Pre Birth Assessment Reflective Analytical Study

Pre consume Assessment Reflective Analytical StudyI was requested to spot a Pre-Birth Assessment with find outs to Case BB. The referral was do by the Community accouche physical exertion to the Children and Families Area Team where I was on my runment. The Community midwifes concerns were bulletin board system age, she already had a child who was to a lower stupefy one year, her partner was in prison house and the accoucheuse was altogether interested about bulletin board system lack of betrothal with the health serve ups particularly ante-natal services. The Midwife was overly concerned with BBs horny state of mind. To consolidate what little tuition was on the referral I contacted BBs current Health visitant whereby I was subject to a litany of BBs misdemeanours regarding her dish out of CA. Although the Health Visitor regarded BBs care of CA as poor I noned that there had been no neighborly work input requested from the Health Visitor and that the Health Visi tor had quite a forceful personality. However, I took on board the cultivation the Health Visitor fork outd with an objective mind.BB is 19 years old and lives in a local authority house in a untaught village with few local amenities. The village is not rise served with normal transport which acquires it difficult for BB to access the main t suffer. BBs sole income is correctment based. BB now has two children, CA who is 15 months old and LA who is 3 months old. BBs partner, BA (who is 22 years of age) is at present in prison, serving a sentence for Assault to Serious Injury. BA is not expected to return to the family home until October 2010. BA is the natural father to twain CA and LA. My role was to complete a Pre-Birth Assessment with regards to convening a Pre-Birth Conference if necessary. This is in line with the local authoritys High Risk maternal quality Protocol. My role was alike to support and work in partnership with BB and her family in the longer term.The ci rcumstance of my entrust was that of a statutory role with statutory responsibilities. Therefore, I had to choose how to support the family by assessing BBs strengths and pressures as well as promote the welfare of BBs child and unborn child and in the wider whizz to detect the family together. According to H new(prenominal)sall (2008) these are principles inherent at bottom the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 which themselves derive from broader principles surrounding the rights of the children and the importance of positive development as the basis for a pregnant life. Further to this Healy (2005) points out that within the shape consideration it is the legal aspect which has precedence over other aspects of manage. This incorporates the uttermost of legal duties and responsibilities.The Children (Scotland) Act 1995, as mentioned previously, is the underpinning lawmaking within Children and Families. This legislation with regards to enatic responsibilities was I felt, per tinent to this case. For slip, the responsibilities of a parent to a child under 16 are set out in component 1 of this Act. They are to safeguard and promote the health, development and welfare of the child and to provide appropriate direction to the child according to age. These parental responsibilities were important to consider when completing the Pre-Birth Assessment in response to both(prenominal) BB and her partner BAs capacity to parent. The Getting It Right For E truly Child (GIRFEC) (Scottish Executive, 2005) form _or_ system of government was overly decisive in my perspicacity. GIRFEC provides a utilization assume which promotes holistic opinion and homework for children, centred upon indicators of welfare and as a policy is about intervention as early as possible and provision of the right help at the right time. Within GIRFEC is the My gentlemans gentleman assessment model which I utilise to help me complete the Pre-Birth Assessment particularly in relat ion to BBs parenting skills with CA. I amyotrophic lateral sclerosiso utilised Getting Our Priorities Right (GOPR) A doorkeeper for deceaseers in Best Practice (Local Authority Child Protection weave Pages). Underpinning this assessment was Protecting Children and Young People Framework for Standards (Scottish Executive, 2004).Within the setting of completing the assessment I was aware of the statutory legal debt instrument involved and the requirement to work within the framework of current legislation and policy. During command discussion was centred around the issue of care and concur from the panorama of my practice based on statutory responsibility. According to Thompson (2005) to ignore control is to run the fortune of being ineffective, while to ignore care provoke lead to potentially abusive and oppressive practice. Further to this Banks (2006) points out that the reasons for many a(prenominal) ethical dilemmas and problems stem from the social work role asa fr equent service profession dealing with vulner equal service users who need to be qualified to trust the role player and be protected from developing and likewise from its position as part of state welfare provision based on contradictory aims and values (care and controlprotection of individual rights and promotion of public welfare) that cause tensions, dilemmas and conflicts.(Banks, 2006, p.25)As Banks also points out, in practice it is the rules of the agency that bound who is to be regarded as a service user and provide the context in which the social worker operates. This, for me reflects that need to recognize the significance of secernment and oppression in service users lives and for my practice to be ethically goodly and develop a participatory approach to my practice.Considering these points helped me formulate how I was deviation to engage with BB. I had an understanding of my statutory responsibilities from a legal and policy perspective and I had an understand ing of my personal and professional values in terms of the tensions caused by care and control. Therefore, I needed to flesh a working relationship with BB which would allow me to build a theoretical understanding of the interrelationship between the individual and society. (Watson West, 2006, p.13) This would help me complete a meaningful and insightful assessment of BBs current difficulties with appropriate interventions.To complete the assessment, I took into consideration Germain and Gittermans The Life Model of Social Work Practice (1996). Payne (2005) describes this model as a formulation of the ecological systems hypothesis which is based on the relationship between populate and their environment. The aim of social work is to subjoin the fit between people and their environment by alleviating life stressors and increase peoples personal and social re ejaculates to enable them to use much and better deal strategies. Payne further points out that practice must be carried out done a partnership between worker and service user that reduces indicant differences between them. The environment and the demands of the life course should be a ceaseless agent in making decisions.By utilising Germain Gittermans life model of practice (1996) I was able to create an accepting and accessory environment by describing my role clearly to BB and encouraging BB to give her thoughts about the referral. This erected oscilloscope information about her relationship with BA and support networks she had within her own extended family and with BAs extended family. We discussed the birth of her due south child particularly in respect of how BB felt she could cope with CA as well as with the new sis. BB identified this as a business for her as she was concerned that she would not be able to manage. To make sense of this information Payne (2005) describes resources that people have in order to cope. These are self-efficacy, self-esteem and self-concept. BB had none of these activated resources available to her at this time. Coupled with this she had no self-direction in the sense she did not feel she had any control over her life.To allow me to elicit further information regarding BBs parenting skills I observed her care of CA. The My World model which draws on upon the work of Bronfenbrenner (1979) and encourages practioners to take an ecological approach to the assessment process helped me in this respect. By looking at the three domains of yield and development, what is needed from the people who look after me and my wider world I was able to elicit the positives in the situation and the areas of pressure in relation to the safety, well-being and development of the child. Further to this, attachment theory, which according to Schofield (2002) is primarily a theory for understanding (Schofield, 2002, p.29) was also useful in that although directly seeking to improve the quality of interaction between children and caregivers, the childs sen se of security, self-esteem and self-efficacy may also be increased by intervening in the systems around the family, for returncase providing social support to the start out or funding a place for the child in an activity group.A visit with BA was also organised, who although in prison presented as a significant risk factor due to alcohol consumption and increasing levels of violence, albeit the incidents were not in or near the family home and did not involve BB nor his child. BA was at first-class honours degree uncommunicative which was understandable due to the setting and nature of the visit. Trevithick (2007) suggests that asking a range of antithetic querys is central to interviewing however, before asking a question we must be interested in the answer. (Trevithick, 2007, p. 159) By careful use of open and closed questions I was able to draw out BAs views on the assessment and assoil some sense of a working relationship with him. However, what really opened the convers ation was when I commented on how CA looked very like him.BA then started to talk about CA and how he was looking forward to the birth of his next baby. During the course of the visit I was able to understand how BA supports BB by allowing her the freedom to take care of CA while he did the cooking and looked after the house. BA went on to explain that his relationship with BB was sound however that he was aware he had let her down badly particularly as she was pregnant with his assist child. BA was aware that he had missed a lot of CA growing up and he did not want this to happen with his second child. BA was also open about the circumstances leading to his check out and he admitted that it was due to a feud between two divergent villages that had been going on since school. BA confirmed that the whole thing was gooselike and that he now realised he needed to grow up. winning into account the information gained and observations made during my visits with BB, CA and BA I was ab le to start to make sense of their environment, their strengths and pressures and the roles each of them had within the home and their community. hindrance at the initial stages of the process was I believe successful with regard to forming a working partnership with BB and to an extent with BA. Further visits with BB drew further information regarding informal support networks which in the main was her incur. BBs mother was a source of practical support and advice and they were in contact daily. BB depict her mother as her ear. Permission was sought from BB to meet with her mother. BBs mother was keen for her female child to gain support from social services as she realised how difficult her daughter was finding things at this time.To complete the assessment and take into account risk factors and strengths I had to analyse and reflect on the information I had gained. According to Helm (2009) this information needs to be analysed before an understanding is developed which allows a judgement to be organize which can lead to an appropriate decision or action. Calder (2002) further offers a framework for conducting risk assessment by assessing all areas of identified risk and ensuring that each is considered separately e.g. child, parent, and surrounding environment each worrying deportment should be assessed individually as each is likely to involve different risk factors. To counteract the risk factors present family strengths and resources should also be assessed, for example good bonding, accessory networks.After a thorough analysis and supervisory discussions I recommended that a Post-Birth Multi-Agency Conference not be convened. However, I recommended that a further assessment take place when BA returns to the family home and a Post-Birth Multi-Agency meeting to discuss time to come interventions be arranged as I was aware that the birth of the new baby could be a future pressure on BB. In line with anti-oppressive practice and partnership working, I discussed both the assessment and recommendations with BB and by letter with BA. Both were given the chance to put their views across and both were happy to continue to work voluntarily with the department for the present.The reasons behind my recommendations were that BB although socially isolated had a strong supportive network with her extended family and BAs extended family. Further to this BB has a close and supportive relationship with her mother whom she sees every day. According to Hill et al (2007) a vast array of research shows that parents in poverty, or facing other stresses, usually cope better when they have one or more close relationships outside the household and these are activated to give practical, emotional or informational support. Most often this is informal but, for isolated parents access to family centres or professionals including health professionals can make a great difference to both the parents and the social and emotional health of children. (Barlow Underdown, 2005)With regards to CA, BB had a good bond with her daughter and was quick to attend to her needs. BB also had a routine in place for CA regarding mealtimes and naps this also included a bedtime routine. CA was reaching her developmental milestones (Source Sheridans Charts). CA had age appropriate toys and had the freedom of the living area. BB had erected a baby gate to stop CA from gaining access to the kitchen and the stairs. However, since CA started walking, BB has to continually keep an eye on CA due to the open fire and residence in the living area which is proving stressful for BB.Immediate interventions included obtaining Section 22 funding to purchase a safety firebreak and information was obtained regarding BB making applications for Sure Start and Healthy Eating Grants. These applications were successfully made by BB and allowed her to purchase essential items for the new baby. BB had highlighted this as a worry for her as she was struggling financially. Working in collaboration with the Community Midwife arrangements were made for BB to make the trip to the clinic on alternate weeks when her benefits were received. The Community Midwife visited her at home the other weeks.I believe I managed to build a positive working relationship with BB. According to Wilson et al (2008) relation-based practice is the emphasis it places on the professional relationship with the service user. The social worker and service user relationship is recognised to be an important source of information for the worker to understand how best to help. In order to make informed decisions and critically label practice, reflection and analysis of information should pinch all sources of knowledge which have to be drawn upon. Further to this, a potentially more informative, relationship-based and reflective response would be to articulate the service users feelings by which the service user can acknowledge their own responses to the situation. As Fook (2002) poi nts outReflective practioners are those who can situate themselves in the context of the situation and can factor this understanding into the ways in which they practice(Fook, 2002, p.40)Banks (2006) also indicates that part of the process of becoming a reflective practioner also involves being aware of ones own position of power and how dominant discourses bring about the knowledge and values we use to describe and work with situations and practice. This has been discussed in supervision with regards to BBs Pre-Birth assessment and to visiting BA in prison.It is difficult to evaluate whether aspects of my work were effective or not. However, in supervision we discussed how keen BB was to gain support and seemed to appreciate the partnership approach. This was discussed in relation to Hill et als (2007) research and Barlow and Underdown (2005). Small aspects of my intervention, such as the provision of the safety fireguard were described by BB as a godsend and she was proud to show me the baby items she had purchased on receipt of the grants.Discussion in supervision also centred round the next stage of intervention which was after the baby was born. I discussed with BB the opportunity for CA to attend a local authority greenhouse one day per week. This would help CAs social and emotional development and at the same time allow BB to spend time with LA. This referral was successful as was gaining the services of a volunteer driver to transport CA. However, CA has only just started at the nursery and therefore difficult to gauge if this referral has been effective.Reflecting on my work overall, I should probably have explored more with BB her social closing off and worked on strategies to get her more involved in the community. Further to this resources in this village are non-existent and the parenting groups which were suitable were not available locally. BB was interested but location of the Family Centre and lack of public transport negated this. I enquir ed with regards to Outreach Work but this was not available. Discussion with other colleagues in the team reflected the same theme regarding facilities for the outlying villages. Further discussion in supervision raised(a) for me the difficulty of maintaining empowering and anti-oppressive practice within this context as assessment should be needs led not resource led.2,979 words