Andrew Turnell

Social work is a complex career - a hugely rewarding way to make a difference in people's lives, paired with an enormous responsibility to get it right. This (unofficial) guide, grounded in the author's decade-long experience on the front line of child protection, explores the intersection between these points and how to handle the challenges of the job while celebrating its joys.This isn't a tidy list of textbook situations and perfect solutions - there are mistakes of all shapes and sizes, there are consequences, and (most importantly) there are reflections on what went wrong and how to not do the same thing in your own practice. Case studies and vignettes look into the realities of child protection from both perspectives, and what happens when what should happen doesn't match with what does.

An authoritative, interdisciplinary book which outlines how solution focused practice is particularly effective in addressing violent behaviour in clients and service users, encompassing work with both adults and children. Solution focused approaches have been used successfully with a range of violent behaviours from school-based bullying to severe domestic violence, as well as with victims of violence. Solution focused approaches hold people accountable for building solutions to their violent behaviour. The book shows how to engage clients in solution talk as opposed to problem talk, set useful goals and help clients to develop new behaviours. It outlines the practice principles and working techniques that make up solution focused practice with physical, emotional and sexual violence. Illustrative case studies and practice activities are provided. This book is suitable for anyone working to help reduce violent behaviour, including social workers, counsellors, therapists, nurses, probation workers and youth offending teams.

Signs of Safety er en ressourceorienteret tilgang til arbejdet med udsatte børn og unge og deres familier, baseret på den løsningsfokuserede korttidsterapeutiske tradition. Signs of Safety er en metode til, hvordan man kan arbejde helhedsorienteret og systematisk i vanskelige børne- og familiesager, og hvordan man kan undersøge og vurdere udsatte børns behov for støtte. Tilgangens hovedformål er til enhver tid at skabe sikkerhed og trivsel for barnet og bidrage til, at de professionelle, på trods af sagens kompleksitet, bevarer barnet i centrum og sikrer, at det får den hjælp, det har brug for. Signs of Safety rummer en række konkrete redskaber, der kan hjælpe den professionelle med at få et overblik i komplekse sager og foretage en kvalificeret risikovurdering, og som kan udvikle samarbejdet mellem de professionelle og familien og indbyrdes mellem de professionelle, der kommer i kontakt med familierne. Tilgangen kan anvendes, fra sagen startes op, og til den afsluttes, og de professionelle kan gøre brug af den i alle faserne af arbejdet med sagen. Dette gælder, uanset om de arbejder med myndighedsudøvelse eller familiebehandling. Signs of Safety. Arbejdet med udsatte børn og deres familier henvender sig til en bred kreds af professionelle, der arbejder med udsatte børn og unge og deres familier - først og fremmest sagsbehandlere og familierådgivere i socialforvaltningen og deres ledelse, men også andre professionelle, der er involveret i barnets liv, fx sundhedsplejersker, AKT-lærere, skolesocialrådgivere, døgninstitutionspædagoger eller plejefamilier.

This text and professional resource offers an alternative approach to thinking about and working with “difficult” families. From a nonpathologizing stance, William C. Madsen demonstrates creative ways to help family members shift their relationship to longstanding problems; envision desired lives; and develop more proactive coping strategies. Anyone working with families in crisis, especially in settings where time and resources are scarce, will gain valuable insights and tools from this book.

How can professionals build constructive relationships with families where the parents dispute professional allegations of serious child abuse? How can meaningful safety for children be created in these families?How can professionals work together constructively in such cases?Situations where parents refute child abuse allegations made against them are often deemed to be impossible or untreatable by statutory and treatment professionals. These cases can consume enormous amounts of professional time and energy and frequently become bogged down by ongoing professional-family mistrust and dispute. Often, the decision to close such cases comes about not because the children are safe, but rather because the professionalsrun out of ideas, time and energy.Working with 'Denied' Child Abuse presents an innovative, safety-focused, partnership-based, model called Resolutions, which provides an alternative approach for responding rigourously and creatively to such cases. It describes each stage of this practical model and demonstrates the approach through many case examples from therapists, statutory social workers and other professionals working in Europe, North America and Australasia. The book is key reading for legal, health and social care professionals working in the area of child protection.

It focuses on the question, "How can child protection professionals actually build partnerships with parents where there is suspected or substantiated child abuse or neglect?" The authors bring the solution orientation to child protection work, expanding the investigation of risk to encompass signs of safety that can be built upon to stabilize and strengthen the child's and family's situation. The philosophy behind this approach is clearly articulated through ten practice principles that serve as guiding beacons for child protection workers as they traverse the rough waters of abuse and neglect investigation. Child protection workers are involved with vulnerable, at-risk children in potentially volatile situations. Here they will find a new child protection assessment and planning protocol that allows for comprehensive risk assessment incorporating both danger and safety and the perspectives of both professionals and service recipients (parents). The authors provide practical, hands-on strategies for building a partnership with parents, which may, in the long run, prevent abuse and family dissolution. They illustrate these strategies in cases showing the subtle process of integrating the seemingly opposite notions of coercion and cooperation. Respectful, optimistic, and highly practical, this book promises to revitalize and redirect child protection services.