Abstract
The heavily promoted Looking After Children: Good Parenting, Good Outcomes (LAC) project continues to exert a powerful influence on social work in the UK and elsewhere. Despite the repeated assertions that the documentation associated with LAC is embedded in 'objective' research, this not sustainable on account of the failure of the researchers to interrogate their own normative assumptions and judgements. Specific criticisms can also be levelled at the 'community study' connected to the evolution of the Action and Assessment Records (AARs) which are the key part of the scheme. The system should also be viewed in the context of wider pre-occupations about 'outcomes'. In addition, the project needs to be politically situated and the researchers' relationship with the Department of Health should be more fully explored. In conclusion, it is suggested that the LAC experience contains important 'messages' for the future of social work research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 831-846 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | British Journal of Social Work |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2002 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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