Contact
Biography
I am currently the Director of the Centre for Social Work (and lead social worker for the programmes we deliver). I have been working full time in the CSW since January 2012 and was employed as a sessional tutor and part time teacher in the Centre for 6 years before that. I am very happy to be back at Nottingham, I undertook my first degree (BA (Hons) Social Policy and Administration) here and then an MA in Social Work at the University of York, graduating in 1998. I am a qualified social worker, registered with Social Work England and have a range of frontline practice experience. I began my social care career working as a local authority residential worker with both children and young people and adults with learning disabilities. After qualifying I worked as a Children and Families social worker and manager, specialising in child protection and disabled children. I then worked for the Ann Craft Trust, an organisation based within the School of Sociology and Social Policy which works with local authotities and private and voluntary sector organisations to ensure they are equipped in meeting the protection needs of children and adults with learning disabilities, I enjoy a continuing working relationship with ACT in my ongoing research.
I sit on a number of external boards including the Home Office Forced Marriage Unit Partnership Board and the Police and CPS Honour Based Violence Group. I am the Independent Safeguarding Advisor to the Sense Safeguarding Board (Sense is a national voluntary organisation working in the interest of deafblind children and adults). I also very much enjoy working alongside Social Work England as a member of the National Advisory Forum and the Policy Committee.
ORCID orcid.org/0000-0002-5618-879X
Expertise Summary
My research expertise lies in forced marriage of children and adults with learning disabilities and predatory marriage of older, vulnerable adults. I have undertaken a number of research projects on this issue and contributed to HM Government Statutory Guidance on forced marriage. I also have a website which contains information, reports and free resources for practitioners and people with lived experience. The website is www.mymarriagemychoice.co.uk. More recently, I have been working on the issues of predatory marriage and exploitation of people with a cognitive impairment.
Other interests include children and families work and child protection - specifically protection of disabled children both in terms of practice and policy. Along with my colleagues Lisa Warwick and Rachel Fyson I have recently edited the fourth edition of The Child Protection Handbook (see publications for details). I have expertise in safeguarding vulnerable adults and the processes followed when something goes wrong - I am an Independent Author of Serious Case Reviews and facilitator of Significant Incident Learning Process (a process followed when a case does not reach the threshold for a Serious Case Review).
Teaching Summary
I very much enjoy my teaching role! I am able to utilise my social work practice experience, findings from research and ongoing involvement in the social work community to inform my teaching of… read more
Research Summary
The research I do is underpinned by the notion of making an impact - improving social work policy and safeguarding practice and providing resources for social workers and others tasked with… read more
Recent Publications
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.
I very much enjoy my teaching role! I am able to utilise my social work practice experience, findings from research and ongoing involvement in the social work community to inform my teaching of social work students. As a qualified social worker registered with Social Work England I have a responsibility to ensure my knowledge of social work practice, policy and legislation is up to date, this in turn helps ensure I am delivering high quality teaching to students. I also have a PGCHE teaching qualification. My current teaching commitments include convening the BA year one Introduction to Social Work module and teaching on a range on Skills Days. I really enjoy seeing students progress through the Social Work programmes to become competent, confident social workers.
Current Research
The research I do is underpinned by the notion of making an impact - improving social work policy and safeguarding practice and providing resources for social workers and others tasked with safeguarding to support them in their work. My research also underpins the teaching I deliver to social work students.
1. I am currently co-researcher on a two year Nuffield funded project entitled Evidencing links between cognitive impairment and exploitation in England. Modern slavery and wider forms of exploitation are increasingly recognised as a social problem, but these issues do not affect everyone equally. Our pilot study in Nottingham highlighted that cognitive impairment was present in 31% of cases of adult exploitation, but the extent and nature of the connection is not yet understood, as it is not routine in England to record the presence of cognitive impairment in relation to exploitation.
2. I am also working on a non-funded research project entitle 'Family Narratives of Predatory Marriage' which seeks to understand the experiences of people whose relatives (usually a parent) have been a victim of predatory marriage.
I am also a member of the the university Wellbeing, Health and Social Care Research Centre.
Past Research
2015-2017 (PI) NIHR SSCR funded project 'Forced Marriage of People with Learning Disabilities: Developing policy and pratice to keep people safe' Please see our website for further information http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/mymarriagemychoice/
2014 (PI) Home Office/Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit Domestic Programme Fund. Conference series Hidden Truths - Forced Marriage of People with Learning Disabilities.
2012 (PI) Home Office/Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit Domestic Programme Fund. Research project: Forced Marriage of People with Learning Disabilities - Having a National Impact (PI)
2011 (PI) Leicestershire County Council: SILP pilot and evaluation (PI)
2010 (PI) Home Office/Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit Domestic Programme Fund. Multi- disciplinary Training Pack - Forced Marriage of People with Learning Disabilities.
2009 (PI) Home Office/Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit Domestic Programme Fund. Research project: Forced Marriage of People with Learning Disabilities - Motivators and Consequences.