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Dr Dan Allen

PRINCIPAL LECTURER IN SOCIAL WORK
Social Work
0151 291 3559
allend@hope.ac.uk

Summary 

I am a social work practitioner and academic with over 20 years of experience focused on improving social work and child protection practices for Romani and Traveller families. I am an established expert in this field, with extensive publications and presentations at prestigious platforms including the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the House of Lords, the Welsh Assembly, and national and international conferences.

My particular area of interest involves examining power dynamics, prejudice, reflexivity, and the influence of government policies, personal perspectives, and ethical considerations on professional conduct. By integrating ideas of eco-social justice, history and structural social work, I critically engage with prevailing conceptualisations of the social world, including the discursive mechanisms, methods, and implications of dominant discourses that influence social work practices at individual, cultural, and societal levels.


Professional networks

I am registered with the professional regulatory body, Social Work England. Registration Number: SW20434.

I am a member of the Gypsy Roma and Traveller Social Work Association

I Chair the Association of Child Protection Professionals 'Working Together to Safeguard Gypsy, Roma and Traveller            Children' Special Interest Group. 

I am an affiliate researcher at Ilisimatusarfik's Center for Children & Adolescent Research Environment in Greenland 

I lead a UK-Greenland Arctic Research Project 'SafeHarbour Greenland: Safely Reducing the Number of Children in Out-of-Home Care'.

I am a Steering Group member of the NIHR-Supported Incubator in Mental Health Social Care.

I am a member of the Cheshire and Merseyside Teaching Partnership Research Hub.


Awards

In 2022, the paper Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children in child welfare services in England, written with a former dissertation student, Victoria Hamnett, won the annual 'Kay McDougall British Journal of Social Work Prize' for its breadth of scholarship, the sophistication of theory, rigour, relevance and international appeal.


Videos and Podcast

Check out my recent podcast: Challenging the Last Acceptable Form of Racism

Check out this recent video: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children in Child Welfare Services in England


Selected Publications

Feather, J., Allen, D., Crompton, R., Jones, Z., Christiansen, A. and Butler, G. (2023). Transitional support interventions for care leavers: A scoping review. Children & Society, 00, 1– 22.

Allen, D. (2023). ‘Staying Close’: Enabling social interdependence for young people leaving residential care in England. Children & Society, 00, 1– 17.

Rogers, M., & Allen, D. (2023).  Embedding Reflexivity in Social Work Research through the Critical Reflexive Framework, The British Journal of Social Work, 54(4), 1753-1772.

Allen, D., & Hamnett, V. (2022). Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children in child welfare services in England. The British Journal of Social Work, 52(7) 3904-3922.

Rogers, M., & Allen, D. (2021). An A-Z of Social Work Skills. London: SAGE

Allen, D., & Hulmes, A. (2021). Aversive Racism and Child Protection Practice with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children and Families. Seen and Heard, 31(2) 44-67. 

Allen. D., Dove, D., Hulmes, A., & Moloney-Neachtain, M. (2021) The Romani and Traveller perspective. In Tanya Moore and Glory Simango (Eds) The Anti-Racist Social Worker: stories of activism in social care and allied health professionals. St Albans: Critical Publishing, pp 61-75.

Allen, D., Heyes, K., Hothersall, G., O'Leary, C., Ozan, J., Mitchell-Smith, Z., & Szifris, K. (2020). Bristol City Council Staying Close Pilot. London: Department for Education.

Rogers, M., & Allen, D. (2019). Applying Critical Thinking and Analysis in Social Work. London: SAGE Publications Limited.

Allen, D., & Riding, S. (2018). The Fragility of Professional Competence: A Preliminary Account of Child Protection Practice with Romani and Traveller Children. Budapest: European Roma Rights Centre. 

Allen, D. (2018). A Romani and Traveller child's journey through alternative care. In D. Allen, M. Greenfields, D. Smiths (Eds.), Transnational Resilience and Change: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Strategies of Survival and Adaptation. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Allen, D. (2018). Marginality, Segregation or Cultural Resilience. In D. Allen, M. Greenfields, D. Smiths (Eds.), Transnational Resilience and Change Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Strategies of Survival and Adaptation. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Allen, D. (2018). Resilient cultural transmission in a Hostile State. In D. Allen, M. Greenfields, D. Smiths (Eds.), Transnational Resilience and Change Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Strategies of Survival and Adaptation. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Allen, D. (2017). Roma People: Are Discriminatory Attitudes Natural? In K. Bhatti-Sinclair, & C. Smethurst (Eds.), Diversity, Difference and Dilemmas: Analysing concepts and developing skills. (pp. 77-94). McGraw Hill.

Allen, D., & Cemlyn, S. (2016). Outreach: Care experiences amongst Gypsy/Traveller families. In Social Work in a Diverse Society Transformative Practice with Black and Minority Ethnic Individuals and Communities. Policy Press.

Allen, D. (2016). 'It's in their Culture': Working with automatic prejudice towards Gypsies, Roma and Travellers during care proceedings. Seen and Heard, 26(2), 40-52. 

Allen, D. (2015). Protecting the cultural identity of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children living in the public care system. Today's Children Tomorrow's Parents, (40-41), 122-139.

Allen, D. C., Baker, T., & Rootes, D. L. (2014). Becoming a Nursing and Social Work Student: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of Interprofessional Education. Journal of Research in Interprofessional Practice and Education, 4(1) 186-214.

Allen, D., Adams, P. (2013). Social Work with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children. London: CoramBAAF.

Allen, D. (2013). Changing Relationships with the Self and Others: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of a Traveller and Gypsy life in public care. (PhD Thesis, De Montfort University).

Allen, D. (2012). 'Gypsies, Travellers and social policy: misconceptions and insignificance. In Richardson, J and Rider, S (Eds.) Gypsies and Travellers Empowerment and Inclusion in British Society. London: Policy Press