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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:56 am
Time: 3:56 am
Results for social workers
3 results foundAuthor: Fielder, Charlotte Title: An Evaluation of Social Work Posts in Young Offender Institutions Summary: The YJB is an executive non-departmental public body which oversees the youth justice system. It works to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe and secure. It also addresses the causes of their offending behaviour. It is responsible for placing young people aged under 18 years who have been sentenced or remanded to custody. There are three types of secure custodial accommodation: secure training centres (STCs), run by private operators, are purpose-built centres for young offenders up to the age of 17 secure children’s homes (SCHs), run by local authorities, are generally used to accommodate young offenders aged 12 to 14, girls up to the age of 16, and 15 to 16-year-old boys who are assessed as vulnerable young offender institutions (YOIs). YOIs are facilities run by the Prison Service and accommodate 15 to 21-year-olds, although under-18s are held in discrete establishments or young people’s wings. YOIs have lower ratios of staff to young people than STCs and SCHs and generally accommodate larger numbers of young people. The specific responsibilities that local authorities have towards such children have been set out in a Department for Education and Skills circular (DfES, 2004). These are: services in relation to children in need action where there are concerns that a child is suffering or likely to suffer harm action when a child dies in a juvenile secure establishment services in relation to looked-after children. In order to support the development of this work it was decided that social work posts should be established in YOIs specifically to undertake tasks relating to the duties listed above. It was felt that, in addition to fulfilling the specific requirements of the DfES circular, such posts would make progress towards addressing some of the broader underlying issues, which were identified by a range of national stakeholders. These issues include: recognition that many young people in custody have a high level of need, and that a significant number of young people in custody are looked-after children concern that previously young people in custody had been ‘neglected’, ‘forgotten’ or ‘sidelined’ by local authorities, even when statutory obligations existed; this meant that young people’s needs were being met neither in custody nor on release concern that prisons were not sufficiently child-centred – for example, prison staff were thought to be unlikely to understand issues relating to looked-after children, or to be equipped with the skills or time to deal with welfare issues. The overall aim of the evaluation was to explore the process and perceived impact of creating children’s social work posts within young people’s YOIs, with a view to informing the future planning and development of the role. More specifically the evaluation addressed the following questions: What activities have been undertaken by the YOI social workers and how is this monitored? How does this relate to their remit as planned? What barriers or challenges were encountered and how (if applicable) were these overcome? What different ‘models’ of implementation are in evidence, and which have been most successful? How do young people who have had contact with a YOI social worker perceive the role? How do other professionals/practitioners (both internal and external to the YOI) perceive the YOI social worker’s role? What perceived impact, if any, has the presence of the posts had on inter-agency working within youth justice and children’s services? What impact, if any, has the role perceived to have had on the safety and welfare of young people? These questions are considered directly in the conclusions and recommendations. section. Details: London: Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, 2008. 70p. Source: Online Resource: Accessed April 13, 2011 at: http://www.yjb.gov.uk/publications/Resources/Downloads/An%20evaluation%20of%20social%20work%20posts%20in%20YOIs_final.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.yjb.gov.uk/publications/Resources/Downloads/An%20evaluation%20of%20social%20work%20posts%20in%20YOIs_final.pdf Shelf Number: 121331 Keywords: Juvenile Detention (U.K.)Juvenile OffendersRehabilitationSocial Workers |
Author: Belton, Emma Title: Assessing the Risk: Protecting the Child. Referrers' Perspectives Summary: Assessing the Risk Protecting the Child is a service that works with men who may be a risk to children. Social workers send men to the service to try to help families keep their children safe. Social workers who are worried about a child use the service to see if the man is a danger to the child and whether the parent/carer can keep the child safe from harm. The service also speaks to the child to check how they are feeling about things at home. This report looks at how well social workers thought the assessments went. It also looks at how assessments could be better and how they helped to make decisions such as what can be done to look after the children. This was done by interviewing social workers. Findings from the research show that: - Social workers found that the reports they got back helped them understand more about the family they worked with and how to keep children safe. - Some social workers thought that it took too long to get the reports back. This meant that it took a long time for families to find out what would happen next. Sometimes social workers also thought that the reports were too long and the words used meant that families couldn't always understand them. - Social workers felt that workers at the NSPCC worked well with families so that they could open up and speak more freely. NSPCC staff were seen as being separate from children's service. This meant that families felt like they weren't being judged. - The sessions with children helped them to understand what was going on at home. The sessions with parents/carers helped them by giving them information on how to keep their children safe. This could also encourage parents/carers to make better choices when protecting their children. - Social workers found the ideas the NSPCC had about keeping children safe helpful. Sometimes they would have liked some help with putting the ideas into action. Details: London: National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children, 2015. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 23, 2017 at: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/evaluation-of-services/assessing-the-risk-protecting-the-child-referrers-perspectives.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/evaluation-of-services/assessing-the-risk-protecting-the-child-referrers-perspectives.pdf Shelf Number: 146882 Keywords: Abusive MenChild Abuse and Neglect Child Protection Child Sexual Abuse Risk AssessmentSocial Workers |
Author: Parsons, Jim Title: The Role of Indigent Defense for Defendants with Mental Health Disorders Summary: The incarceration of people with mental health disorders represents a significant public health crisis. People with mental health needs are over-represented in the justice system and in 2009 alone there were an estimated 2 million bookings of individuals with mental health disorders into our nations jails, equivalent to approximately 18 percent of all admissions (Steadman et al., 2009). Furthermore, people with mental health disorders experience worse outcomes when they come into contact with the justice system than those without psychiatric conditions; they are more likely to be held in pre-trial detention, spend longer periods in jails and prison, and experience higher rates of suicide and abuse in custody (Almquist & Dodd, 2009; Barr, 1999; Kim et al., 2015; Massaro, 2004; Watson et al., 2001). Theorizing that untreated mental illness is at the root of criminal justice involvement for many people, courts are increasingly accounting for defendants mental health needs as part of sentencing and detention decisions (Redlich et al., 2006; Thompson et al., 2008). As defendants' primary advocates, indigent defense attorneys are an essential component of this treatment-led response. However, public defenders typically have no clinical training and limited supports to meet the extra-legal needs of their clients. Yet, they are routinely called upon to determine: if clients pose a risk to the safety of themselves or others; which of their clients would benefit from treatment; the extent to which defendants with mental health disorders are equipped to make decisions that are in their own best interests; competency-related issues; and the appropriate balance between individual autonomy and treatment needs. While some indigent defense offices employ social workers or staff with clinical training to assess client needs and advise attorneys on defense strategies, there are far more public defenders that do not have access to these resources. While millions of people with mental illness are arrested every year, there is very little information available on the challenges inherent in representing this population or the training and support needs of public defenders. This project addresses the dearth of social science research on this subject by examining the needs of defendants with mental health disorders and the specific challenges that attorneys face when representing these individuals. Specifically, the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) and Policy Research Associates Inc. (PRA) used multiple methods to assess the dual perspective of defendants and defenders concerning: 1) the link between mental health and justice involvement; 2) perceptions of the attorney-client relationship and satisfaction with case outcomes; 3) the needs of defendants with mental health disorders; and 4) how a client's mental health impacts defenders' strategy. Details: Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice, 2017. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 21, 2018 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/251952.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/251952.pdf Shelf Number: 153337 Keywords: Courtroom Actors Defendants with Mental Health Disorders Defense Attorneys Defense Counsel Indigent Defense Mental Health Mental Health Disorders Public Defenders Social Workers |