. These findings, in relation to a performance driven audit culture, concur with findings from Munro (2011) and have implications for the way in which hard pressed social workers interact with families and, in turn, the children within those families
Summary
This paper argues that pressures from government policy imperatives and organisational priorities in relation to use of kinship care creates tension and conflict in the professional self, which, in turn, has implications for practice with kinship carers’ own children. This paper, drawing upon Stronach and colleagues’ (2002) conceptual lens, seeks to redress this imbalance. Stronach et al (2002) utilise the two concepts ‘economy of performance’ and ‘ecology of practice’ to examine the tensions within the ‘professional self’. Their work was written in relation to the professional identities of teachers and nurses their concepts can be deployed as a means of exploring social workers’ performance and practice in the context of kinship care with kinship carers’ own children
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