In the past 20 years, social change and expectations for both maternal and paternal responsibilities have highlighted the need for services for families to better understand the role of a father in family relationships. In Australia, as well as internationally, there have been many contested understandings about what constitutes ‘good fathering’ in research, social media and in the political sphere. More specifically, there has also been an emerging trend to understand the challenging task of recruiting and maintaining men’s involvement in child and family services programmes, particularly those fathers who are deemed a risk to children and mothers, violent or have been separated from their children. That many child and family/welfare services have exercised dedicated effort to work with fathers is still a relatively recent phenomenon, and has only emerged following criticism that services have been too geared towards working only with mothers. Despite this increasing interest, there is still ongoing need for more research to be undertaken in Australia. An important area of focus is the views of professionals about their perception and engagement of fathers, particularly the views of fathers who are described as being absent from family-based services. The purpose of this article is to report briefly on a study undertaken to examine how child and family welfare workers engage fathers in their work. First, this paper will describe some of the social and health benefits to fathers and their children, focusing on the key role of attachment through play. Research into effective service delivery involving fathers will then be presented, concluding with key practice factors necessary for fathers to be involved in family life.

These elearning resources use audio, video and interactive technology to assist in exploring parental substance misuse, its effects on children and parenting capacity and the implications for social work practitioners.

Explores the implications that parental substance misuse has for social work practice and to recognise when an assessment is needed.

Explores how parenting capacity may be compromised and how children may be affected by parental substance misuse.

An introduction to the different types of substances commonly misused and the effects that these may have on the people taking them.

The evaluation of everyday multi-professional intervention to safeguard and promote the well-being of vulnerable children is limited and restricts both operational planning and professional intervention. The core aim of this programme are to contribute to the development of a platform that will support better understanding of the routes from intervention to outcomes for vulnerable children through utilising administrative datasets and longitudinal research. Phil Raines is the Head of the Child Protection Policy Team in the Scottish Government and is leading the work around the change and updating of the Scottish Child Protection guidelines. Over his seven years in the Scottish civil service and prior to his current role, he has also held posts in European Structural Funds and economic strategy implementation. His presentation title is: "the Scottish context: gaps in understanding what’s effective in meeting children’s needs for care and protection"

The evaluation of everyday multi-professional intervention to safeguard and promote the well-being of vulnerable children is limited and restricts both operational planning and professional intervention. The core aim of this programme are to contribute to the development of a platform that will support better understanding of the routes from intervention to outcomes for vulnerable children through utilising administrative datasets and longitudinal research. Gary Sutton's presentation title was "National statistical data returns: linking individual data for looked after children".

Anxiety and child protection - implications for practice. Janice McGhee, Senior Lecture and Lorraine Waterhouse, Professor, University of Edinburgh.

Longitudinal research seminar took place The Scottish Universities Insight Institute, Glasgow, on the 20th and 21st of April 2011. The intention was to identify the core constituents of a robust longitudinal design that would be fit for the evaluation of the efficacy of everyday professional intervention aimed at improving the lives of vulnerable children. The intention was also to explore the type and range of data that is required to capture fundamental aspects of everyday multi-professional intervention and child well-being. On the basis of this we identify the most appropriate measures to capture intervention and child well-being and develop a robust analytical package for capturing outcomes over the short, medium and longer term. Key issues for longitudinal research design: lessons from Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) . Paul Bradshaw, Scottish Centre for Social Research

Making Sense Of Child & Family Assessment. Contemporary issues in child protection seminar series, Duncan Helm at Perth Concert Hall

Published by the National CAHMS Support Service, this document brings together guidance, best practice examples, case studies, resources and literature to help tackle the stigma associated with children's and young people's mental health.

The COPMI national initiative in Australia has developed an on-line workforce education resource in association with parents with mental health problems and their carers (including young people), called ‘Keeping Families and Children In Mind'. The involvement of consumers of mental health services and their carers was pivotal to the success and ‘user friendliness' of the resource and it contains a large number of video and audio clips of parents and carers. Although not a UK resource, may be of use in teaching.

This Handbook is designed to provide basic knowledge and awareness of the facts and issues behind self-harm in children and young people, with advice about ways staff in children's services can respond. May be used by learners on their own, and hence supplement classroom based activity.

A collection of images suitable for use in social work training. These images have Creative Commons licences and may be freely used for non-commercial purposes.

Alan Sinclair was talking at the Scottish Attachment in Action conference held in Falkirk, September, 2010

Between 1869 and 1939 over 100,000 children were migrated from the United Kingdom to Canada by British philanthropic organisations. Although they were described — in the parlance of the Victorian era — as ‘orphans, waifs and strays’, in fact around two-thirds had at least one surviving parent and most were from families experiencing extreme poverty. Once they arrived in Canada, the younger children were adopted, the older children committed as indentured labourers. The Scottish philanthropist William Quarrier (1829-1903) through his Orphan Homes of Scotland was involved in the migration of 7,000 of these ‘Home Children’. This is their story.

The objective of this learning object is to understand the concept of ‘resilience’ and the value of ‘protective factors’ in planning to support vulnerable children. This resource contains information on risk, research evidence, protective factors and the ecological model as well as resilient children and protective environments

The objective of this learning object is to enable students to understand the basic principles of attachment theory and its importance for practice. This resource defines attachment, examines the components of attachment theory, patterns of attachment behaviour as well as attachment, abuse and neglect.

In this resource you will have the opportunity to explore how children communicate through their behaviour and learn some techniques for managing challenging behaviour. You will also explore the importance of reflecting and learning from interventions. This resource aims to increase your understanding of: •the notion of behaviour as communication. •how you can manage challenging behaviour in a planned way. •key issues with regards conflict resolution, diverting and de-escalating challenging situations and restraint. •tools and techniques for conflict resolution, diverting and de-escalating challenging situations and restraint. •the key stage of debriefing

This resource invites you to explore the needs children in residential child care may have and then offers you a range of practical activities you can use with a child you know well. This resource aims to increase your understanding of: 1. the concerns that young people often have when entering residential child care 2. how you can help young people achieve positive outcomes 3. how you can ensure young people: 1.stay safe and secure 2.stay healthy 3.are able to stay in touch with those who are important to them 4.enjoy and achieve 5.have a say, get involved and make a positive contribution

This resource provides an interactive pathway through key introductory aspects of residential child care. By the end of this resource you should have a better understanding of: •the number of children in residential child care in the UK •different types of care environments in the UK and the broad needs they may address •positive and negative views of residential child care •children’s legislation and rights •attitudes and beliefs towards children’s rights

An introduction to different residential care settings, the needs that children may have in care, young people's own concerns, interpreting and acting on children's behaviour, helping children meet the outcomes of 'Every child matters', key legislation and managing challenging behaviour.

This resource presents you with six scenarios that you can use to explore different approaches to practice with children of prisoners. For each you can choose the course of action which you feel is most appropriate and receive feedback on your choices. This resource will further your understanding of: 1.different approaches to working with children of prisoners 2.key resources available to professionals working in this area 3.how you might develop your own practice, as well as that of others with whom you work

This resource introduces you to an interactive pathway through the criminal justice system and along the way you will learn about key professionals, their roles and responsibilities and key resources and services available. This resource will further your understanding of: 1.the pathway through the Criminal Justice System encompassing the stages of arrest, court, prison sentence and release 2.the voluntary sector services and resources that are available at each stage of the pathway 3.the roles and responsibilities at each stage of the pathway for: 4.police officers 5.social workers – children’s service 6.behavioural support workers 7.Sure Start children’s centre staff 8.probation officers

This resource provides an introduction to the experience of having a parent in prison through the use of video footage. There is then a quiz to test your knowledge of key facts and figures relating to this area. By the end of this resource you should have a better understanding of: • Who children of prisoners are and what they may have to go through • Why it is important to know about these children • How many children are affected • The social and emotional impact of parental imprisonment on a child • Key facts and figures • Legislation and how it relates to this group

These e-Learning resources provide the user with an engaging introduction to the significant, but unknown, number of children who are affected by the loss of a parent or carer to prison