Profile

Dr Donald Forrester, Reader in Child Welfare and Director of the Child and Family Welfare Research Unit

I qualified as a social worker in 1992 and practised in child and family work, primarily in Southwark but for one year with the Family Welfare Association, from 1992 to 1999.

Most of my research interests relate to dilemmas or challenges that arose for me as a practitioner during this period.

For example, some of the key questions that bothered me as a practitioner and motivate me as a researcher include:

• How should professionals assess and intervene when parents misuse drugs or alcohol? In particular, how should we make difficult decisions such as removing (or returning) a child?
• What works in engaging parents when there are child protection issues – including those relating to alcohol or drug misuse? And what evidence is there for the effectiveness of different approaches?
• How accurate are initial social work assessments? And how could they be improved?
• More generally, what works in intervening to help families?
• What works best for children who have to be removed from their families? Where should they live? Who should they have contact with?

My experience as a researcher and lecturer at Sussex, Goldsmiths and Brunel Universities from 1999 to 2007 has led me to be interested in new issues, including:

• How should we train professionals? In particular, what skills do social workers need and how are they best learnt?
• In what ways can quantitative methods be used in social work and social care? I am particularly interested in the development of experimental and quasi-experimental methods, as these are currently rarely used.
• I am also involved in an ongoing collaboration with two Jordanian Universities (Al Balqa and Hashemite) aimed at supporting the development of social work education in Jordan, and am interested in developing dialogue around social work issues between British and Arab social workers, academics and policy-makers.

My work tends to have direct implications for practice, teaching and policy and as a result I am regularly asked to speak at conferences and other dissemination events. It has also been reported in The Times, Sunday Times, Community Care, BBC news and other media.

I started at the University of Bedfordshire in July 2007. Part of my role involves coordinating the University's  involvement in the Making Research Count initiative

I am also Director of the Child and Family Welfare Research Unit and am taking the lead in developing a professional doctorate in Children’s Services and Welfare.

If you would like to know more about any of these areas, or might be interested in postgraduate study, do contact me at donald.forrester@beds.ac.uk

Research interests and publications

In exploring the areas above I have obtained grants from the Nuffield Foundation, The Alcohol Education and Research Council (AERC), the British Council, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Publications

• Forrester, D. (2000) "Parental Substance Misuse and Child Protection in a British Sample", Child Abuse Review, Vol 9, pp 235 – 246
• Forrester D. and Harwin, J. (2000) "Measuring Children’s Rights Globally: Can Child Abuse be Measured Internationally?" Child Abuse Review, Vol 9, pp 427 - 438.
• Harwin, J. and Forrester D. (2000) "Measuring Child Rights Around the World" Representing Children, Vol 12, pp 121 – 136.
• Harwin, J., Owen, M., Locke, R. and Forrester, D. (2003) Making Care Orders Work, The Stationery Office, London
• Forrester, D. (2004) "Social Work Assessments When Parents Misuse Drugs or Alcohol" in Phillips, R (ed), Children exposed to parental substance misuse: Implications for family placement, BAAF: London
• Forrester, D and Harwin, J. (2004) "Social Work and Parental Substance Misuse" in Phillips, R (ed), Children exposed to parental substance misuse: Implications for family placement, BAAF: London
• Forrester, D. and Harwin J. (2006) “Parental substance misuse and child care social work: Findings from the first stage of a study of 100 families”, Child and family social work, 11, pp 325-335
• Forrester, D. (2006) Patterns of Re-referral to Social Services: A Study of 400 Closed Cases, Child and Family Social Work , 12, pp 11–21
• Forrester, D, McCambridge, J., Waissbein, C., Rollnick, S. and Strang, J (2006) Child risk and parental resistance: can motivational interviewing improve the practice of social workers with parental alcohol misuse, Report for the Alcohol Education Research Council, January 2006
• Forrester, D, McCambridge, J., Waissbein, C., Rollnick, S. and Strang, J (2006) Child risk and parental resistance: can motivational interviewing improve the practice of social workers with parental alcohol misuse?, Alcohol Insight Briefing Paper, for the Alcohol Education Research Council, January www.aerc.org.uk
• Forrester, D, McCambridge, J., Waissbein, C., Emlyn-Jones, R. and Rollnick, S. (2007) Child risk and parental resistance: the impact of training social workers motivational interviewing, British Journal of Social Work, Advance Access published on February 7, 2007. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcl394
• Forrester, D., Pokhrel, S., McDonald, L., Giannou, D., Waissbein, C., Binnie, C., Jensch, G. and Copello, A. (2007) Final Report on the Evaluation of “Option 2”, Welsh Assembly Government
• Forrester, D., Goodman, G., Cocker, C., Binnie, C., and Jensch, G. (2007) Does Care Work? A Focussed Literature Review on Welfare Outcomes for Children Who Enter Care, Welsh Assembly Government
• Forrester, D, McCambridge, J., Waissbein, C. and Rollnick, S. (in press, 2007) How do child and family social workers talk to parents about child protection issues?, Child Abuse Review
• Forrester, D, McCambridge, J., Waissbein, C. and Strang, J (2007) What is the extent and nature of quantitative research in British social work?, Research Note, International Social Work, 50: 265-271
• Forrester, D., Kershaw, S., Moss, H. and Hughes, L. (2007) How do social workers talk to parents about child welfare issues? Child and Family Social Work Advance Access, published on 15 August 2007 www.blackwell-synergy.com
• Forrester, D. and Harwin, J. (2007) Outcomes for children whose parents misuse drugs or alcohol: a 2-year follow-up study, British Journal of Social Work Advance Access published on August 5th, 2007 http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/bcm051v1
• Forrester, D., Fairtlough, A. and Bennet, Y (in press, 2007) Approaches to defining need in children’s services, Journal of Children’s Services
• Forrester, D. (under consideration) Re-referral for Significant Harm: A Study of 400 Cases Closed by English Social Services’ Departments
• Forrester, D. and Harwin, J. (forthcoming, 2008) Parents who misuse drugs or alcohol. Effective interventions in social work and child protection, Wileys; Chichester
• Forrester, D., Shemmings, D. and Shemmings, Y. (due 2009) What works in family support, Policy Press

I am currently writing-up a number of articles as well as the two books noted above. Forthcoming articles will consider:

• social work in Jordan,
• outcomes for children in care and the effectiveness of the care system,
• a review and evaluation of interventions to prevent children entering care,
• a qualitative analysis of how social workers talk to parents about child protection issues.