Moral and Professional Dilemmas in Long-term Assessment of Children and Families

•Summary: This paper discusses some of the issues that concern social workers making long-term assessments in the light of central government criticism of inadequate assessment and use of adoptive placements. We draw partly on our research into local government use of adoption placements (Clifford et al., 2003). We also draw on our previous publications on assessment, and on related research. Our approach is therefore both empirical and theoretical. It is partly a contribution to understanding the nature of contemporary social work assessment practice, but primarily a polemic against influential misperceptions.

•Findings: Our findings are that policy-makers have notsufficiently understood the complexity of the mix of interpretation, evidence and ethical judgement involved, and that social workers inevitably struggle with moral dilemmas arising from their simultaneous responsibilities to interpret evidence and to work in close partnership with the conflicting interests of service users, of carers and of other professional colleagues.

•Applications: The application of the evidence in this paper is that policy-makers need to understand the dynamic, ethical complexity of judgements involved in social work assessment, and avoid policy development linked to misguided assumptions. The findings also underline the need for social workers to continue to pay critical attention to empirical evidence, interpretative issues and ethical considerations.