Residential Work: The Cinderella of the Probation Service?
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058403100206 |
| Author | Ian White |
| Date | 01 June 1984 |
| Published date | 01 June 1984 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
59
Residential
Work:
The
Cinderella
of
the
Probation
Service?
Ian
White
Assistant
Chief Probation
Officer,
Jarrow
A
former
Hotel
Warden
argues
for
the
integration
of
residential
work
into
mainstream
probation
process.
The
growing
involvment
of the
Probation
Ser-
vice
with
hostels,
since
1973,
has
coincided
with
a
greatly
increased
investment
of
time
and
effort
in
the
broad
accommodation
of
offenders.
Con-
stellation
schemes
were
established
to
co-ordinate
housing
provision
between
the
Probation
Service
and
voluntary
agencies
m
three
areas
m
the
mid
1970’s,
and
these
have
proved
to
be
the
forerunner
of
similar
developments
in
other
areas.
Housing
teams
have
also
been
established
m
some
areas
to
deal
with
the
problems
of
homeless
offenders,
and
closer
links
have
been
developed
with
local
authorities
and
housing
associations
The
1983
NAPO
Conference
emphasised
the
importance
of
Housing
Development
Officers.
Probation
officers
have,
therefore,
in
the
past
decade,
become
increasingly
sophisticated
about
accommodation
needs
and,
within
this
general
pattern,
Probation
Hostels
have
been
developed
as
a
resource
taking
high-risk
offenders,
with
a
high
degree
of
super-
vision
and
staff
support.
Staffing
The
wardens
of
hostels
run
by
voluntary
management
committees
were
normally
non-
probation
officers,
but
with
the
growing,
direct
involvement
of
the
Service
in
hostels
more
and
more
probation
officers
have
been
appointed
as
wardens.
Difficulties
have,
however,
arisen
over
the
status
of
the
post,
especially
as
to
whether
or
not
it
should
be
a
substantive
Senior
post
Most
departments
seem
to
have
opted
for
it
being
a
non-
substantive
post
and
problems
have
arisen
of per-
suadmg/encouragmg
wardens to
return
to
the
field
as
a
main
grade
probation
officer,
with
resultant
loss
of
status
and
salary
This
uncertamty
is
a reflec-
tion
of
the
way
in
which
residential
work
is
seen
by
the
Service,
i.e
bemg
of lower
status
and
requir-
ing
less
skill
than
field
work.
Residential
establishments
need
the
regular
introduction
of
new
ideas
that
changes
of
staff brmg
if they
are
not
to
ossify.
The
failure
to
tackle
the
issue
offacihtmg
movement
of
staff
between
the
field
and
the
residential
sector
perpetuates
the
division.
When
this
situation
is
clarified,
further
work
will
need
to
be
done
on
the
position
of
non-probation
officer
wardens
to
ascertain
whether
or
not
their
current
financial
disadvantage
can
be
ameliorated
Dif-
ferent
departments
have
tackled
the
situation
in
varying
ways
and
this
only
serves
to
re-inforce
the
confused
position.
The
resident
warden
now
seems
to
be
almost
an
endangered
species,
and
it
has
been
possible
to
adopt
a
wider
perspective
with
other
staff
feeling
forced
to
exercise
initiative
and
responsiblity.
Not
surprisingly,
in
several
recent
cases
when
a
warden
vacancy
has
been
advertised,
there
have
been
a
disappointingly
low
number
of
applications.
This
is
due
in
part
to
the
factors
already
mentioned,
but
is
also
a
result
of fundamental
misconceptions
in
the
Service
about
the
role
of
warden
of
a
proba-
tion
hostel.
The
assumption
seems
to
be
that
a
warden
must
necessarily
live
in,
and
can
conse-
quently
never
escape
from
the
pressures
of the job,
but
this
has
been
decreasingly
the
case
in
the
last
few
years.
The
changes
in
the
regulations
for
emoluments,
whereby
the
charges
for
accom-
modation
for
residential
staff
were
substantially
increased,
gave
a
major
impetus
to
this
change,
but
the
professional
advantages
for
all
staff
of
the
warden
going
non-residential
have
now
been
largely
recognised.
The
resident
warden
now
seems
to
be
almost
an
endangered
species
and,
in
consequence,
it
has
been
possible
to
adopt
a
wider
To continue reading
Request your trial