Casework with neglectful parents has particular problems, influenced by the special responsibility and function of the protection agency. All casework is concerned with bringing the client's personality into adjustment with his environment; in the neglect situation the agency has the added responsibility of making the decision regarding a child's removal from his home. Superficially, these two responsibilities may seem incompatible: on one hand, the worker uses acceptance and understanding to treat the client; on the other hand he may have to use authority to render the necessary services. Workers have difficulty in fusing the two responsibilities into a meaningful casework process. Two cases were used in this study; one is an example of emotional rejection, the other an illustration of both emotional and physical neglect. The cases were presented to emphasise the worker's use of diagnostic information in giving casework help to the clients. The work done was compared with some concepts of social work that are usually considered essential for productive casework. The elements of social work philosophy and practice generally recognized as indispensible to effective casework were often absent in both cases. There was little practical use of the concepts that each individual has worth, potential and ability to change. Moreover, the use of relationship as a helping tool was hindered because of the misuse of authority; it was either over-used or under-used, and in either case was not helpful to the client. Vitally important to any casework progress, but seldom apparent in either case, was a sound treatment plan. Many of the casework difficulties were centred in the fact that the workers were not sure of their function, of the use of authority, and perhaps of their ability to help. It would appear that if the worker has a genuine belief in the basic principles of casework (which must be carried out in relationship with the client), a sound knowledge of human behaviour, and a belief in his own ability to help, many of the foregoing casework difficulties could be remedied. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The procedure known as the pre-clinical conference is used routinely as a diagnostic screen in certain child guidance clinics in the United States, with advantage to both clinic and client. This study surveyed in brief the extent of the use of the procedure in Canadian mental health clinics giving service to-children. In the Child Guidance Clinic at Vancouver, the procedure is used only infrequently. The study analyzed certain cases from the Vancouver Clinic - one group of cases in which the procedure was used, and another group in which it was not - to throw light on the purposes and results of the procedure. The background survey showed a wide variation in pre-clinical procedures in Canadian mental health clinics. A small minority used a conference of the full team, in all cases; a majority did not use the procedure at all; a small group used a partial team conference pre-clinically in selected cases. The purposes for which the pre-clinical conference was used were identified by each clinic, with results similar to those shown by the case analysis. Consideration of the use of this procedure is of concern to social, workers functioning as members of a clinical team, because of the growing emphasis placed by leaders in the field on the integration of professional skills and service. Conferencing is an important way in which this principle is implemented, and pre-clinical conferencing, an extension of the method, is a further possible means of translating this principle into practice. The first group of 12 cases in which pre-clinical conferencing was used, contained four sub-groups of three cases each, selected according to the reasons for the conferencing, and classified for convenience according to medical, psychiatric, psychological or multiple reasons respectively. The second group of cases, in which pre-clinical conferencing was indicated but not used, contained three representative cases. The case analysis identified the uses served by a pre-clinical conference (in the first group of cases), or the possible uses (in the second group). The uses included any or all of the following: (1) selection of cases-and intake; (2) referral to or from other agencies; (3) planning diagnostic study and exploration; (4) allocation of diagnostic responsibilities; and (5) delineation of a tentative treatment plan. The results identified by the analysis included facilitation of any or all of the following: (l) diagnostic process; (2) establishment of treatment goals and (5) economical use of staff time. While the routine use of pre-clinical conferencing for diagnostic screening is held to represent the ideal practice, it was seen to be unnecessary in some clinics, impracticable in others and inadvisable in others for specific reasons. In many clinics the need was met by use of the procedure in selected cases. This is the practice in the Vancouver Clinic, where it is employed at the discretion of the social worker. This places a serious responsibility on the professional skill of the social worker, necessitating alertness to indications for use of the procedure and awareness of the desirability of extending its use, where possible, in the interests of the wider application of the principle of integration. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The subject of this study is the disturbed child, who has been emotionally and physically neglected. The area of concern is the agency's decision whether to continue service with the child removed from his own family, or with the child retained in his family. For the welfare of the child, it is essential that the caseworker, drawing on the growing body of knowledge regarding parent-child relationships and on her own individual skill, make the choice which will give the child the greatest opportunity for normal development. The seriousness of the child's disturbance, the parents' attitude and maturity, the quality of other feelings, must all be carefully weighed in this difficult decision. Several obstacles to an objective decision are present. These are the quality of the caseworker's skill, the inadequacies of the protection of children's act, and the existence of some administrative limitations. With these handicaps to casework already in mind, the actual reasons for the decision, as they became apparent from a comparison of ten removed children and ten retained children, were considered. A number of factors were found to be more often the determinants of the decision than the caseworker's careful assessment of the parent-child relationship. These were (a) the parents’ and the community's awareness of a problem, (b) the disturbing events produced by the child's behaviour, rather than the emotional deprivation, (c) the amount rather than the quality of parents' rejection, (d) the professed function of the agency (whether specializing in children's or family service) in which the child neglect case appeared. Accordingly, an overall implication of the study is the need to strengthen procedures which offset this tendency for agencies to let circumstances be the determinant and which will place more responsibility for the decision on the caseworker and her professional assessment. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study, undertaken at the Children's Aid Society of Vancouver, B. C., was an attempt to isolate and identify certain social and environmental factors which precipitate agency care of children. Such a study should be of value to any Child Welfare Agency concerned with strengthening the family and maintaining the child, whenever possible, in his own home. The rationale for the study was based on three major assumptions: 1. that service to families and children in need of protection has been hampered by lack of foster home resources. 2. That in providing substitute care for children Child Welfare agencies have emphasized the psychological dynamics of the family situation, attributing the need for agency care to the personal pathology of one or more members, and have paid insufficient attention to the possibility that social and environmental conditions may have contributed to the need for foster home placement. 3. That whenever feasible the child should remain in his own home. In fomaulating these assumptions we were influenced by the findings of other researchers. Alfred Kadushin in his article "Introduction of New Orientations in Child Welfare Research" (The Known and Unknown in Child Welfare Research, Miriam Morris & Barbara Walters eds., Child Welfare League of America, N. Y., 1965) pleads for greater understanding of the social situation of families, since it is his opinion that adverse environmental conditions play a significant role in the placement of children. Similarly Jenkins and Sauber (Paths to Child Placement, Community Council of Greater New York, N. Y. City Department of Welfare, 1966) emphasize the importance of social conditions, particularly income, housing and health on a family's ability to remain together and function effectively. From both these research findings it was apparent that the provision of community resources such as homemaker service and day care centres could reduce the number of children requiring placement away from their own home by supporting and supplementing the family during periods of situational stress. With this in mind our study was to be concerned with identifying the social and environmental factors which played a role in developing conditions requiring agency care of children. In addition we were also concerned with the process that went on prior to agency contact, specifically how families coped with their adverse situations before accepting or requesting agency intervention. Such information would serve as a basis for developing community resources to increase the family's ability to withstand pressure and stress. We hypothesized that the findings of other researchers as mentioned above were as valid in Vancouver as elsewhere and should therefore be of equal concern to Child Welfare Agencies here. Our original design was to develop a schedule to provide data for testing the significance of certain social and environmental factors that we had identified by consulting the literature and agency personnel. The variables to be tested were: 1. Household composition 2. Housing 3. Neighbourhood 4. Health 5. Income 6. Employment 7. Education In order to discover the problem solving activities of the families in relation to these variables, coping questions were inserted into the schedule. These questions were designed to elicit information about the client's perception of the problem, his initial response and its effect, and the people and/or organizations he involved in his coping attempts. A draft schedule was devised to be administered over a one month period during the intake process to all persons requesting or referred for service with the exception of transients. The schedule was to be. readministered six months later and a comparison made to determine the differences, if any, between the social and environmental situations of those families whose children were placed and those families who remained together. Unfortunately at this time the agency was unable to participate in such a project and the administration of the schedule was abandoned. We were not free to take on this task ourselves and it had been our intention from the beginning to introduce a research element into the agency as part of professional practice by the involvement of personnel in this effort. We still believe that the agency would find the schedule useful and have included it in Appendix I with the recommendation that it be considered for inclusion in any future project in this area. As an alternative, agency personnel suggested that we examine existing Intake data to see if the information we sought might not be already available in the files. Thirty-six files were examined and thirteen workers consulted. We found that information regarding the variables was either inconsistently recorded or absent entirely. Where information regarding the coping patterns of these families was recorded it tended to be limited to the source of referral without any further elaboration. Our findings indicated that a review of agency records was not adequate for research purposes since the variables sought were not systematically recorded during the intake process. Time ran out on us following an examination of the files and we were unable to consult again with staff or to discuss alternative ways of obtaining the information. We did, however, make a number of recommendations based on our experience which may serve as a guide for continuing research in this area: 1. That an exploratory study be conducted using an interview schedule which includes the variables suggested above. Our draft schedule is available in the body of this report. 2. That the schedule be administered through the Intake Department with a follow-up study several months later. The use of an independent researcher seems to be warranted since agency personnel are not available to take on this added task due to time pressures of their own. 3. That the intake face sheet be revised to include in formation pertaining to the social and environmental situations of clients as an aid in identifying recurring patterns of stress that may necessitate substitute care of children. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / [additional authors Joan Konon, Shirley Langstaff, Pam Manson, Donna Moroz, Miriam Schachner, Thomas Williams] / Graduate

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1941. / Vita. "Bibliography and references": p. 141-143.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1941. / Vita. "Bibliography and references": p. 141-143.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-112).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1976. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-271).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-112). Also available in print.