Children's Needs – Parenting Capacity - Digital Education Resource ...

Introduction 5problem drinking or drug use or mental illness because they assumed it would resultin social workers taking punitive action. Subsequent research reinforces this finding(see, for example, Booth and Booth 1996; Cleaver et al. 2007; Gorin 2004).For similar reasons, families were eager to conceal domestic violence. Farmerand Owen’s (1995) research suggests, firstly, that hidden domestic violence mayaccount for many mothers’ seemingly uncooperative behaviour and, secondly,that confronting families with allegations of abuse could compound the mother’svulnerable position. Indeed, child protection conferences were often ignorant ofwhether or not children lived in violent families because in the ‘face of allegationsof mistreatment couples often formed a defensive alliance against the outside agencies’(Farmer and Owen 1995, p.79). In fact, the authors found that the level of domesticviolence (52%) discovered during the research interviews was twice that disclosedat the initial child protection conference. ‘Problems which parents thought would bediscrediting were not aired in the early stages – especially those which included domesticviolence and alcohol and drug abuse’ (Farmer and Owen 1995, p.190).The fear that children will be taken into care and families broken up if parentalproblems come to light may be felt more acutely when the mother is from aminority ethnic group. Difficulties in communication and worries over culturalnorms being misinterpreted increase women’s fears, and official agencies may beseen as particularly threatening if the mother is of refugee status (Stevenson 2007).Parents value professionals who are non-judgemental in their approach, whocommunicate sensitively and who involve the parents and keep them informedduring all stages of the child protection process (Cleaver and Walker with Meadows2004; Komulainen and Haines 2009). Evidence suggests that parents are able todiscuss their own concerns about their parenting when professionals approach themopenly and directly (Daniel et al. 2009). Unfortunately, many parents feel they aretreated less courteously by medical staff once concerns of non-accidental injury areraised (Komulainen and Haines 2009).Working in partnership with children and key familymembersStatutory guidance, produced for professionals involved in assessments of childrenin need under the Children Act 1989, acknowledges the importance of involvingchildren and families and seeks to ensure that all phases of the assessment process arecarried out in partnership with key family members.The quality of the early or initial contact will affect later working relationshipsand the ability of professionals to secure an agreed understanding of what ishappening and to provide help.(Department of Health et al. 2000, p.13, paragraph 1.47)The implementation of the Assessment Framework has affected practice. Parents’and children’s understanding of the assessment process has improved as has their