Leonard Davis

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Leonard F. Davis, sometimes shorted to Len Davis, was a British Lecturer in Social Work at Brunel University. He was column editor and frequent contributor for Social Work Today, the in-house journal of the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) and the Residential Care Association (RCA). The journal published writings by PIE member Peter Righton, who became Director of Education for The National Institute of Social Work. Len and Peter often cited each others' work approvingly. His most well-known works are his scholarly article Touch, Sexuality and Power in Residential Settings (1975), and his book Sex and the social worker (1983), which both argue that mutual and positive sexual contact between staff and residents in care homes should not be automatic grounds for dismissal. Len's expertise on the subject of touch in residential settings, was called upon in a number of court cases involving age of consent transgressions in children's homes, where he gave testimony as an expert witness.

Biography

Len started his career as a teacher in the Channel Islands and in France, and was principal teacher at Liverpool Remand Home from 1962 to 1964 before taking the Advanced Course in Residential Care and Education at Newcastle University. After a further period in residential work, he obtained the M.Ed. of Newcastle University and the M.A. in Applied Social Studies of Brunel University, and completed the Educational Studies course at the National Institute for Social Work. As well as lecturing at Brunel University, he was also a member of the North London-based Voice of the Child in Care, and worked in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

By 1983, he worked as a freelance social work consultant specializing in residential care.

Scholarship

Sex and the Social Worker (1983)

At the time, Sex and the Social Worker was influential in shaping social work practice around residential care homes in England. Peter Righton is acknowledged by Davis as having read the draft of this book and "making many valuable and challenging suggestions." Some quotes from Davis include:

Fortunately, the majority of sexual abuse cases with which social workers are involved – whether incestuous or not – while making an emotional and physical assault upon the child, do not put him or her at risk of bodily injury. Sometimes, when working with young people, social workers may need to question the very term 'sexual abuse' [...] the most damaging experience may be the clumsy professional intervention or the exaggerated reactions of family, friends, neighbours or teachers. (p. 65)

In general, the avoidance of suspension seems preferable unless the person wishes to go off duty. [...] From the young person's point of view it seems important to indicate that nobody is 'telling' anybody to go off duty. It must be remembered that frequently adults and young people who have become linked in this way have previously had – and still have- an established relationship and its destruction by formal and sometimes legal action can leave the young person with unbearable guilt about the part he or she played. Caring for someone and then knowing that you have lost him or her a job, blighted a career, even forced a person out of their accommodation and broken up a family are heavy burdens for the 'victim' to carry and often they have to be carried for a long time. (p. 87).

[W]e can clear our minds of much suspicion, of the need to punish and of the desire for excessive control. I am not celebrating the post-permissive society, lauding unbridled sexual activity and suggesting free sexual exchanges in residential care. I am advocating a hard look at institutional frameworks with a view to lessening the embarrassment, guilt and harshness of response which surround too many aspects of sexuality in residents and staff members. But I go further than that, placing a responsibility on staff – again, both practitioners and managers – to display a far greater degree of kindness in working with events which on first examination may appear to merit retribution. (p. 91).

My experience is that from the moment of investigation, societal violence may often be so strong that all involved are damaged or destroyed in the process (p. 102) [...] It is quite apparent that in matters of sexuality, a social worker's professional duty is almost bound on occasions to include, first, condoning or even encouraging breaches of the law, and, secondly, ignoring agency policy. (p. 107).

Other Works

• Davis, L. F. (1977). Feelings and Emotions in Residential Settings: the Individual Experience. The British Journal of Social Work, 7:1, 25–39.
• 'Sex and the residential setting', in Residential Care: A Reader in Current Theory and Practice, ed. by Ronald G. Walton, Dorren Elliott (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1980), pp. 263-272. (Separate chapter link).
• Davis, L. F. (1983). 'Future trends in child care: A United Kingdom perspective'. International Child Welfare Review, 59, 35–46. (Psycnet Link).

Unconfirmed, but likely by the same author:

• Children of the East (1994)
• The Philippines: people, poverty, and politics (1987)
• Caring for Secondary School Pupils (1985)