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Knowledge of ‘what works’ in early-intervention family services has prompted moves away from approaches which see varied services working autonomously with individual family members, towards provision of multi-agency cross-sector programmes working at a family level. Latterly, some such programmes have adopted Restorative Approach in the belief tha...
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... Others conceptualise RJ as "a growing social movement to institutionalize non-punitive, relationship-centred approaches for avoiding and addressing harm" (Fronius et al. 2019, p. 1) but do not go on to define RP, instead talking of 'RJ practices'. Moreover, A. Williams and Segrott (2017) do not describe RP at all, instead choosing to describe restorative approaches, referencing Hopkins (2004) and the ideas of a shared philosophy and methodology of restorative justice, differing as it can "be adopted to improve the everyday environments of diverse communities and organisations as well as being used to deal with offences and problems as they arise" (A. Williams and Segrott 2017, p. 1). ...
This study is a discourse on restorative practice as a divergent epistemological ideology. It explores the field of restorative practice (RP) through thematic analysis of discursive captures from restorative practitioners and researchers within or associated with the Global Alliance for Restorative Justice and Social Justice. It includes elements of what could loosely be considered ethnographic research due to the time spent within restorative spaces, whilst analysing and processing the data. Methods include a restorative approach to research design, using online surveys as prerequisites to in-depth semi structured dialogic interviews. This led to reflexive thematic analysis, whereby three themes were constructed: the importance of congruence; evolution finding spaces for cultivation; and decentralising restorative practice through radical action. It is understood that this study takes a post positivist stance, designed to produce a discourse of participants’ views on RP as a divergent ideology. It is designed to highlight the perceptions of participants from a highly invested group and to promote a wider understanding of how RP interacts with dominant cultures. It would therefore be of interest to those implementing or growing restorative ideas within organisations.
... Recent research literature on the YAP model highlights the importance of supporting parents directly and indirectly as a way of improving children and young people's outcomes Jackson et al., 2021). Join-Lambert (2016) and Williams and Segrott (2018) have highlighted how in recent decades support services tend to involve parents in the work that is done with their children and build on the strengths and competences of parents themselves to reinforce and develop their parenting roles. Dunst and Trivette (2009) identified that having a family focus, and not just focusing on the child as the unit of intervention, enables parents to acquire the knowledge and skills to be able to cope with daily living and improve their sense of mastery and control. ...
This paper on a strengths‐based approach (SBA) to practice is based on empirical research with stakeholders involved in an intensive support programme for young people at risk and their parents in Ireland. The Youth Advocate Programme (YAP) model provides wraparound support to respond to their needs by focusing on their competencies and their coping skills and building networks of community‐based supports. The model includes parents or carers in the suite of support offered by advocates. An SBA to practice has been discussed for some time in academic literature and practice guidance. However, it tends to be considered primarily in relation to social work practice, and there is ongoing ambiguity as to what it actually involves in day‐to‐day engagement with individual family members. Insightful, rich accounts of SBAs as part of routine practice provided by young people, parents and practitioners form the basis to this paper and detail how these approaches support the development of hope‐inspiring relationships and promote positive change. Relevant literature and research situates the debate on the experience of using SBA, the wider challenges faced by families, the impact of SBA in practice on those receiving the support service and its potential for use in the wider continuum of children and family services.
... A wide range of practices are evident in the British context. Williams and Segrott (2018) have noted diverse categories of focus within family and parenting support practices in the UK: ...
This document is based upon work from COST Action 18123 European Family Support Network, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).
This report is part of a wider programme of work which aims to provide an innovative conceptual framework relevant to the delivery of family support in Europe. In order to provide insight to this project, this document presents a review of recent academic literature which considers the ways in which formal family support is conceptualised, developed and delivered in the European context.
... Accounts of using RA within family and children's services are beginning to emerge in the UK and wider; with some suggestion that its use leads to better intra-organisational environments (Tariq, 2016, Finnis, 2016Kay, 2015;Mason et al., 2017) and reduced conflict between stakeholders (Fives et al., 2013). Despite this, its use in this arena is still in need of conceptual, theoretical and practical evaluation and consideration (Williams & Segrott, 2017). In light of that, this article considers the ability of RA to effect family services by describing the findings of an evaluation of the Restorative Approach Family Engagement Project (RAFEP); a training programme for family practitioners that was recently delivered across Wales. ...
... These findings are unlikely to surprise advocates of RA who describe it as an approach that builds, sustains and improves relationships (Hopkins, 2004(Hopkins, , 2009Wachtel, 2013) or argue that the framework incorporates other strengths based, whole family approaches (Braithwaite, 2016;Williams & Segrott, 2017). It is very encouraging to gain evidence that extends these links to RA use in family support services; a field in which forming positive relationships with families is vital, and has been linked to improved outcomes (Crowther & Cowen, 2011;Munro, 2011). ...
Restorative Approach (RA) is an ethos and process that has been linked to a reduction of interpersonal conflict and improved relationships in various service settings but whose use is little explored in family services. This paper describes the findings of an evaluation of a training programme; The Restorative Approaches Family Engagement Project that was delivered to voluntary sector family practitioners across Wales with the intent of increasing the use of RA amongst practitioners and agencies, raising practitioner confidence when working with vulnerable families, and improving the extent to which and how practitioners engage with families. The study employed mixed methods. Quantitative measures investigated pre- and post- training practitioner perceptions of confidence, levels of family engagement, and organisational attitudes to RA. Post-training focus groups explored practitioner opinion of RAFEP and perceived changes to service delivery and receipt. Findings suggest RAFEP training promoted practitioner understanding of RA and increased perceptions of confidence when working with families in four specific aspects: developing positive relationships with service users, increasing communication, identifying service user needs/goals, and facilitating change. Qualitative data indicated that practitioners attributed the increased confidence to the service delivery framework engendered by the training and associated tools which facilitated its use and improved family engagement. Whilst host organisations were generally supportive of practitioners attending RAFEP training there was little evidence that knowledge and use of RA had been fully integrated into practitioner host agencies unless the organisation had previously used a restorative ethos.
Family support services, an integral part of many welfare systems across the developed world, have witnessed a growing demand for the use of relationship and strengths‐based whole‐family approaches in the belief that this increases service engagement and effect. Despite this, knowledge that delivering services using such approaches can be challenging and calls for the identification and exploration of methods likely to promote and sustain their use. Restorative approach is an ethos and method centred on building and sustaining positive relationships, which is increasingly being adopted in family and children's services in the United Kingdom. Despite this, the scarcity of research conducted in this area as yet, means little is known of its use and effect in this context. This article draws on empirical data collected in a wider study exploring the efficacy of different family service delivery models to describe the use of restorative approach in family service provision and determine whether its adoption promotes sustained use of strengths and relationship‐based whole‐family approaches when working with families. Furthermore, it explores whether the process incorporates wider evidence‐based methods of change.
