Transcript Family Group Conferences as empowerment practice

Family Group Conferences as
empowerment practice:
some dilemmas and opportunities
Paul Nixon
Assistant Director
Children and Young People’s Service
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Family Group Conferences
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Process both ancient and new
Sprang from disenfranchised communities
Challenged the orthodoxy
Remind us of the importance of families to
children
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Key questions…
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What is empowerment?
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How do we make sense of theories of power?
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What does this mean for social work and
family group conferences?
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‘Empowerment is an inherently
political idea in which issues of power,
the ownership of power, inequalities of
power and the acquisition of
redistribution of power are central’
(Croft and Beresford 2000)
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‘Empowerment is not only good for you: it
seems to be becoming an essential for a better
life. Therefore if you are unable to do it for
yourself you may need professional assistance
in doing so….
…furthermore, you may need professional help to
recognise that you are in need of this type of
professional assistance’
(Baistow 1994)
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Rescuer
(Practitioner)
Oppressor
Victim
Facilitator
(Practitioner)
Self
Empowered
person
Oppressor
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Social Work & Empowerment (Adams 2003)
Arnstein’s ladder (1969)
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Citizen control
Delegated power
Partnership
Placation
Consultation
Informing
Therapy
Manipulation
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‘Given our power to legitimate, we need to be
more critical and less casual about what we
advocate as empowering’
Rappaport 1995
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Empowerment can be…..
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Tokenistic
Problematic
Paradoxical
(Adams 2003)
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Tokenism or real participation?
Are citizens…?
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Involved from the outset?
Playing a key role in assessing the situation?
Having a say in how services are planned,
managed and delivered?
Given control over the allocation of resources?
Contributing centrally to the evaluation of service
delivery?
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3 dimensional view of power
1.Power of individuals
2. Local context –local interests
3. Interplay of structural, local and personal
(Lukes 1974)
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Power relationship model
Fixed Sum - power is finite
(one gains = another loses)
Variable sum - power is
flexible & expandable
(changes by context)
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Some modern day problems………….of
social work…..
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Bureaucratic and managerial control
Driven by fear
Narrow focus
Legal colonisation of decision making
Lack of political support
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The social worker...
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Messages from Research (DH 1995) 19 studies
5 features of effective practice
1. Sensitive and Informed Profs/Client relationships
2. Appropriate balance of power
3. Wide perspective on child protection
4. Supervision and training
5. Enhancing children’s general quality of life
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What works…?
‘The most important condition for success was
found always to be the quality of the
relationship between the child’s family and
responsible professional’
(DH 1995 - Messages from Research)
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Partnership is easy…
How does therapy work?
Client hopefulness (15%)
Client characteristics and
social support (40%)
Therapeutic technique
(15%)
Therapist-client
relationships (30%)
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Domains of empowerment
Community
Organisation
Group
Interpersonal
Self
Technical expert
Disempowering
Extent of reflectiveness in practice
Reflection-in-action
Empowering
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Aspects of disempowering/empowering practice
Technical/rationality
(Disempowering)
Reflection in action
(Empowering)
Professional
Fragmented
Segregated
Trained
Acquiescent/oppressed
Holistic
Integrated
Lifelong learner
Assertive/empowered
Work
Technical/habit
Reflective/practice: appreciating
dilemmas and uncertainties
Approaches
Divergent
Problem-focused
Problem-describing
Convergent
Solution-focused
Problem-solving
Evaluation
Experimental method
Observer/scientist
Action research models
Participant/co-producer
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Children’s participation
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How would children define good outcomes?
Do adults know better?
`Double-jeopardy’
Adult anxiety
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Risk of coming into care?
Child A
Child B
Aged 5 to 9
No dependence on social
security
Two parent family
Three or fewer children
White
Owner occupied home
More rooms than people
Aged 5 to 9
Income Support
Single Parent
Four or more children
Mixed ethnic origin
Private rented home
One or more persons per
room
Odds are 1 in 7000
Odds are 1 in 10
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‘Need is also a political instrument, meticulously
prepared, calculated and used’
Foucault 1980
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‘Every statement made in an assessment report
by a Social Worker is at least as much a
statement about that particular social worker, in
the wider context of her/his role and agency, as
it is a statement about those who are being
assessed’
The myth of assessment - Ryburn (1991)
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3 Models of Assessment
1. Questioning (expert professional)
2. Procedural (agency prescribed)
3. Exchange (partnership based)
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‘Family members know more about their
family than any professional can
possibly know. They have a unique
knowledge and understanding’
(DoH 1995)
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Information about services is a
source of power to professionals
(Wagner 1988, SSI 1991)
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Assessment models
STRUCTURAL/POLITICAL
DECISION MAKING
PARTNERSHIPS
PROCEDURAL
ATTITUDES
FAMILY
FOCUS
CITIZEN
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Assessment - Questioning / Procedural models
(disempowering)
DOWNPLAYING
STRUCTURAL/POLITICAL
DECISION MAKING
PARTNERSHIPS
PROFESSIONAL
CORRODING
‘CORRECTNESS’
PROCEDURAL
ATTITUDES
PRESERVING
FAMILY
PATHOLOGY
PROBLEM/INCIDENT
FOCUS
CITIZEN
EXCLUDED
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Assessment – Exchange and action model
(empowering)
RECOGNISING
STRUCTURAL/POLITICAL
FAMILY
SHARED
DECISION MAKING
BUILDING
PARTNERSHIPS
FLEXIBILITY
PROCEDURAL
ATTITUDES
CHALLENGING
STRENGTHS
CONTEXT
FOCUS
CITIZEN
INVOLVED
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`Emphasis on the phrase ‘ common language’
implies that the skill is in the agencies talking, but
inquiry reports and research demonstrate that to
the contrary: the skill is in the listening’
(Raynes 2004)
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‘Empowerment can be weak and
short lived unless it is embodied in
institutions’
(Chambers 1997)
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Getting a strong mandate for FGC?
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Legal mandate
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Procedural mandate
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Best Practice’ mandate
(Doolan 2002)
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Changing organisations
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Empowering front line staff
Involving service users in policy
Children have a key role
Delegating resources to those nearest to the
problem / solution
Clear values
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