Tag: neoliberalism

Categories
Uncategorized

Like water on a rock

On a recent trip to the UK, I was asked to talk about the work of the RSW collective at Salford University. I didn’t really want to, I wanted to talk about one of my other areas of research interest, but peeps insisted! As I was soon to learn, this was fuelled by the synchronicities between ANZ and the UK in many areas: neoliberal economic and social policies, punitive welfare reform, an increasing emphasis in child protection policy on removal of children earlier to permanency (with little attention to structural or family conditions), and criticism of social work and education. So people were keen to hear about our little project of resistance.

Continue reading “Like water on a rock”
Categories
Uncategorized

All You Need Is Love: Is the revealed truth within the Final Report?

Ian Hyslop

All you need is love

The long-awaited ‘Expert panel final report: Investing in New Zealand’s children and Their Families’ was released on Thursday 7 April.

Continue reading “All You Need Is Love: Is the revealed truth within the Final Report?”
Categories
Uncategorized

Social work and social justice: A relationship at a cross-roads?

In a recently published article in the Guardian newspaper a U.K social worker ‘called out’ the platitude (often found in the umbrella pronouncements of social work organisations and in the rhetoric of social work academics) that social work is ‘about’ social justice.  The following excerpt from the article makes the central point.

The role of the child protection social worker in today’s world is not to strive to redress the imbalance of our society. And if the reality of what social workers do differs so radically from the ideology, then surely it’s time to look again at what we mean by social work and what the government and society expects of social workers?

Continue reading “Social work and social justice: A relationship at a cross-roads?”
Categories
Uncategorized

Elephant outing

I would like to invite some elephants to reveal themselves and vacate the child protection room.  This might give us some more space to breathe and think. In other words let’s name some of the uncomfortable realities.  Let’s be frank: child protection social work in Aotearoa New Zealand is enmeshed with social inequality.  Pelton’s (2015) summary of recent research studies presents compelling evidence of the link between poverty, child maltreatment and entry into state care.  It does not take a rocket scientist (luckily) to work out that a range of negative outcomes for children – including a greater risk of maltreatment – result from inadequate incomes, second rate education, deprived neighbourhoods, inadequate housing and poor health.  Social workers are aware of this.

Continue reading “Elephant outing”
Categories
Uncategorized

The Non-Linear War on Social Work in the UK: Extremism, Radicalisation, Troubled Families and the recasting of “safeguarding”

A guest post by  Jo Finch and David McKendrick

Social work has always occupied a difficult place in the UK;  its history dominated by Victorian moralised discourse, with lady almoners, later Charity Organisation Service volunteers, making decisions about who was deserving or non-deserving.  Social work thus straddles an uncomfortable place, being an agent of the state on one hand, on the other, holding ideals and values that places human dignity and self worth, empowerment and social justice at its heart.  The care versus control function, inherent in social work in many countries, continues to be challenging.

Continue reading “The Non-Linear War on Social Work in the UK: Extremism, Radicalisation, Troubled Families and the recasting of “safeguarding””