Profile

Dr Christine Jones

Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Sciences

Biography

My research is concerned with the intersection of state policies, welfare practices and family relationships. My current focus is on developing understandings of the day-to-day challenges and achievements experienced within adoptive families. I have a particular interest in the application of sociological theories of family relationships to social work practice.

I joined the University in 2010 following the completion an ESRC funded Postdoctoral Fellowship based at the University of Edinburgh and, before that, a PhD here at Durham University . My PhD thesis, completed in 2008, was entitled 'What makes adoption work? Adopters' narratives of the making and remaking of adoptive kinship. I'd be very pleased to hear form any potential PhD students and any service providers who share my research interests.

I originally trained as an occupational therapist and between 1986 and 1993 worked for the NHS with people with mental health problems and people with learning disabilities in Darlington and Liverpool. This was an exciting time when long-term institutions were being decommissioned and more individualised housing and support services were being developed. I was particularly involved in the re-design of day services for people with complex needs. In 1993 I moved to Edinburgh to manage a voluntary sector rehabilitation service for people with visual impairments. I then became a project manager in a not-for-profit organisation working to improve community care services. I designed and managed research and evaluation projects and established a leadership development programme for people with learning disabilities. I then moved into an academic setting conducting research with frail older people living alone before undertaking the PhD at Durham.

Indicators of Esteem

Member of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering Research Group Advisory Committee:
Member of the ESRC Peer Review College:

Research Groups

School of Applied Social Sciences

Policy, Professions and Communities

Research Interests

Family resilience
New forms of kinship
Adoption and fostering
Applying sociological theories within social work
Narrative, biographical and ethnographic research
Collaborative research with service users and practitioners

Teaching Areas

Acting Programme Director, Postgraduate Diploma in Specialist Social Work with Children, Young People, their Families and Carers
Module convenor - Research in Social Work, MSW
Additional teaching on Prepartion for Social Work Practice and Advanced Social Work
Co-convenor Children, Young People and Families (level two Sociology)

Publications

Books: authored

Neil, E., Cossar, J., Jones, C., Lorgelly, P. & Young, J. (2011). Supporting Direct Contact After Adoption. London: BAAF.

Books: sections

Jones, C (2013). Family Practices. In The Blackwell Companion to Social Work. Davies, Martin Wiley-Blackman.
Jones, C. (2012). Introduction: social work in the field of adoption and fostering. In Social work with children and families: policy, law, theory, research and practice. Davies, M. Palgrave Macmillan.
Jones, C. (2012). Two theoretical fields relevant to the practice of social work in adoption and fostering. In Social work with children and families: policy, law, theory, research and practice. Davies, M. Palgrave Macmillan.

Conference papers

Jones, C. (2010), Building a positive identity as a non-conventional family: adoptive parents’ perspectives on the challenge of ‘dual connection’ Icar3, International Conference of Adoption Research. Leiden University, Netherlands.
Jones, C., Hackett, S., Charnley, H. & Bell, M. (2009), Doing adoptive kinship: the contribution of family practices, family narratives and family objects in the construction of kinship, Turning Personal: Conference of the Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life. Manchester University..
Jones, C. (2009), Meanings of Openness in Adoption, New Researchers Conference: Centre for Research on Families and Relationships. University of Edinburgh..
Jones, C. & Hackett, S. (2007), 'What makes adoptive family life work?', Extended and Extending Families, International Conference of the Centre for Research on Familiesand Relationships. University of Edinburgh..

Journal papers: academic

Jones, C & Logan, J (2013). Editorial of Special Issue: Rediscovering Family and Kinship: new directions for social work theory, policy and practice. Child and Family Social Work 18(1): 1-4.
Jones, C. & Hackett. S. (2012). Redefining Family Relationships Following Adoption: Adoptive Parents' Perspectives on the Changing Nature of Kinship between Adoptees and Birth Relatives. British Journal of Social Work 42(2): 283-299.
Jones, C. & Hackett, S. (2011). The role of ‘family practices’ and ‘displays of family’ in the creation of adoptive kinship. The British Journal of Social Work 41(1): 40-56.
Jones, C. & Hackett, J. (2008). Communicative openness within adoptive families: adoptive parents’ narrative accounts of the challenges of adoption talk and the approaches used to manage these challenges. Adoption Quarterly 10(3-4): 157-178.