A Framework to Inform Protective Support and Supportive Protection in Child Protection and Welfare Practice and Supervision

Caroline McGregor and Carmel Devaney
Additional contact information
Caroline McGregor: UNESCO Child and Family Research Center, The National University of Ireland, H91 C7DK Galway, Ireland
Carmel Devaney: UNESCO Child and Family Research Center, The National University of Ireland, H91 C7DK Galway, Ireland

Social Sciences, 2020, vol. 9, issue 4, 1-23

Abstract: In this article, our intention is to provide an in-depth framework to inform the management of the inevitable complexity of day-to-day practice and supervision in child protection and welfare. It is based on what is now well evidenced about child protection and welfare literature in relation to risk, relationships, family support, supervision, and professional development. Using Ireland as a case example for illustration and application, we introduce an emerging framework based on a dualism of ‘protective support and supportive protection’ developed in previous work. We avail of Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological framework and network theories to progress this ongoing ‘work in progress’ to inform social work and social care practice and supervision in a global context as and where appropriate. We emphasize the importance of context specific approaches, the relevance of range of actors, practitioner and supervisor expertise through experience, and proactive partnership based engagement with children, families, and relevant communities in all aspects of service delivery, including evaluation. We reflect on the challenges and possible obstacles to how such a framework can inform practice and supervision. We argue that practitioners can best activate and apply the framework using a practice research approach.

Keywords: child abuse; child protection and welfare; public protection; family support; bio-ecological; networks and networking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/4/43/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/4/43/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:9:y:2020:i:4:p:43-:d:342359

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().