Summary
Contents
This book is a quick and accessible reference guide to the key concepts that social work students and professionals need to understand to be effective. The authors place practice at the center of the text, and include a host of case examples to bring the concepts to life.
Examining the essential topics of the social work curriculum, the concepts covered relate to practice, theory, policy and personal challenges. Further reading is included in each entry, so that the reader can explore what they have learned in more detail.
This book will be an invaluable resource for social work students during their studies and on their practice placement. It will also be useful for qualified social workers, who want to continue their professional education.
Direct Work with Children
Direct Work with Children
Definition
Much childcare social work involves working with the child's parent/s, the family group and co-ordinating other professionals’ intervention. In its own right this non-direct work has a valuable place in social work but should not be confused with, or form a substitute for, direct work with children. Direct work with children has features and merits of its own and is best thought of as a spectrum. At one end of the spectrum direct work can include basic interactions with children. At the other end it is a distinct way of working with children which Hapgood defines as:
a means of intervening directly in the lives of children and young people so as to enable them to understand significant events ...
