Rethinking the Rule of Optimism

Dr. Martin Kettle

My angle • Social worker, “late onset academic”

• Teaching in relation to safeguarding

• Doctoral research on sense-making in child protection

• Continuing curiosity

Why the rule of optimism?

• Explanatory device that recurs frequently in Serious Case Reviews

• Feature of child protection discourse for over 30 years

• Often adopted uncritically (see for example, Baby E SCR, East Ayrshire CPC)

The rule of optimism

Dingwall, Eekelaar and Murray (1983, 1995, p. 79)

Assessment conducted “under what we might term a ‘rule of optimism’ that staff are required, if possible to think the best of parents”• Cultural relativism • Natural love

Jasmine Beckford ‘Social workers were ‘naïve beyond belief’

“As soon as the social workers saw the first signs of improved conduct on the part of Morris Beckford and Beverley Lorrington an overwhelming optimism took hold” (London Borough of Brent, 1985, p.127 my emphasis)

Daniel Pelka

• Missed opportunities to protect Daniel

• Daniel “invisible”

• Use of language “safe and well”

“Overall, the “rule of optimism” appeared to have prevailed in the professional response to Daniel’s fracture and to his other bruises…..In these conditions workers focus on adult’s strengths, rationalise evidence to the contrary and interpret data in the light of this optimistic view” (Coventry LSCB, 2013)

Daniel Pelka

“In this case, professionals needed to “think the unthinkable” and to believe and act upon what they saw in front of them, rather than accept parental versions of what was happening at home without robust challenge”(Coventry LSCB, 2013).

The rule of optimism

• Why is the ‘rule’ so persistent ?

• How helpful is it?

• What do we do with it ?

Why is the ‘rule’ so persistent ?• Discourse of Serious Case Reviews

– Hindsight bias• We are pushed towards optimism

– Importance of family – Relational creatures

• Powerful explanatory device

“Psychologizing the rule of optimism makes it into a tool for blaming child protection workers for child abuse deaths. It diverts attention from the contexts in which they have to make difficult decisions with imperfect, limited and fragmented information” (Dingwall, 2013)

How helpful is the ‘rule’ ?

• Lets us off the hook

• Militates against system thinking

• Prevents deeper analysis

“If we are to have a debate about what might be done, it must start with some clarity about how social workers in their day to day work 'think'” (White, 2011, p. 183).

What do we do with it ?

Important to explore the role of optimism

“I fell off the wagon . . . but she stuck up for me and encouraged me and said “You will make it again”. I am used to people dropping me like a fly ….. She was the one faithful voice in my corner”.

“Soft and judicious use of power”.

(De Coer and Boady 2007)

Push beyond the ‘rule’ “Yes, and…..”

“A: I suppose that it is a bit like walking along a tight rope, sometimes you are a bit wobbly, at other times you are feeling that little bit more secure……… Yeah, it does feel that you are going to teeter off the edge”

M: “I suppose that the only way to be a good tight rope walker is to…..”

A: “Have really good balance” (Interview 8).

In conclusion….• Recognise the “extreme precariousness” of the process

(Benjamin, 1973)

• Focus on the how rather than just the what or the why of decisions- using systems thinking

• Create a culture for respectful professional challenge

martin.kettle2@gcu.ac.uk

@MartinK55