Determining the “Best Interest” of adults and children is a central focus of social work and social care practice and practitioners. Indeed, few concepts are as central and as controversial as “Best Interest” in social work and social care.
Therefore, in our debate today we will aim to explore questions such as:
What is best interest and how do we define it?
Who determines adults and children’s best interest?
How can we determine an individual’s (an adult’s or a child’s) best interest?
Is the user of service the best person to determine his/her own best interest?
Do we always know what is best for us or are we conditioned by our psyche and individual limitations?
Are there some fundamental principles in determining one’s best interest?
Is there a minimum threshold for defining best interest?
Today at 20:00 GMT / 15:00 EST we shall aim to address these and similar questions in our debate on “Best Interest”,
So much of this is relative to either the adult or child’s competency. As a social worker, what sort of balance do you think could be made in determining best interest?