Supervision and home visits are central to social work with children and families, yet the interaction between them is rarely considered.

Given the importance that social workers place on them both, it seems strange that we tend only to evaluate the influence of supervision through its impact on social workers, without gathering any empirical evidence around whether it is directly improving the outcomes that it has on the families we support.

New research using a case study approach in two local authorities in Wales, including observations of supervisions and home visits as well as interviews with practitioners and their supervisors, is now attempting to bridge this gap.

While there is much discussion around social worker’s experiences of supervision and expectations of what supervision should be, this research goes a step further in questioning whether supervision is delivering what it should in theory be doing, or if it’s merely creating the illusion of effectiveness in a child protection system predicated by surveillance and procedure, thus fostering a culture of anxiety, fear, guilt and shame felt by practitioners, supervisors and families in different contexts.

Joining Jonny Adamson to delve into this deep discussion is the author of the doctoral thesis, Dr Lucy Treby, Associate Professor and Researcher in child protection practice and emotions, Matthew Gibson, and early career Children and Families Social Worker, Laura Harper.

They break down the study to consider many of its findings with the aim of solving the ultimate question – does good supervision correlate with better outcomes for children and families, or is that too simple an equation in what is a complex, pressurised and largely unpredictable system?

Our thanks to James Ede at BeHeard Productions for producing the episode.

The link to the research can be found here: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/149545/2/1470101%20Lucy%20Treby%20DSW%20thesis%20FINAL%20April%202022.pdf

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