Safeguarding, uncertainty and new possibilities: an appreciative inquiry into personal adviser’s relational practice with care leavers
| Date | 02 July 2024 |
| Pages | 237-252 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-03-2023-0009 |
| Published date | 02 July 2024 |
| Author | Jhonathan Turner,Joan Lewis |
Safeguarding, uncertainty and new
possibilities: an appreciative inquiry into
personal adviser’s relational practice
with care leavers
Jhonathan Turner and Joan Lewis
Abstract
Purpose –An appreciative inquiry process was collaboratively undertaken with an inner city local
authorityand personal advisors where systemic social workpractice was embedded. The purpose of this
study is to explore how systemic social work principles could be integrated into the support of young
adultsleaving the care system, especially whensafeguarding concerns exist.
Design/methodology/approach –Three fortnightly, reflecting team-style, appreciative inquiry workshops
explored the integration into practice of systemic concepts under the themes of safeguarding, uncertainty
and new possibilities.
Findings –Within the contexts of the organisation, other agencies and the relationship, six paired
themes emerged: learningand navigating; positioning and risk-taking; andfeeling and engaging. Core
systemic concepts, such as self-reflexivity and mutual influence, can enable personal advisers to use
themselves and their relationship with care leavers as a context for change. Considering responses to
risk from different family member positions may support holding greater levels of uncertainty. Seeing
resilienceas a process rather than a personal attribute enabledpersonal advisors to think about how they
connected with care leaversthrough shared life experiences, fostering narrativesof hopes and dreams
where new possibilitiesabound.
Research limitations/implications –Appreciative inquiry is generally seen as a defined model for
implementinglarge organisational changes; this studycomprised a small sample group, and the model’s
applicationwas less defined.
Originality/value –A gap exists in the extensive care leaver research, addressing safeguarding and
workingsystemically. A conceptual model for practiceis offered, with potential utility in developingfurther
systemically informed training and supervision for practitioners. A less structuredand more relationally
engagedmodel for appreciative inquiry is presented.
Keywords Systemic practice, Family therapy, Social work, Care leavers, Personal advisers,
Appreciative inquiry, Safeguarding, Resilience
Paper type Research paper
Background
The authors, JT, a social work manager of a Looked After Children and Leaving Care
Service, then undertaking an MSc in Family Therapy and Systemic Practice, and JL, a
senior academic lecturer, registered psychotherapist and former foster carer of
adolescents, hold a shared interest in how systemic approaches can support relational
work with care leavers, particularlythose where there are safeguarding concerns.
Munro’s (2011) child protection review led to significant government investment and
research, through the Department for Education’s (DoE) social care innovation programme
Jhonathan Turner is based
at the IOPPN, King’s
College London, London,
UK. Joan Lewis is
Programme Lead and
Senior Academic Tutor
based at the Section of
Family Therapy, Kings
College, Institute of
Psychiatry, Psychology and
Neuroscience (IoPPN),
Cheshunt, UK.
Received 5 March 2023
Revised 23 September 2023
13 May 2024
Accepted 14 May 2024
The authors would like to thank
Dyslexia Handled, the Centre
for Systemic Social Work, the
host local authority and the
research participants for their
full support and engagement
with the research project from
beginning to end.
DOI 10.1108/JCS-03-2023-0009 VOL. 19 NO. 4 2024, pp. 237-252, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660 jJOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES jPAGE 237
(2022), in embedding more relationship-based interventions, including systemic
approaches. Prior studies have predominantly focused on pathfinder projects and the
overall justification for and effectiveness of bringing systemic frameworks into social work
practice (Bostock and Newlands, 2020;FitzSimons and McCracken, 2020). With practice
skills still developing, there remains a research gap into how personal advisers are
integrating systemic conceptsand their overall experiences of safeguarding care leavers.
Care leavers are young people transitioning from local authority care to independence, as
defined in UK statute (Children’s Act 1989, Leaving Care Act 2000, Children’s and Social
Work Act 2017). The personal adviser has a statutory role specifically to advise, befriend
and support care leavers up to age 25.
The UK’s recent independent review of children’s social care (MacAlister, 2022) proposes
five ambitions for care leavers:
1. loving relationships;
2. quality education;
3. a decent home;
4. fulfilling work and good health; and
5. reflecting extensive research into poor outcomes in these areas and recommendations
to gradually taper off supports for care leavers (Ha
¨ggman-Laitila et al., 2018;Hiles
et al., 2013;Parry and Weatherhead, 2014;Stein, 2006).
The DoE’s response, Stable Homes Built on Love (2023), identifies that poor outcomes for
care leavers are not inevitable; with the right support, care leavers can and do achieve
great things, although many are not sufficientlysupported.
The care leaving group is not homogeneous, comprising young people, aged 16–25, who
became looked after because of neglect and abuse as children, unaccompanied asylum-
seeking children, young offenders remanded into custody and those entering care late.
Teenagers are becoming the largest group of children in care; almost one-third of those
adolescents entering care had an extra familial threat identified at assessment (MacAlister,
2022).
Safeguarding
Firmin et al. (2019) give a useful overview of emerging practice in relation to contextual,
complex and transitional safeguarding, recognising that risk and harm to adolescents are
often outside of familial contexts, such as child criminal exploitation,and that harm does not
stop at 18.
The difference between child and adult safeguarding, conceptually and procedurally, has
led to concern that adolescents fall through a gap, and a need exists for transitional
safeguarding approaches that draw upon adult safeguarding practices (Holmes and
Smale, 2018). The adult-focused Making Safeguarding Personal framework, underpinned
by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Community Care Act 2014, emphasises the
development of practitioners’ skills in working within key principles of empowerment,
prevention, proportionality, protection, partnership and accountability (Cooper and Bruin,
2017), with a focus on engaging vulnerable adults and supporting themto make risk-related
choices.
Those working with care leavers aged 18–25 in children’s social care are arguably at the
forefront of developing practice in “transitional safeguarding” (Holmesand Smale, 2018)as
they grapple with the legislative and practice differences of working with young adults,
predominantly from within children’s statutory contexts. This “grappling” developed the
researchers’ curiosity: how and to what degree do systemic concepts equip personal
PAGE 238 jJOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES jVOL. 19 NO. 4 2024
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting