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The Travelling Idea of Looking After Children

The Travelling Idea of Looking After Children. Conditions for moulding a systematic approach in child welfare into three national contexts; Australia, Canada and Sweden Presented by Lennart Nygren, Umeå University, Sweden.

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The Travelling Idea of Looking After Children

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  1. The Travelling Idea of Looking After Children Conditions for moulding a systematic approach in child welfare into three national contexts; Australia, Canada and Sweden Presented by Lennart Nygren, Umeå University, Sweden

  2. Looking after children in need. A three-nation comparative study of the implementation of ”LAC” • Research group: Evelyn Khoo, Ph.D., Umeå universityUlf Hyvönen, Ph.D., Umeå social servicesLennart Nygren, Ph.D., prof., Umeå university • Funding:FAS (Swedish Research Council for Working Life and Social Sciences)

  3. Our LAC research • How come that Looking After Children is so widely spread, how is it implemented and how does it work in different contexts? • Planned papers on:- the implementation of LAC in relation to legal contexts, organizational structure, key actors etc.- LAC’s functions for managers and professionals- LAC as a child-centered tool

  4. Open-ended survey question • ”If you could give advice to anyone involved in the implementation of Looking After Children (from policy-makers to trainers to colleagues or anyone else) what would it be?”

  5. Answers • Answers from:AUS (NSW): 42 of 59 (60 subm.)CAN (Ontario): 119 of 160 (207)SWE (project kommuns): 96 of 190 (210) • 257 respondents; 1-10 unique statements/respondent, often 4-5.

  6. Analysis • Qualitative content analysis • Two theoretical categories generated and named (cf. Power, 1997):”In principle” ”In detail”programmatic and operational andnormative technological

  7. ”In principle” • Values • Strategic • Political • Critical

  8. LAC’s value base ”Important with a lot of focus on the value base, not only the forms (swe., s.w.)”See beyond the paper work and live the philosophy” (can., s.w.)

  9. Universality of LAC ”Lac should be used with all children in care” (can., man.)”The LAC system works better if all areas of the child protection system use it” (aus., case worker)

  10. Child-centered value statements ”Be sure to really put the child in the centre” (swe. s.w.)”[implementation] should emphasise how the answer(s) are useful in providing needs to the child” (aus., man.)”During training, please reiterate the importance of all people working together to help provide the best opportunities and care for our children” (can., s.w.)

  11. Strategic planning and ”time” ”Have a good, sound plan in regards to implementation and time lines for implementation” (aus., s.w.)”…you have to think about (politicians and managers) that it takes much time for social workers to learn about the new..” (swe., s.w.)

  12. Persistence and dealing with resistance ”Persist, it´s worth it!” (aus., man.) ”Be patient, it takes years to understand the depth in BBIC and all its potentials” (swe., s.w.)”Be prepared for resistance - involve and listen to all!” (aus., man.)”Track resistance and follow up”

  13. Political/professional ”It’s good for the profession” (swe., s.w.)”It is important for case managers to hear the positives from those who have been working with the LAC system”(aus., man.)

  14. Critical ”Do not use LAC!” (can., s.w.)”LAC is no good” (can., s.w.)

  15. ”In detail” • Forms • Work situation • Client-related

  16. Forms • ”Shorten the form!” It is quite repetitive and way too time consuming” (can., s.w.)”Make it shorter” (swe., s.w.)”I´d stress the importance of using the tool in different ways depending on individual kids’ needs, i.e. skip questions, modify etc.” (aus., s.w.)

  17. Work situation “Tailor the training to the needs of the population being trained. Be flexible with the agenda” (can., man.) ”Use it everyday so it becomes part of your routine” (aus., s.w.)”Good software is necessary” (swe., s.w.)”Stay on top of your recordings” (can., s.w.)

  18. The client • ”Make the questions for older children less intrusive” (can., s.w.)”Can the A+A forms be more child/adolescent friendly?, e.g. more colour/pictures” (aus., s.w.) ”more time to spend completing them with kids and more time to review questions with kids” (can., s.w.)

  19. A few patterns • Most comments are explicit or implicit recommendations to implement LAC in all three countries • Relatively few direct references to national and structural contexts • Managers and supervisors mainly addressed “in principal” issues, plus specific “details”: hands-on training and adequate IT support • Swedish social workers more ”in principal” than Australians and Canadians • Canadian social workers stressed the problems with too long, repetitious forms

  20. LAC and travel theory: translation and transformation • Why are ideas likely to travel?Modern values: rationality and accountabilityEfficiency: documented success • Imitation • Translation in relation to contexts • ”Editing” of concepts • The ”soil” and organizational insecurity (vertical and horizontal) • So, LAC is indeed a travelling idea

  21. Closing words • Most managers and social workers are positive to LAC in relation to the question asked • A possible tension between managers’ in-principal views and social workers’ ”in-detail views”? • A possible tension between the idea of standardization and the idea of flexibility? • An successful international traveller in child welfare work - good for all contexts?

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