Blending material from social work with religious and spiritual sources, this book makes explicit that engaging with spirituality in its broadest sense is an essential aspect of socially just social work practice. Gardner connects shared understandings of spiritual/religious traditions, critically reflective social work, First Nations relational world views, green and relational approaches. Through multiple unique case studies, Embedding Spirituality and Religion in Social Work Practice: A Socially Just Approach outlines the theoretical framework of critical spirituality, which is explored as a way of workers' understanding their own and others' sense of meaning, whether it is spiritual and/or religious, and to encourage workers to be mindful, open, humble and energised as workers. Combining the theoretical and practical, this book outlines strategies and processes to ensure social workers embed spirituality in their practice constructively and inclusively across all areas of practice. This book will be of interest to those engaged in the wider field of social work, from direct service to policy development.

The editors and chapter authors argue against the unquestioning use of "parental alienation" concepts in child custody conflicts. As such, this is the first book to support arguments against court orders that would prohibit contact with a child and force the child into potentially harmful parental alienation treatment. Of interest to any professional who may encounter parental alienation: mental health professionals, children's services workers, lawyers, judges, domestic relations and child protection court staff as well as Children's Advocacy Center interviewers. Parents and professionals involved in parental alienation cases can find in this book the materials they need to support arguments against court orders that would prohibit contact with a child and force the child into potentially harmful parental alienation treatment. No other book provides this help, even at this time when the use of parental alienation concepts is increasing.

The editors and chapter authors argue against the unquestioning use of "parental alienation" concepts in child custody conflicts. As such, this is the first book to support arguments against court orders that would prohibit contact with a child and force the child into potentially harmful parental alienation treatment. Of interest to any professional who may encounter parental alienation: mental health professionals, children's services workers, lawyers, judges, domestic relations and child protection court staff as well as Children's Advocacy Center interviewers. Parents and professionals involved in parental alienation cases can find in this book the materials they need to support arguments against court orders that would prohibit contact with a child and force the child into potentially harmful parental alienation treatment. No other book provides this help, even at this time when the use of parental alienation concepts is increasing.

This book provides an alternative perspective on community resilience, drawing on critical sociological and social policy insights about how people individually and collectively cope with different kinds of adversity. Based on the idea that resilience is more than simply an invention of neoliberal governments, this book explores diverse expressions of resilience and considers what supports and undermines people's resilience in different contexts. Focusing on the United Kingdom, it examines the contradictions and limitations of neoliberal resilience policies and the role of policy in shaping how vulnerabilities are distributed and how resilience is manifested. The book explores different types of resilience including planning, response, recovery, adaptation and transformation, which are examined in relation to different types of threat such as financial hardship, disasters and climate change. It argues that resilience cannot act as an antidote to vulnerability, and aims to demonstrate the importance of shared institutions in underpinning resilience and in preventing socially created vulnerabilities. It will be of interest to academics, students and well-informed practitioners working with the concept of resilience within the subject areas of Sociology, Social Policy, Human Geography, Environmental Humanities and International Development.

Mathematics instructors are always looking for ways to engage students in meaningful and authentic tasks that utilize mathematics. At the same time, it is crucial for a democratic society to have a citizenry who can critically discriminate between "fake" and reliable news reports involving numeracy and apply numerical literacy to local and global issues. This book contains examples of topics linking math and social justice and addresses both goals. There is a broad range of mathematics used, including statistical methods, modeling, calculus, and basic algebra. The range of social issues is also diverse, including racial injustice, mass incarceration, income inequality, and environmental justice. There are lesson plans appropriate in many contexts: service-learning courses, quantitative literacy/reasoning courses, introductory courses, and classes for math majors. What makes this book unique and timely is that the most previous curricula linking math and social justice have been treated from a humanist perspective. This book is written by mathematicians, for mathematics students. Admittedly, it can be intimidating for instructors trained in quantitative methods to venture into the arena of social dilemmas. This volume provides encouragement, support, and a treasure trove of ideas to get you started. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies.

This book provides an account of the experience of a multifaceted system-change programme to strengthen the capacity of Ireland's statutory child protection and welfare agency in the areas of prevention, early intervention and family support. Many jurisdictions globally are involved in system change processes focused on increasing investment in services that seek to prevent children's entry into child protection and welfare systems, through early intervention, greater support to families, and an increased emphasis on rights and participation. Based on a four-year in-depth study by a team of University-based researchers, this text adds to the emerging knowledge-base on developing, implementing and evaluating system change in child protection and welfare. Study methodological approaches were wide ranging and involved a number of key stakeholders including children, parents, social workers and social care workers, service managers, agency leaders and policy makers. Since the change process involved an agency-university partnership encompassing design, technical support and evaluation, the book also contributes to understandings of the potential and limits of such partnerships in the child protection and welfare field. Uniquely, the book gives voice to the experience of both agency personnel and academic in the accounts provided. It will be of interest to all scholars, students and practitioners in the areas of child protection and welfare.

The growth of interest in community work during the seventies was very marked. But while much had been written on the actual practice of community work, there was for too long a lack of British material on the vital subjects of useful theory, training and the development of skills. In this title, originally published in 1977, the authors brought together for the National Institute for Social Work experienced teachers and practitioners of community work in an integrated and carefully structured textbook which would further understanding of the means through which community workers develop their knowledge and skills; it would be widely welcomed by all those involved in aspects of community work - as teachers, students, practitioners, supervisors and as local authority training officers. The first part of the book has four chapters on the principle means through which community workers develop their skills within their employing agencies. Part two deals with theories and the contribution made to community work by the social sciences, group work, research methods and management and planning studies. The last part of the book contains three papers which examine the major problems and issues in the placement, learning experiences and assessment of students on field work.

Originally published in 1965, this book gathers together some outstanding contributions to various aspects of social work with families. The subject was now more than ever of concern to social workers, as fresh knowledge added to their understanding of the dynamics of family life and interaction. The papers which compose the book were written by well-known authors from both sides of the Atlantic. They are arranged in three sections dealing with: normal and less normal families as a group; with particular crisis situations for children; and with some more theoretical concepts contributing to an understanding of family types. This volume was the first in a series of Readings in Social Work designed to collect together significant articles on different aspects of social work.

During the 1960s there had been much discussion about the plight of the unmarried mother and her child; but very little of it had been based on fact. At the time Mother and Baby Homes catered for between 11,000 and 12,000 unmarried mothers each year, out of a total of 70,000; but there was hardly one generalisation that would be applicable to all the Homes. Some were run by voluntary organisations, some by local authorities and some by religious groups. While some still retained the punitive attitude, others set themselves with much kindness to help the women - some of them mere schoolgirls, to face the difficulties of their position and to plan constructively for their own future and that of their babies. Originally published in 1968, this book gives the facts but, even more, it gives the feelings and ideas of those most concerned - the mothers-to-be and those who care for them. This is a careful and sensitive study. It was unique in putting on record for the first time the views of unmarried mothers themselves about the care they received. Everybody who is interested in the history of the health and welfare of the unmarried mother in residential care should read this book.

How do adoptions really turn out? How do adopted children feel about the family they were given and the opportunities they were offered? To what extent do they fulfil their new parents' expectations of them? And does it matter whether their adoption grew out of a fostering relationship or was considered right from the start as a permanent arrangement? Originally published in 1980, the major follow-up study on which this book is based sought to answer these questions. The research involved 160 sets of parents and over 100 of their adopted children, now young adults. This was, in fact, the largest group of adult adoptees anywhere in the world to be interviewed and studied in a systematic way. As they look back over their life together, the parents and the young people explain what adopting or being adopted was like for them. This title offers glimpses of adoptive family life over a period of more than twenty years, compares the views of the young people with those of their adopters and measures the factors which influenced the various outcomes. Particular attention is paid to the basis on which the child was originally placed, in order to shed light on the controversial subject, at the time, of whether a preliminary fostering period represents a useful safeguard. The information gathered by Lois Raynor and her colleagues provided the feedback so long sought by social work teachers and by those practising social workers who had the responsibility for making long-term plans for children and for approving foster home or adoption applications at the time. Readers with personal experience of adoption will be interested in making their own comparisons, while prospective adopters will learn to avoid some pitfalls and to enjoy an adopted child as their own.

The late David Wills spent a lifetime in the service of the so-called delinquent, the misfit, the maladjusted. He was the first Englishman to train as a psychiatric social worker and was well known for his books The Hawkspur Experiment, The Barns Experiment, etc. Originally published in 1970, this book describes another experiment with a hostel for boys leaving schools for maladjusted children and lacking any settled home from which to enter the community. It demonstrates once again David Wills's conviction that the offender wants to be 'good' and will be helped by affection rather than by punishment. Yet it is obvious that the work was full of stress and that only people with some of the attributes of archangels could respond to the boys' needs and remain in control of the situation. The book demonstrates the extent of deprivation suffered by such young people and that no ordinary hostels or lodgings will do if they are to be set upon a less turbulent course of life, leading to truly adult independence. It added greatly to our understanding of the personalities, experience of life and needs of maladjusted boys in their 'teens at the time, although the lessons drawn from it were disturbing in relation both to prevention and treatment. The penetration of David Wills's assessment is beyond doubt and (as Dame Eileen Younghusband concludes in her Foreword) his book will give a great deal to those 'trying in various capacities to help boys and girls who otherwise would grow into adulthood permanently handicapped emotionally and socially'. This book is a re-issue originally published in 1970. The language used is a reflection of its era and no offence is meant by the Publishers to any reader by this re-publication.

In the 1960s, the work of caring for the quarter of a million people - men, women and children - who lived in old people's homes, approved schools, hostels for the handicapped and so on was one which needed great skill and knowledge. There was already difficulty in recruiting enough of the right kind of staff for this purpose, and the problem would grow more serious, both on account of the increasing numbers to be cared for and the competition from other kinds of employment. Originally published in 1967, this Report was the result of the deliberations of a committee of enquiry of experts, most of who had been intimately concerned with the residential services, either statutory or voluntary, for many years. It analysed the problems concerning those who were engaged in this difficult, skilful and rewarding task, and suggested ways in which they could be helped by their employers, their committees and the community. It made many recommendations covering conditions of work, recruitment and the career structure. It laid special stress on the need for training and outlined a possible scheme of training at different levels. This long-awaited Report, written with knowledge and compassion, would be widely read by government departments, by Local Authorities and by all those concerned with people in care. It became something of a landmark in the development of the social services.

Much previous research on elderly people had focused on their problems, and had created an impression of a group of isolated individuals suffering from almost insurmountable social difficulties. Originally published in 1984, this study of the everyday lives of elderly people, and the sources of help and care available to them in the community at the time, made a special contribution by showing how they can and do make creative adaptations to the challenge of age, and by increasing our understanding of their informal networks of support. The author looks not only at the role and availability of family, but also of friends, neighbours, voluntary associations and statutory services and the composite networks of support which these contacts form, noting differences related to gender, class and household composition. The detailed picture that she presents would be invaluable to those teachers, students and practitioners of social work concerned with the development of more community-based patterns of social work, as recommended by the Barclay Report, and to policy makers who needed to understand how sometimes strained natural support systems may be reinforced and maintained. The book also extends our knowledge of the normal lives of elderly people and will be of general interest to social gerontologists and network theorists in sociology and anthropology.

Voluntary work is sometimes praised, sometimes criticised, but was seldom the subject of objective evaluation. Given the importance of the voluntary sector in the social services at the time, the lack of systematic research into its performance was cause for concern. Originally published in 1975, the particular value of this study was twofold: first it provided a detailed and vivid picture of the work of one section of the volunteer movement - young volunteers working with the elderly; second it examined the wider issue of how voluntary work can be evaluated. The particular volunteers studied were organised through Task Force, a London based agency, but both the substantive and research issues discussed had a far wider relevance. A key part of the study explored over a period of twelve months, the development of relationships between a group of old people and the volunteers allocated to them. The authors established a new method of assessing success in these relationships. They then explored possible reasons for the successes and failures in the relationships they studied. They suggest possible changes in the organisation of the work which might help to increase the success rate of volunteer agencies. The book will be of interest to anyone concerned about the place of voluntary work in our society. At the time it would have been of special importance to staff and members of organisations involved in voluntary social service, to social workers and social administrators, and to those who were training to join their ranks. The book is based on an eighteen-month field study of Task Force; Roger Hadley and Adrian Webb directed the research and Christine Farrell was the research officer for the project.

Originally published in 1971, volunteers in the social services were being asked to undertake increasingly demanding and responsible work, particularly in the field of prison after-care. Effective professional leadership and support were therefore essential. Hugh Barr's report describes a pilot project in London in which he tried to build effective partnership between professionals and volunteers, and between statutory and voluntary agencies. It is a report that was immediately relevant in the field of probation and after-care at the time and had implications in general for the future of the personal social services. Separate chapters discuss recruitment, motivation, preparation, selection and supervision of the volunteers; illustrations of their work are included and an attempt is made to evaluate the results of the project. The book ends with a study of the implications for future projects and of the ever-widening scope for the volunteer, who will use his leisure to match society's need. 'This is a man writing about something he has a hand in creating' (from the Foreword).

Since the late 1960s, community work had emerged in its own right as an occupation with an increasingly important contribution to make both to ways of thinking within the field of social policy, and to day-to-day social work practice and the resolution of pressing community issues. Its practitioners had grown in numbers and experience, while community work ideas and methods continued to influence developments in a variety of other 'neighbouring' occupations. Originally published in 1980, the editors of this NISW collection suggest that if community workers are to remain effective, then they must stay on the boundaries of the agencies that employ them and of the groups with whom they work. This theme of the 'boundary nature' of community work is examined in detail in the Introduction and is subsequently taken up by the other contributors to the book. This title is organised under three main headings - a survey section on the history, philosophy and theories of community work in the United Kingdom; a series of case studies that suggest the diversity of the interests of community work; and an analysis of the growth of community work as an occupation and the spread of its influence through related professions and disciplines. This mix of theory, practice and analysis made the book of special importance both to practising community workers and to community work teachers and students at the time. In addition, the book would have been of direct interest to community oriented administrators, professionals, teachers and students in other human service fields such as health, education, housing, planning and the personal social services, as well as to elected members and administrators in central and local government more generally. It will now be welcomed by anyone who seeks a critical account of the historical activities of community work, written by experienced practitioners and teachers.

Originally published in 1976, the aim of this book was to understand the contribution of community work to meeting some of the problems to be found in many of Britain's inner city neighbourhoods. It describes the community work process and the tasks, roles and skills of the professional community worker as he interacts with neighbourhood groups and service agencies. The author also indicates some of the strengths of collective action and its likely benefits and costs to those who participate. The book includes an examination of how to effect changes in the delivery of services from statutory and voluntary agencies, as well as an assessment of the community project of which the author was a staff member. The book is a contribution to the theory of community work and practice, and it is based upon the experience of those who worked in, and used, the Southwark Community Project, established by the National Institute for Social Work. It was written for practitioners, teachers and students of community work, as well as for other closely involved in community affairs such as teachers, playground workers, planners and social workers.

Originally published in 1981, this book describes day services for adults, a relatively recent development in health and social services at the time. Most people assume immediately that day care is only provided for young children: Day Services for Adults will make it clear that a growing number of services exist by day for adults, and in a diversity and variety which have enormous potential both for those who use them and for those who work in them. Day Services for Adults reports the results of a five-year national survey. The broad terms of reference of the research were to review the present provision of day centres for adults. To consider the policy questions of staffing and accommodation and to suggest which groups in the community might benefit most from day centres and to advise on how these centres might contribute to the integration and development of local services for those in need. The result was the first comprehensive investigation of day services in the world. Jan Carter analyses services for the elderly, the mentally handicapped, the mentally ill, the physically handicapped, offenders, drug addicts and those in family care centres sponsored by health, social services, probation and voluntary agencies. By a full coverage of all these groups and their sponsors, unique comparisons between services for the various groups can be made. Day Services for Adults was intended for those who made decisions about day units and particularly for local authority policy-makers and executive civil servants in local authority health authorities and central government. It was also addressed to those senior professionals practising inside and outside day services: psychiatrists, geriatricians, those practising rehabilitation medicine, senior nursing officers, psychologists, senior social workers and social work administrators.

Despite extensive changes in the organisation of social and psychiatric services, there had been no study of mental health social work in the UK since the early 1960s. There was, however, no shortage of 'received wisdom' about the perceived failure of social work to provide a service to the mentally disordered. Originally published in 1984, it was to provide some basic information about the practice of social work in this field that the study was conducted on which Mental Health Social Work Observed is based. The authors looked at both long-term work and emergency work in which the use of compulsory powers was requested. In addition to the views of social workers, the opinions of psychiatrists, family practitioners and of the clients themselves were sought in order to gain a full picture of social work in practice. Through their thorough immersion in the field of study and through their experience of social work and of mental health issues, the authors were able to provide a sympathetic and lucid account of the difficulties of mental health social work and of the thorny issue of interprofessional relationships which will ring true to the practitioner. They produced recommendations relevant to social work practice at the time and this book would be found useful to social workers and their managers, to psychiatrists, family practitioners, psychiatric nurses and clinical psychologists. Of particular relevance to the then current changes in the role of the social worker under the new mental health legislation is the authors' study of mental health emergency work, culminating in a recommended code of practice.

Originally published in 1968, the study described in this title began in a very small way in late 1960. At that time some Oxfordshire county councillors and children's department officials were very conscious that the number of children in care in the county was high in comparison with the national average. This meant that expenditure was also high. The County's position, however, was not unique. Oxford City was in a similar position, but other neighbours did not appear to have the same problem. A small research project was launched to investigate and it soon became apparent that there was a large and complex problem to be solved. The problem was of striking, persistent and puzzling variations in the proportion of children in care in the different local authority children's departments of England and Wales. This seemed to warrant a larger investigation on a country-wide basis and this book outlines the findings of that project.

The explosion of literature on the once taboo topic of death and dying in the late 1970s had tended to pass the professional social worker by. Originally published in 1981, it was to fill this important gap that Towards Death with Dignity was written. Not since Kubler-Ross's now classic On Death and Dying has a book in the field of terminal care been informed by so much first-hand experience, and so much case material, allowing the caregiver to learn from the dying person himself how best to help him towards a dignified death. Sylvia Poss's sensitive elucidation of what the dying person must do for himself in order to master his terminal crisis was welcomed as a major contribution to psychosocial knowledge at the time. Having outlined the dying person's side of the crisis, she turns to the perspective of those who hope to help him towards death - other patients, nurses, doctors, paramedical staff and social workers, chaplains, volunteers, employers, relatives and friends. Towards Death with Dignity focuses on three of social work's major methods: social casework, community work and teaching. Not only does Sylvia Poss outline what may need to be done by the caregiver, but she also illustrates how; she further outlines how to prepare for social work in the terminal care field and suggests an effective method for teaching terminal care skills. Her book also provided, for the first time, a synthesis of other recent work in the field, to help social workers through what had become a plethora of specialist psychosocial and medical literature. Towards Death with Dignity was thus a useful, practical guide, both for laymen and for the many professionals involved in this aspect of the health care field. It will also be valuable for those who are involved personally in moving towards their own death, or are being called upon to be involved in some way in the death of a relative, neighbour or friend.

First published in 1966, the original blurb read: Learning with the help of skilled practitioners is as essential in training for social work as for medicine and teaching. Where do students of social work go for field training and why? What is it hoped that they will learn through their experience? What responsibilities are they given and who guides their learning? Partnership between social workers and academic staff in working out these questions is considered at a critical time in the changing perspectives and expansion of social services. The staff of colleges and social agencies, students, and professional organizations have helped to produce the facts and views on which this survey is based.

How are adoptions arranged? How far do the present adoption service really meet the needs of the adoptive family? Originally published in 1966, these are the questions examined in this searching investigation - at the time one of the few to be undertaken since legal adoption was introduced in this country in 1926. The scope of the survey is comprehensive for every type of adoption is included: those arranged by societies, by local authorities, by relatives and private individuals. Each step in the process is described and appraised both from the angle of the agencies and of the adopters. The careful analysis of agency policy and practice and the compelling accounts of the adopters' experiences and attitudes makes this report of particular interest to anyone concerned with the development of this branch of the social services and its history. The writer had extensive and varied social work experience, both in the statutory and voluntary field, and had herself arranged adoptions.

Originally published in 1982 Social Work and Ethnicity was the first purpose-written text for social work students, administrators and practitioners designed to prepare them conceptually and practically for work in Britain's established ethnic minority communities. Much more than the vicissitudes of immigration now had to be considered: this book discusses social work's response to chronic racial discrimination and disadvantage and the hazards and advantages of taking ethnicity into account in service delivery. Emphasised throughout is the role of the social services in promoting good race relations and a better deal for black people. Social Work and Ethnicity is based on research carried out by Mrs Cheetham and sponsored by the DHSS to identify the major concerns of social workers with ethnic minority clients and to study the development of relevant services in Britain and the USA. The contributing authors are mainly practitioners and come from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds; in fact, this is the first book on social work to be published in Britain to which a substantial contribution has been made by black writers. The specially commissioned contributions discuss the fundamental questions of principle in giving special consideration to ethnicity and underline the implications for practice. In particular, the lessons which Britain can learn from American experience are reviewed. The book opens with a discussion of political and ethical questions; the problems of assessing need and monitoring services are then examined. This is followed by several chapters on the special needs of various ethnic minority client groups, particularly children and young people, who now deserve priority attention. The tricky issue of ethnic matching is discussed, so too are the different methods of developing services which are appropriate to ethnic minority needs and aspirations. Recruitment, training and education for work in a multi-racial society are subjects for several chapters and the book concludes with the experiences of two ethnic minority social workers. This book is a re-issue originally published in 1982. The language used and assumptions made are a reflection of its era and no offence is meant by the Publishers to any reader by this re-publication.

Originally published in 1965, this standard work sets out to explore the questions: What is 'social administration', and how can people prepare themselves for this work? It shows the social services in continuous evolution in response to political, economic and social change, and it ends with a deeply thoughtful and thought-provoking analysis of the processes and causes of this evolution, and of the different contributions to change made by the various parties concerned. This analysis is based on the case studies presented in the book's central chapters. Of this new version of the book, first published in 1975, Professor Donnison wrote: 'The first three chapters of the original book have been scrapped and a new introduction to the whole subject takes their place - an introduction not only to the literature about social policy and administration but to the "point" and purpose of the subject (for students who, rightly, expect to be convinced about this before devoting their time to it). Then follow eight case studies of innovations in the work and policies of local units of the social services - including housing, education, a home help service, planning and legal aid, besides social work services. These are the original studies untouched. I have returned to each agency and found out what has happened since our original studies, adding a postscript to each, outlining the main developments since the original research, ten to twenty years ago. I don't think anyone has ever done that before. In most cases the innovating trends we identified have gone further, often becoming national orthodoxy by now. The one (on legal aid) where unexpected developments have occurred is at least as interesting.' Professor Donnison has added a ninth case study - of the Department of Social Administration at the London School of Economics where he was working when the original studies were made (Professor Richard Titmuss was head of the department at that time). This study traces the development of education for social workers at a seminal stage and the difficult problems which had to be resolved when major new departures occurred in this field. The chapter will be of lasting interest to historians of social work and social work education in Britain, besides throwing light on the process of innovation in social policy.