The Voice of the Child in Social Work Assessments: Age-Appropriate Communication with Children:
This article describes a child-centred method for engaging with children involved in the child protection and welfare system.
Recorded 21st July 2016
Contributors
Author: Lisa O’Reilly and Pat Dolan
Publisher: The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 46, Issue 5, Pages 1191–1207
Date: 2015
Geographic Coverage: Ireland
Type of Resource: Report
Sector/setting: Care
Vulnerable groups: Children with disabilities
Developed with children and young people? Not specified
Type of participation: N/A
Availability: Open Access
Keywords: Abuse and/or neglect, Child protection and welfare assessments, Child-centred, Communication
Introduction
One of the primary arguments underpinning this research is that social workers need to be skilled communicators to engage with children about deeply personal and painful issues. There is a wide range of research that maintains play is the language of children and the most effective way to learn about children is through their play. Considering this, the overarching aim of this study was to investigate the role of play skills in supporting communication between children and social workers during child protection and welfare assessments.