Browsing by Person "Bunting, Lisa"

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Child welfare inequalities in the four nations of the UK
(Sage Publishing, 2018-09-11) Bywaters, Paul; Scourfield, Jonathan; Jones, Chantel; Elliott, Martin; Hooper, Jade; McCartan, Claire; Shapira, Marina; Bunting, Lisa; Daniel, Brigid
Comparative International data on patterns of inequality in child welfare interventions, for example, the proportion of children about whom there are substantiated child protection (CP) concerns or who are in out-of-home care (CLA), are far less developed than data about inequalities in health. Few countries collect reliable, comprehensive information and definitions, methods of data collection and analysis are rarely consistent. The four UK countries (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) provide a potential ‘natural experiment’ for comparing intervention patterns. This study reports on a large quantitative, descriptive study focusing on children in contact with children’s services on a single date in 2015. It found that children’s chances of receiving a child protection intervention was primarily related to family socio-economic circumstances, measured by neighbourhood deprivation, within all four countries and in every local area. There was a strong social gradient which was significantly steeper in some countries than others. Ethnicity was another important factor underlying inequalities. While inequalities in patterns of intervention between the four countries were considerable, they did not mirror relative levels of deprivation in the child population. Inequalities in intervention rates result from a combination of demand and supply factors. The level and extent of inequity raise profound ethical, economic and practical challenges to those involved in child protection, the wider society and the state.
Exploring inequities in child welfare and child protection services: Explaining the 'inverse intervention law'
(Elsevier, 2015-07-31) Bywaters, Paul; Brady, Geraldine; Sparks, Tim; Bos, Elizabeth; Bunting, Lisa; Daniel, Brigid; Featherstone, Brid; Morris, Kate; Scourfield, Jonathan
Identifying and understanding inequalities in child welfare intervention rates: quantitative evidence from a comparison of the four UK countries
(Nuffield Foundation, 2017) Bywaters, Paul; Scourfield, Jonathan; Jones, Chantal; Sparks, Tim; Elliott, Martin; McCarten, Claire; Hooper, Jade; Shapira, Marina; Bunting, Lisa; Daniel, Brigid
Inequalities in English child protection practice under austerity: A universal challenge?
(Wiley, 2017-07-17) Bywaters, Paul; Brady, Geraldine; Bunting, Lisa; Daniel, Brigid; Featherstone, Brid; Jones, Chantel; Morris, Kate; Scourfield, Jonathan; Sparks, Tim; Webb, Calum
Poverty, inequality, child abuse and neglect: Changing the conversation across the UK in child protection?
(Elsevier, 2017-06-16) Featherstone, Brid; Morris, Kate; Daniel, Brigid; Bywaters, Paul; Brady, Geraldine; Bunting, Lisa; Mason, Will; Mirza, Nughmana
Social work, poverty, and child welfare interventions
(Wiley-Blackwell, 2018-01-17) Morris, Kate; Mason, Will; Bywaters, Paul; Featherstone, Brid; Daniel, Brigid; Brady, Geraldine; Bunting, Lisa; Hooper, Jade; Mirza, Nughmana; Scourfield, Jonathan; Webb, Calum; ** Funder: Nuffield Foundation; Grant num: Child Welfare Inequalities; FundRef: 10.13039/501100000279
The relationship between children's material circumstances and child abuse and neglect raises a series of questions for policy, practice, and practitioners. Children and families in poverty are significantly more likely to be the subject of state intervention. This article, based on a unique mixed‐methods study of social work interventions and the influence of poverty, highlights a narrative from practitioners that argues that, as many poor families do not harm their children, it is stigmatizing to discuss a link between poverty and child abuse and neglect. The data reveal that poverty has become invisible in practice, in part justified by avoiding stigma but also because of a lack of up‐to‐date research knowledge and investment by some social workers in an “underclass” discourse. We argue, in light of the evidence that poverty is a contributory factor in the risk of harm, that it is vital that social work engages with the evidence and in critical reflection about intervening in the context of poverty. We identify the need for fresh approaches to the harms children and families face in order to support practices that engage confidently with the consequences of poverty and deprivation.
Towards full integration of quantitative and qualitative methods in case study research: Insights from investigating child welfare inequalities
(SAGE, 2019-07-01) Mason, Will; Morris, Kate; Webb, Calum; Daniel, Brigid; Featherstone, Brid; Bywaters, Paul; Mirza, Nughmana; Hooper, Jade; Brady, Geraldine; Bunting, Lisa; Scourfield, Jonathan
Delineation of the full integration of quantitative and qualitative methods throughout all stages of multisite mixed methods case study projects remains a gap in the methodological literature. This article offers advances to the field of mixed methods by detailing the application and integration of mixed methods throughout all stages of one such project; a study of child welfare inequalities. By offering a critical discussion of site selection and the management of confirmatory, expansionary and discordant data, this article contributes to the limited body of mixed methods exemplars specific to this field. We propose that our mixed methods approach provided distinctive insights into a complex social problem, offering expanded understandings of the relationship between poverty, child abuse and neglect.
Trends in Child Protection Across the UK: A Comparative Analysis
(OUP, 2017-10-17) Bunting, Lisa; McCartan, Claire; McGhee, Janice; Bywaters, Paul; Daniel, Brigid; Featherstone, Brid; Slater, Tom
Although numerous international studies point to large variations in child welfare interventions, comparative analysis has tended to focus either solely on England or the UK as a whole, discounting differences across the four UK countries. This paper compares trends in national statistics relating to the operation of child protection systems across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2004/05 and 2013/14. Despite a number of legislative, operational and definitional differences between nations, a number of trends are apparent. All systems show an increasing orientation towards child protection as evidenced by rising rates of child protection investigation and children subject to child protection planning. Increasingly, this relates to emotional abuse and involves younger children aged from birth to four years. However, the way cases are processed can differ, with only one in ten referrals resulting in a child protection investigation in Northern Ireland compared to one in five in England. Potential reasons for these differences are discussed and questions raised as to why, more than a quarter-century after the introduction of the 1989 Children Act, we still have no clear picture of the circumstances of families who come into contact with social services or the services provided to support them