'Getting It Right for Every Child'. Expert Views on Multi Agency Social Work and Child Welfare in Scotland

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2015 in the subject Social Pedagogy / Social Work, , language: English, abstract: The present research focuses on investigating the potential impact of the Scottish 'Getting it Right for Every Child' (GIRFEC) program intended to improve children's welfare. GIRFEC supports multi-agency work along with the delivery of children's care and assessment processes. As GIRFEC is a tested and maintained national approach for striving to work for the betterment of the children and young people living across Scotland, the researcher will carry out a research-based study to look for the strengths and weakness since it was implemented. A qualitative study was conducted by the researcher by interviewing volunteers and social workers that have been working in children care agencies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify the research questions which were developed. The research revealed that there had been a positive and potential impact of GRIFEC for supporting multi-agency working to assist in children care. The strengths of the multi-agency cooperation included better collaboration, higher awareness of the project, better care for children, and better problem-solving by providing a combination of different social workers and volunteers to care for the children. However, at the same time the volunteers and the social workers also believe that there are certain limitations which also need to be highlighted.