Child Welfare Inequalities in Wales: Practice and Prevention

Background:

There is international evidence about the connection between poverty and child maltreatment but only recently has research on this topic been undertaken in the UK. This research shows, from analysis of administrative data, stark differences between child welfare intervention rates according to the relative deprivation of communities. Less is known about how this connection between deprivation and child protection plays out on the ground in local authority responses to children in need. A recent four nations UK study funded by the Nuffield Foundation included mixed-methods case studies of local authority social work teams, in all the UK nations except for Wales. This proposal is for a similar study in Wales, where the social gradient of intervention is highest of all UK nations and overall intervention rates are higher than in England and Northern Ireland, despite the latter country being more deprived than Wales. Little is also known about what kinds of material help can contribute to preventing child maltreatment. The proposed study also focuses on this issue.

Aims:

1. To explore and describe how social workers work with poverty in their day to day practice and decision making.
2. To identify factors that explain variation in rates of child welfare interventions between local authorities, including the quantity of staff, policies and ethos and management approaches and attitudes.
3. To explore whether there is a relationship between the provision and take up of income maximisation services and rates of child welfare intervention.

Plan of investigation:

Strand One: Mixed-methods case studies will be conducted in three Welsh local authorities to examine the relationship between neighbourhood deprivation and social work practice. Social work teams will be selected on the same criteria as comparable studies in the rest of the UK. Research methods used within the case studies will include: a review of existing demographic and deprivation data; mapping of resources analysis of policy and guidance; observation; quantitative analysis of throughput and outcomes; semi-structured interviews with front-line staff and decision makers; and focus groups with social workers. Framework analysis will compare case study data across the four nations.

Strand Two: Following an initial mapping of welfare advice services in Welsh local authorities, aggregate data will be accessed from two sources: (1) published statistics on children on child protection plans and 'looked after' in Welsh local authorities and (2) performance data from local authority welfare advice teams. Where local authorities routinely offer income maximisation to families, and where there is a known start date for providing this service, interrupted time series analysis will be used to analyse differences between observed and expected rates of child intervention.

Potential benefits to social care services and service users:

The knowledge generated by the study can ultimately contribute to reducing the social gradient of child welfare intervention and reducing the number of children needing to be looked after by local authorities, in a context where numbers are rising year on year. The proposed project has been planned in discussion with a Head of Children's Services and a social work team manager.