Suchergebnisse

Bringing together a range of perspectives from practice, lived experience and academia, this is an accessible and timely guide to children's services reform. Critically considering the impact of the MacAlister Review, the book highlights both the positive and negative aspects of reform, before setting out alternative policy and practice directions.

International Human Rights and child rights conventions as well as U.K. wide legislation and guidance require that children in care should be returned home to one or both parents wherever possible. Reunification with parents is the most common route out of care, but rates of re‐entry are often higher than for other exit routes. This study used 8 years of administrative data (on 2,208 care entrants), collected by one large English local authority, to examine how many children were returned home and to explore factors associated with stable reunification (not re‐entering care for at least 2 years). One‐third of children (36%) had been reunified, with adolescent entrants being the most likely age group to return home. Three quarters (75%) of reunified children had a stable reunification. In a fully adjusted regression model, age at entry, being on a care order prior to return home, staying longer in care, being of minority ethnicity, and having fewer placements in care were all significant in predicting chances of stable reunification. The results underline the importance of properly resourcing reunification services. The methods demonstrate the value to local authorities of analysing their own data longitudinally to understand the care pathways for children they look after.

AbstractInternational Human Rights and child rights conventions as well as U.K. wide legislation and guidance require that children in care should be returned home to one or both parents wherever possible. Reunification with parents is the most common route out of care, but rates of re‐entry are often higher than for other exit routes. This study used 8 years of administrative data (on 2,208 care entrants), collected by one large English local authority, to examine how many children were returned home and to explore factors associated with stable reunification (not re‐entering care for at least 2 years). One‐third of children (36%) had been reunified, with adolescent entrants being the most likely age group to return home. Three quarters (75%) of reunified children had a stable reunification. In a fully adjusted regression model, age at entry, being on a care order prior to return home, staying longer in care, being of minority ethnicity, and having fewer placements in care were all significant in predicting chances of stable reunification. The results underline the importance of properly resourcing reunification services. The methods demonstrate the value to local authorities of analysing their own data longitudinally to understand the care pathways for children they look after.

Local authorities in England are required to routinely collect administrative data on children in care and cross-sectional analyses of national data are published by central government. This paper explores the usefulness of undertaking a longitudinal analysis of these data at local authority level to determine the care pathways for children entering care, differentiating by age at entry. The sample consisted of 2208 children who entered care in one English local authority over a six-year period, and who were followed up for at least 2 years. A logistic regression model was fitted to explore factors associated with children staying long term in care. Age at entry was a key determinant of where children ended up (return to a parent, special guardianship or residence order, adoption or staying long term in care). Only a minority of entrants (mainly those entering care in their middle years) remained in longer term care. For the vast majority of children, the 'pre-care family context' remains important as children will either return to parents or relatives or stay in touch with them. The findings are used to urge service planners to make full use of data on care entrants, especially age at entry, when deciding on the balance between the different placement options needed, and the social work service delivery models.

This article describes the contrast between the clearly expressed and optimistic intentions of section 17 of the Children Act 1989, namely to produce a genuine service continuum that will promote and safeguard the welfare of children, and the reality of the post‐1989 implementation process. It shows how, over decades, perennial challenges have consistently skewed the balance between proactive family support services and reactive crisis‐driven responses in favour of the latter. Drawing on government‐commissioned evaluations, including two on out‐of‐home care and family centres respectively, the authors conclude that the Act has failed to change this balance for the better. Primary factors in this include inadequate funding and the risk‐averse responses of policy‐makers and politicians.

ABSTRACTThe Department of Health has funded the development of a set of schedules for collating information on and monitoring the progress of children looked after by local authorities. An additional aspiration underlying official encouragement of the use of these 'Looking After Children' (LAC) materials was that they would provide aggregate data to feed into national and local policy and planning. Progress on this aim has been slow, in part because instruments designed to aid practice in individual cases have not adapted easily to the hoped for dual role, and in part because completion rates have been patchy and often poor. This paper describes an action research project designed to use the children's reviewing system to collect aggregate data on the LAC dimensions of well‐being. It comments on the viability of this method of aggregate data collection as well as locating the information on a cohort of 96 children in the context of other studies, and debates about whether the state can be a 'good parent'.

In 1987 a survey was conducted of eleven hundred and sixty-five children with 'special needs' placed by the major voluntary adoption agencies with permanent new families between 1980 and 1984 (Thoburn & Rowe, 1988; Fratter et al, 1991). Among those placed were 241 black children and children from other minority ethnic groups. Marilyn Charles, Stephen Rashid and June Thoburn report on an exploratory study undertaken in 1991 and 1992 of this cohort of children.

Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction: A Context to the Review -- Part I The Research and the Messages -- 2 Introduction to the Research Literature -- The background to the research review -- The approach to the task of review and synthesis -- Mapping the territory -- 3 Family Support Services -- Who needs and who uses community-based family support services? -- Services targeted at vulnerable families and communities -- Services targeted at vulnerable populations that also provide services to referred families -- Children in need' assessed for and/or provided with a service under the provisions of section 17 of the Children Act 1989 -- Research on family support for ethnic minority children and families in particular circumstances -- Overview of research on family support services and barriers to their use -- 4 Child Protection Services and the Family Courts -- Child maltreatment and child protection ... an overview -- Which minority ethnic children and families are referred for a child protection service? -- Why are children and families referred to the formal child protection systems? -- Stress factors amongst families referred to the formal child protection systems -- The child protection and family support services received -- Outcomes for minority ethnic parents and children referred to the formal child protection systems -- Conclusions on child protection -- 5 Children Looked After Away from Home or Placed for Adoption -- An overview of the research -- Are the different groups of children of minority ethnic origin over- or under-represented amongst children looked after? -- The characteristics of ethnic minority children who are looked after -- Child placement as family support or short-term intervention -- Placement patterns of children looked after -- What do we know about interim and long-term outcomes for children and families? -- What do we know about what makes a difference? -- 6 Messages from Research on the Social Care Services to Parents and Children of Minority Ethnic Origin -- The nature and quality of the social work and other services provided -- Family members and their satisfaction with services -- Cultural issues and matching the social worker to the family -- Research on the use of interpreters -- 7 Next Steps in Researching Child Welfare Services for Minority Ethnic Children, Parents and Carers -- Family support -- The child protection services -- Children looked after or placed for adoption -- A holistic approach to researching child welfare services for minority ethnic children and families -- Part II Summaries of the Main Research Studies -- Summaries of the Main Research Studies -- Appendix 1: Ethnicity and faith group membership as reported to the Census 2001 -- Appendix 2: Template for research summaries -- Appendix 3: The approach to the research review -- References -- Subject Index