Human services research article discussion

Human Services Research Article Discussion “ An examination of the factors that facilitate and hinder the care planning process for very young children in Scotland”
Abstract
The article concerned the placement of young children into foster care and what affect removal from their families would be to their development, both mental and physical. Although the authors discussed Scottish laws and based their article on kids there, they used international references and it was a very clear piece that illustrated their point very well, which was that children, especially babies should not be removed from their birth parents until all recourses had been exhausted. If they are than the process should be completed before the infant is six months old (P 33). Although the authors tried to impress upon the appropriate governments of taking the children’s well-being into account, there was no bias as set forth in the APA Publication Manual (Emory). Active voice was utilized and there were no racial lines discussed, as it can be assumed that the article encompassed all children “ in care”.
Discussion
As Ms. Davidson is a social services manager and Dr. McKenzie is a clinical psychologist, both women are well versed in the subject matter. They were comprehensive in interviewing other social workers in the field. The actual study was conducted in a mostly rural area of the country which had seen an astronomical increase in small children (under one year old) being placed in care. Social workers seemed to be both harried and stymied by an overloaded system and most of the time the services put in place for the parents (alcohol, drug, and mental heath therapy) collided with the children’s needs, so that even though the case workers were aware of the child’s developmental milestone needs, the procedures were delayed by the legal system (P 36).
The conclusions reached included the fact that even though workers had as much as twenty seven years of experience they could be better trained to deal with the greater influx of infants and babies requiring foster care and the special considerations that age group requires. This was supported by the social workers themselves in the body of the study. Even the authors admitted the small number of children studied (eighteen) was disproportionate to the numbers nationwide and the study was maybe not representative of Scotland as a whole. For instance, they could have expanded the study to include what developmental delays occur when cultural lines are crossed, such as children being placed in a home of a different race than their own. Another good study for this would be the ability to thrive of those children placed from Eastern European countries such as Romania and Russia.
The findings are not misleading for the authors examined all sides of the issue and reported what the studies found. The fact Ms Davidson is a manager shows the lack of bias, for another one of the findings is the lack of training experience of the supervisors (P 37). There is only one table which shows the various factors which either hampered or assisted in the foster care system.
References
Davidson, Linda, and McKenzie, Karen, (2010). An examination of the factors that facilitate and hinder the care planning process for very young children in Scotland. ADOPTION & FOSTERING VOLUME 34 (1) Pages 33-40.
Emory University (NA) Reducing Bias in Language http://des. emory. edu/mfp/APA/APAbias. PDF.
Angeli, Elisabeth et al (2011) Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition. Purdue Online Writing Lab, http://owl. english. purdue. edu/owl/section/2/10/.