David Hayes - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by David Hayes
Child Care in Practice, 2018
Word count: 6920 (excluding references-8160 including references) Dr Michelle Butler is a lecture... more Word count: 6920 (excluding references-8160 including references) Dr Michelle Butler is a lecturer in criminology at Queen's University Belfast. She specializes in prison research, parental imprisonment, criminological psychology, restorative justice and penal reform.
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 2018
Parenting programs are increasingly being offered in prison as governments seek to reduce the neg... more Parenting programs are increasingly being offered in prison as governments seek to reduce the negative consequences of parental imprisonment and encourage desistance from crime. However, little is known about the design and delivery of such programs and how this may shape program effectiveness. This article seeks to address this gap by examining how the design and delivery of the Families Matter program for imprisoned adult fathers in Northern Ireland affected its ability to achieve its goals of improving family relationships and fathers’ parenting skills. Examples of good practice are offered, as well as challenges that remain to be overcome. It is argued that more attention needs to be paid to the design and delivery of these programs if their ability to achieve long-term improvements in family relationships and parenting skills are to be improved.
Social Work Education, 2016
Comparisons of international child welfare systems have identified two basic orientations to prac... more Comparisons of international child welfare systems have identified two basic orientations to practice; a 'child protection' orientation and a 'child welfare' orientation, which are founded upon fundamentally different values and assumptions regarding the family, the origins of child care problems, and the proper role of the state in relation to the family. This paper describes a project which sought to compare how undergraduate social work students from three European Universities perceive risk in referrals about the welfare of children and to explore the impact of different cultural, ideological and educational contexts on the way in which risk is constructed by students. Students from Northern Ireland, Germany and Poland examined three vignettes via ten online discussion fora each of which provided a narrative summary of their discussion. The paper presents some findings from the analysis of the qualitative data emerging from the student discussions and draws out the lessons learned in terms of how the project was designed and implemented using online discussion fora.
Ethics and Social Welfare, 2012
ABSTRACT Teaching on social work values is centrally important in social work education as a core... more ABSTRACT Teaching on social work values is centrally important in social work education as a core aspect of underpinning knowledge in preparing students for practice. This paper describes an innovative project occurring within the first year of the degree in social work, where service users and carers have assisted students with their understanding of social work values. The positive contribution of service users and carers in facilitating students to make links between theory and practice is now well documented. Applying this user perspective to the educational domain of values, however, is relatively uncharted territory given the challenges that have traditionally accompanied the teaching of values. Importantly, this paper describes the ‘value talk’ which occurred when first-year students sought further meaning from service-user and carer groups in their community settings following classroom teaching on values. The paper not only discusses the detailed preparations involved in the project but also the learning which resulted, drawing on the evaluation findings from the students and participating groups. Whilst the findings show that the students' understanding of social work values has been most significantly influenced by the contributions from service users and carers, it is recognized that further research is needed to monitor the longer term impact on social work students' practice after they qualify.
Child Care in Practice, 2006
ABSTRACT The 1970s heralded the beginnings of a major shift in focus within child care social wor... more ABSTRACT The 1970s heralded the beginnings of a major shift in focus within child care social work in the United Kingdom, and the preventive, family support approach that had characterised practice since the 1940s was gradually, but decisively, replaced by a central concern with child abuse. This paper outlines the rise and dominance of child protection work in the United Kingdom before moving on to consider the legislative attempt, via the Children Act 1989 in England and Wales and the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, to address this situation. The “refocusing debate” of the 1990s is then discussed and consideration given to local research that has called the central premise underpinning this debate into question. The paper concludes by suggesting that social workers in Northern Ireland are still struggling to shift away from a preoccupation with the identification and management of risk and poses some questions regarding the future of social work with children and families.
Child Care in Practice, 2009
ABSTRACT This article describes the work of Newry Student Unit, which operates in the Southern He... more ABSTRACT This article describes the work of Newry Student Unit, which operates in the Southern Health and Social Care Trust. The background to the unit is outlined and its development is discussed in the context of practice learning provision in Northern Ireland. The operation of the unit in providing Family and Child Care practice learning opportunities (PLOs) for student social workers is outlined and findings from evaluation questionnaires completed by students, college tutors and team leaders are presented. The article highlights both the advantages and disadvantages of this model of PLO provision and concludes that it is a valuable resource for practice learning. Proposals for the development of the unit are discussed and it is suggested that the model has the potential to be replicated in other areas of Northern Ireland.
Child Care in Practice, 2000
ABSTRACT Family Group Conferences (FGCs) originated in New Zealand and offer a radical new approa... more ABSTRACT Family Group Conferences (FGCs) originated in New Zealand and offer a radical new approach to involving families in the decision-making process in child care social work. This research was undertaken to explore professionals' views on the possible use of FGCs in child protection work in North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust (NWBT). A postal questionnaire was sent to three groups of staff - practitioners, managers, and non-social work members of the Trust Child Protection Panel (TCPP Members). A response rate of 68 per cent was achieved.
Child Care in Practice
This paper draws attention to the importance of routinely collected administrative data as an imp... more This paper draws attention to the importance of routinely collected administrative data as an important source for understanding the characteristics of the Northern Ireland child welfare system as it has developed since the Children (NI) Order 1995 became its legislative base. The paper argues that the availability of such data is a strength of the Northern Ireland child welfare system and urges local politicians, lobbyists, researchers, policy makers, operational managers, practitioners and service user groups to make more use of them. The main sources of administrative data are identified. Illustration of how these can be used to understand and to ask questions about the system is provided by considering some of the trends since the Children (NI) Order was enacted. The 'protection' principle of the Order provides the focus for the illustration. The statistical trends considered relate to child protection referrals, investigations and registrations and to children and young people looked after under a range of court orders available to ensure their protection and wellbeing.
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2015
Child welfare professionals regularly make crucial decisions that have a significant impact on ch... more Child welfare professionals regularly make crucial decisions that have a significant impact on children and their families. The present study presents the Judgments and Decision Processes in Context model (JUDPIC) and uses it to examine the relationships between three indepndent domains: case characteristic (mother's wish with regard to removal), practitioner characteristic (child welfare attitudes), and protective system context (four countries: Israel, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Spain); and three dependent factors: substantiation of maltreatment, risk assessment, and intervention recommendation. The sample consisted of 828 practitioners from four countries. Participants were presented with a vignette of a case of alleged child maltreatment and were asked to determine whether maltreatment was substantiated, assess risk and recommend an intervention using structured instruments. Participants' child welfare attitudes were assessed. The case characteristic of mother's wish with regard to removal had no impact on judgments and decisions. In contrast, practitioners' child welfare attitudes were associated with substantiation, risk assessments and recommendations. There were significant country differences on most measures. The findings support most of the predictions derived from the JUDPIC model. The significant differences between practitioners from different countries underscore the importance of context in child protection decision making. Training should enhance practitioners' awareness of the impact that their attitudes and the context in which they are embedded have on their judgments and decisions.
British Journal of Social Work, 2006
... Habermas's ideas on these important themes have attracted much critical comment. ... ... more ... Habermas's ideas on these important themes have attracted much critical comment. ... is a senior and there's also a senior care officer, plus two other care officers there ... in relation to the matters under discussion based on reasoned argumentation and (b) abandon strategic forms ...
British Journal of Social Work, 2005
ABSTRACT This paper details a researcher’s experience of gaining access to three statutory social... more ABSTRACT This paper details a researcher’s experience of gaining access to three statutory social work agencies in order to conduct a study examining how social workers respond to family support cases and how parents and carers experience the intervention of social workers in these cases. The stages in gaining access are outlined, the gate-keepers involved at each stage are identified and some of the difficulties encountered are highlighted and discussed. The paper concludes that researchers need to give greater priority to access considerations and that social work agencies need to give greater priority to co-operation with researchers.
Child Care in Practice, 1997
ABSTRACT Parental participation at child protection case conferences is still a relatively new an... more ABSTRACT Parental participation at child protection case conferences is still a relatively new and contentious phenomenon. In January 1994 a strategy for this process was implemented in North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust and this research was undertaken in order to monitor and evaluate this new way of working.
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2015
The aims of this study were to identify the themes Social Workers regard as important in supporti... more The aims of this study were to identify the themes Social Workers regard as important in supporting decisions to remove children from, or return them to, the care of their parents. To further elicit underlying hypotheses that are discernible in interpretation of evidence. A case study, comprising a two-part vignette with a questionnaire, recorded demographic information, child welfare attitudes and risk assessments, using scales derived from standardised instruments, was completed by 202 Social Workers in Northern Ireland. There were two manipulated variables, mother's attitude to removal and child's attitude to reunification two years later. In this paper we use data derived from respondents' qualitative comments explaining their reasoning for in and out of home care decisions. Some 60.9% of respondent's chose the parental care option at part one, with 94% choosing to have the child remain in foster care at part two. The manipulated variables were found to have no significant statistical effect. However, three underlying hypotheses were found to underpin decisions; (a) child rescue, (b), kinship defence and (c) a hedged position on calculation of risk subject to further assessment. Reasoning strategies utilised by social workers to support their decision making suggest that they tend to selectively interpret information either positively or negatively to support pre-existing underlying hypotheses. This finding is in 2 keeping with the literature on 'confirmation bias'. The research further draws attention to the need to incorporate open questions in quantitative studies, to help guard against surface reading of data, which often does not 'speak for itself.'
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 2019
Parenting programs are increasingly being offered in prison as governments seek to reduce the neg... more Parenting programs are increasingly being offered in prison as governments seek to reduce the negative consequences of parental imprisonment and encourage desistance from crime. However, little is known about the design and delivery of such programs and how this may shape program effectiveness. This article seeks to address this gap by examining how the design and delivery of the Families Matter program for imprisoned adult fathers in Northern Ireland affected its ability to achieve its goals of improving family relationships and fathers’ parenting skills. Examples of good practice are offered, as well as challenges that remain to be overcome. It is argued that more attention needs to be paid to the design and delivery of these programs if their ability to achieve long-term improvements in family relationships and parenting skills are to be improved.
Child Care in Practice, 2018
During imprisonment, fathers are separated from their families and contact is limited. When deli... more During imprisonment, fathers are separated from their families and contact is limited. When delivering a prison based parenting programme, providing an opportunity to rehearse newly acquired parenting skills can be key for mastering the performance of these skills and using these skills to improve father-child relationships. This paper takes an in-depth look at how one parenting programme in Northern Ireland sought to overcome this challenge by providing additional opportunities to parent via increased telephone contact and special family friendly visits. Using a combination of in-depth interviews and observations, how fathers and their families responded to this increased contact is explored, as well as the extent to which this increased contact facilitated the acquisition of the parenting skills being taught on the programme. It is argued that while prison based parenting programmes can improve parenting skills and father-child relationships, their potential long-term effectiveness may be limited by wider prison policies, procedures and practices surrounding prison visitation, telephone access and the progression of fathers following the completion of such programmes. Recommendations and suggestions for future practice are offered.
Social Work Education, 2016
Child Care in Practice, 2018
Word count: 6920 (excluding references-8160 including references) Dr Michelle Butler is a lecture... more Word count: 6920 (excluding references-8160 including references) Dr Michelle Butler is a lecturer in criminology at Queen's University Belfast. She specializes in prison research, parental imprisonment, criminological psychology, restorative justice and penal reform.
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 2018
Parenting programs are increasingly being offered in prison as governments seek to reduce the neg... more Parenting programs are increasingly being offered in prison as governments seek to reduce the negative consequences of parental imprisonment and encourage desistance from crime. However, little is known about the design and delivery of such programs and how this may shape program effectiveness. This article seeks to address this gap by examining how the design and delivery of the Families Matter program for imprisoned adult fathers in Northern Ireland affected its ability to achieve its goals of improving family relationships and fathers’ parenting skills. Examples of good practice are offered, as well as challenges that remain to be overcome. It is argued that more attention needs to be paid to the design and delivery of these programs if their ability to achieve long-term improvements in family relationships and parenting skills are to be improved.
Social Work Education, 2016
Comparisons of international child welfare systems have identified two basic orientations to prac... more Comparisons of international child welfare systems have identified two basic orientations to practice; a 'child protection' orientation and a 'child welfare' orientation, which are founded upon fundamentally different values and assumptions regarding the family, the origins of child care problems, and the proper role of the state in relation to the family. This paper describes a project which sought to compare how undergraduate social work students from three European Universities perceive risk in referrals about the welfare of children and to explore the impact of different cultural, ideological and educational contexts on the way in which risk is constructed by students. Students from Northern Ireland, Germany and Poland examined three vignettes via ten online discussion fora each of which provided a narrative summary of their discussion. The paper presents some findings from the analysis of the qualitative data emerging from the student discussions and draws out the lessons learned in terms of how the project was designed and implemented using online discussion fora.
Ethics and Social Welfare, 2012
ABSTRACT Teaching on social work values is centrally important in social work education as a core... more ABSTRACT Teaching on social work values is centrally important in social work education as a core aspect of underpinning knowledge in preparing students for practice. This paper describes an innovative project occurring within the first year of the degree in social work, where service users and carers have assisted students with their understanding of social work values. The positive contribution of service users and carers in facilitating students to make links between theory and practice is now well documented. Applying this user perspective to the educational domain of values, however, is relatively uncharted territory given the challenges that have traditionally accompanied the teaching of values. Importantly, this paper describes the ‘value talk’ which occurred when first-year students sought further meaning from service-user and carer groups in their community settings following classroom teaching on values. The paper not only discusses the detailed preparations involved in the project but also the learning which resulted, drawing on the evaluation findings from the students and participating groups. Whilst the findings show that the students' understanding of social work values has been most significantly influenced by the contributions from service users and carers, it is recognized that further research is needed to monitor the longer term impact on social work students' practice after they qualify.
Child Care in Practice, 2006
ABSTRACT The 1970s heralded the beginnings of a major shift in focus within child care social wor... more ABSTRACT The 1970s heralded the beginnings of a major shift in focus within child care social work in the United Kingdom, and the preventive, family support approach that had characterised practice since the 1940s was gradually, but decisively, replaced by a central concern with child abuse. This paper outlines the rise and dominance of child protection work in the United Kingdom before moving on to consider the legislative attempt, via the Children Act 1989 in England and Wales and the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, to address this situation. The “refocusing debate” of the 1990s is then discussed and consideration given to local research that has called the central premise underpinning this debate into question. The paper concludes by suggesting that social workers in Northern Ireland are still struggling to shift away from a preoccupation with the identification and management of risk and poses some questions regarding the future of social work with children and families.
Child Care in Practice, 2009
ABSTRACT This article describes the work of Newry Student Unit, which operates in the Southern He... more ABSTRACT This article describes the work of Newry Student Unit, which operates in the Southern Health and Social Care Trust. The background to the unit is outlined and its development is discussed in the context of practice learning provision in Northern Ireland. The operation of the unit in providing Family and Child Care practice learning opportunities (PLOs) for student social workers is outlined and findings from evaluation questionnaires completed by students, college tutors and team leaders are presented. The article highlights both the advantages and disadvantages of this model of PLO provision and concludes that it is a valuable resource for practice learning. Proposals for the development of the unit are discussed and it is suggested that the model has the potential to be replicated in other areas of Northern Ireland.
Child Care in Practice, 2000
ABSTRACT Family Group Conferences (FGCs) originated in New Zealand and offer a radical new approa... more ABSTRACT Family Group Conferences (FGCs) originated in New Zealand and offer a radical new approach to involving families in the decision-making process in child care social work. This research was undertaken to explore professionals' views on the possible use of FGCs in child protection work in North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust (NWBT). A postal questionnaire was sent to three groups of staff - practitioners, managers, and non-social work members of the Trust Child Protection Panel (TCPP Members). A response rate of 68 per cent was achieved.
Child Care in Practice
This paper draws attention to the importance of routinely collected administrative data as an imp... more This paper draws attention to the importance of routinely collected administrative data as an important source for understanding the characteristics of the Northern Ireland child welfare system as it has developed since the Children (NI) Order 1995 became its legislative base. The paper argues that the availability of such data is a strength of the Northern Ireland child welfare system and urges local politicians, lobbyists, researchers, policy makers, operational managers, practitioners and service user groups to make more use of them. The main sources of administrative data are identified. Illustration of how these can be used to understand and to ask questions about the system is provided by considering some of the trends since the Children (NI) Order was enacted. The 'protection' principle of the Order provides the focus for the illustration. The statistical trends considered relate to child protection referrals, investigations and registrations and to children and young people looked after under a range of court orders available to ensure their protection and wellbeing.
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2015
Child welfare professionals regularly make crucial decisions that have a significant impact on ch... more Child welfare professionals regularly make crucial decisions that have a significant impact on children and their families. The present study presents the Judgments and Decision Processes in Context model (JUDPIC) and uses it to examine the relationships between three indepndent domains: case characteristic (mother's wish with regard to removal), practitioner characteristic (child welfare attitudes), and protective system context (four countries: Israel, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Spain); and three dependent factors: substantiation of maltreatment, risk assessment, and intervention recommendation. The sample consisted of 828 practitioners from four countries. Participants were presented with a vignette of a case of alleged child maltreatment and were asked to determine whether maltreatment was substantiated, assess risk and recommend an intervention using structured instruments. Participants' child welfare attitudes were assessed. The case characteristic of mother's wish with regard to removal had no impact on judgments and decisions. In contrast, practitioners' child welfare attitudes were associated with substantiation, risk assessments and recommendations. There were significant country differences on most measures. The findings support most of the predictions derived from the JUDPIC model. The significant differences between practitioners from different countries underscore the importance of context in child protection decision making. Training should enhance practitioners' awareness of the impact that their attitudes and the context in which they are embedded have on their judgments and decisions.
British Journal of Social Work, 2006
... Habermas's ideas on these important themes have attracted much critical comment. ... ... more ... Habermas's ideas on these important themes have attracted much critical comment. ... is a senior and there's also a senior care officer, plus two other care officers there ... in relation to the matters under discussion based on reasoned argumentation and (b) abandon strategic forms ...
British Journal of Social Work, 2005
ABSTRACT This paper details a researcher’s experience of gaining access to three statutory social... more ABSTRACT This paper details a researcher’s experience of gaining access to three statutory social work agencies in order to conduct a study examining how social workers respond to family support cases and how parents and carers experience the intervention of social workers in these cases. The stages in gaining access are outlined, the gate-keepers involved at each stage are identified and some of the difficulties encountered are highlighted and discussed. The paper concludes that researchers need to give greater priority to access considerations and that social work agencies need to give greater priority to co-operation with researchers.
Child Care in Practice, 1997
ABSTRACT Parental participation at child protection case conferences is still a relatively new an... more ABSTRACT Parental participation at child protection case conferences is still a relatively new and contentious phenomenon. In January 1994 a strategy for this process was implemented in North and West Belfast Health and Social Services Trust and this research was undertaken in order to monitor and evaluate this new way of working.
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2015
The aims of this study were to identify the themes Social Workers regard as important in supporti... more The aims of this study were to identify the themes Social Workers regard as important in supporting decisions to remove children from, or return them to, the care of their parents. To further elicit underlying hypotheses that are discernible in interpretation of evidence. A case study, comprising a two-part vignette with a questionnaire, recorded demographic information, child welfare attitudes and risk assessments, using scales derived from standardised instruments, was completed by 202 Social Workers in Northern Ireland. There were two manipulated variables, mother's attitude to removal and child's attitude to reunification two years later. In this paper we use data derived from respondents' qualitative comments explaining their reasoning for in and out of home care decisions. Some 60.9% of respondent's chose the parental care option at part one, with 94% choosing to have the child remain in foster care at part two. The manipulated variables were found to have no significant statistical effect. However, three underlying hypotheses were found to underpin decisions; (a) child rescue, (b), kinship defence and (c) a hedged position on calculation of risk subject to further assessment. Reasoning strategies utilised by social workers to support their decision making suggest that they tend to selectively interpret information either positively or negatively to support pre-existing underlying hypotheses. This finding is in 2 keeping with the literature on 'confirmation bias'. The research further draws attention to the need to incorporate open questions in quantitative studies, to help guard against surface reading of data, which often does not 'speak for itself.'
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 2019
Parenting programs are increasingly being offered in prison as governments seek to reduce the neg... more Parenting programs are increasingly being offered in prison as governments seek to reduce the negative consequences of parental imprisonment and encourage desistance from crime. However, little is known about the design and delivery of such programs and how this may shape program effectiveness. This article seeks to address this gap by examining how the design and delivery of the Families Matter program for imprisoned adult fathers in Northern Ireland affected its ability to achieve its goals of improving family relationships and fathers’ parenting skills. Examples of good practice are offered, as well as challenges that remain to be overcome. It is argued that more attention needs to be paid to the design and delivery of these programs if their ability to achieve long-term improvements in family relationships and parenting skills are to be improved.
Child Care in Practice, 2018
During imprisonment, fathers are separated from their families and contact is limited. When deli... more During imprisonment, fathers are separated from their families and contact is limited. When delivering a prison based parenting programme, providing an opportunity to rehearse newly acquired parenting skills can be key for mastering the performance of these skills and using these skills to improve father-child relationships. This paper takes an in-depth look at how one parenting programme in Northern Ireland sought to overcome this challenge by providing additional opportunities to parent via increased telephone contact and special family friendly visits. Using a combination of in-depth interviews and observations, how fathers and their families responded to this increased contact is explored, as well as the extent to which this increased contact facilitated the acquisition of the parenting skills being taught on the programme. It is argued that while prison based parenting programmes can improve parenting skills and father-child relationships, their potential long-term effectiveness may be limited by wider prison policies, procedures and practices surrounding prison visitation, telephone access and the progression of fathers following the completion of such programmes. Recommendations and suggestions for future practice are offered.
Social Work Education, 2016