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

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.