Social Work & Law - Case Study Example

SUMMARY OF THE CASE The case review provided concerns a case study of two children, A and B. Child A was Anthony, a 10 year old boy while Child B was Beatrice a 3 year old girl. The two children are said to have been murdered by their mother, a Ms. C who alerted the police once she committed the act. According to social health records filed by Hackney’s Children and Young People’s Service, it was observed that the mother, Ms. C was a threat to her children, and had been referred to a community mental health institution. In the course of Ms. C’s admission to Hackney Center for Mental Health, her condition was observed to be improving and she cited the desire to resume contact with her children. This was done under supervision once she was discharged from the mental institution where mental health professionals helped her re-establish a relationship with her children. While on admission, Ms. C’s blood was tested and it was discovered that, she had not taken her medication 10 days prior to killing her children. This then warranted a review on the case as it was concluded that Child A and Child B were killed by a mentally ill parent. THEMES SIGNIFICANCE There are a number of themes that have been brought forward from this particular case review for instance, multi-agency, communication, lack of the agencies’ involvement with the children alone, lack of the children father’s involvement as well as partnership working (Grey & Webb, 2009: p.23). The main purpose of having such themes is to enable the various agencies to get to the bottom of what exactly went wrong in trying to prevent Ms. C from killing her own children. The most dominant theme in this case review however, is that of communication. All other stated themes revolve around this specific one thus making it the main theme of the case review. According to the case study {2.2.2 and 2.2.3} there lacked proper communication between the children’s father, Mr. D and the health professionals at Hackney’s Children and Young People’s Service regarding measures that he needed to take while seeking legal advice regarding obtaining parental responsibility for the children. There were already tell-tale signs that the children’s lives were at risk in that Ms. C was claiming to not only be God’s child but also that Child A and Child B were not hers. There were also police reports from Ms. C indicating her 2 children had been still-born and that they had been swapped for 2 other children at birth. Additionally, the mother was reported as not having fed the children. Such behavior should have sounded loud alarm warnings to those around Ms. C as this is not considered normal behavior for a mother towards her child/children. This should have been communicated to the relevant parties in the case, like the father. Agencies are usually charged with the responsibility of providing specific services that usually involve organizing transactions between two parties (CPRP, 2005: p.44). The agencies in this particular case review, were mainly responsible for assessing the situation and providing solutions that would benefit the parties involved. As a legal requirement, it is the right of the client to be provided with good standards of practice and care from their practitioners, not only in counseling, but also in psychotherapy (Birchal & Hallet, 1995: p.70). From the case review {3.2.2} practitioners from the mental hospital did not possess any records regarding the various concerns that were raised about Ms. C’s progress or the welfare of her children (Grey & Webb, 2009: p.24). It is quite clear that the practitioners did not have an effective line of communication with Ms. C or her immediate family regarding her condition or how they were to handle it. It is the responsibility of practitioners to constantly inform and communicate with the client’s family as both parties work towards the betterment of the client (CPRP, 2005: p.48). Practitioners need to be alerted on the possibility of conflicting responsibilities especially in situations where a client poses a risk of causing harm to themselves and/or others. According to the hospital records, there was apparently no contact made by the hospital practitioners with Mr. D and his family upon the discharge of Ms. C. The agencies involved in the case made an assumption that the father of the children was comfortable with the arrangements made {3.2.4}. It is a requirement for every professional practitioner to carry out a follow-up of the client once discharged from a healthcare institution (Birchal & Hallet, 1995: p.71). Follow-up on the family by the Center’s practitioners was not carried out and this hindered any communication to and from Mr. D regarding the situation at home. IMPLICATIONS TO SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE For a Partnership Working to be considered effective there needs to be communication, cooperation as well as coordination between the parties involved (Grey & Webb, 2009: p.25). Communication in Partnership Working tends to have numerous implications to social practice which can be categorized as either positive or negative. The relation between agencies tends to affect the client depending on the steps that are followed in the course of trying to find a solution for the client. In this particular case review it is quite apparent that there was no proper partnership between the agencies involved, a move which resulted in failure on their part and the eventual death of Children A and B. this was noted earlier in the inquest on the murder of Victoria Climbie, where failure off communication between different staff and agencies led to the murder (House of Commons, 2003). The social worker is usually charged with the responsibility of monitoring the behavior and progress of a client and the case review provides a layout of how different agencies such as Hackney Children and Young People Services, the mental hospital and social work are collaborating together for the recovery of Ms. C. This case review acts as evidence in future (CPRP, 2005: p.50). The social worker had a responsibility to liaise with the parties involved, like Mr. D and share the information she felt was necessary (Birchal & Hallet, 1995: p.72). Instances where no evidence for future can be found in support of a service decision the client is informed as practitioners describe their logic in making recommendations to such clients (APA, 2000: p.16). It is rather unfortunate that for this particular case of Child A and Child B social work practice has been put to a halt after having failed to appropriately assess any risk occurrence to the children as indicated in 3.3.2 on the part of Mental Health Trust. This can be attributed to the fact that majority of the agencies involved in this case made independent decisions without consulting other agencies also involved with the case (Grey & Webb, 2009: p.26). The incident indicated in the case review is a revelation of some of the shortcomings of the social work practice that may take place in the course of the profession (House of Commons, 2003). Given the case review of Child A and Child B it is thus, recommended that social workers ensure that any arrangements made should consider the children’s interest before issuance of any written document (NSPCC, 2011). For instance, in this case, the social workers were not willing to separate the children from the mother. However, even though they were guided by their social values, they disregarded the interests of the children which in this case were safety. There was an assumption made just like in Victoria Climbie case (House of Commons), that the mother had responded well to mental treatment and was fit to resume contact with the kids. Failure to carry out a child assessment was another serious flaw on the side of the agencies concerned. This can partly be attributed to inexperience on some individual workers as was noted in the Victoria Climbie inquiry report (House of Commons, 2003). The case review is important in that it enlightens social workers on the significance of communication when collaborating with other agencies on a given case (Birchal & Hallet, 1995: p.73). On the issue of confidentiality, the social works and medical personnel who attended to Mrs. C are bound by the Hippocratic Oath to keep the confidentiality of the patient’s mental status. However, this issue of confidentiality should no override the safety of the child (see, Cap 5, sec. 7 of the Child Protection Act, 2010). For instance, the father ought to have been informed of the mental status of the Mother. This would have enabled him to seek legal protection of the children from the courts, a move which would have prevented the death of the two children. HOW A SOCIAL WORKER SHOULD BE WORKING Improving social work practice as well as inter-agency work as a way of protecting was considered an important initiative early in the year 1945 following the inquiry into the death of one Dennis O’Neill (APA, 2000: p.18). Social work practice is considered a manifestation of partnership with parents and their children as well as inter-professional communication (Grey & Webb, 2009: p.27). It is a requirement that all agencies including social workers ensure total commitment to the child protection process realizing that it is important to work in partnership with families and multi agencies for the effective protection of children in addition to assessing and catering to their various needs (APA, 2000: p.20). Social work is generally bound by legal structures and procedures that need to be implemented together with ethical requirements. Section 10 of the Child Protection Act (2010) obliges the social worker and any other concerned party to report any form of threat to the child. When the social worker in the hospital was attacked by Mrs. C, this was a clear indication of the harm posed by the mother to the children, and should have reported to the relevant agencies. .Article 47 of the Children Act of 1989 provides for that the child welfare is of paramount importance whenever agencies are making decisions about the upbringing of any child. Social workers ought to be guided by this paramount principle especially when seeking court intervention on parental responsibility, as contained in section 3 of the same Act. This act bars Mr. C of parental responsibilities on the ground that he is not legally married to Mrs. C. However, Section 1 of the CPA, gives him parental responsibilities on the ground of being the birth father (Legislative Counsel Office, 2011). . The social worker should be guided by relevant legislations such as The Children and Adoption Act of 2006 which provides guidance on child contact when parents are separated (NSPCC, 2011). Knowledge is one element that a social worker needs to be armed with when assisting a client for the most appropriate decision (Grey & Webb, 2009: p.28). They should follow the established procedure when dealing with children’s issues (House of Commons, 2003). There should be a framework that encompassed the legal, ethical, and political provisions so as to inform of the best practices in the quest for child protection. CONCLUSION Case reviews especially in relations to social work are considered important for present and future social work agencies as they tend to encourage evidence informed practice as well as much research. Research on the other hand brings about evidence, highlighting legal and ethical procedures. Such procedures are considered building blocks in as far as effective decision making is concerned in the practice. Numerous social care inquiries revolve around the theme of lack of communication in Partnership Working. Some of the case reviews carried out in the past includes the deaths of Maria Colwell in the year 1973, Victoria Climbie in the year 2000 and Peter Connelly in the year 2007. These cases, when put in light with the case review provided of Child A and Child B, focus on the lack of proper communication between the agencies involved as some of the factors leading to the deaths of the children. REFERENCES American Psychiatric Association (APA). 2000. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th Edition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press. Birchal, E., and Hallet, C. 1995. Working Together in Child Protection. London: HMSO. Child Protection Reform Programme (CPRP). 2005. Child Deaths and Significant Case Reviews. Scotland. Grey, Mel, and Webb, Stephen A. 2009. Social Work Theories and Methods. London: SAGE Publishers. House of Commons, 2003. The Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report. London: The Stationery Office Limited. Legislative Counsel Office, 2011. Child Protection Act 2010, Available http://www.gov.pe.ca/law/index.php3. NSPCC, 2011. An Introduction to Child Protection Legislation in the UK. Viewed, 18 December 2011, http://www,nspcc.org.uk/inform. Read More