Recent Child Policies and Collaboration - Essay Example

?In terms of child protection critically examine the policy developments that have been introduced to facilitate collaboration of different bodies inEngland and Wales. Outline the major strengths and weaknesses and give recommendations for improvement 1. Introduction The continuous increase of incidents related to children abuse across England and Wales has led to the establishment of strict policies for the protection of the specific part of the population. The relevant plans have been based on collaboration, a term commonly used for showing the close cooperation and the effective communication in developing particular activities. In the literature, collaboration has been defined as ‘a development process that occurs and matters all the time’ (Hardin, 2005, p.78), as ‘a way to solve problems, but also to learn, to share identity or just to be together’ (Beyerlein et al. 2006, p.67). On the other hand, Mattessich and Monsey defined collaboration as ‘a mutually beneficial and well-designed relationship entered into by two or more individuals or organizations to achieve common goals’ (Mattessich and Monsey, in Raspa et al. 2000, p.23). Moreover, Hamric et al. (2005) explained that collaboration is ‘a dynamic process which focuses on the sharing of goals, values and commitment’ (Hamric et al. 2005, p.91), while Haussler (2006) highlights the voluntary character of collaboration as an activity developed in the context of social relationships or of commercial partnerships. Current paper is based on collaboration as defined by Hamric et al. (2005) – which emphasizes on the necessity of shared values and commitment – for explaining and evaluating the child protection initiatives in England and Wales, especially regarding the level at which these initiatives have managed to facilitate the collaboration among relevant bodies in England and Wales. 2. Recent child policies and collaboration In order to understand the effectiveness of the current child protection schemes in England and Wales and the evaluate whether these schemes meet the requirements of collaboration, as described above, it would be necessary to present the overall framework of these schemes, at least in regard to their key provisions and measures. The key legislative text on which the protection of children in UK is based is the Children and Young Persons Act 1933; the above law is used jointly with the main law on child protection in England and Wales, the Children Act 1989 – as updated through the Children Act 2004. The above law establishes the principle of the parental responsibility (section 3) for the protection of the child but also the right of the Court to intervene and make an Order – if necessary – for ensuring the protection of the child (section 1). Moreover, the power of local authorities to intervene and take measures for the protection of the child is clearly defined (section 47, NSPCC, 2011). In Children Act 2004 (section 10) ‘a duty has been set for agencies to cooperate in order to improve the well being of children’ (Children Act 2004, Surrey community). The above legislative text is followed by two guidance texts (published in 1991), which establish the cooperation among the agencies for increasing the protection provided to children; furthermore, guidelines are given for assessing the needs of children within their families; the first of the above guidelines, under the title ‘Working together to safeguard children: a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children’ (DCSF 2010 in NSPCC fact sheet, 2010, p.2), is of key importance, setting the framework of the collaboration among agencies operating in the particular sector. Other legislative texts have been published, after the Children Act 2004, aiming to address specific needs of children: for example, the Children and Adoption Act 2006, the Children and Young Persons Act 2008, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (NSPCC fact sheet, 2010, p.5-7). The key agencies operating in the specific field – child protection – in UK are the following ones: the NSPCC, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, the Charity Commission and the British Association for the study and prevention of child abuse and neglect (BASPCAN); the above agencies operate at a national level. There are also numerous agencies established within communities in order to ensure the protection of children living locally. Moreover, the police and the governmental authorities, like the Department of Education, to which responsibilities for the protection of children have been assigned, have a critical role in the promotion of legislation for children protection. 2.1 Strengths and weaknesses The child protection system in England and Wales can be characterized as effective in terms of the powers given to social workers and the police to intervene. Indeed, in case that a case of torture of a child – or other similar misbehaviour against a child – is identified, the social workers can act immediately, with no further notice, having the support of the police. The above power should be welcomed guaranteeing the immediate action of the state in case that such problems are identified. However, the above power has another implication: how it is guaranteeing that a case meets the requirements of the law – in terms of child abuse? Failures in evaluating cases are always possible, a fact, which would be characterized as a severe weakness of the existing child protection system, as, explained analytically below. The baby P case in Haringey can be characterized as the event that mostly highlighted the weaknesses of the child protection system in Britain. Even if the government, in the context of the above event, ordered the review of the system, no improvement was achieved. Instead, the problem seems to have been expanded. In accordance with a report published in October 2010 (Booker), the failures of social workers in identifying the violation of child protection rules have been increased. Reference is made to an Ofstede report, which refers to ‘the death of 119 children in 2009 as a result of failures in the intervention of social workers’ (Booker 2010). On the other hand, emphasis is given on a contradictory fact: ‘thousands of children are seized annually from their home, without a particular reason’ (Booker 2010). In other words, children are moved with no justification from their home with others suffer tortures and the system is not able to identify them. It is clear that the methods of intervention, as included in the existing law, need to be revised. The revision of the regulatory framework would be the most important initiative for increasing the effectiveness of the child protection system in England and Wales. 2.2 How practical/ realistic is the policy in protecting children on a school level? At the school level, current child protection system can be characterized as ineffective. Despite the fact that its rules include provisions for covering the children at a school level, these provisions are quite difficult to be enforced. Reference is made to the rules aiming to protect the children (as the art. 87 of Children Act 1989) and not to those addressing issues like the education of children (Education Act 1997 or the Further and Higher Education Act 1992). This failure is reflected to the rapid expansion of bullying as a social phenomenon in Britain. Of course, it could be noted that the enforcement of such rules at the school level would not be feasible – taking into consideration the size of the social environment involved, in terms of population, but also its nature, i.e. children. In this way, the effective use of the existing provisions of law for protecting children in school would require a change in the strategy employed in the system’s promotion. Emphasis should be given not on the enforcement of the relevant legal rules, but rather on the prevention of the problem. Collaboration, as described above by Hamric et al. (2005) should be used for developing common values and commitment among children in school; the parents should be also asked to participate in the relevant schemes so that the chances for success of these initiatives to be increased. 2.3 Will the policy make a clear difference? Will it make the situation better or worse? In its current form, the child protection system of England and Wales cannot be effective; in fact, it seems that the system’s effectiveness is blocked because of the following reason: social workers have the power to decide on the potential solution in a case where a child’s safety is in risk; however, their power is not absolute. Rather, they have to follow specific processes instead of using their expertise in order to respond more effectively to the actual needs of a child (Richardson 2011). In other words, it is not just the case of whether a child should be seized or not from his home, but rather whether a framework of close cooperation and collaboration with the parents should be developed. As explained in the definition of collaboration used by Hamric et al. (2005), collaboration should be based on a series of shared values and commitment. In the context of the child protection, this means that parents and social workers should work together, sharing common values and commitment to their role. As it has been proved through the case of baby P in Haringey, and other similar cases, the problem in the child protection of England and Wales is related to the lack of collaboration. The ability of the system to make a clear difference, i.e. to make the situation better, is depended on its ability to promote collaboration, i.e. to promote shared values and commitment, as explained above. Otherwise, if the system keeps its current form, it will lead to the deterioration of the situation. 2.4 Are there changes between England and Wales? In terms of legislation on child protection, the differences between England and Wales are minor. In Wales the Children Act 1989 (as updated by the Children Act 2004) – key legislative text on child protection in Britain – is the main law for child protection; the only difference, in terms of legislation, between England and Wales exists in the guidance following the above law. In Wales the guidance used complementary with the above law is the ‘Safeguarding children: working together under the Children Act 2004’ (Welsh Assembly Government, 2006 in NSPCC fact sheet, 2010, p.2). Another difference between England and Wales in regard to the protection of children refers to the agencies supporting the relevant initiatives: in Wales, the protection of children is promoted through the following agencies: the SSIA, the Child Protection Service and the Children in Wales – in addition to the local police and the governmental authorities. In accordance with the above, in both England and Wales, the protection of children is based on the Children Act 1989 (as revised through the Children Act 2004); when applying the above law in practice, different bodies are used for enforcing the relevant rules – and this is the only point of difference in the strategy followed by English and Welsh policy makers in regard to child protection. 2.5 Changes as a result of the death of baby P in Haringey The death of baby P in Haringey in August 2007, revealed the weaknesses of the child protection framework in England. The fact that baby P was ‘on Haringey Council's child protection register throughout eight months of abuse’ (Garboden 2010) should be taken into consideration for evaluating the effectiveness of existing system on child protection. At a first level, the state was aware of the problem. This means that measures could have been taken for offering more effective support to the toddler. On the hand, the continuous visits of social workers to the house of the mother did not have any result (Garboden 2010). The tortures on the toddler did not stop; neither the mother was convicted or, other else, prohibited from repeating these actions. In other words, the events of the case show that the death of the toddler was, at a high level, unavoidable. The response of the state though to the above problem was not appropriate. The punishment of the perpetrators after the death of the toddler is not considered as an effective solution of the problem. Since the offence was being developed for years and there was no punishment of the mother (since the living of other persons in the same house – referring to the mother’s boyfriend – was not known to the police or the social workers), then it is clearly an issue of severe gaps in identifying/ evaluating the problem (Vemuri 2010). In the context of the case of baby P, no particular changes have been made in the child protection legal framework of England and Wales – in fact, still the Children Act of 2004 is the last legal text published in this field, no other law of similar scope was published after the baby P case in Haringey. On the other hand, the pressures over the social workers increased significantly. The practices used by the social workers in the above case were considered as responsible for the outcome. In this context, the specific case made a cause for developing aggressive behaviour towards the social workers, while their role in the development of the case was not as decisive as estimated. More specifically, as proved through the review of the case by the Court, the local social workers had repeatedly visited the house of the mother and made the necessary reports on the specific case; however, the mother managed to hide the problem; also she managed to hide the fact that her boyfriend was living in the same house. On the other hand, the doctor who examined the toddle for last time could not identify the injuries that the toddle had suffered (Garboden 2009). It seems that the main problem in the case was the lack of awareness of the actual events of the case; the social workers had acted in accordance to their code of practice but the mother deceived them (Vemuri 2010). In accordance to the above, the actual problems of the case had been the methods followed for identifying the problem/ evaluating the problem but also the method used for checking the level of abuse – the doctor who had examined the child for last time failed to identify his injuries. Up today, no particular measures have been taken for avoiding similar outcomes in the future; after the incident, the British government ‘had asked for a review of the country’s child protection measures’ (Vemuri 2010); but this initiative was not appropriately supported. No further action followed. The failure of the existing child protection system in Britain to guarantee the safety and the health of children is clear. 2.6 Conclusion The current child protection system of England and Wales can be characterized as well structured but not effective. Despite the existences of detailed rules for addressing the various issues of child protection, still the failures of the system as many, as reflected in the high number of children died last year, as a result of gaps and failures in the system’s rules. The case of baby P in Haringey is just indicative; in practice, there have been many such cases, which were not adequately published – as the case in Haringey. Moreover, it has been proved that the system’s failure is increased in regard to specific areas, for instance the protection provided to children in school is quite limited taking into consideration the challenges in applying the relevant laws, as explained above. The increase of the system’s effectiveness would require the update of many of its rules, especially those referring to the power of social workers to use their own expertise in order to make suggestions for treating a case. 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