suggests that the foster carer did not have the capacity to tolerate Lyndsey’s difficult behaviour and remain responsive and sensitive towards her needs. A recommendation was for the foster care to attend training on a regular basis to attain a capacity to be reflective and supportive towards Lyndsey, instead of being reactive towards her behaviour. The child-centred approach was promoted to ensure Lyndsey was receiving sufficient appropriate care (Milner and Myers, 2007).
A positive approach to risk & personalisation (PARP) was also utilised. This is child-focused and a strength-based approach (Sanderson and Lewis, 2012). PARP advises to mitigate the negativity of risk, and to during the assessment process focus instead on the device for change (Titterton, 2005). This is important because focusing on the negativities of risk can cause an individual’s strengths, competencies, capabilities, and coping abilities to go unnoticed (Kemshall and Wilkinson, 2011).
An emphasis on Lyndsey’s capability within practice enabled her to feel empowered, and this allowed her to embrace support offered (Titterton, 2005). Critics argue that PARP can be risky in the face of complex circumstances. They argue that a significant harm posed for children cannot be downplayed (Gardner, 2014). Daisy (2012) suggest that practitioners must approach risk in these contexts with confidence, and in Lyndsey’s case, this would have ensured that Lyndsey had the capacity to change and potential harm would have been minimised.
Participation is observed as indistinguishable from engagement, which is defined as, the functionalisation of corporation and empowerment (Darlington et al., 2010). Social workers are expected to promote participation in practice to lessen power imbalances and to help service users to develop self-consciousness, self-confidence, and competency (Connolly, 2006). Lyndsey’s resistance to co-operate can be regarded as owing to her resistance to alteration and the fear that she may lose something valued through the change (Hood, 2018). The LA are understood to be considerable influencers due to their socio-political and historical context, which supports Roose et al’s (2013) standing that it is the power imbalance between service users and institutions which drives service users to perceive practitioners as either supportive or controlling. Therefore, SSW was judicious and mindful during the assessment process to encourage Lyn