Abstract

‘Risk’ has become a central concept for social work practice in countries with more developed social welfare systems. As argued by Hazel Kemshall and colleagues, ‘risk’ has often replaced ‘need’ as the main driver for social work interventions as societies seek to avoid harm to citizens. This shift of focus raises a tension between care (support for the individual or family in their own right) and control (seeking to prevent harm to themselves, each other or other citizens). This article considers some of the key developments in the 25 years since the above article, including the development of risk communication; the growing familiarity with both likelihood and severity concepts of risk; the assessment of risk as part of organisational arrangements to manage risk; and theoretical developments linking social work assessment, ‘working with risk’ and decision-making. In the first part of the article, we explore the care versus control boundary through focussing, in turn, on child and family social work, adult care services, mental health social work and criminal justice social work, and their respective developments. We then further extend two key foci regarding assessment and care planning as well as the use of professional knowledge at the care and control boundary. Our analysis of these developments points towards more nuanced approaches to managing risk and making decisions at these sometimes contentious boundaries.

摘要

在社会福利制度较发达的国家，“风险”已成为社会工作实践的核心概念。正如 Hazel Kemshall 及其同事所说，随着社会寻求避免对公民造成伤害，“风险”常常取代“需要”成为社会工作干预的主要驱动力。这种重心转移加剧了关怀（支持个人或家庭自身的权利）和控制（力求防止对自己、彼此或其他公民造成伤害）之间的紧张关系。本文考虑了自上篇文章发表以来 25 年来的一些重要发展，包括风险沟通的发展；越来越熟悉风险的可能性和严重性概念；风险评估作为组织风险管理安排的一部分；与社会工作评估相关的理论发展，“与风险一起工作”和决策。在文章的第一部分，我们依次关注儿童和家庭社会工作、成人看护服务、心理健康社会工作和刑事司法社会工作，以及它们各自的发展，探讨了关怀与控制的边界。然后，我们进一步扩展了关于评估和护理计划以及在护理和控制边界使用专业知识的两个关键焦点。我们对这些发展的分析指出了在这些有时有争议的边界上管理风险和做出决策的更细致的方法。以及各自的发展。然后，我们进一步扩展了关于评估和护理计划以及在护理和控制边界使用专业知识的两个关键焦点。我们对这些发展的分析指出了在这些有时有争议的边界上管理风险和做出决策的更细致的方法。以及各自的发展。然后，我们进一步扩展了关于评估和护理计划以及在护理和控制边界使用专业知识的两个关键焦点。我们对这些发展的分析指出了在这些有时有争议的边界上管理风险和做出决策的更细致的方法。