The Protection of Children in England - Assignment Example

Assessment of Impact of the Recommendations of the Victoria Climbie Inquiry 2003 in Conjunction with the Children Act 2004, in Developing Preventative Practices Within Children’s Services INTRODUCTION The purpose of this essay is to assess the combined impact of the recommendations of Lord Laming’s Inquiry in 2003 on the Victoria Climbie case, and the Children Act 2004, towards developing preventative practices in social work services pertaining to child abuse and neglect. In the early twenty-first century the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie, concentrated on “the alleged failure of all child welfare organisations to adequately cooperate to safeguard and protect vulnerable children” (Garrett 2003, p.1). The concept of “working together” has been key to the development of social work with children since more than two decades, and this dimension of social work has been highlighted in government policies and recommendations. The aim of this essay stated above, will be achieved by fulfilling the objectives of critically assessing the systems upon which statutory childcare delivery is based, and childcare policies and systems in the context of anti-oppressive practice. The key issues to be addressed in the paper will be in the context of safeguarding children, common assessment framework and its significance as an anti-oppressive as well as voluntary system, and the recent review of Lord Laming’s report and the government’s views. DISCUSSION Eight-year-old Victoria Climbie from the Ivory Coast in the southern part of west Africa, had been taken to the United Kingdom in April 1999 by her great-aunt Marie-Therese Kouao under the pretext of providing her with an education and the chance of a brighter future. She was subjected to severe cruelty, abuse and neglect by the guardian and her boyfriend Carl Manning over a period of several months. Victoria died in February 2000 from multiple organ failure “due to hypothermia caused by malnourishment and living in damp conditions with her movement constrained” (Bridgeman 2007, p.62). Moreover, the postmortem revealed 128 injuries to her body, as a result of severe physical abuse. The Laming Inquiry in 2003 focused on the role of the public services responsible for protecting children from harm, comprising the police, social services and health authorities to whom Victoria was referred due to concerns about deliberately inflicted injuries. Though on twelve different ocassions members of the social, health and protective services had the opportunity to see her condition, no one took action to assess the likelihood of the child being subjected to continued abuse. Lord Laming recommended that in the future, effective child protection had to be ensured through support for the family as well as multi-agency working (Bridgeman 2007). The Laming Report, 2003 had a direct impact on the Green Paper, Every Child Matters, published at the same time as the government’s response to the Laming Report (KCS, 2003). The Green Paper proposed an agenda of change through promotion and preventative strategies to ensure that all children are provided with the opportunity to fulfill their potential. At the same time, specific safeguards were to be ensured against neglect and abuse for children vulnerable to these occurrences, disability or illness. Every Child Matters frames five goals for children’s well-being: being healthy; staying safe; enjoying and achieving academic progress and social development; making a positive contribution to the community and to society; and access to employment and economic well-being (Boateng, 2003). The Recent Review of Lord Lamings’ Report of March, 2009 Lord Laming’s recent review and recommendations presented in March 2009 emphasize that over the last five years the government has developed significant legislation and guidance to safeguard children and promote their welfare. Besides the vital Every Child Matters, the interagency guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children provides firm guidelines for professionals to protect children and promote their welfare. New theories based on early intervention developed on a national level and implemented at the local level through extended schools and Sure Start Children’s Centres, have formed a sound foundation on which to construct further flexible and imaginative responses to the needs of children and families. The report Lord Laming (2009) includes recommendation of the establishment of new statutory targets for child protection and the development of a National Safeguarding Delivery Unit reporting to ministers to ensure the implementation of the recommendations. Though improved services for children and families are essential, the crucial need is for meeting the challenge towards protecting children at risk, from harm. As an important first step, the leaders of local services should be made responsible for translating policy, legislation and guidance into their daily practice with affected children. The importance of early intervention and quick supportive action by the leaders of local services would avert the intensifying of a child’s case into a crisis (Lord Laming 2009). Frontline staff hold a demanding job which requires knowledge, skill as well as determination, courage and coping skills in the face of extreme conflict, sometimes. All aspects of their training, conditions of service, case-loads and supervision should be based on the realization that anxiety undermines good practice, and provision of successful protection and safety should be the aim of their work. Ensuring the well-being and confidence of the staff should be a priority for central government and local agencies, with the help of sufficient resources. Local, regional and central government services should work together. Also, a powerful National Safeguarding Delivery Unit to report directly to Cabinet as a multidisciplinary team should be led by a capable and knowledgeable person, towards helping children especially those in danger of deliberate abuse or neglect (Lord Laming 2009). The need for more social workers, with adequate training should be addressed, for frontline work with children in need of protection. A high priority for a new postgraduate programme to be completed by all social workers, and a programme of management training should be put in place for ensuring strong and determined leadership in every local authority. Best practice is required for dealing with some of the most vulnerable children in our society. Issues of low morale and esteem within the service have to be changed, in the social services. Further, the wariness of staff throughout the health services to undertake child protection work has to be overcome. General practitioners, community nurses and paediatricians must be helped to develop a wider range of skills in this crucial area of work. The health visitors’ status, training and responsibilities also need to be crucially addressed, in order to increase their numbers, their competence and confidence helping children in need of protection from abuse. Similarly, adequate child protection police teams with specialist training, in greater numbers, with improved quality of services are highly needed (Lord Laming 2009). Court processes dealing with the care of children should take less time, for which the Secretary of State for Justice should take immediate action. “In 2008/ 2009, the average time taken for a case to come to court was 45 weeks, an unacceptably long time to leave a child in limbo at this formative stage in his or her life” (Lord Laming 2009, p.6). Good practice needs to become the standard practice in every service, the social service, health service, and the police and protection service. Recommendations for improving the inspection of safeguarding services, the quality of reviews done for Serious Cases and for increasing the support for children at risk of harm need to be undertaken (Lord Laming 2009). Future challenges have to be met with a multidisciplinary approach, working together to safeguard children. Training and workforce issues, interagency working, improved data systems are all important initiatives; but the most important requirement is for the staff to have adequate time, knowledge and skill to understand the child and its family background, and high commitment towards their work (Laming 2009). The Children’s Workforce Development Council should develop clear progressional routes for child protection social workers. Their pay and status should be at a higher level in view of the difficult nature of their work and case-loads. This would also help to resolve recruitment and retention difficulties (Lord Laming 2009). The Children Act 2004 The Children Act 2004 established a statutory duty on local authorities and their partner agencies to cooperate to improve the well-being of children, and gave a legal foundation to the five outcomes of child welfare stated by Every Child Matters. To effectively protect children, further legislative change is not as essential as the need for professionals with responsibility for the welfare of children, who are in full knowledge of the legislative framework in relation to safeguarding and child protection, and also have a thorough understanding of their role and responsibilities in the process. This includes ensuring that legal advisers within a local authority should receive initial training of a high quality, as well as continuing professional development in this legislative framework underlining safeguarding and child protection (CYPP 2004). The Children Act 2004 has the goal of improving and integrating services, promoting early intervention, providing strong leadership and combining the work of different professionals “in multi-disciplinary teams to achieve positive outcomes for children, young people and their families” (CYPP 2004). There is clearer accountability for councils’ children’s services, by requiring the appointment of a director of Children’s Services, and appointing a lead councillor for children’s services. A legal requirement for increased sharing of information, statutory Local Safeguarding Boards to replace non-statutory Area Child Protection committees, and a Children’s Commissioner for England to promote awareness of the views and interests of children with respect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Further, Children’s Trust arrangements are the emerging policy structure with guidelines for improved outcomes for children and young people. Children’s Trusts vary across the country, based on local flexibility and local needs, ranging from the initial “models of a few schools to those integrating partner agencies from health, education and social care, to form a single service delivery trust” (The Education Network 2004). . The Government’s Response to Lord Lamings’ Report Lord Laming’s report published on 12th March, 2009: The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report had specific recommendations for future social service, health, police prevention services and all departments, towards helping children in need. The government accepted all the recommendations put forth by Lord Laming, and is to issue another response in greater detail, within a few months. The government’s action plan indicates the way in which “all of central government will work together with local government and front line services including teachers, teaching assistants, school governors, staff in Children’s Centres and early years settings, child care workers and other partners” working with children, to implement reform of child protection services across England (DCSF 2009). The key element that Lord Laming stressed on is the crucial importance of giving the child the central position around which everything works. This includes understanding the perspective of the child, listening to the child and always keeping the child in one’s view. As important as the centrality of the child driving governmental policies, it is equally essential that it should drive day-to-day practice at the front line. Strong legislative, structural and policy foundations on which to build have been formulated by the government. There is universal consensus among all concerned that our Every Child Matters reforms are crucial for children’s well-being, and positive progress has been made so far. The government has responded to every recommendation made by Lord Laming, and is gearing up to take fast action in all respects. A couple of recommendations which have been deferred by the government until the end of this year 2009 are on ensuring children can avail of specialist services early, and ensuring that all staff working with children receive training in child development and signs of abuse (DCSF 2009). The core point of the government’s response to Laming was a 58 million pound social work transformation fund, available from 2009 to 2011, to improve the training and development of children’s social workers through several measures stated by them. Establishment of the National Safeguarding Delivery Unit would be carried out, for coordination with Children’s Trusts, practitioners, civil servants, and statutory and voluntary sector experts. The Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Bill was amended to facilitate the government’s introduction of statutory targets on safeguarding. The employer’s code of practice would also be put on a statutory footing. A number of Laming’s recommendations on improvement of the Social Work Task Force will be addressed in the government’s final report in October. Responsibility to form supervision guidelines for social workers, and the implementation of a social worker supply strategy which overcomes recruitment and retention difficulties, have been accepted by the government (DCSF 2009). Though the government had pledged support to other recommendations, it has withheld support to them, or rejected some of them: regarding the creation of a specialist children’s social work degree after the first year, the Social Work Task Force has said that specialization may be acquired later, but there was greater need for social workers to be trained in the needs of children and adults. This decision of the government received the full support of social work education leaders. Further, Laming’s call for a review towards a national Integrated Children’s System was also rejected; while the government accepted taskforce recommendations to enable councils to tailor local systems to their needs. All the recommendations put forth by Laming on funding were rejected, while the Association of Directors of Children’s Services warned that core funding for safeguarding needed to increase. The government’s response to Laming’s placing the onus on them for finding was to state that funding was an issue for local Children’s Trusts (DCSF 2009). Safeguarding Children Evidence from research conducted by Bajaj et al (2006) confirms that all clinicians who come into contact with children need to remain alert and recognize the child at risk at an early stage. Only when all clinicians report their concerns before a child suffers serious harm can there be hope to improve outcomes for children. Bajaj et al (2006) developed the concern sheet in order to improve early identification of child welfare concerns, for all ages from birth to sixteen years of age. The form is also used if there are concerns regarding parenting capabilities such as when cases of parental substance/ alcohol abuse or mental health issues are identified, due to the potential risk to children by adults with these issues. The concern sheet is discussed with parents, in order to obtain insights into the background of the case. Coordinators provide vital information and support, though the multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses and other professionals deal directly with the case, reporting to social services if required. Through the careful recording of all cases, lines of action taken and analysis of outcomes, a better understanding of how outcomes can be changed in child protection is achieved. Such time consuming processes are carried out by a number of coordinators who help the designated professionals to work effectively in child protection (Bajaj et al 2006). Corby (2006) states that the safeguarding of children needs to be implemented through the following steps undertaken by the government: the appointment of a national children’s commissioner to represent children for enhancing their rights; the formation of Children’s Services Departments under the leadership of a Director of Children’s Services; later to be replaced by Children’s Trusts; the replacement of Area Child Protection Committees with Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards with strong statutory and fiscal powers; the creation of detailed procedural guidance about how to respond to and monitor safeguarding children referrals, including the development of common assessment frameworks, and of computerized systems for sharing and tracking information across all concerned agencies; closer management surveillance of frontline work, with specific tasks and goals for ensuring consistency and effectiveness of practice; and greater emphasis on joint training (Corby 2006). Common Assessment Framework The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is a tool developed to help in the assessment of the child’s needs in cases where more than one practitioner is likely to be involved in dealing with the issues of a case. The Common Assessment Framework is a voluntary process, hence is an anti-oppressive approach to social service. Rather than for children at risk of serious harm, the CAF is useful for early intervention, in the spectrum of needs. It has been reported that the CAF has helped to bring together a wide range of professionals to combine their assessments, which proves to be beneficial in the assessment of a child, and as a learning experience for the staff. However, the tool is in danger of becoming process-focused, or even a barrier to services for children, in situations where access to services depends on a completed CAF form. All the services need additional help in using the CAF effectively and consistently. Further, adequate training and support for managing the role of lead practitioner would help to ensure that all personnel have the time, training and skills needed to support children effectively (DH 2009). CONCLUSION This essay has highlighted the development of preventative practices in social work related to child abuse and neglect, as a result of the recommendations of Lord Laming’s Inquiry in 2003 on the Victoria Climbie case, and the Children Act 2004. It was found that In all the services a greater number of trained employees are required including the frontline social workers and social work managers. Highly motivated, confident and skilled staff go a long way in providing positive outcomes for children in need. Early intervention and multidisciplinary working are crucial for achieving positive outcomes. Besides this, the statutory systems which form the basis for delivering child care are developed for resolving the challenges successfully. Both local and central governments and other key services have to be effective through strong leadership, provision of adequate resources, early intervention, management of professionals and others’ work, regular inspection, establishing accountability at all levels, and providing support. Raising the skills-levels and morale of the work force through provision of progressive training, and adequate compensation would help to retain staff as well as reduce the problem of insufficient recruitment of social workers. REFERENCES Bajaj, M., Mease, R.G., Allen, K. & Dryburgh, E.H. 2006. Safeguarding children: Is there a role for a coordinator? Child Abuse Review, 15, 127-137. Bridgeman, J. 2007. Parental responsibility, young children and healthcare law. The United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Boateng, P. 2003. Every child matters. The Stationery Office. Cm 5860. Retrieved on 24th May, 2009 from: http://www.tsoshop.co.uk/bookstore.asp?Action=Book&ProductId=9780101586023 Corby, B. 2006. The role of child care social work in supporting families with children in need and providing protective services – past, present and future. Child Abuse Review, 15, 159-177. CYPP (Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership). 2004. The children act – Every child matters – Change for children programme. Surrey County Council. Retrieved on 24th May, 2009 from: http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/The+Children+Act+-+Every+Child+Matters+-+Change+for+Children+Programme?opendocument DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families). 2009. The protection of children in England: action plan. The government’s response to Lord Laming. Her Majesty’s Government. Retrieved on 24th May, 2009 from: http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/DCSF-Laming.pdf DH (Department of Health). 2009. Common assessment framework for children in need. Retrieved on 24th May, 2009 from: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/AdvanceSearchResult/index.htm?searchTerms=common+assessment+framework+for+children+in+need Garrett, P.M. 2003. Remaking social work with children and families: a critical discussion on the “modernisation” of social care. London: Routledge. KCS (Keeping Children Safe). September 2003. Keeping children safe: the government’s response to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report and Joint Chief Inspectors’ Report Safeguarding Children. Cm 5861. Retrieved on 23rd May, 2009 from: http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/_files/684162953674A15196BB5221973959E3.pdf Lord Laming. March 2009. The protection of children in England: a progress report. The House of Commons. Retrieved on 24th May, 2009 from: http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/HC-330.pdf The Education Network. 2004. Children Act 2004. Policy Briefing. Retrieved on 24th May, 2009 from: http://www.portsmouth-learning.net/pln/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/2918/Children_Act_2004.p df Read More