Social work intervention for recovery

Evidence of the effectiveness of social work interventions for people with alcohol or drug misuse problems is assessed in a new study from the Scottish Government:
Galvani, S., et al. (2011). Social work services and recovery from substance misuse: a review of the evidence. Scottish Government.

Resilient or burned out?

This months issue of the British Journal of Social Work carries an article which should be of interest to those preparing for a career in social work:
Kinman, G. & Grant, L. (2011). Exploring stress resilience in trainee social workers: the role of emotional and social competencies. British Journal of Social Work, 41 (2), pp. 261-275.

For the Record

CareKnowledge are producing a special series of reports on case recording in social work. The first one is a discussion paper looking at case recording from the practitioner's perspective. See Brackenridge, M. (2011). case recording: the essential task on CareKnowledge.

Getting it right for looked after children

Today Ofsted (inspecting in England & Wales) published a report on 12 Outstanding childrens' homes, drawing on the views of young people, staff and management as to what makes these homes so successful.

Food for thought - looked after children

Looked after young people's views are heard in McManus, K. & Morrison, E. (2011). "It's no like one of those cafe places where you can order anything you want": children and young people's views and experiences of food and nutrition in residential care. Scottish Government. This is published in tandem with Scottish government. (2011). Health promotion guidance: nutritional guidance for children and young people in residential care settings.
The Scottish Children looked after statistics 2009-2010 have also been recently published.

Social Work at the Movies

Here is a link to the trailer for Jim Loach's film Oranges and Sunshine, about a Nottingham social worker's investigation of the forced migration of UK childen to Australia, and her work to release information leading to the reuniting of separated families. The film opens in the UK on 1st April.

Munro Interim Report pulished

The second report to come out of the Munro review of child protection, Interim report : Munro, E. (2011)the child's journey, set up in the wake of the Baby P serious case reviews, was published yesterday. In this report Professor Munro's report outlines where the child protection system needs reform and calls for children's needs to be in the forefront of consideration rather than meeting managerial targets and compliance with bureaucracy which have hindered social workers in using their professional judgement. The report also recommends making it easier for other agancies to access social workers for advice and improving the system of serious case review to enable greater information sharing and learning nationally in such cases.
Also reported on in the Guardian, 1 January 2011.