The Leaving Care Team - Essay Example

Running Head: LEAVING CARE TEAM The Leaving Care Team: An Evaluation of Assessment and Intervention for Young Adults Leaving Care Social work in itself is already an arduous undertaking involving multifarious tasks, and it gets even more complicated when children are involved. A variety of talents and resources are needed in order to fulfill this assignment. They work under the radar and are usually unseen and unrecognized by the society, but a social workers job is valuable, if the ultimate aim is to provide support and assistance for people who need them the most, the elderly and the children. It may be a fact that social workers usually come into the life of a person when they are unusually low. They maybe poor, have been abused, oppressed, discriminated and marginalized, and they may not want the help that is offered by the social worker. At this instance, a social worker needs to call on a variety of aptitude in order to facilitate support for these people. They have to be sensitive and caring in order to successfully initiate and progress care for these people especially if they are the young ones. The work of the social worker is never easy, it’s a complicated web of protocols versus human emotions, belief in the system versus actual events witnessed and the most difficult of all, the desire to help versus implementation of laws and guidelines. In the UK, the Government has invested heavily in policies intended to give all children the ability to succeed. There have already been major improvements in educational accomplishment, and drop in teenage pregnancy, juveniles and children living so poorly. The children and young people of today experience greater opportunities and profit from rising affluence, better health and educational opportunities. However, there is much more that needs to be done. While it will be noted that most children and young people are doing fine, a considerable minority still encounter problems that may lead to poor results throughout their childhood going into adulthood. Absenteeism remains a relentless problem. There are still many 16 to 18 year old that does not have proper education or training, even the educational accomplishments of children in care persists to be in the lower percentage. The tragic death of Victoria Climbié shows that some children slip through the net and are devoid of protection. It is vital to ensure that protection of children at risk of neglect and harm are integrated into the framework of universal services whose aims are to prevent which aims to prevent outcomes that hurt the children and that there is ample support for every child in order to develop their full potential (Every Child Matters, 2003). The Children’s Act 1989 aims to “reform the law involving children; and provide for local authority services for children in need and others; to amend the law concerning children’s homes, community homes, voluntary homes and voluntary organizations; to make stipulations on fostering, child minding and day care for young children and adoption. . The wellbeing of the children is the principal consideration. Children should always be consulted (subject to age and understanding) and kept informed about any decisions that adults will make concerning them and their wellbeing. Court rulings about their future should be receptive to their needs. Parents and the childrens extended family (grandparents and other relations) should play a part in the lives of their children even if they are to live apart from each other. This contact should be protected by each parent. Childrens issues must be decided upon as soon as possible so that disruption in the child’s life will be maintained at a minimum”. Children’s Act 2000. Now, even with the best efforts, sometimes a child or young person is not able to stay with his/her own family/parents for whatever reason. When this happens social workers will look for relatives that maybe willing to look after the child. If there is no one appropriate, the local authority will look after the child. Majority of the children and young people looked after stay with foster families though there will be some in residential homes, but as such, it is a fact that they cannot stay in care for the rest of their lives. In 2000, the Government passed a new law, The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000, providing these young adults the support necessary in order for them leave care, gain independence and give them a chance to better themselves. On their sixteenth birthday these young adults will begin their journey towards adulthood and this undertaking will not be an easy task for these young adults, they will need all the support they can get to enable them to reach this goal. Beyond that it is imperative that they also be supported even after they leave care until such time that they are fully able to support themselves independently. Eligible children are those that are 16 or 17 years of age who have been looked after by the local authority for at least 13 weeks after reaching the age of 14 and are still looked after. The 13 weeks of living in care do not need to be continuous. It also applies to relevant children, who are young people who were previously eligible children but are no longer looked after but still under eighteen. But this does not include children who have been returned to their families and have been for at least 6 months. Relevant children also include care leavers who meet the defined criteria but are young parents or young people who has been confined in the hospital. The Act also applies to former relevant children, young people who are already 18 years old but not yet 21 and was either an eligible or relevant child before reaching 18. Children who are supported via an agreed education or training programme, they are considered as former relevant children till the end of this period even if it extends beyond the age of 21. Eligible children may also include young people who are under the custody of the local authority after committing an offense, asylum seekers who are unaccompanied minors and some respite care children and young people who have returned to their families while in care. The Leaving Care Team. The Leaving Care Team is a group of various professionals tasked to provide a host of services for the young people leaving care. This can be social workers, mentors or advisers, an accomodation team that may include daily carers and residential staff. There can also be special workers who can deal with care leavers who have special needs or disabilities. Health workers, trainers and life skills advisors may also be employed. There may also be a housing officer, supported lodging, network coordinator and administration staff. A specialist social worker is also present to support unaccompanied asylum seeking children. It may be noted that services for these young people are individualized form of service catering to their specific needs, but generally they are all provided with a needs assessment, a pathway plan to set up goals and check progress, an advisor and they will also be provided help with regards to accommodation, maintenance and financial support for furthering education and such. The Leaving Care Team should take into consideration several issues in carrying out their responsibilities like the nature and level of contact required and support to be provided; accommodation details; education; employment considerations; social contact with family and friends; training for independent living skills; any health considerations, including mental health; and contingency plan should any part of the plan fail in its duty or needs adjustment to conform with any change in the young adults life. Needs Assessment. When the Children Act 1989 was implemented there was an increase in awareness both by law makers and workers to develop an effective system for assessing needs among children specially those who need additional support from welfare (Calder and Hackett, 2003). The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) for children and young people was developed in order to standardize approaches in conducting an assessment of a child’s additional needs. CAF is a key part of delivering frontline services that are integrated and focused around the needs of children and young people. It can be used by social workers in all childrens services in England. The CAF is intended to help social workers assess needs at an earlier stage and then work with their families, alongside government agencies in order to meet these needs. The Pathways Plan was developed in order to assess the needs, skills and support needs of the care leaver. Needs assessment is the first step of Pathway Planning, and this should be drawn up with the active involvement of the young adult involved. It should be based on previous plans and assessments done. The leaving care team will do a ‘needs assessment’ within three months after eligibility, wherein their general health and development are checked. During this time possible support from family or immediate relatives will be verified. Financial assistance, education and training for possible employment are assessed. Even their practical knowledge is evaluated for utilization in independent living. After care support and accommodation is also taken care of. Some of these young people may require special assessments for a specific need, such as learning or physical disabilities, maybe mental illness. Some may need help in terms of self identity or esteem. Others may need training like acquisition of parenting skills if they are or are about to become parents. The leaving care worker should work with the child during assessment and identifying appropriate people involved with the child to facilitate proper and complete assessment is valuable, these can include the parents or parent figure, the daily carer, a school representative if the child is attending school. A Medical Practitioner, most especially if the child has health problems. The child’s personal adviser or connexions adviser (if he/she has any) and anyone else deemed necessary by authority or the young person himself/herself. It is also the job of the responsible authority to keep a written record of the information obtained during assessment, deliberation of meetings concerning any part of the assessment, and the eventual result of the assessment. A copy should be kept by the responsible authority and it should also be furnished to the child and pertinent adult concerned. An accurate needs assessment result is vital for it will determine the advice, assistance level and support to be given to the child leaving care. The result of the individual assessment will be the foundation for the pathway plan that will be formulated for the child, in order for him/her to attain independence. At the end of the assessment an analysis should be prepared, listing issues and concerns that can generate an impact on various aspects of the young person’s growth and consider the relationship between them. Upon careful consideration, the information obtained should result to a clear conception of the young person’s needs, and what kind of service provisions would best cater to these needs, ensuring the young person’s opportunity to achiever his or her highest potential. Another thing to be remembered is that this assessment also needs to be reviewed periodically in order to update it on possible changes or revisions adapting to any change in the child’s status. Young people leaving care should be provided a safe and positive environment, enabling them to explore realities of life in an environment that they can be comfortable with. Leaving Care Workers should also treat these young people with equality and fairness recognizing their individuality and the need for personal growth and development. An individualized and personalized programme should be developed that will help these care leavers acquire the confidence and ability for independent creative thought. There should also be a range of education and employment advice preparing them for independent living upon reaching the age of 18 and beyond. Continuous assessment and reviews of caring professionals should be put in place. Making sure that ample information about their rights and entitlements while living in care, leaving care and after care is provided and how to gain access to these resources, if ever they will need it. A leaving care social worker will provide information about the range of assessments that will be undertaken, how long these will take and why the pathway plan is reviewed periodically. Part of their responsibility is to inform and educate the care leaver towards independence, guiding them towards the right authority in order to fulfill their needs as stated in the pathway plan. It is also their duty to be in constant contact with these young adults, in order to present a continuity of service so as not to uproot any progress made with the care leaver in question. And they should also be informed that if ever they are unhappy with the service they are being provided they can always talk to their social worker or personal adviser and they will speak with relevant authorities and that if they are still not happy with the way their complaint is being handled they can always ask for complain leaflets. (Haringey Council). As a social worker tackling leaving care youths, it is important that before actual assessment, background research is important and knowledge of the party/parties involved can be crucial in dealing with the youth. A basic grasp of potential problems and risks is essential if the assessment is to be effective. Inspection of the service user’s documents with regards to his entry to the system, and getting feedback from present and even past carers, even school records. It is vital to have the right information in order to fully facilitate and complete an assessment and come up with the best plan in order for the young person at hand to achieve the highest potential possible for the service user. The social worker should also be familiar with the service user’s background and any risk he/she may pose or be exposed to during and after leaving care, such examples could include risk to self, service user may have psychological issues that may cause suicidal tendencies, or injury to self and others. It is also essential to know if any immediate family members or even their own parents pose a threat to the service user, and any other risk that may play a factor in the development of the service user and hinder the intended growth for that particular person, it may come in the form of environmental threat, threat from other service users or other people in society. (Parsloe, 1999) It may also serve as good practice for the social worker to know if the service user has been subjected to oppression or racial discrimination or other degrading issues. These factors will play a part in the assessment procedures and outcomes and the formulation of pathways. An effective assessment will take into consideration the young adults input, ideas, and suggestions. Keeping an open mind and a willingness to listen and modify any set standards is important to setting and achieving goals. Being able to cope with and adapt to external change is a skill that all social workers must understand and refine, regardless of where they work (Johnston K, 2007). It is also a good suggestion to establish a good rapport with the young care leaver in order to build a certain camaraderie, attaining a level of trust and respect. It is also imperative to have a good listening skill and an intuitive mind, reading body language may also come in handy when it comes to assessing young people, since some of them may not be willing to divulge information let alone show emotions or air concerns. It is apt for the assessment to be done at time and place that is most comfortable to the young person to be assessed. A clear and comprehensible explanation of what is to be done and why it has to be done may also prove worthy during the initial stage of assessment. There are a variety of tools that can be used by the social worker during assessment. Genograms, or the family tree, enabling the social worker to assess family backgrounds, abuses or such with regards to family. Ecomaps, checking for interrelations between society, culturagrams here the social worker checks for cultural background and the effect of the present culture in the family, here the worker can also check for various things like languages spoken, legality of stay in the country, any religious or cultural beliefs, health considerations/diet, holidays or special events celebrated. The flowdiagram and life road maps can be used to assess the persons’ living system, norms that developed within the family and chronology of events leading to eventual entry into the system. (Parker and Bradley, 2007). Clear assessment of individual needs of these care leavers, from health care to finances, to housing and accommodation, to education or training, even to employment should be made known at the earliest possible time and should be noted accurately in order to prevent abuse of the system and enable the service user to make use of the services provided. The Contingency measures put in place, should any failure in the adapted system occur. Temptations, peer pressure and a rebellious spirit can affect the service user and in turn affect the projected outcome of the assessment. Overall this system should be effective since it takes into account all of the areas of concern needed in order for an individual to survive the world. But not all care leavers will be cooperative to this process. Another risk is the abuse of the system, although, this abuse may be found generally in every aspect of the government, but there can be a general feeling of able to lean on welfare services, laziness can occur on the part of the service user, knowing that even if an eventual failure happens the welfare services will always be there to catch him/her. After the needs assessment, formulation of the pathway plan is the next step. In formulating this plan three main elements are considered, My Pathway Views, Pathway Assessment and the Pathway plan. These elements are sectioned for documentation purposes but it should be integrated into one comprehensive process so as not to confuse the service user. The pathway plan must be completed for all care leavers, Arrangements, as well as the timetable for completing the pathway plan should be talked about and agreed upon during the statutory review prior to the service user’s sixteenth birthday and it should be finished within three months of this date. Since one of the elements of the pathway planning is to be completed by the young person, my pathway plan consultation paper. They should be encouraged and supported in completing it, as this paper asks them to give their views regarding their future plan as part of the process for completing the Pathway Plan. The Pathway Plan is intended to sustain faultless planning for young people until their eighteenth birthday. The first part of the pathway planning document accounts the summary of the assessment of the care leaver’s needs and current abilities, the second part outlines the pathway plan of the care leaver based on the summary of assessment. To get the best from Pathway Planning it is advised that methods of assessment should take into consideration the care leaver’s communication proficiency and mobility condition. If a care leaver would need any assistance in order to fully play their role in their assessment then it must be made accessible to them should they want it. The assessment should also take full consideration of the care leaver’s cultural background, languages spoken, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or any other impairment. Pertinent individuals in the care leaver’s life should also be consulted; it may be a parent or parent figure, the daily carer, a teacher or doctor. A mentor or connexions personal adviser or any other person deemed important either by the young person or leaving care worker. The Pathway plan should also take note of any other existing assessments and plans that are in effect relating to the care leaver. Progress Records, Care Plan, Placement Information Record and Agreements, Personal Health and Education Plans, Health Action Plans, Transition Plans are only some of them. After assessment and planning a copy of the Pathway Plan formulated should be given to the care leaver. It is also important for them to be noted of where and how they can find support in order for them to fulfill their pathway plans. The plan should contain information on how the care leaver would acquire housing or accommodation. It should also contain provisions for education or training. And if the service user is susceptible, an apprenticeship or employment can be worked upon. Any health support for general and specific health needs should be addressed here, where the care leaver would go should he/she need it. A person to keep in close contact with, the parents if possible, a sibling or relative, an advisor or mentor, if all others are unavailable. It is imperative that they have a social support system that will enable them to have someone to call on in times of need. A personal adviser or mentor is also assigned to the care leaver who will serve as their guide aside from their social worker. The pathway plan should also include any other information that may be deemed relevant for the service user, like achievements, special skills and such that may come in handy for the future of the young care leaver. Pathways planning should also include the young adults’ hopes for the future. This part will become their inspiration and should be instilled in their minds so they will be propelled to take steps in achieving these dreams. It is also an avenue for the care leaver to reflect upon his/her time spent at care and realize how things worked out for him and a goal to the betterment of self. It is also essential that the pathway plan be flexible, changes beyond everyone’s control or changes that are done on purpose can hamper or hasten the results of the pathways plan. In retrospect the pathways plan seem to be an effective approach in assessing the needs of an individual leaving care and the formulation of possible solutions and intervention for these needs seems to be going on the right track. Although one may realize that the steps provided for are generalized and not specifically catered to a specific type of individual thereby giving it loopholes where a child can slip through. It should also be taken into careful consideration that in social work, people deal with people and people vary, depending on the environment they grew up with, the culture and norms they are accustomed to. Discrimination on both sides can and does happen. One may not want to work with another just because of the color of their hair. Or an argument can arise out of something so mediocre just because someone thought someone else was thinking bad things about them. Some may refuse to cooperate because they thought that a provision given to them was because of their ethnicity or gender or that a provision given to another was greater than what was provided for him/her. The human element can be a tedious enemy and a barrier to completing set goals. What does this mean? People are complex and one is very different from the other, even if they be related and if there is one thing about a person that can always be construed as true is that they always change their minds. At a point a person can say one thing and say an entirely different thing at the next point. It will be a hard undertaking but it is important to have a different approach for different people. Also, assessment will also be highly subjective, from the care leaver and social worker’s point of view. It should be important that proper training be given to social workers who will work with care leavers since they will have a very different task from that of a social worker working for the elderly or children living in foster care, juvenile offenders, even those that were abused or maltreated. Social workers who will deal with care leavers will essentially deal with every kind of youth mentioned. Eventually all of them will have to leave care and pass on to the leaving care team. Another concern is what about those who do not pass eligibility and relevancy? And those children who fail to enter into the system? Will they share the same opportunities that the care leavers will eventually have. Effectivity of the system would depend upon factors that are varying and changing in nature. A social worker may work better for an individual who she/he may feel a certain attachment to, or they may work loosely for an individual who they feel a certain animosity towards. Or a care leaver may cooperate with a social worker they feel close to or may refuse to cooperate with a care worker they don’t like. It may not be deliberate on their parts but it does happen. Another factor to consider is lying or cheating on the part of the care leaver, they may work to abuse the system. In order for the system to really be effective it is essential to note the possibilities and work on problems. An admission of that the system is not perfect and the implementation continuous research is vital if the system is to be rid of faults and provide a system that is not only healthy but sees to fruition the goals they herein set. References Calder, M C and Hackett,S (2003) Assessment in Child Care; using and developing frameworks of practice. Lyme Regis. Russell Publishing House Children’s Workforce Development Council (2007). Common Assessment Framework for Children and Young People: Practitioners’ Guide. Leeds. Children’s Workforce Development Council Department for Children, Schools and Families. (2003) Every Child Matters Green Paper. The Stationary Office. Norwich. Crown Copyright Department of Health. (2001) Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 Regulations and Guidance. Norwich. Office of Public Sector Information Department of Health, with input from the Department of Social Security, the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales. (2000) Explanatory Notes to Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. Queens Printer of Acts of Parliament. London. Crown Copyright Haringey Council Leaving Care Service. (2003) Haringey Leaving Care Handbook. London. Communications Unit, Haringey Council. Johnston, K and Williams, I (2007) Managing uncertainty and change in social work and social care. Lyme Regis. Russell House Publishing Department of Health. (1999) Me, Survive, out there? Government Consultation Paper. Issued with Local Authority Social Services Letter, LASSL (1999)15. London. Crown Copyright. Parker, J. Bradley, G. (2007) Social Work Practice: Assessment, Planning, Intervention, and Review 2nd Ed. Glasgow. Learning Matters, Ltd. Parsloe, P (ed). (1999). Risk Assessment in Social Care and Social Work. London. Jessica Kingsley Publications. Scottish Executive. (2004). Pathways Handbook: A Guide to Completing Pathways Folder. Scottish Government Publications. Online. Retrieved, 31 January 2000. 16+ Leaving Care Team. (2003). Moving On Guide. London. London Borough of Bromley. Read More