Parental attendance at non-accidental injury case conferences : An evaluation of policy.

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate a policy, agreed by the Sheffield Area Review Committee, to allow parents to attend case conferences for non-accidental injury. The Area Review Committee outlined the aims of the policy which were to aid the protection and promote the best interests of children on whom Review Conferences are held by involving parents in those conferences through: a) Improving the accuracy of information available to review conferences. b) Ensuring case conferences make more informed and better decisions in the best interests of the child. c) Improving the quality of treatment plans agreed at Review Conferences. d) Gaining greater commitment of parents to engage with workers in line with treatment plans. These aims were clarified by interviewing members of the Area Review Committee and evaluated by observation of case conferences using Bales Interaction Process Analysis. Subsequently, interviews with key case conference participants including the parents were carried out. Methods were chosen for their appropriateness in generating data allowing the evaluation of specific aspects of this policy to be undertaken.In effect, each case conference observed constituted an opportunity for evaluation of the policy. General conclusions were also drawn (albeit from a small sample). It was found that parents were more committed to the treatment plans but little new information came to light to improve the decisions or the treatment plans. The thesis ends with a set of recommendations to aid professionals to improve the functioning of case conferences where parents are present.