Social work’s ‘electronic turn’: notes on the deployment of information and communication technologies in social work with children and families

2005/10/14 by Paul Michael Garrett
Social Sciences · #Child Welfare and Adoption #Healthcare innovation and challenges #Social Work Education and Practice

paper · doi:10.1177/0261018305057044

openalex publication_date 2005/10/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming central to the remaking of social work with children and families in England and Wales. Factors helping to steer this development include ‘joined up thinking’, the ‘e-government agenda’, and marketization. Examples of ‘e-practice’ discussed include: the envisaged databases for children, featured in the Children Act 2004; the utilization by local authorities of the ‘Risk of Offending Generic Solution’ (RYOGENS); the pending introduction of the Integrated Children’s System (ICS). The article seeks to promote debate and contributions from social work and social policy academics, users and providers of social services.

Citations

• Managing professionals

Related

• A Review of Information and Communication Technology Enhanced Social Work Interventions
• Child-Centric Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the Fragmentation of Child Welfare Practice in England
• Social work in the digital age: Towards adopting artificial intelligence in social work
• A line in the sand: Moving from surface improvement to foundational shifts to develop effective responses to extra-familial risks and harms
• The Social Media, Online and Digital Abuse and Harassment of Social Workers, Probation Officers and Social Work Students in Ireland: A National Survey