Axford, N. (2010) ‘Conducting needs assessments in children’s services’, British Journal of Social Work, 40 (1), 4-25
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Hobbs, T (2009) "Looking for a Grand View: introducing concepts of robust sampling to policy makers and practitioners engaged in measuring the... |
Axford, N. (2009) ‘Developing congruent children’s services to improve child well-being’, Child & Family Social Work&nb... |
Berry, V., Little, M., Axford, N. and Ruth Cusick, G. (2009) 'An evaluation of Youth at Risk's Coaching for Communities programme', The Howard Jour... |
Axford N, Green V, Kalsbeek A, Morpeth L and Palmer C (2009) ‘Measuring children’s needs: how are we doing?’, Child &... |
Axford, N. (2009) ‘Child well-being through different lenses: why concept matters’, Child & Family Social Work&n... |
Axford, N. (2009) 'Is social exclusion a useful concept in children's services?', British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn121, 1-18. |
Berry, V. (2009) 'Ethical considerations in conducting family violence research', Research Ethics Review, 5 (3) 91-98 Abstract |
Hobbs, T., Carr, M. J., Holley, M. J., Gray, N. L. and Axford, N. (2008) ‘A dark art comes to the water-cooler: a review of some key texts on... |
Axford, N. (2008) ‘Are looked after children socially excluded?’, Adoption & Fostering 32 (4), 5-18. |
Axford, N., Morpeth, L., Little, M. and Berry, V. (2008) ‘Linking prevention science and community engagement: a case study of the Ireland Di... |
Axford, N. and Whear, R. (2008) ‘Measuring and meeting the needs of children in the community: survey of parents on a housing estate in Dubli... |
Axford, N. (2008) ‘Children in need and children whose rights are violated: are they the same and does it matter?’, International Journ... |
Kiernan, G., Axford, N., Little, M., Murphy, C., Greene, S. and Gormley, M. (2008) ‘The school readiness of children living in a disadvantaged area... |
Little, M. (2008) ‘Some children matter more than others: issues prompted by Roy Parker’s study of the shipment of poor children to Can... |
Axford, N., Crewe, E., Domitrovich, C. and Morawska, A. (2008) ‘The science of a good childhood: a review of Volume 2 of the Journal of Child... |
Axford, N. (2008) ‘Meeting needs or protecting rights: which way for children’s services?’, International Journal of Child & ... |
August 19 2009
Findings from a Social Research Unit study of the needs and characteristics of separated children seeking asylum in Ireland are to be published soon.
The first empirical work of its kind in Ireland, the study established that such children are very far from being a homogenous group.
They face a multitude of risks and, although some experience significantly poor outcomes as a result, others thrive in their new environment and excel once properly settled.
In ‘The circumstances and needs of separated children seeking asylum in Ireland' Ali Abunimah and Sarah Blower describe how they were able to distinguish distinct patterns of need reflecting different types of experience and difficulty, which in turn require different types of service response.
The paper is to be published in a forthcoming edition of the journal Child Care in Practice.
December 03 2009
The question of whether a study tour can do more than stimulate, refresh or entertain its students by changing the way they work when they get back home is the subject of a forthcoming Unit journal article.
The European Journal of Social Work is publishing an account of the results of two Unit trips to the US during 2005 that enabled participants from the UK and Ireland to see model prevention and early intervention programmes in action and to meet their developers.
On the basis of interviews 30-36 months later, the article considers how far the experience changed participants’ thinking and led to innovations in services and service planning inside their organizations. It also identifies factors that helped or hindered the process. The article sheds light on how to get proven programmes adopted and implemented well, the challenges of cross-national policy transfer, and methods for promoting research utilisation.
See: Axford N, Jonas M, Berry V, Green V and Morpeth L (in press) "Can study tours help promote evidence-based practice in children's services?" European Journal of Social Work.
April 30 2009
The effect on children’s development of catastrophe, disease, war and poverty and the astonishing resilience that enables some to endure the worst terrors are the focus of a new collection of papers co-edited by Unit researcher Dwan Kaoukji.
The effect on children’s development of catastrophe, disease, war and poverty and the astonishing resilience that enables some to endure the worst terrors are the focus of a new collection of papers co-edited by Social Research Unit researcher Dwan Kaoukji. Published in November, the book reviews children’s services in the global South and brings together latest reliable evidence. A contribution to the Ashgate Library of Essays in Child Welfare and Development, the international selection discusses the risks to child well-being and the interventions and aspects of good practice. Dwan Kaoukji’s partner is the project has been Najat M’jid, the director of BAYTI in Morocco, a non-profit organisation dedicated to housing street children and preventing the illegal migration of children to Europe.
Both authors have had experience working in the developing world. Dwan has been at the Unit since 2006 and is writing a Phd on the processes that connect international NGOs with local communities working with children in the global South.
The book is available for purchase on our website.
November 16 2009
Much in the Research Unit evidence archive resonates with this week’s promise by PM Gordon Brown to make a formal apology to all children who were shipped between the UK and Australia, Canada and other former colonies in the post war period.
The separation of children from their families and the significance of return and home featured in many Unit studies during the 1980s and 1990s. And the forced migration of children to Canada in the colonial period between 1867-1917 is the focus of a meticulous study by founder trustee Roy Parker, published last year.
Parker’s Uprooted considers the plight of some 80,000 British children – many under the age of ten – who were shipped from Britain to Canada by Poor Law authorities and voluntary bodies during the years following Confederation.
He examines the motives and methods of the people involved in both countries, why the policy ended, the effects on the children involved and their fate. He also explores the economic, political, social, medical, legal, administrative and religious aspects of the story.
He concludes with a review of evidence from more recent survivors of child migration, discussing the lifelong effects of their experiences with the help of modern psychological insights.
Such survivor testimony has provided a moving accompaniment to the Australian soul-baring that prompted this week’s UK announcement.
British Children's Secretary Ed Balls said the child migrant policy was "a stain on our society".
"The apology is symbolically very important," he told Sky News television. "I think it is important that we say to the children who are now adults and older people and to their offspring that this is something that we look back on in shame."
Uprooted can be purchased online from the Unit's Publications Page.
July 29 2009
Shortcomings in the quality and usefulness of needs assessments in children's services are discussed in a Research Unit article just published in Child & Family Social Work.
The article analyses 83 such reports conducted between 1999 and 2007 in two local authorities in England (one urban, one rural) and concludes that the picture is mixed at best. Even the better studies fall short of anything that can be relied upon as a robust basis for planning services.
Numerous small-scale qualitative studies try to ascertain what service users feel they need, but there are too few large-scale quantitative surveys using standardised measures with representative samples of children and families.
The authors identify the necessary features of roadworthy assessments and end with recommendations for how local authorities can make better use of those that make the grade.
Axford N, Green V, Kalsbeek A, Morpeth L and Palmer C (2009) ‘Measuring children’s needs: how are we doing?’, Child & Family Social Work 14 (3), 243-254.
August 02 2009
Need, rights, poverty, quality of life, social exclusion… by which reckoning should society define and measure children’s well-being?
In an essay just published in Child & Family Social Work, Unit researcher Nick Axford argues that while all five concepts inform policy objectives in western developed countries, the important differences between them are seldom articulated.
He explores the similarities and differences and uses data from a Unit community survey of an inner-London housing estate to discuss how closely the five are related. The overlap is less than one might expect: for example, 39% of the children were 'in need' and 42% had their rights violated but only 20% fell into both categories.
The article concludes that each of the five offers a unique perspective on child well-being, which in turn influences the orientation of services. For instance, needs-led services are more likely to focus on addressing impairment to health and development, whereas a quality of life angle will emphasise the potential for enriching children's lives.
The risk is that the variation may encourage policy makers to devise and enact policy initiatives that are inherently contradictory.
Axford, N. (2009) ‘Child well-being through different lenses: why concept matters’, Child & Family Social Work 14 (3), 372-383.
July 06 2009
The Unit has had an article accepted in the latest edition of the Research Ethics Review journal, the official publication of the Association of Research Ethics Committees.
The paper, written by Vashti Berry, describes the ethical difficulties facing researchers investigating family violence and its effects on children. It will be published in the 2009 edition, Volume 5, Issue 3.
It provides a case study from a project the Social Research Unit undertook in Dublin, ROI, to illustrate the problems surrounding decisions of informed consent, confidentiality and disclosure, distress and danger, and questioning children directly about their experiences of family violence.
The advice of the ethics committee and the solutions agreed by the research team are shared. The paper argues that greater reporting of ethical protocols and procedures by researchers would further debate in this field and that there is an urgent need for an agreed set of guidelines for ethical social research.
April 30 2009
‘Needs-led' is a mantra in children's services, but theorists still argue about what ‘need’ means and what value it has to science. A fresh appraisal of the state of play regarding the theory and definition of children’s needs and approaches to designing services is just published.
Nick Axford's addition to the Ashgate Library of Essays in Child Welfare and Development is a collection of 24 previously published articles from peer-reviewed journals. It sets about analysing the literature in order to help policy makers, managers, practitioners and researchers identify and serve children in their care.
There are contributions from key figures in the UK needs debate including Michael Rutter, Robert Goodman, Ian Gough and Roy Parker.
April 30 2009
Roy Parker’s new book Uprooted has been well received by social policy makers and political scientists in Europe and North America.
He writes about the 80,000 children shipped unaccompanied by relatives to Canada in the 50 years between 1867 and 1917.
The policy of emigrating impoverished children to Australia, Canada, South Africa and Zimbabwe continued in some form until the early 1970s. As Social Research Unit Director Michael Little points out in his review for Adoption and Fostering, the history of this apparently harebrained idea encourages reflection on the potential absurdities in current children’s services.
"What is striking about Parker’s book is how broad was the constituency of people who colluded in promoting an intervention that sounded plausible – giving destitute children a fresh start in a new country – but was ultimately highly damaging," he says.
Roy Parker is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of Bristol and Founding Fellow of the Centre for Social Policy at Dartington. Uprooted: The Shipment of Poor Children to Canada 1867-1917 is published by Policy Press in Bristol.