Revision as of 01:53, 12 February 2025 by Prue(talk | contribs)(Created page with "{{Template:Ac}}'''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...")
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),[1] and his book Sex and the social worker (1983),[2] 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 Davis 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
I put before the jury some of the problems of residential staff working with disturbed, unsettled, often unhappy and jealous young people. I spoke about the importance of touch, the nature of deprivation and the power of adolescent sexuality, pointing to the sexual rivalries which develop in group living and to the constant risks faced by staff in difficult areas of child care practice. A great deal – probably the outcome of the trial- depended upon the question of the sexual gratification experienced by the adult. The defendant was presented as an untrained worker holding a senior position. .. It was said he always behaved professionally…. I felt unable to reassure the court that guidelines for practice, supervision and staff training in many children’s homes could be considered of a satisfactory standard and it was admitted that decision-making in the grey areas was likely to rebound at some point on any individual who sought to work intensively with touch-hungry children.
