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• Summary: This paper explores how medical knowledge in child protection practice operates, in conjunction with social work knowledge and legal knowledge, as a social process of constructing meaning as 'maltreatment' (or not) in which the physical body of the child and perceived abnormalities represent 'evidence'. Through discourse analysis of two case studies, this paper makes explicit and problematizes the social processes by which meanings are given by medical practitioners, social workers, police and parents to material experiences, the preference given to some meanings over others, and the econsequences of particular meanings for children and families and social work practice. • Findings: Medical, social and legal knowledge are not neutral but embedded in power relations. The case studies show, through a sociological analysis of professional practice in child protection, how preferred versions of knowledge and meaning may override or dismiss alternative meanings, with particular consequences for parents and children and for practice outcomes. • Applications: The case studies offer opportunities by which critically to engage with child protection knowledge, policy and practice in keeping with contemporary approaches that advocate dialogue, critical reflection and reflexivity, so that professional knowledge and professional power may be deployed constructively rather than oppressively.

Social constructionism offers valuable insights into the study of social problems for example, poverty, homelessness, crime and delinquency, including how social phenomena 'become' social problems, through social processes of interaction and interpretation. The social construction of child maltreatment has recently emerged as a site of scholarly inquiry and critique. This paper explores through three case studies how 'responsibility for child maltreatment' is constructed in child protection practice, with a specific focus on how 'responsibility' may also be gendered. In particular, how is gender associated with responsibility, such that the identity-pair, 'responsible mothers, invisible men', is a highly likely outcome as claimed in feminist literature? What other assumptions about 'identities of risk' or 'dangerousness' articulate with patriarchy and influence how responsibility is constructed? The case studies explore normally invisible processes by which social categories become 'fact', 'knowledge' and 'truth'. Furthermore, the social construction of 'responsibility for child maltreatment' is extended by a reflexive analysis of my own constructionist practices, as researcher/writer in claims making. The analysis offers an insight into the dynamic and dialectical relationship between professional and organisational knowledge and practice, allowing for a critique of knowledge itself, the basis for the claims made and possible alternative ways of knowing.

Traditionally, social research is represented as a neutral (objective) search for knowledge as an entity, for which claims of 'reliability', 'validity' and 'credibility' may be made if the researcher follows prescribed techniques of inquiry. From this perspective, techniques of inquiry may cause harm to informants who are subjected to the process of inquiry. Therefore, ethical research is about the legal and moral protection of subjects from the researcher's techniques of inquiry. The research relationship is constituted as one between 'powerful researcher' and 'powerless researched'. Alternative views which foreground the researcher (and informants') subjectivities as positioned sites of power challenge the unitary identities of 'more powerful researcher' and 'less powerful researched'. In this paper I show through reflection on my PhD research, how the identities of 'researcher' and 'researched' are fluid, dynamic relations of power, by which 'knowledge' is achieved through processes of negotiation and access to 'sites of knowledge/power'. From this perspective, knowledge is not an entity for which definitive claims of 'reliability', 'validity' and 'credibility' can be made. Nor are 'research ethics' simply the responsibility of the researcher but instead are complex and shifting micropractices of power/knowledge between 'researcher' and 'researched'.

'A lucid and an insightful book that the novice and the more established student will find equally thought provoking and engaging. It prepares research-minded social work students and practitioners to stay true to their professional values by becoming critically reflective researchers, able to question and produce knowledge which can help empower the people they serve' - Surinder Guru, Lecturer, University of Birmingham

Summary Consumer participation in decision making and evaluation of services has been a significant theme in social work and other caring professions for over 20 years. This article reflects on a qualitative research study that was conceptualised within participatory principles. It critically examines key features that emerged as challenges to the ideals of participatory research with parents and grandparents about their experiences with child protection services in Victoria, Australia. Findings The features examined are differentiated between the visible and familiar and the invisible, often emergent, aspects of social work research. We critically examine the ways in which the visible and invisible features as situated dimensions of social work research may shape how and whether the ideals of participatory research can be achieved. We discuss tensions in the process that have no clear 'solutions'. Instead, we identify the importance of mindfulness and reflexive practice by researchers to find their way through these potential ethical and legal minefields. Applications We conclude that while social workers must continue to strive for participation by a range of service users in knowledge generation, we must also critically examine and theorise the meaning of participatory research and the idealised images of consumers and service users to improve such practice. An awareness of situated ethics as a location of the self in interaction with others is essential to promote ongoing reflexive practice throughout all stages of research.

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses a small pilot study with Anglo‐Australian children aged 6 to 8 years. The children expressed through stories of what it meant for them when parents love and care for their children, and when they do not. Themes from stories of parental love and care included: relationships, shared special times, being safe and protected, and physical affection. Stories about parents who did not love or care for their children covered themes of abandonment, isolation and sadness. The study contributes an approach that can improve professional practice with children and early outcomes showing the importance of seeking children's perspectives in decision‐making about their welfare.

ABSTRACTThe 'child' in child welfare/protection is seen as a dependent waif and an object of interest, on whose behalf adults speak and act. An alternative perspective has argued for child‐centredness, and includes concepts of child liberation, rights and citizenship. Policymakers and practitioners who may accept the underlying principles may be concerned about the appropriateness and applicability of such principles in relation to practice with children and their parents in child welfare/protection cases. This paper discusses a conceptual framework for research that aims to explore participatory and child‐centred professional practice by critically evaluating and developing, for professional practice, the practical meanings of 'participatory' and 'children as citizens'. We do not present research outcomes based on empirical data; instead, we present our conceptual framework as the first stage of research in progress into participatory and child‐centred professional practice.