BJSW Advance Access published online on October 1, 2008
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn135
Making Decisions about Who Should Be Barred from Working with Adults in Vulnerable Situations: The Need for Social Work Understanding
Martin Stevens, BA, MSc, Ph.D., is a Research Fellow, at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit (SCWRU), King's College London. His main interests lie in learning disability services, particularly in respect of challenging behaviour and in safeguarding as well as a general interest in developing mixed methods approaches. Jill Manthorpe, MA, is Professor of Social Work and Director of the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at King's College London. Her main interests lie in older people's services, including those for people with dementia and in safeguarding, and she is leader of a Department of Health-funded research programme on the social care workforce. Stephen Martineau, BA, is a Research Associate at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King's College London. His interests include the development of new roles in social care, such as support working and advocacy. Shereen Hussein, BSc, MSc, Ph.D., is a statistical demographer who has conducted research related to elder abuse, protection of older people, advocacy and people with learning disability and students' progression in higher education. She has previously worked in the Middle East with the United Nations, the Population Council and the league of Arab States contributing to research-related to child health, family planning, marriage and decision making within the family. Joan Rapaport, RSW, Ph.D., is a Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King's College London. She is a qualified social worker and has worked in statutory and voluntary settings. Her main areas of interest are carers and mental health. She is also a lay member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal and co-ordinates the Social Work History Network. Her main areas of interest are social work, carers in mental health and mental health issues. Jess Harris, BA, MSc, is a Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King's College London. Her interests include the widening of access to social work training for under-represented groups and older people's engagement in and experiences of services.
Correspondence to Dr Martin Stevens, Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King's College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK. E-mail: martin.stevens{at}kcl.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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This article reports on an element of recently completed research that aimed to explore factors leading to placement on the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) List—a barring list unique to England and Wales. A multiple methods approach was adopted, involving in-depth quantitative analysis of POVA referral records and a set of discussion groups and interviews investigating how decisions were being made. This article focuses on this latter element, setting out and discussing the overall schema for decision making resulting from the analysis, which identified an interplay between emotional and moral responses to the individual referred and evidence about the alleged misconduct. The importance of involving all stakeholders in the development of such a decision-making system is raised through the research and the implications for social workers are explored.
Keywords: Safeguarding, social care, grounded theory, regulation