SWK3008 Tutorial 20OCT2020

Court skills

Discussion of this morning’s lecture with judges

● They spoke of the importance of early
interventions and the stability provided by school
attendance
● The need to be inventive and creative in your
approach to SWK
● They spoke of the need to try to not judge future
behaviour based on past behaviour (i.e. don’t
write people off) but this is challenging as we
have learnt to identify patterns as SWKers as a
way to identify risk

Care planning

● You should definitely have a look at the exemplar

care plan assessment on Canvas.
● Case plan example Gracie:

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○ Kinship care with aunt vs short term foster

care
○ It is important to balance the short term vs
long term care plan
● Care planning options in Gracie’s case:
○ Full care order
○ Who would you want to act as the main
carer?
○ How long would you want that care to last?
○ Would a time limit enable improvements in
the overall situation?
● Need to consider previous relationships Gracie
may have had e.g. her aunt (but she hasn't spoke
with aunt in a year)
● Will Gracie have to relocate to be fostered
(Simon (the father) could be a good option but he
lives in England so Gracie would have to move)
○ Simon could be a good option in long term
but not in short term, a relationship would
need to be developed with Gracie

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○ It is also important to think about the

pandemic and how that may affect aspects of
the care plan
○ Immediate plan: foster care for short term
period ( but short term was defined as 6-12
months)
○ Timescale related to Mairead’s (the mother)
rehabilitation = 12-18 months
■ This is why a short term arrangement
could be beneficial as it would allow
Mairead to improve, or for you as SWKer
to identify a long term carer for Gracie
○ In real life you would want to test the integrity
and motivation of people offering to help. Are
they doing it for the right reasons
○ You need to regularly assess potential care
providers, this is a continual process
○ See section 6 of exemplar assessment (just
above section 7)

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■ It discusses contact arrangements, have a

good look at this as it will help you
complete assessment. Try to read it
before next week
● Remember cases (& care plans) are complex
there are always a range of options available each
with their own strengths and drawbacks. You
must seek to balance these to achieve the best
outcome.
● There is not necessarily one right answer so you
must provide evidence to support your care plan
choices and show you have considered all options
● In the case of Gracie there is no ideal choice - you
just have to think of all aspects of the case
(supervision, protection, visits, family contact,
relationships, what is achievable etc. )
○ Also crucial to think about what Gracie would
want
● Also remember that the situation can change
constantly e.g. in relation to Gracie’s mother’s

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rehabilitation, she may improve but relapse

during the process. This may complicate any
decisions you have made so you always need to
be flexible and have contingency plans
● When speaking in court you must demonstrate
that you have considered all options and explain
why you made your choices and why they have
the best chance of providing the best outcomes

***You should spend some time this week going

through the exemplar to understand how to
approach the assessment. When looking at the
exemplar consider how the Gracie ‘story’ could be
fitted in. Remember the SMART plan (see lecture
notes) ***