Safeguarding Looked After Children in Care - Essay Example

Safeguarding “looked after” children in Care Order No. 271667 No. of pages: 5 1st 6530 Introduction Safeguarding or protecting childrenwho are at risk and need special attention, is by no means an easy task. Every individual has the responsibility to lend protection and promote the welfare of children. Unless a child is both healthy and happy, can it make progress in all its educational endeavors. In some cases, children have to be looked after or cared for by social services, foster homes, residential children’s homes or the police, for many different reasons such as the poor health of a parent or any other family crisis. www.newcastle.gov.uk/wwwfileroot/socialservices/children/lacreview.pdf In referring a child who has concerns within the family and outside, either to social care or the police, one could make a very useful contribution to society through by ensuring early interventions. In addition to children’s social care, the police and the NSPCC have powers to intervene in these circumstances. (Department for Education and Skills) http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/search/?asset=dowmeat&id=17378 Literature Review Reasons for underachievement ‘Looked after Children’ is a legislative term introduced in the Children Act 1989, (Office of Public Sector Information, 1989) which is used to refer to children and young people who are under public care. This Children Act was undoubtedly “the landmark development in English law, but it contains no magic cure for family problems.” Allen, Nick (2005) Therefore, It becomes the duty of the local authority to help the child achieve the highest educational standards that he or she can possibly reach. The achievements of Looked after Children (LAC) are unacceptably low. The Children Act 2004, http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/ therefore, made it the duty of the local authority to give particular attention to the educational welfare of the children under their care. Alongside the planning of a secure future for such children, it is also the duty of the Children’s Services Authority to have specific responsibility, so as to support the educational achievement of the LAC. In commenting on the kind of strategies needed in order to be more responsive to the needs of these children (Anning, Cottrell, Frost, Green, and Robinson 2006; Edwards and Apostolov 2007; Edwards, Barnes, Plewis and Morris et al (2006) stated that they “inhabited a culture of specific expertise, to learn to recognize the expertise that parents and carers brought to discussions of their children and neighborhoods.” Five key reasons were identified for the under achievement of these children in the context of education. The LAC spent most of their time outside school and their lives were characterized by instability. If they fell behind in education, no support was available to them to come in par with others in their class. The primary carers looking after them, were not well equipped enough to provide support in the field of education and development. The needs of these children such as their mental, physical and emotional issues, were not met, which in turn impacted on their education. Corporate Parenting ‘Corporate parenting’ emphasizes the collective responsibility of local authorities to achieve good parenting for all children in their care….” www.dcsf.gov.uk/educationprotects/index.cfm?pageId=2&pageType=level2 To improve the prospects of the LAC, the concept of ‘Corporate Parenting” was introduced. It refers to the duty and responsibility of the local authorities under whose care the LAC are placed. An essential part of this is to safeguard and promote the educational needs of the LAC. Corporate parenting educational principles include giving priority to the educational needs of the children and raising their standards, so that they believe that they can achieve a high level of education. In Speaking of the ethical benefits involved (Thomas and O’Kane, p.336 337) stated that effective methodology and ethics go hand in hand “…the ethical acceptability, of research with children can be augmented by using an approach which gives children control over the research process and methods….” Research evidence confirms that children and young people are burdened in dealing with a range of complex social and emotional issues including domestic violence, bullying, family breakdown, child abuse and suicide (McElearney et al, 2007; Livesey et al, 2007; Dyer and Teggart, 2007; Byrne and Taylor, 2007). In passing his comments on the issues of child abuse in his book, Corby, B (2008) states, - “I remain committed to a model of a social worker (and other child protection professionals) developing specialist expertise in child abuse work and having a fair degree of autonomy in their practice.” According to Corby B. (2008) ‘practitioners are required to be more flexible and discerning in their assessments and provision of family support.” In his new book titled “Integrated Children’s System” (ICS) Cleaver et al., (2008) stresses the need for “effective practice with children and families and improve decision – making and planning for children in need.” Cleaver et al., (2008) book is an excellent guide for the integration and systematic approach to help children in need and provides vital reading to people who are responsible for implementing the system such as social care managers, policy makers, and social care practitioners. Education through Multi- professional Working The ‘Every Child Matters’ DfES (2004) agenda proposes a necessity of multi- professional working to achieve better outcomes on the educational front especially in the case of looked after children. Anning, A., Cottrell, D., Frost, N. Green, J. Robinson, M. (2006) People from different agencies and professions contribute towards helping these children not only to cope with their day – to – day lives but also to achieve a higher level of education. These professional comprise of educational psychologists, specialist teachers and assistants, doctors, psychiatrists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, Social care professionals, educational welfare officers and other professionals from different voluntary sectors such as Scope, Barnardos, RNIB and the National Autistic Society. In explaining the term ‘multi- professional,’ Barrett et al (2005) suggest the prefix ‘multi tends to imply the involvement of personnel from different professions, disciplines or agencies, whilst the prefix ‘inter tends to imply collaboration, particularly in areas such as decision making. All these professionals are indispensable in preparing and helping children to reach a much higher level of education, which would not have been possible without their help. Duties of the Local Authorities Local authorities discharging duties on a day- to- day basis are expected to promote the child’s educational aspirations as a parent would do. This includes taking into account the view of the child with regards to education. They also need to ensure that the Personal Education Plan (PEP) www.wsgfl.westsussex.gov.uk/redirect/?oid=FileAttachment-id-2600257 which also includes a “statement of educational needs and Individual Education Plan (IEP) of all the LAC is effective and of a high quality. The learning styles of the child are assessed with help from relevant educational professionals. Failure to act risks thwarting attempts to achieve better outcomes for children as set out in “Every Child Matters.” (Department for education and skills, 2003) http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/_files The authorities are also expected to mediate on behalf of the LAC, whenever he or she faces a problem. The children who come under the care of the social services are reviewed regularly, as it is a legal requirement. During this review the development and welfare of a LAC is discussed, which includes education, health and conduct. The purpose of the review is to see to it that the plan for the child is being implemented well and all the needs are met. The local authorities are required to ensure that their representatives as specified in the PEP attend all the relevant meetings. www.wsgfl.westsussex.gov.uk/redirect/?oid=FileAttachment-id-2600257 A suitable care placement is arranged by the local authority when a child comes under their care. By doing so, the social worker allocated to the child, becomes responsible for minimizing disruption to the child’s education. The social workers are supported by local authority management and resources. Maximum efforts are made to arrange care placements which enable a child to maintain existing educational provisions. Schemes and Services A bursary scheme is operated for LAC who is on the verge of exclusion. These funds are used to provide additional support which could be for an additional supervisor or additional tuitions. Children who need to use the bursary scheme are identified by the carers, schools and social workers, in consultation with the Education Support Team. Inclusion policies implemented in various educational institutions have resulted in the fall in the number of LAC exclusion. Professor Harry Ferguson (2004) focused his attention on making an evaluation of the various intervention programs, welfare policies and practices and showed particular interest in the use of theories concerned with late modernity involving “risk, reflexivity, intimacy, experiences of time, space and mobilities.” Ferguson H. (2004) The NSPCC is doing yeoman service in the field of child abuse and safeguarding children who are at risk, bye putting its strategic objectives into action in trying to put a stop to cruelty meted out to them. ‘It provides free access to the most current information on child abuse, child protection and safeguarding in the UK.’ www.nspcc.org.uk/ Barnardos, is one of U.K’s leading charities founded in the year 1867 by Dr. Thomas Barnardo and “believes in children, no matter who they are.” www.barnardos.org.uk/ This social service group believes in the potential of everyone they come into contact with and lend their full support in every way possible to educate them and shape their characters. Just like these groups, there are many others who dedicate themselves to the welfare of special needs children by lending their support.Other initiatives taken by the government include the “Sure Start Program” that worked with children and their families from birth (Glass 1999; Melhuish, Belsky and Leyland 2005) we also have children’s fund to encourage interagency collaborations across services working with children aged five to thirteen (Edwards, Barnes, Plewis and Morris et al 2006) in addition we have standard schools that offer support families and activities for children, to media sources community resources and it quick access to other services. (Cummings, Dyson and Todd 2004) References Allen, Nick (2005) Making Sense of the Children Act 1989 (4th edition) Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Anning, A., Cottrell, D.M., Frost, N., Green, J. and Robinson, M. (2006) Developing Multi-professional Teamwork for Integrated Children’s Services, Buckingham: Open University Press. Barrett, G., Sellman, D., Thomas, J. (2005) Interprofessional Working in Health and Social Care. Palgrave: London. Bryne, D., & Taylor, B. (2007). Children at Risk from Domestic Violence and their Educational Attainment: Perspectives of Education Welfare Officers, Social Workers and Teachers. Child Care in Practice¸ 13:3, 185 – 201. Cleaver, H & Walker, S et al (2008) The integrated children’s system. London: J Kingsley Corby, B (2008) Child Abuse: towards a knowledge base (3rd ed.) Maidenthead: OUP Cummings, C., Dyson, A. and Todd, L. (2004) Evaluation of Extended Schools Pathfinder Projects. Research Report 530, London: DfES. Department of Education and Skills. Every Child Matters, (2003) The Stationary Office. Cm. 5860. DfES (2004) Every Child Matters: Change for Children. DfES Publications: Nottingham. Dyer, K., & Taggart, T. (2007). Bullying Experiences of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service-users: A Pilot Survey. Child Care in Practice. 13:4, 351 – 365. Edwards, A. and Apostolov, A. (2007) A Cultural-Historical Interpretation of Resilience: the implications for practice, Outlines: critical social studies, 9 (1): 70-84. Edwards, A., Barnes, M., Plewis, I. and Morris, K. et al. (2006) Working to Prevent the Social Exclusion Of Children And Young People: Final Lessons from the National Evaluation of the Children’s Fund: RR 734, London: DfES. Ferguson, H. (2004) Protecting Children in Time: Child Abuse, Child Protection and the Consequences of Modernity.  Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Glass, N. (1999) ‘SureStart: the development of an early intervention programme for young children in the United Kingdom’, Children and Society,13 (4): 257-264 Livesey, G., McAleavy, G., Donegan, T., Duffy, J., O’Hagan, C., Adamson, G., and White, R. (2007). The nature and extent of bullying in schools in the North of Ireland: research report. Jordanstown: Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and Lifelong Learning Research Centre, University of Ulster McElearney, A., Adamson, G., Shevlin, M., Tracey, A., Muldoon, B., & Roosmale-Cocq, S. (2007). Independent Schools Counselling: profiling the NSPCC service experience. Child Care in Practice, 13:2, 95 – 115. Melhuish, E., Belsky, J. and Leyland, A. (2005) Early Impact of SureStart Local programmes on Children and Families. SS Report 13, London: DfES. Thomas, N. and O’Kane, C. (1998) ‘The Ethics of Participatory Research with Children’ Children and Society, 12: 336-348 Internet Sources Stop Child Abuse www.nspcc.org.uk/ The Children Act 2004 http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/ Barnardo’s/ Our Charity supports children….. www.barnardos.org.uk/ Non Executive Template http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/_files/9852B061B0DA6DC3AD3CE00B9204BA73.doc Children’s Services Information http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/wwwfileroot/socialservices/children/lacreview.pdf What To Do If You’re Worried A Child Is Being Abused. http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/search/?asset=dowmeat&id=17378 3089 Children’s Plan 2006 www.newcastle.gov.uk/wwwfileroot/socialservices/children/TheNewcastlePlanforChildrenandYoungPeople.pdf - Department for Children, Schools and Families: The children Acts www.dcsf.gov.uk/childrenactreport/ Personal Education Plan www.wsgfl.westsussex.gov.uk/redirect/?oid=FileAttachment-id-2600257 Department for Children, Schools and Families: Educational Protects www.dcsf.gov.uk/educationprotects/index.cfm?pageId=2&pageType=level2 achieving continuity and stability o        early intervention – taking priority action o        listening to children Read More