Exploring the personal narratives of social workers engaged in pre-proceedings child care practice: an English case study

Achieving timely decisions for children is at the heart of reforms within the family justice system in England. The reforms that were ushered in with the advent of the Public Law Outline in 2008, and subsequent revisions... [ view full abstract ]

Achieving timely decisions for children is at the heart of reforms within the family justice system in England. The reforms that were ushered in with the advent of the Public Law Outline in 2008, and subsequent revisions leading to the Children and Families Act 2014, rely on a front-loading of cases into a pre-proceedings protocol. Pivotal to the success of reforms within the family justice system is the successful diversion of cases at the pre-proceedings stage that provide the opportunity for cases to be resolved within an alternative form of dispute resolution rather than the court intervening to resolve some of the most complex child protection cases.

The authors report on a qualitative study of pre-proceedings practice in England from 2011 to present, and draws evidence from practitioner narratives to explore the complex issues facing social workers, tasked with implementing reforms within the family justice system. The use of personal narratives provide a rich insight into how practitioners story the changes being introduced as part of what is being termed revolutionary changes to family justice. Social workers identify the opportunities for working more effectively with children and their families within the context of child protection, but they also highlight the challenges of working with the most complex of child care cases within a highly procedural and regulated context.