Jonathan Dickens
Biographic Data
| ID | 6023680 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jonathan Dickens |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jonathan |
| FAMILY NAME | Dickens |
| SIGNATURE | DICKENS J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of East Anglia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3723-8296 |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 78 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The multiple and competing functions of local reviews of serious child abuse cases in England
When children are killed or seriously harmed from abuse or neglect, there is pressure to ‘learn the lessons’ to prevent similar events. England has a long-established system of locally-based multi-agency reviews for this, but the recurrence of tragedies and repetitive findings raise questions about its effectiveness. Reflecting and building on our research into reviews completed between 2017 and 2021, we analyse the complexity that routine critic…
Re-envisaging professional curiosity and challenge: Messages for child protection practice from reviews of serious cases in England
Social Policy: A Critical and Intersectional Analysis, Fiona Williams
Fiona Williams brings her deep experience and distinctive voice to this powerful overview of the current state of social policy in the UK and beyond. She gives a wide-ranging and thought-provoking picture of where we are now, how we got here and where—with vision and determination—we could and should be going. The picture turns on what Williams describes as four key intersecting crises in social policy: first, the global financial crisis of capit…
Are child protection workers and judges in alignment with citizens when considering interventions into a family? A cross-country study of four jurisdictions
International Perspectives on Child-responsive Courts
Child friendly justice and access to justice for children are explicit concerns for the European Union, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Council of Europe and the Child Rights International Network. This study examines court systems as child-responsive by eliciting the views of judicial decision makers on child protection cases (n = 1,479) in four legal systems (England, Finland, Norway and the USA (represented by California)), based…
Care order templates as institutional scripts in child protection: A cross-system analysis
Clement Attlee and the Social Service Idea: Modern Messages for Social Work in England
Clement Attlee is most famous for being the Labour prime minister of the UK after the Second World War. It is less well known that he was a social worker and a social work lecturer on either side of the First World War, before he was elected to parliament in 1922. He had even written a book about it: The Social Worker, published in 1920. This paper describes Attlee’s time as a social worker and social work lecturer, setting his experiences and th…
Making a target work: Messages from a pilot of the 6‐month time limit on care proceedings in England
Since 2014, it has been a legal requirement in England and Wales for child care proceedings to be concluded, apart from “exceptional cases,” within 26 weeks. When this was first proposed, there were concerns that it might lead to poorer decision‐making or to delay being squeezed to either side of the court proceedings, before or afterwards. This paper reports on the messages from a pilot programme to hit the 26‐week target that took place in Lond…
Social Workers and Independent Experts in Child Protection Decision Making: Messages from an Intercountry Comparative Study
This paper draws on an international comparative study of social work decision making in cases that are on the edge of care order proceedings, involving child protection workers from Finland, Norway, England and the USA (California). It focuses on workers’ responses in an online questionnaire to questions about the use of independent experts to inform their decisions about whether or not to take a case to court. All the countries try to avoid tak…
Parents' involvement in care order decisions: A cross‐country study of front‐line practice
This article examines parents' involvement in care order decision‐making in four countries at one particular point in the care order process, namely, when the child protection worker discusses with the parents his or her considerations regarding child removal. The countries represent different child welfare systems with Norway and Finland categorized as ‘family service systems’ and the USA as a ‘child protection system’, with England somewhere in…
Independence and effectiveness: Messages from the role of Independent Reviewing Officers in England
This paper draws on research into the role of Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) in England, exploring the dimensions and challenges of their ‘independence’. IROs are specialist social workers whose function is to review the cases of children in public care and ensure that they have appropriate plans and that these plans are being implemented in a timely manner. IROs are ‘independent’ in the sense that they are not the social worker to whom a …
The Courts and Child Protection Social Work in England: Tail Wags Dog
In England, the problem of excessive delay in court proceedings about children is long-standing, and there have been numerous initiatives over the years to tackle it. Under the 2014 Children and Families Act, there is now a statutory limit of twenty-six weeks for care proceedings (with provision for longer where justified). If this is to be achieved, the quality of the work that local authorities undertake with children and families before procee…
Child protection and child welfare: A global appraisal of cultures, policy and practice
This edited volume contains 11 chapters on child welfare and protection systems in a diverse range of countries around the globe. Each chapter follows a similar pattern, allowing the reader to draw
The paradox of parental participation and legal representation in ‘edge of care’ meetings
This paper assesses the nature of parental participation and legal representation in pre‐proceedings meetings in England and Wales. These are called when a local authority is considering care proceedings on a child. The parent(s) are invited to a meeting to discuss the concerns, and are entitled to attend with a lawyer. The paper draws on findings from a study of the process which included a file survey of over 200 cases, observations of 36 meeti…
The definition of social work in the United Kingdom, 2000–2010
Dickens J. The definition of social work in the United Kingdom, 2000–2010. This article reviews the approaches that the four countries of the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – have taken in recent years for organising, regulating and defining social work. Social work is one of the policy areas that have been devolved to the constituent countries. This has brought extensive organisational changes, multiple policy ini…
Evidence Matters: Social Work Expertise in the Family Court. A Handbook
By Eccles, Colleen and Erlen, Nicole Totnes : Research in Practice , 2008 ISBN 9781904984238 , 124 pp. + CDRom, £20.00 Although the title refers to social workers’ use of research evidence in court cases, the underlying aim of this useful and thought-provoking handbook is much wider. It aims at promoting the use of evidence-based policy and practice throughout children’s services, not solely in court cases. One of its key messages is that the bal…
Social policy approaches to intercountry adoption
English This article proposes a social policy framework for thinking about inter country adoption, drawing on theories of welfare regimes and globalization. The model highlights the tensions and ambiguities of its policy contexts and consequences. It also shows the possibilities for a radical approach, discussing Romania’s ban on intercountry adoption as an example. French Cet article propose d’utiliser le cadre des politiques sociales pour consi…
Social Work, Law, Money and Trust: Paying for Lawyers in Child Protection Work
This article describes the impact of funding arrangements and resource constraints on the relationships between social workers and lawyers in child protection work in England. It draws on empirical data in order to show how social services staff and lawyers talk about the financial aspects of their inter‐professional relationship, particularly the language they use to justify their own perspective and to deflect the criticisms of the others. The …
Social Policy, Social Welfare and Scandal: How British Public Policy is Made
Empowerment in difficulty: A critical appraisal of international intervention in child welfare in Romania
This article examines the successes and shortcomings of international intervention in child welfare in Romania, highlighting the importance of an empowerment approach. Implementing such an approach brings its own challenges, and the authors debate the possibilities and potential pitfalls. They identify key principles and essential personal qualities for putting empowerment into practice in situations of economic, political and social difficulty
The paradox of inter‐country adoption: Analysing Romania’s experience as a sending country
This article explores the effects of inter‐country adoption on the development of in‐country services to protect children and support families in Romania. The country’s child care legislation gives formal priority to domestic alternatives to institutional care – preventive services, family reunification, foster care and in‐country adoption. Despite this, inter‐country adoption continues to play a central role in Romania’s child welfare system. Th…
Family support in Romania and the UK: Different circumstances, similar challenges
This paper offers reflections on the challenges of refocusing child and family social work services towards family support in Romania and the UK. It analyses the major reforms to Romania's child care legislation introduced in 1997, identifying political, economic and social factors which create both opportunities and obstacles for changing policy and practice in that country. Ways in which intercountry adoption undermines the development of famil…
Family support in Romania and the UK: Different circumstances, similar challenges
This paper offers reflections on the challenges of refocusing child and family social work services towards family support in Romania and the UK. It analyses the major reforms to Romania's child care legislation introduced in 1997, identifying political, economic and social factors which create both opportunities and obstacles for changing policy and practice in that country. Ways in which intercountry adoption undermines the development of famil…
Protecting the rights of the child in romania: Childrens rights perspectives on romanias 1997 child care reforms
This article analyses the reforms to Romanias child care legislation introduced in 1997. It uses two perspectives on childrens rights to link the changes to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The first perspective reviews the new legislation in terms of childrens rights to provision, protection, and participation, paying particular regard to the wider economic and social policy context of the reforms; the second looks at th…
Current developments
Parents' involvement in care order decisions: A cross‐country study of front‐line practice
This article examines parents' involvement in care order decision‐making in four countries at one particular point in the care order process, namely, when the child protection worker discusses with the parents his or her considerations regarding child removal. The countries represent different child welfare systems with Norway and Finland categorized as ‘family service systems’ and the USA as a ‘child protection system’, with England somewhere in…
Empowerment in difficulty: A critical appraisal of international intervention in child welfare in Romania
This article examines the successes and shortcomings of international intervention in child welfare in Romania, highlighting the importance of an empowerment approach. Implementing such an approach brings its own challenges, and the authors debate the possibilities and potential pitfalls. They identify key principles and essential personal qualities for putting empowerment into practice in situations of economic, political and social difficulty
Social policy approaches to intercountry adoption
English This article proposes a social policy framework for thinking about inter country adoption, drawing on theories of welfare regimes and globalization. The model highlights the tensions and ambiguities of its policy contexts and consequences. It also shows the possibilities for a radical approach, discussing Romania’s ban on intercountry adoption as an example. French Cet article propose d’utiliser le cadre des politiques sociales pour consi…
The paradox of inter‐country adoption: Analysing Romania’s experience as a sending country
This article explores the effects of inter‐country adoption on the development of in‐country services to protect children and support families in Romania. The country’s child care legislation gives formal priority to domestic alternatives to institutional care – preventive services, family reunification, foster care and in‐country adoption. Despite this, inter‐country adoption continues to play a central role in Romania’s child welfare system. Th…
Are child protection workers and judges in alignment with citizens when considering interventions into a family? A cross-country study of four jurisdictions
The definition of social work in the United Kingdom, 2000–2010
Dickens J. The definition of social work in the United Kingdom, 2000–2010. This article reviews the approaches that the four countries of the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – have taken in recent years for organising, regulating and defining social work. Social work is one of the policy areas that have been devolved to the constituent countries. This has brought extensive organisational changes, multiple policy ini…
International Perspectives on Child-responsive Courts
Child friendly justice and access to justice for children are explicit concerns for the European Union, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Council of Europe and the Child Rights International Network. This study examines court systems as child-responsive by eliciting the views of judicial decision makers on child protection cases (n = 1,479) in four legal systems (England, Finland, Norway and the USA (represented by California)), based…
The Courts and Child Protection Social Work in England: Tail Wags Dog
In England, the problem of excessive delay in court proceedings about children is long-standing, and there have been numerous initiatives over the years to tackle it. Under the 2014 Children and Families Act, there is now a statutory limit of twenty-six weeks for care proceedings (with provision for longer where justified). If this is to be achieved, the quality of the work that local authorities undertake with children and families before procee…
Child protection and child welfare: A global appraisal of cultures, policy and practice
This edited volume contains 11 chapters on child welfare and protection systems in a diverse range of countries around the globe. Each chapter follows a similar pattern, allowing the reader to draw
The paradox of parental participation and legal representation in ‘edge of care’ meetings
This paper assesses the nature of parental participation and legal representation in pre‐proceedings meetings in England and Wales. These are called when a local authority is considering care proceedings on a child. The parent(s) are invited to a meeting to discuss the concerns, and are entitled to attend with a lawyer. The paper draws on findings from a study of the process which included a file survey of over 200 cases, observations of 36 meeti…
Developing Alternatives to Residential Care in Romania
Compared to Western Europe, Romania has a very high proportion of children in residential care. Most of these children live in the type of large institutions, erroneously labelled as ‘orphanages’, which featured so prominently in Western media coverage of the country immediately after the 1989 overthrow of President Ceausescu. Jonathan Dickens and Julia Watts have worked since October 1994 for the Romanian Orphanage Trust. Focusing on the aims an…
Assessment and the control of social work: An analysis of reasons for the non-use of the child assessment order
The Child Assessment Order was one of the most hotly debated features of the Children Act 1989, but since the implementation of the Act there has been very little use of the Order. This article is based on research into the reasons for this phenomenon. The findings are located within a theoretical framework encompassing perspectives on the relationships between “the state” and “the family,” focusing particularly on the political and professional …
The multiple and competing functions of local reviews of serious child abuse cases in England
When children are killed or seriously harmed from abuse or neglect, there is pressure to ‘learn the lessons’ to prevent similar events. England has a long-established system of locally-based multi-agency reviews for this, but the recurrence of tragedies and repetitive findings raise questions about its effectiveness. Reflecting and building on our research into reviews completed between 2017 and 2021, we analyse the complexity that routine critic…
Clement Attlee and the Social Service Idea: Modern Messages for Social Work in England
Clement Attlee is most famous for being the Labour prime minister of the UK after the Second World War. It is less well known that he was a social worker and a social work lecturer on either side of the First World War, before he was elected to parliament in 1922. He had even written a book about it: The Social Worker, published in 1920. This paper describes Attlee’s time as a social worker and social work lecturer, setting his experiences and th…
Making a target work: Messages from a pilot of the 6‐month time limit on care proceedings in England
Since 2014, it has been a legal requirement in England and Wales for child care proceedings to be concluded, apart from “exceptional cases,” within 26 weeks. When this was first proposed, there were concerns that it might lead to poorer decision‐making or to delay being squeezed to either side of the court proceedings, before or afterwards. This paper reports on the messages from a pilot programme to hit the 26‐week target that took place in Lond…
Social Work, Law, Money and Trust: Paying for Lawyers in Child Protection Work
This article describes the impact of funding arrangements and resource constraints on the relationships between social workers and lawyers in child protection work in England. It draws on empirical data in order to show how social services staff and lawyers talk about the financial aspects of their inter‐professional relationship, particularly the language they use to justify their own perspective and to deflect the criticisms of the others. The …
Re-envisaging professional curiosity and challenge: Messages for child protection practice from reviews of serious cases in England
Social Workers and Independent Experts in Child Protection Decision Making: Messages from an Intercountry Comparative Study
This paper draws on an international comparative study of social work decision making in cases that are on the edge of care order proceedings, involving child protection workers from Finland, Norway, England and the USA (California). It focuses on workers’ responses in an online questionnaire to questions about the use of independent experts to inform their decisions about whether or not to take a case to court. All the countries try to avoid tak…
Independence and effectiveness: Messages from the role of Independent Reviewing Officers in England
This paper draws on research into the role of Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) in England, exploring the dimensions and challenges of their ‘independence’. IROs are specialist social workers whose function is to review the cases of children in public care and ensure that they have appropriate plans and that these plans are being implemented in a timely manner. IROs are ‘independent’ in the sense that they are not the social worker to whom a …
Assessment and the control of social work: An analysis of reasons for the non-use of the child assessment order
The Child Assessment Order was one of the most hotly debated features of the Children Act 1989, but since the implementation of the Act there has been very little use of the Order. This article is based on research into the reasons for this phenomenon. The findings are located within a theoretical framework encompassing perspectives on the relationships between “the state” and “the family,” focusing particularly on the political and professional …
Developing Alternatives to Residential Care in Romania
Compared to Western Europe, Romania has a very high proportion of children in residential care. Most of these children live in the type of large institutions, erroneously labelled as ‘orphanages’, which featured so prominently in Western media coverage of the country immediately after the 1989 overthrow of President Ceausescu. Jonathan Dickens and Julia Watts have worked since October 1994 for the Romanian Orphanage Trust. Focusing on the aims an…
Setting the Record Straight on Romania
Family support in Romania and the UK: Different circumstances, similar challenges
This paper offers reflections on the challenges of refocusing child and family social work services towards family support in Romania and the UK. It analyses the major reforms to Romania's child care legislation introduced in 1997, identifying political, economic and social factors which create both opportunities and obstacles for changing policy and practice in that country. Ways in which intercountry adoption undermines the development of famil…
Family support in Romania and the UK: Different circumstances, similar challenges
This paper offers reflections on the challenges of refocusing child and family social work services towards family support in Romania and the UK. It analyses the major reforms to Romania's child care legislation introduced in 1997, identifying political, economic and social factors which create both opportunities and obstacles for changing policy and practice in that country. Ways in which intercountry adoption undermines the development of famil…
Protecting the rights of the child in romania: Childrens rights perspectives on romanias 1997 child care reforms
This article analyses the reforms to Romanias child care legislation introduced in 1997. It uses two perspectives on childrens rights to link the changes to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The first perspective reviews the new legislation in terms of childrens rights to provision, protection, and participation, paying particular regard to the wider economic and social policy context of the reforms; the second looks at th…
Current developments
The paradox of inter‐country adoption: Analysing Romania’s experience as a sending country
This article explores the effects of inter‐country adoption on the development of in‐country services to protect children and support families in Romania. The country’s child care legislation gives formal priority to domestic alternatives to institutional care – preventive services, family reunification, foster care and in‐country adoption. Despite this, inter‐country adoption continues to play a central role in Romania’s child welfare system. Th…
Social Policy, Social Welfare and Scandal: How British Public Policy is Made
Empowerment in difficulty: A critical appraisal of international intervention in child welfare in Romania
This article examines the successes and shortcomings of international intervention in child welfare in Romania, highlighting the importance of an empowerment approach. Implementing such an approach brings its own challenges, and the authors debate the possibilities and potential pitfalls. They identify key principles and essential personal qualities for putting empowerment into practice in situations of economic, political and social difficulty
Social Work, Law, Money and Trust: Paying for Lawyers in Child Protection Work
This article describes the impact of funding arrangements and resource constraints on the relationships between social workers and lawyers in child protection work in England. It draws on empirical data in order to show how social services staff and lawyers talk about the financial aspects of their inter‐professional relationship, particularly the language they use to justify their own perspective and to deflect the criticisms of the others. The …
Evidence Matters: Social Work Expertise in the Family Court. A Handbook
By Eccles, Colleen and Erlen, Nicole Totnes : Research in Practice , 2008 ISBN 9781904984238 , 124 pp. + CDRom, £20.00 Although the title refers to social workers’ use of research evidence in court cases, the underlying aim of this useful and thought-provoking handbook is much wider. It aims at promoting the use of evidence-based policy and practice throughout children’s services, not solely in court cases. One of its key messages is that the bal…
Social policy approaches to intercountry adoption
English This article proposes a social policy framework for thinking about inter country adoption, drawing on theories of welfare regimes and globalization. The model highlights the tensions and ambiguities of its policy contexts and consequences. It also shows the possibilities for a radical approach, discussing Romania’s ban on intercountry adoption as an example. French Cet article propose d’utiliser le cadre des politiques sociales pour consi…
The definition of social work in the United Kingdom, 2000–2010
Dickens J. The definition of social work in the United Kingdom, 2000–2010. This article reviews the approaches that the four countries of the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – have taken in recent years for organising, regulating and defining social work. Social work is one of the policy areas that have been devolved to the constituent countries. This has brought extensive organisational changes, multiple policy ini…
The paradox of parental participation and legal representation in ‘edge of care’ meetings
This paper assesses the nature of parental participation and legal representation in pre‐proceedings meetings in England and Wales. These are called when a local authority is considering care proceedings on a child. The parent(s) are invited to a meeting to discuss the concerns, and are entitled to attend with a lawyer. The paper draws on findings from a study of the process which included a file survey of over 200 cases, observations of 36 meeti…
Child protection and child welfare: A global appraisal of cultures, policy and practice
This edited volume contains 11 chapters on child welfare and protection systems in a diverse range of countries around the globe. Each chapter follows a similar pattern, allowing the reader to draw
Parents' involvement in care order decisions: A cross‐country study of front‐line practice
This article examines parents' involvement in care order decision‐making in four countries at one particular point in the care order process, namely, when the child protection worker discusses with the parents his or her considerations regarding child removal. The countries represent different child welfare systems with Norway and Finland categorized as ‘family service systems’ and the USA as a ‘child protection system’, with England somewhere in…
Independence and effectiveness: Messages from the role of Independent Reviewing Officers in England
This paper draws on research into the role of Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) in England, exploring the dimensions and challenges of their ‘independence’. IROs are specialist social workers whose function is to review the cases of children in public care and ensure that they have appropriate plans and that these plans are being implemented in a timely manner. IROs are ‘independent’ in the sense that they are not the social worker to whom a …
The Courts and Child Protection Social Work in England: Tail Wags Dog
In England, the problem of excessive delay in court proceedings about children is long-standing, and there have been numerous initiatives over the years to tackle it. Under the 2014 Children and Families Act, there is now a statutory limit of twenty-six weeks for care proceedings (with provision for longer where justified). If this is to be achieved, the quality of the work that local authorities undertake with children and families before procee…
Making a target work: Messages from a pilot of the 6‐month time limit on care proceedings in England
Since 2014, it has been a legal requirement in England and Wales for child care proceedings to be concluded, apart from “exceptional cases,” within 26 weeks. When this was first proposed, there were concerns that it might lead to poorer decision‐making or to delay being squeezed to either side of the court proceedings, before or afterwards. This paper reports on the messages from a pilot programme to hit the 26‐week target that took place in Lond…
Social Workers and Independent Experts in Child Protection Decision Making: Messages from an Intercountry Comparative Study
This paper draws on an international comparative study of social work decision making in cases that are on the edge of care order proceedings, involving child protection workers from Finland, Norway, England and the USA (California). It focuses on workers’ responses in an online questionnaire to questions about the use of independent experts to inform their decisions about whether or not to take a case to court. All the countries try to avoid tak…
International Perspectives on Child-responsive Courts
Child friendly justice and access to justice for children are explicit concerns for the European Union, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Council of Europe and the Child Rights International Network. This study examines court systems as child-responsive by eliciting the views of judicial decision makers on child protection cases (n = 1,479) in four legal systems (England, Finland, Norway and the USA (represented by California)), based…
Care order templates as institutional scripts in child protection: A cross-system analysis
Clement Attlee and the Social Service Idea: Modern Messages for Social Work in England
Clement Attlee is most famous for being the Labour prime minister of the UK after the Second World War. It is less well known that he was a social worker and a social work lecturer on either side of the First World War, before he was elected to parliament in 1922. He had even written a book about it: The Social Worker, published in 1920. This paper describes Attlee’s time as a social worker and social work lecturer, setting his experiences and th…
Are child protection workers and judges in alignment with citizens when considering interventions into a family? A cross-country study of four jurisdictions
Political science (26 works) · Law (24 works) · Law (21 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (14 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Public relations (13 works) · Economics (11 works) · Social Work (11 works) · Social Work Education and Practice (11 works)