Residential Child Care

As a write this column I am preparing to give a paper at the Children’s Spirituality Conference in Chicago.  This means I have a growing collection of books, articles and papers around me in every available place, surface and on the floor, and that every day the nature of “children’s spirituality” (and therefore what I … Read more

There is a heated debate currently with regard to the standard of reading and writing in schools and the level of illiteracy of school-leavers. Throughout the years since the inception of compulsory education, a variety of teaching methods and resources have been put to use in order to offer a trouble-free, guaranteed-to-work approach to reading … Read more

The following item was received from the Children’s Workforce Development Council. In view of the importance of this consultation, we are printing their announcement in full. The CWDC has announced the dates and locations for its Regional Tours. The organisation is visiting the nine English regions to meet the children and young people’s workforce, share … Read more

When I first started in the area of child protection the subject of domestic violence was rarely addressed as an issue. It was seen mainly as an adult issue, not a child protection issue. Over the last twenty years the perspective has thankfully changed and social work has recognized that children are deeply affected by … Read more

Joey’s parents died while he was young, and when his grandmother could no longer look after him, the Lady at the Big House intervened and he was sent to a children’s home. Read the first two episodes – Joey 1, Joey 2 I did write to the staff at the Big House a few times … Read more

I wonder what you associate with the term “life skills”? In British social work and residential child care it usually means things like cooking, shopping, washing and ironing clothes, travelling, elementary budgeting and the like.  School and the education system are supposed to take care of maths, English, science, history, IT and geography in preparation … Read more

Joey was brought up in the countryside, and when his parents died, his grandmother looked after him. Now, she was seriously ill, and the Lady at the big house intervened. To read the first episode, click here. They were talking about a boy and then I realised that it was me. Phrases like “Poor lad” … Read more

I have walked past the book hundreds of times on my study shelves, but rarely dipped into it. My copy is a solid leather-bound tome with a ribbed spine and gilt lettering. Inside there is an inscription in my father’s hand-writing to my mother, addressed by her maiden name. It is dated September 1923, four … Read more

I recently came across an interesting quotation from the Danish Philosopher Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855) who said, “Life can only be understood backwards but must be lived forwards”. I thought this was a really interesting perspective on child protection social work. In our work with families we spend a great deal of time trying to … Read more

The camp experience is seen as primarily a North American phenomenon with more than 11 million children and adults attending approximately 12,000 camps throughout the United States (ACA 2005).  Many of these camps are dedicated to catering for young people whose lives are impacted by conditions such as Limes Disease, Cancer, Diabetes, Cerebral Palsy and … Read more

This quotation is over-used, but that is because it raises an important issue. Identities matter to people, and names are handles on identities. So I’m going to use the quote as well. The Webmag has already carried articles about the significance of surnames and the terms we use to describe the places where we provide … Read more

Recently we had a residential training course based at Mill Grove for twenty or so people engaged in work with children and young people.  It lasted for a week, and from what we can gather seems to have been greatly appreciated.  You can probably guess that having a group this size coming to live in … Read more