Abstract
Social work and social services are in a period of significant change built around three key terms; investment, vulnerable, and outcomes. Those terms are not simple neutral descriptors. Rather, they are shaped in critical ways by the neoliberal framework which informs them. The framework is critically examined here by exploring how it is reflected in the specific meanings and implications of each of the three terms. Social work practice and social services delivery will be heavily influenced by the political and ideological framing of investment, vulnerable and outcomes. The paper takes up some of these implications and raises a series of questions for children and families, for practitioners and for agencies. The responses to those questions will be critical for social work and for those with whom and for whom social workers work.
Highlights
Change in social services for children and families have been an integral part of the current government’s programme for a number of years. This is reflected in a range of government documents and in specific changes such as, for example, the social sector trials and the work around ‘vulnerable children’ through the Green Paper for Vulnerable Children (2011), the White Paper for Vulnerable Children (2012), the Vulnerable Children Act 2014, and the Children’s Teams
These changes have been built around three key terms, namely: (1) investment; (2) outcomes; (3) vulnerable
After all, who could not be supportive of investing in good outcomes for vulnerable children?
Summary
Change in social services for children and families have been an integral part of the current government’s programme for a number of years This is reflected in a range of government documents and in specific changes such as, for example, the social sector trials and the work around ‘vulnerable children’ through the Green Paper for Vulnerable Children (2011), the White Paper for Vulnerable Children (2012), the Vulnerable Children Act 2014, and the Children’s Teams. The use of the three words in an interconnected fashion highlights their critical ideological and political functions These functions reflect the neoliberal framework within which the terms are located (Humpage, 2015). We proceed to an analytic examination of each of the three terms before concluding with a discussion of the consequences and implications for social work and the social services
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