Transcript Law, ethics and child care practice

Judicial Reviews and
Ombudsman Reports
Disconcerting reflections on
law, ethics and the quality
of social work practice
Structure of the legal rules
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Primary legislation (Acts of Parliament)
Secondary legislation (Regulations,
Statutory Instruments)
Policy Guidance
Practice Guidance
Case law
Audit agency procedures – the law ‘in
between’ and the process of translation
Ethical positions
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Duty to act proportionately when qualifying rights
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Least intervention appropriate
Positive duty to promote ECHR rights
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Accountable for practice and decision-making
Challenge discrimination
Evolving understanding of Convention rights
Meaningful consultation prior to decisions
Sharing information on which reliance placed
Decisions must reasonable
Give reasons for decisions
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In writing
Opportunity to challenge decisions
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Agree records
Procedural fairness
Reasonable assessment and intervention
Social Workers’ Code of
Practice
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Practice should:
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emphasise human dignity and worth
enhance people’s well-being & ensure their protection
promote their rights
challenge and work to improve agency policies,
procedures and service provision
notify employers of resource or other difficulties
impacting on safe working
be lawful
Employers’ Code of Practice
• Employers must:
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give staff information about relevant legislation for
their work
• ensure commitment to social work values,
principles and knowledge
• provide effective supervision
• establish systems to facilitate reporting of
operational difficulties
• support social workers so as not to put their
registration at risk
Acknowledgements
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Most social work are conscientious but
overworked and lacking the resources to
practise as they would like (Re F [2008])
Practitioners and departments perform
valuable work that demonstrates
dedication, skill and care in meeting
people’s complex needs (Re X
(Emergency Protection Orders [2006];
Re B [2007]; Re D [2008])
True stories
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Grace’s stories – an aborted home visit and
inventing Children Act 1989 powers
A social worker’s tale – changed witness statement
An inspector’s experience – reluctance to apologise
Expert by experience accounts of complaints
procedures
Whistleblower experiences – hostility of truth spoken
to power
Student experiences – where is the law here?
What we know about the lived experience of work
Case law as evidence
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Judicial reviews
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Flawed assessment and service provision
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Pierce v Doncaster MBC [2007]
Failure to follow statutory guidance
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R (Kaur) v Ealing LBC [2008]
Attempt to limit applicability of legal rules
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R (Behre and Others) v Hillingdon LBC [2003]
R (G) v Southwark LBC [2009]
Resource led decisions
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R (Goldsmith) v Wandsworth LBC [2004]
Critical of expressed attitudes and values
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Re F (A Child) [2008]
Critical of practice standards
• R(CD & VD) v Isle of Anglesey CC [2004]
Like a computer virus – a system infected
Investigation evidence
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Ombudsman reports
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Denial of services
Failure to monitor and review care
Failure to assess
Failure to act on complaints
Delays in service provision and assessment
Failure to protect
Failure to support staff
What has happened to social work?
Law in practice research
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Law is implicit rather than explicit, both in expectations of
placement learning and in the learning opportunities
provided to students on placement. This mirrors how law
is sometimes a less visible aspect of practice;
The role of the organisation is influential in creating or
constraining a learning environment in which law can be
seen as a significant feature of practice;
The legal knowledge and skills of the practice teacher,
and their recognition of these, are influential in enabling
students to engage with law learning. Maintenance and
development of legal competence is a neglected aspect
of practitioners’ continuing professional development in
law, but is crucial in enabling practitioners to respond to
organisational constraints on practice;
Practice assessors’ commentary
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“No-one actually mentions law. It’s more of an
assumption that it’s there.”
Whilst I am an experienced practitioner, I
would not have the confidence in my
knowledge to pass on that information.”
“We need to teach students to implement
agency policy.”
“When you are qualified you really cannot go
out there and change the world; you can only
work within the requirements and statutes that
your agency allows you to.”
Research evidence
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Practitioners and managers may collude in departing from best
practice
Absence of challenge to unlawful & unethical practice – hostility
towards whistle blowers
Dealing with ethical concepts and ethical dilemmas is limited in
practice learning
Ethical codes do not ensure best practice
Abusive practice across social (care) work
Reinstatement by Care Standards Tribunal of social workers –
mitigating factors in inadequate supervision, chaotic
departments, lack of supervision and management action (LA v
GSCC [2007]; Forbes v GSCC [2008])
How?
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Corruption of care (Wardhaugh and
Wilding 1993)
• Client characteristics leading to neutralisation
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of moral concerns
Power and process in enclosed organisations
Complexity of work exacerbated by
constraints
Absence of accountability
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Administrative evil (Adams and Balfour
1998)
• Conformity to organisational procedures
• Dulling of conscience and absence of
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independent critical thought
Erosion of personal judgement
Public policy-making encouraging moral
inversion
Through the glass darkly?
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Muddled accountability – to whom when?
Limited accountability – delegated not
designated powers and duties
Ill-defined codes – what is a breach? Assume
favourable agency climate and autonomy
Prisoners of bureaucracy or conversations
without rank? Rethinking location for practice.
Scrutinising the ethics ‘in-between’
Rediscovering moral activity
Law and ethical literacy
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The distillation of knowledge,
understanding, skill and values that
enables practitioners to connect relevant
legal rules with the professional priorities
and objectives of ethical practice
Plus the emotional resilience to
comment, challenge, critique and resist
Professor Michael Preston-Shoot
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Dean, Faculty of Health & Social
Sciences
University of Bedfordshire
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[email protected]
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