School of Sociology and Social Policy
 

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Siobhan Laird

Associate Professor in Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences

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Biography

Siobhan worked as a welfare rights adviser and a residential care worker for young people before qualifying. She obtained her Post-Graduate Diploma in Social Work in 1994 training in mental health and child protection. She has worked in Adult Social Care, assisting people with physical disabilities and mental health needs. Siobhan also holds a M.Sc. in Guidance & Counselling awarded in 1997 and has practiced as a counsellor in the voluntary sector. .

In 1997 Siobhan took up an academic appointment at the University of Ghana, where she became Head of Social Work. On her return to the United Kingdom in 2000 she completed a Ph.D. in Social Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She lectured at the University of Sheffield for several years where she obtained her Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in 2007 before taking up an academic appointment at the University of Nottingham in 2008. Siobhan has published widely on child protection in an international context and has written several books on cultural competence in social work practice. Based on an analysis of Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, she produced a book which investigated the management of conflict and resistance in child protection practice.

Based on her research Siobhan recently created an e-learning CPD on working with cultural diversity in safeguarding children together with Dr. Cath Williams. This e-learning module is being rolled out by some Social Work Teaching Partnerships to their Children's Social Care practitioners.

Siobhan is a registered social worker and the safeguarding lead on the Board of Trustees for a large Wildlife organisation working with children and adults to deliver programmes around nature connection, green prescribing and mental health improvement. In 2021 she was appointed as the external examiner at Queen's University Belfast for their post-qualifying M.Sc. in Social Work with Children, Young People and Families. Siobhan also sits on the Environmental Sustainability sub-Committee of the Executive Board of the University of Nottingham and various related working groups.

PhD Supervision

Siobhan supervises international and home doctoral students researching on a wide range of subject areas including: the care needs of older people in Thailand; young care leavers in China; care leavers and education in the UK and climate related disaster management in Oman. She is interested in potential PhD applicants focussing on: cross-cultural aspects of health or social care; the impacts of climate change on mental and physical health; and child protection social work. She is also keen to support doctoral students researching on conflict within families and between professionals and family members.

ORCID ID 0000-0002-1918-7585

Expertise Summary

During her work in Ghana, Siobhan acted as consultant to the Danish Embassy on welfare provision for street children. She continues to research and publish on child welfare and protection in the sub-Saharan region. She has led a project to conduct a national survey of the views and experiences of children in care on behalf of the Office of the Children's Commissioner in the UK. Siobhan was a member of the International Relations Advisory Panel of the British Association of Social Workers and the JUCSWEC International Sub-committee.She continues to be engaged in research concerning cross-cultural social work and managing conflict in child protection practice.

Research Summary

Dr. Laird's study of serious case reviews reveals the extent to which conflict between social workers and family members can detrimentally affect child protection practice. She continues to conduct… read more

Recent Publications

  • LAIRD, S.E. and WILLIAMS, C., 2023. An Applied Model of Cultural Competence Journal of Social Work. 23(4),
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2020. Child Protection Social Work with Families from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Backgrounds In: Migrating World: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Migration and Integration, St Anne's College, University of Oxford, Oxford 22nd February.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2019. Supporting Asylum Seeking, Refugee and Migrant Families while Protecting Children in an Era of Decreasing Entitlements and Services In: Migrating World: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Migration and Integration, London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Greenwich, London, 26 March.
  • LAIRD, S.E. and TEDAM, P., 2019. Cultural Diversity in Child Protection: Cultural Competence in Practice Palgrave Macmillian.

Current Research

Dr. Laird's study of serious case reviews reveals the extent to which conflict between social workers and family members can detrimentally affect child protection practice. She continues to conduct work to identify the salient features of conflict and resistance in the interactions between professionals and parents during child protection interventions and to design conflict management strategies. She also has a research focus on social work in cross-cultural contexts, particularly in relation to child protection. This has included finding out from black and minority ethnic communities how they might best be engaged in user-led projects or as research participants. In addition, Dr. Laird's research examines dominant social constructions of childhood through the ethnocentric assumptions embedded in the approaches of multilateral organizations to child welfare policy in developing countries. Her research interrogates the contradictions created for social work practice in African countries when national child protection laws and policies reflect Anglo-centric norms. Currently Dr. Laird is undertaking a series of evaluations of child protection practices introduced by a number of local authorities in England.

  • LAIRD, S.E. and WILLIAMS, C., 2023. An Applied Model of Cultural Competence Journal of Social Work. 23(4),
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2020. Child Protection Social Work with Families from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Backgrounds In: Migrating World: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Migration and Integration, St Anne's College, University of Oxford, Oxford 22nd February.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2019. Supporting Asylum Seeking, Refugee and Migrant Families while Protecting Children in an Era of Decreasing Entitlements and Services In: Migrating World: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Migration and Integration, London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Greenwich, London, 26 March.
  • LAIRD, S.E. and TEDAM, P., 2019. Cultural Diversity in Child Protection: Cultural Competence in Practice Palgrave Macmillian.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2019. The Critical Case Approach to Serious Case Reviews of Children Significantly Harmed or Killed In: European Conference for Social Work Research, KU Leuven University, Belgium, 10-12 April.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2018. Preparing for Brexit: Developing Social Work Education for Work with Migrant Families In: Social Work Education and Social Development Conference Dublin 4-7 July.
  • LAIRD, S.E., MORRIS, K., ARCHARD, P. and CLAWSON, R., 2017. Changing practice: the possibilities and limits for reshaping social work practice Qualitative Social Work.
  • LAIRD, S.E., MORRIS, K., ARCHARD, P. and CLAWSON, R., 2017. Working with the whole family: what case files tell us about social work practices Child & Family Social Work.
  • MORRIS, K., ARCHARD, P. J., LAIRD, S.E. and CLAWSON, R., 2017. Family experiences of children's social care involvement following a social work change programme Journal of Social Work Practice.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2017. Brexit: Investigating the Implications for Curriculum Development and Teaching on Diversity In: Social Work Education in Europe: Challenging Boundaries, Promoting a Sustainable Furture, EASSW-UNAFORIS European Conference, Paris Descartes University, Paris, 26-29 June.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2016. Protecting children from nutritional and medical neglect in sub-Saharan Africa: A five-country study International Journal of Social Welfare. 25(1), 47-57
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2016. Relationships of looked after children with professionals in a time of austerity In: Children and Young People in a Changing World: Action, Agency and Participation, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, 23-24th June.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2016. Children’s and young people’s views on how to improve the State child care system in England In: Together Towards a Better World for Children, Adolescents and Families, 33rd FICE Congress & 2nd CYC World Conference, University of Applied Sciences FH Campus Vienna, Austria 22-25 August.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2016. Representations of the family’s voice in serious case reviews of child maltreatment: applying discourse analysis to technologies of practice In: Ties that Bind for Social Work: Late Modernity, Social Capital and Community, 6th International Conference of Sociology and Social Work, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Zwolle, The Netherlands 25-26 August.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2015. Improving child protection practice with highly resistant families In: 9th BASPCAN International Conference, University of Edinburgh, 12-15th April.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2015. Involving the family in the serious case review process In: 8th National Conference on Serious Case Reviews, ICO Conference Center, London, 21st May.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2015. Child neglect and the construction of childhood in sub-Saharan Africa In: New Directions in Critical Sociology and Social Work, 5th International Conference on Sociology and Social Work, University of Chester, Chester, 26-27th August.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2015. Improving child protection practice with families affected domestic abuse In: European Conference on Domestic Violence, Queens University Belfast, 6-9 September.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2014. The law, professional ethics and anti-oppressive social work. In: COCKER, C. and HAFFORD-LETCHFIELD, T., eds., Rethinking Anti-Discriminatory & Anti-Oppressive Theories for Social Work Practice PalgraveMacmillan. 45-59
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2014. Working with conflict, hostility and aggressive behaviour in child protection practice In: British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Regional Seminar, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, 18th November.
  • RICHARDSON, E. and LAIRD, S.E., 2013. Involving carers from minority ethnic backgrounds in carer-led research Disability & Society. 28(1), 67-80
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2013. Child Protection: Managing Conflict, Hostility and Aggression The Policy Press.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2013. New Approaches to Race, Ethnicity, Culture and Faith in Contemporary Anti-oppressive Practice In: Joint Social Work Education Conference and UK Social Work Research Conference Royal Holloway, University of London 10th-12th July.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2012. The construction of the child in Ghanaian welfare policy. In: TWUM-DANSO, A. and AME, R., eds., Childhoods at the intersection of the local and the global Palgrave Macmillan. 94-118
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2011. Enforcing the law on child maintenance in sub-Saharan Africa: a case study of Ghana International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family. 25(2), 220-243
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2011. Social work with children and families in Ghana: negotiating tradition and modernity Child & Family Social Work. 16(4), 434-443
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2011. Complaints are a form of intimidation too Community Care. 6th October, 17
  • LAIRD, S.E. and RICHARDSON, E., 2011. User and carer perspectives on the research process In: European Conference for Social Work Education, St Catherine's College, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom. 23-25 March.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2010. Practical Social Work Law; Analysing Court Cases and Inquiries Pearson Education.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2008. Anti-Oppressive Social Work: A Guide for Developing Cultural Competence Sage.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2008. Social Work Practice to Support Survival Strategies in Africa British Journal of Social Work. 38(1), 135-151
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2008. The Place of Culture in Anti-Oppressive Practice with Refugees, Economic Migrants and Asylum Seekers In: JUSWEC Social Work Education Conference Homerton College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, United Kingdom. 9-11 July.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2007. Rolling back the African State: implications for social development in Ghana Social Policy and Administration. 41(5), 465-486
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2007. The Application of African Practice Models to the Social Problems of Emergent Democracies. In: KLASSEN, M., BORMANN, S. and SPATSCHECK, C., eds., International Social Work: Social Problems, Cultural Issues and Social Work Education Barbara Budrich. 19-35
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2007. Voluntarism in Community Based Development: A Critique from Ghana In: Social Policy Association Conference, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom. 23-25 July.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2006. Teaching Social Work as a Foreign Language Teaching in Higher Education. 11(3), 381-386
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2006. Should we listen to each other? The hazards of cross-national social work In: Social Work International Practice Education Conference Sheffield, United Kingdom. 19 September.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2006. Developing the National Curriculum in Britain: An International Perspective from Ghana In: JUSWEC Social Work Education Conference Homerton College, Cambridge University, United Kingdom. 12-14 July.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2005. International child welfare: deconstructing UNICEF’s Country Programmes Social Policy & Society. 4(4), 457-466
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2004. Inter-ethnic conflict: a role for social work in sub-Saharan Africa Social Work Education. 23(6), 693-709
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2004. Creating the Problem, Dictating the Practice: Globalisation for sub-Saharan Africa In: World Conference of International Federation of Social Workers, Adelaide, Australia. 2-5 October.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2003. Evaluating social work outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa Qualitative Social Work. 2(3), 251-270
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2002. Imposing best practice Professional Social Work. June, 18-19
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2002. 'The 1998 Children's Act: problems of enforcement in Ghana British Journal of Social Work. 32(7), 893-905
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2001. 'AIDS and gender: the African reality Social Work/Maatskaplike Werk. 37(3), 260-267
  • LAIRD, S.E., 2000. Why does the University of Ghana produce good Americans instead of good Africans? In: Annual Inter-faculty Lecture at the University of Ghana, Ghana. June.
  • LAIRD, S.E., 1999. A farewell to casework Professional Social Work. July, 10-11
  • LAIRD, S.E., 1999. Social Work in sub-Saharan Africa: Its Failures and Possibilities In: 11th International Conference of the Inter-University Consortium for International Social Development, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. 4-8 July.
  • LAIRD, S.E. and AGYEMAN-MENSAH, N., 1999. A Review of Street Children Initiatives: Consultancy Report for the Royal Danish Embassy, Ghana

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