Partnership with service users: the legal perspective
Learning Objectives
After considering this resource, you should understand the legislation that mandates working in partnership with service users and carers and what partnership working can achieve.
Working in partnership with service users should be a key focus of your practice. Written by Michael Preston-Shoot and Suzy Braye and based on material from their chapter 'Frameworks for partnership working' in Practising Social Work Law, 3rd edition (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), this article explores the legislation that pertains to working in partnership with service users and carers, although they acknowledge that ultimately the responsibility to create successful partnerships lies with the individual social worker.
Reflective Questions
- Do you feel the law mandates partnership working effectively or can it go further in certain areas?
- How can the power invested in the role of a social worker be used to build effective partnerships? How can it hinder the building of such partnerships?
- Consider how an effective partnership might differ if you were working with a child, a carer of an adult with learning difficulties, or an elderly woman living in a residential facility.