Social Work Links and Learning #208

May 10, 2026

Introduction

Quick heads up that I’m on holiday next week so will not be publishing. Have a good week and I’ll aim to be back on 24 May.

What do we know about restricted patients? - Russell Webster Digging into the latest MoJ data on England and Wales’ 8,000 restricted patients.

This is fostering, this is us - ADCS Kicking off Foster Care Fortnight with carer voices and a call for community-wide support.

May the fourth be with you, dad - Making Rights Make Sense A moving birthday tribute that doubles as a manifesto for living differently with dementia.

“Fun House”: A Section 136 Pantomime in Five Acts - The Critical AMHP Rebecca Waterworth’s satirical reimagining of a Mental Health Act assessment, in five acts.

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill becomes law - Community Care Royal Assent for landmark social care reforms: multi-agency child protection teams, agency rules, placement profit caps.

Adult social care’s contribution to the Neighbourhood Health Service in England - ADASS ADASS argues councils and adult social care must be equal partners in delivering neighbourhood health.

5 years from normal - BASW A reflection on five years of SASW policy-making, finding hope despite turbulent times.

Child neglect: A thematic analysis - Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel The Panel’s analysis of multi-agency responses to neglect, drawn from 100 rapid reviews and 34 LCSPRs.

Breaking the Cycle: supported housing and mental health discharge - RCPsych Lack of supported housing drives an estimated £102 million a year in avoidable mental health bed days.

The Approved Mental Health Professional workforce 2026 - Skills for Care Annual data on the AMHP role: employment, demographics, and retention, now updated for 2026.

NHS continuing healthcare: giving consent for information-sharing - GOV.UK New public information guide on consent for sharing CHC information with family or representatives.

Mental Capacity Report April 2026 - 39 Essex Chambers Quarterly summary of mental capacity case law, policy developments and Scotland-focused updates this issue.

From Youth Work to Safeguarding: Practice, Power and the So What Question - Social Work Sorted Vicki Shevlin and Sean Monaghan of SaferNow on safeguarding, community violence intervention and trauma response.

Cultivating belonging through shared reading - BookTrust Dr Lisa Cherry on shared reading as relational practice for children in kinship, foster and adoptive care.

Social workers’ views and experiences of self-care practices: a qualitative interview study - Frontiers in Public Health Qualitative study with Scottish social workers exploring what self-care means in practice and barriers to prioritising wellbeing.

Mandatory Reporting Webinar - SaS Consultancy and Lime Solicitors - 12 May Free webinar on the new mandatory reporting duty under the Crime and Policing Bill.

Family Justice 2030: What a Child needs - Nuffield Family Justice Observatory - 3 June Webinar reimagining family justice, for social workers, solicitors, judges and magistrates.

Data protection and artificial intelligence - Irwin Mitchell - 18 June Webinar on data protection in AI: DPIAs, fairness, transparency, lawful basis and automated decision-making.

On the moral virtues of mischief and mischievous people - Aeon Playful argument that mischievousness is a virtue, drawing on Spike Milligan and Nietzsche.

Wasting Your Potential - Sideways, BBC Radio 4 — Matthew Syed asks whether gifted people own their talents, or their talents own them.

Secret Garden: Oxfordshire (Episode 1) - David Attenborough (BBC iPlayer) — Kingfishers, otters and creatures of a riverside garden face seasonal floods and the hidden costs of seemingly idyllic places.