Janice Mcghee
Biographic Data
| ID | 4416041 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Janice Mcghee |
| GIVEN NAMES | Janice |
| FAMILY NAME | Mcghee |
| SIGNATURE | MCGHEE J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 45 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Understanding changing patterns of placement type stability in the first two years of placement for looked after children in Scotland
Looking After Children in the UK—Convergence or Divergence
Comparative child welfare administrative data from each of the four jurisdictions of the UK (Scotland, England, Northern Ireland (NI) and Wales) were analysed over a ten-year period to examine rates and patterns of public care. Scotland followed by Wales has the highest rates of children in out-of-home care, followed by England and NI with similar lower proportions. Despite strong links between deprivation and higher chances of becoming looked af…
Trends in Child Protection Across the UK
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 legi…
The Lady and the Pram
Historically, ‘putting-children-first’ dominates public and political discussion of child protection. We rarely see child-welfare-involved mothers in the public imagination and their voices are mostly unheard. Too often, these women are written out of history, ghosts to us, their voices lost while the lingering effects in the production of child protection remain unrecognised. This single case study examines the speech acts of a child-welfare-inv…
Agamben and the political positioning of child welfare-involved mothers in child protective services
In the UK, protecting children from maltreatment is an administrative and juridical system with law as ultimate arbiter of whether a mother may retain care of her child. The primary legal principle is the child’s best interests. This article draws on Giorgio Agamben’s (1995) theory of ‘bare life’ to examine the identity and the political positioning of child welfare-involved mothers in contemporary Western child protection systems to complement t…
Practitioner–mother relationships and the processes that bind them
This paper outlines a theoretical contribution to conceptualizing practitioner–mother relationships in child protection social work. It examines what is represented when these face‐to‐face encounters takes place. It suggests an intersubjective dimension where mothers are in effect asked to give an account of themselves. Drawing on humanities and social science writing, practitioner–mother relations are examined to analyse their symbolic and liter…
The Scottish children's hearings tribunals system
Parents with learning disabilities are over-represented in child care proceedings and are more likely to lose their children to state care. Evidence from Anglophone countries suggests that the adversarial forum of the court disadvantages these parents and limits their direct participation in the process. This exploratory study examines whether the Scottish children's hearings tribunal system could promote greater responsiveness to parental needs …
Anxiety and child protection – implications for practitioner–parent relations
Social work practitioners face powerful existential threats in child protection. Core aspects of anxiety and their significance for practitioner–parent relations are identified. Social and psychoanalytic theories are utilized to suggest that the production of anxiety in child protection stems from multiple sources and that insufficient attention has been paid to the social context of poverty and disadvantage. Menzies' core analytic categories of …
Care and protection in Scottish child welfare
Since the inception of the Scottish children's hearings system, an increasing concentration of child care and protection referrals has emerged. Data on 225 children referred on care and protection grounds are examined. Children faced a double jeopardy of personal adversity against a background of social and economic disadvantage. A smaller group of children were also victims of an offence by an adult. A significant proportion of children had mult…
Disentangling Offenders and Non‐Offenders in the Scottish Children's Hearings
Children referred to the Scottish children's hearings tribunals system on offence and non‐offence grounds were compared to explore whether more similarities than differences were found in their underlying realities and actual needs. This was the contention of the Kilbrandon Committee in 1964 , which led to the establishment of the children's hearings system. The hearings system is distinctive in that decision making for children who offend and th…
Protecting children in Scotland
This paper discusses findings from a small‐scale study of the impact on child protection practice following implementation of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The Act introduced three new measures to allow the state to intervene in families to protect a child where there is a risk of significant harm. These include the child protection order, the child assessment order and the exclusion order. The child protection order provides for the removal …
Family support and the Scottish children's hearings system
Evidence from a study of 1155 children referred to the children's hearings system in Scotland in 1995 found many of the children could be characterized as ‘children in need’. As found in other child care research, limited voluntary help was available to them, the majority received ‘no action’ and a substantial group a compulsory supervision requirement. The critical need for the strategic development of family support services in child welfare po…
Children's hearings in Scotland
This paper outlines some key findings from a study of 1,155 children referred in 1995 to the children's hearings system in Scotland. The majority of children formally processed in the system were found to come from less well off families, often facing multiple adversities. Children subject to compulsory measures of supervision were especially likely to have backgrounds characterized by factors associated with social disadvantage. The national pic…
Comparative juvenile justice policy
Justice and welfare
The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 introduces important changes that may in the long term undermine the principles of early intervention, partnership and child welfare embodied in the Children‘s Hearings System. The Act can also be seen to represent a shift towards a more justice-oriented approach to child-care decision-making. Paradoxically whilst child-care policy is moving towards a renewed interest in prevention, family support and partnership,…
Consumers' Views of a Post-Placement Support Project
Trends in Child Protection Across the UK
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 legi…
Anxiety and child protection – implications for practitioner–parent relations
Social work practitioners face powerful existential threats in child protection. Core aspects of anxiety and their significance for practitioner–parent relations are identified. Social and psychoanalytic theories are utilized to suggest that the production of anxiety in child protection stems from multiple sources and that insufficient attention has been paid to the social context of poverty and disadvantage. Menzies' core analytic categories of …
Looking After Children in the UK—Convergence or Divergence
Comparative child welfare administrative data from each of the four jurisdictions of the UK (Scotland, England, Northern Ireland (NI) and Wales) were analysed over a ten-year period to examine rates and patterns of public care. Scotland followed by Wales has the highest rates of children in out-of-home care, followed by England and NI with similar lower proportions. Despite strong links between deprivation and higher chances of becoming looked af…
Practitioner–mother relationships and the processes that bind them
This paper outlines a theoretical contribution to conceptualizing practitioner–mother relationships in child protection social work. It examines what is represented when these face‐to‐face encounters takes place. It suggests an intersubjective dimension where mothers are in effect asked to give an account of themselves. Drawing on humanities and social science writing, practitioner–mother relations are examined to analyse their symbolic and liter…
Children's hearings in Scotland
This paper outlines some key findings from a study of 1,155 children referred in 1995 to the children's hearings system in Scotland. The majority of children formally processed in the system were found to come from less well off families, often facing multiple adversities. Children subject to compulsory measures of supervision were especially likely to have backgrounds characterized by factors associated with social disadvantage. The national pic…
Family support and the Scottish children's hearings system
Evidence from a study of 1155 children referred to the children's hearings system in Scotland in 1995 found many of the children could be characterized as ‘children in need’. As found in other child care research, limited voluntary help was available to them, the majority received ‘no action’ and a substantial group a compulsory supervision requirement. The critical need for the strategic development of family support services in child welfare po…
The Lady and the Pram
Historically, ‘putting-children-first’ dominates public and political discussion of child protection. We rarely see child-welfare-involved mothers in the public imagination and their voices are mostly unheard. Too often, these women are written out of history, ghosts to us, their voices lost while the lingering effects in the production of child protection remain unrecognised. This single case study examines the speech acts of a child-welfare-inv…
Care and protection in Scottish child welfare
Since the inception of the Scottish children's hearings system, an increasing concentration of child care and protection referrals has emerged. Data on 225 children referred on care and protection grounds are examined. Children faced a double jeopardy of personal adversity against a background of social and economic disadvantage. A smaller group of children were also victims of an offence by an adult. A significant proportion of children had mult…
Agamben and the political positioning of child welfare-involved mothers in child protective services
In the UK, protecting children from maltreatment is an administrative and juridical system with law as ultimate arbiter of whether a mother may retain care of her child. The primary legal principle is the child’s best interests. This article draws on Giorgio Agamben’s (1995) theory of ‘bare life’ to examine the identity and the political positioning of child welfare-involved mothers in contemporary Western child protection systems to complement t…
The Scottish children's hearings tribunals system
Parents with learning disabilities are over-represented in child care proceedings and are more likely to lose their children to state care. Evidence from Anglophone countries suggests that the adversarial forum of the court disadvantages these parents and limits their direct participation in the process. This exploratory study examines whether the Scottish children's hearings tribunal system could promote greater responsiveness to parental needs …
Protecting children in Scotland
This paper discusses findings from a small‐scale study of the impact on child protection practice following implementation of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The Act introduced three new measures to allow the state to intervene in families to protect a child where there is a risk of significant harm. These include the child protection order, the child assessment order and the exclusion order. The child protection order provides for the removal …
Comparative juvenile justice policy
Consumers' Views of a Post-Placement Support Project
Consumers' Views of a Post-Placement Support Project
Justice and welfare
The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 introduces important changes that may in the long term undermine the principles of early intervention, partnership and child welfare embodied in the Children‘s Hearings System. The Act can also be seen to represent a shift towards a more justice-oriented approach to child-care decision-making. Paradoxically whilst child-care policy is moving towards a renewed interest in prevention, family support and partnership,…
Comparative juvenile justice policy
Family support and the Scottish children's hearings system
Evidence from a study of 1155 children referred to the children's hearings system in Scotland in 1995 found many of the children could be characterized as ‘children in need’. As found in other child care research, limited voluntary help was available to them, the majority received ‘no action’ and a substantial group a compulsory supervision requirement. The critical need for the strategic development of family support services in child welfare po…
Children's hearings in Scotland
This paper outlines some key findings from a study of 1,155 children referred in 1995 to the children's hearings system in Scotland. The majority of children formally processed in the system were found to come from less well off families, often facing multiple adversities. Children subject to compulsory measures of supervision were especially likely to have backgrounds characterized by factors associated with social disadvantage. The national pic…
Protecting children in Scotland
This paper discusses findings from a small‐scale study of the impact on child protection practice following implementation of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The Act introduced three new measures to allow the state to intervene in families to protect a child where there is a risk of significant harm. These include the child protection order, the child assessment order and the exclusion order. The child protection order provides for the removal …
Disentangling Offenders and Non‐Offenders in the Scottish Children's Hearings
Children referred to the Scottish children's hearings tribunals system on offence and non‐offence grounds were compared to explore whether more similarities than differences were found in their underlying realities and actual needs. This was the contention of the Kilbrandon Committee in 1964 , which led to the establishment of the children's hearings system. The hearings system is distinctive in that decision making for children who offend and th…
Care and protection in Scottish child welfare
Since the inception of the Scottish children's hearings system, an increasing concentration of child care and protection referrals has emerged. Data on 225 children referred on care and protection grounds are examined. Children faced a double jeopardy of personal adversity against a background of social and economic disadvantage. A smaller group of children were also victims of an offence by an adult. A significant proportion of children had mult…
Anxiety and child protection – implications for practitioner–parent relations
Social work practitioners face powerful existential threats in child protection. Core aspects of anxiety and their significance for practitioner–parent relations are identified. Social and psychoanalytic theories are utilized to suggest that the production of anxiety in child protection stems from multiple sources and that insufficient attention has been paid to the social context of poverty and disadvantage. Menzies' core analytic categories of …
The Scottish children's hearings tribunals system
Parents with learning disabilities are over-represented in child care proceedings and are more likely to lose their children to state care. Evidence from Anglophone countries suggests that the adversarial forum of the court disadvantages these parents and limits their direct participation in the process. This exploratory study examines whether the Scottish children's hearings tribunal system could promote greater responsiveness to parental needs …
Practitioner–mother relationships and the processes that bind them
This paper outlines a theoretical contribution to conceptualizing practitioner–mother relationships in child protection social work. It examines what is represented when these face‐to‐face encounters takes place. It suggests an intersubjective dimension where mothers are in effect asked to give an account of themselves. Drawing on humanities and social science writing, practitioner–mother relations are examined to analyse their symbolic and liter…
Agamben and the political positioning of child welfare-involved mothers in child protective services
In the UK, protecting children from maltreatment is an administrative and juridical system with law as ultimate arbiter of whether a mother may retain care of her child. The primary legal principle is the child’s best interests. This article draws on Giorgio Agamben’s (1995) theory of ‘bare life’ to examine the identity and the political positioning of child welfare-involved mothers in contemporary Western child protection systems to complement t…
The Lady and the Pram
Historically, ‘putting-children-first’ dominates public and political discussion of child protection. We rarely see child-welfare-involved mothers in the public imagination and their voices are mostly unheard. Too often, these women are written out of history, ghosts to us, their voices lost while the lingering effects in the production of child protection remain unrecognised. This single case study examines the speech acts of a child-welfare-inv…
Looking After Children in the UK—Convergence or Divergence
Comparative child welfare administrative data from each of the four jurisdictions of the UK (Scotland, England, Northern Ireland (NI) and Wales) were analysed over a ten-year period to examine rates and patterns of public care. Scotland followed by Wales has the highest rates of children in out-of-home care, followed by England and NI with similar lower proportions. Despite strong links between deprivation and higher chances of becoming looked af…
Trends in Child Protection Across the UK
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 legi…
Understanding changing patterns of placement type stability in the first two years of placement for looked after children in Scotland
Political science (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Child protection (9 works) · Welfare (9 works) · Medicine (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Child Welfare and Adoption (6 works)