Professor Jonathan Scourfield from Cardiff University explores what triggers social work involvement and subsequent outcomes for children and young people.
Identifying what leads to the involvement of a social worker with a family with young children is helpful in planning preventive services. It is very well established that factors such as poverty, domestic abuse, parental substance misuse or mental health problems are associated with social worker involvement. However, less is known about the factors associated with general social work involvement and subsequent outcomes for children and young people.
In this episode, we hear from Professor Jonathan Scourfield who has conducted an analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study which compares those who have had social work involvement with those who have not. The paper we discuss explores the characteristics of families who have social work involvement; factors increasing or decreasing the likelihood of this involvement; and outcomes for children in terms of behavioural and emotional problems.
Jonathan is Professor of Social Work at Cardiff University and was until recently seconded to the Welsh Government as Specialist Policy Advisor for Social Services and Children. The full text of the paper we discuss can be downloaded here:
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