Social Policy Research Network events

The SPRN organises and hosts a number of events and activities for researchers, students, community groups government representatives with an interest in social policy development.
 

Upcoming events

• Professionals’ perceptions of their work within families including children and parents with intellectual disability (6/11/2009)
• Pathways to prison (18/11/2009)

Recent events 2009

• Can the Scandinavian universal welfare model survive the era of globalisation? The case of Denmark and flexicurity.

Upcoming events

Professionals’ perceptions of their work within families including children and parents with intellectual disability

Target Participants:
All researchers and practitioners interested in disability, professionalism, professional learning and professional identity in social work, social work with families and people with disabilities, child welfare, intervention in family life.

Seminar Summary:
Parents with intellectual disability have difficulty receiving general acceptance due to the disbelief as to their parenting capacity. It is reported that these parents are unable to care properly for their children even when they are given support by professionals. Parents describe that professionals want to oversee and control their family life. Professionals report that the parents are not interested in receiving help and that they find their responsibilities towards these families unclear.

This paper reports on a study exploring professionals' sources of knowledge about families in which parents have an intellectual disability. Drawing on focus groups with 19 professionals (mostly social workers), the study finds that professionals rely on their experiences and practice for knowledge about these families - they do not often turn to research or reports. Rather, their knowledge was found to be created through the interaction with others that is mostly from colleagues at their workpace. Focus groups participants shared common knowledge about these families. They described their work with them as very complex and difficult, and had similar descriptions about what could be expected in these families, often focusing on the parents' inadequacies. Parents were also typically described as not being able to understand that they need help. This apparent lack of insight into their need for support is used as an argument for the professionals to maintain the inappropriateness of these persons as parents. The study highlights the need for further research on how knowledge is produced and reproduced amongst social workers within this area.

Dr Mikaela Starke is senior lecturer and researcher at Department of Social Work at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Pathways to prison

Seminar summary:
Around 40% of prisoners in NSW have mental health disorders and/or cognitive disability combined with alcohol or other drug problems. This is a massive overrepresentation of between 4 to 9 times the rate in the general population and is replicated across the world. Why are these persons in prison; what pathways have they taken there instead of into social care and support? A study drawing data from criminal justice and human service agencies on over 2,700 persons who have been in prison using an innovative data merging and pathway analysis provides a life-course, pathway analysis for the first time to answer these questions. Results indicate that persons with complex needs, that is with cognitive impairment, mental health disorders and alcohol or other drug issues have significantly more contacts with police, court appearances and episodes in prison than those without a diagnosis or with only one diagnosis. Access to and use of human services is poor; for example those with a cognitive disability in this group are likely to have missed out on disability services as children or young persons, and school education experiences have been negative. The study suggests new ways to understand, account for and intervene to prevent persons with these disabilities ending up in prison. This seminar explains how the research has put together this picture from a range of administrative sources, and explores the challenges and benefits of assembling and analysing this very rich data.

Dr Eileen Baldry is Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences and International Studies and Associate Dean Education (ADE) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UNSW. Her research focuses on social justice matters, including mental health and cognitive disability in the criminal justice system; homelessness and transitional services for those leaving prison; Indigenous social work; community development and social housing; and disability services.

Recent events 2009

Can the Scandinavian universal welfare model survive the era of globalisation? The case of Denmark and flexicurity.

SPRN visiting scholar Dr Aase Mygind Madsen has worked as researcher and lecturer at the Center for Development Research, Copenhagen; the Institute of Development Studies, Roskilde University; the Institute of Political Science and Center for Gender Studies at Århus University and at the Århus Business School.

She has also worked as a civil servant at Århus Municipality. Since 1996, Dr Madsen has been a lecturer at the School of Social Work in Århus where she has been active in establishing an international social work curriculum. She has specialised in teaching social policy, globalisation and sociology. She also coordinates the research program “Understanding social problems”.