Research briefs
20 PRACTICE LINKS // DECEMBER 2021
DISCLOSURE OF PROFESSIONAL PARENTAL STATUS IN
CHILD PROTECTION WORK
Archard, P. J. (2020). Dynamics of professional parental status disclosure in child protection work. Journal
of Social Work Practice, 35(4), 335-352.
What is this article about?
! This article reports on a qualitative study exploring how children's services professionals experience the
suffering of parents and examines professional parental status disclosures.
! Interviews were carried out with 10 social workers working in children's services.
What are the critical findings?
! Participants were generally wary about sharing their parental status
! Contexts in which participants did / did not disclose their parental status varied
! Participants who did not have children felt it important to emphasise that things would be the same (in
relation to their practice) if they did have children.
! Participants had varying levels of insight into how their responses to questions about parental status
might be perceived - e.g. as self-protective, defensive
What are the implications for practice?
! Further consideration of how social workers develop particular views around professional self-disclosure
is needed
! There is a further need for social workers to examine other factors that may impact on their viewpoints
relating to self-disclosure e.g. organisational and team culture, broader sociocultural influences.
Methodological consideration: This study is based on interviews with a small sample of 10 social workers
in England.