The Special Place of Children in Society - Research Paper Example

Making Every Child Matter I. Introduction Children hold a very special place in society. Parents and advocacy groups strive hard to work for theirbenefit. With the overriding belief that they are tomorrow’s leaders who will inherit and rule the earth, they are to be regarded with due care and respect. The Green Paper, Every Child Matters, outlines the Government’s proposals for reforming the delivery of services for children, young people and families. It improves on what has already been set out to ensure the protection of children at risk of harm and neglect from negative outcomes and support all children in optimizing all their talents and potentials. II. Definition In an effort to meet children’s developmental needs, the UK government was prompted to consult children themselves, of things that matter to them most in order to be the basis of proposals for change. These key outcomes—being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and economic well-being are detailed in the Every Child Matters report and represent a considerable shift in focus for staff providing public services for children. (Baxter & Frederickson, 2005). In the document for Every Child Matters, Working Together to Safeguard Children (HM Government, 2006), important definitions on some constructs on hand were given: “In the Children Acts 1989 and 2004, a child is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday. ‘Children’ therefore means ‘children and young people’ throughout. The fact that a child has reached 16 years of age, is living independently or is in further education, is a member of the armed forces, is in hospital, in prison or in a Young Offenders’ Institution, does not change his or her status or entitlement to services or protection under the Children Act 1989. “(HM Government, 2006, p.34) Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as “protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s health or development and ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care (HM Government, pp. 34-35) Child protection is a part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. This refers to the “activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are at risk of suffering, significant harm” (HM Government, p. 35). III. Historical context The controversial brutal death of eight-year old Victoria Climbie in the hands of people she trusted spurred an in-depth investigation that inspired the writing of the Green Paper, otherwise known as Every Child Matters. Although her death is a tragic loss, it has awakened in the government its vigilance in the protection of children, hence, Victoria’s death was not in vain. The UK is signatory in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Every five years, the UK government is required to report to the UN Commission on its progress in implementing the convention in the country. It is expected that all government departments hold responsibility to promote the convention and the five key outcomes set out in Every Child Matters namely: being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and economic well-being. This document provides the vehicle for the delivery of the convention in the country. It widens the scope of government involvement in children’s development and challenges all those involved with children to develop effective practices in promoting positive developmental outcomes for all. Inspectors of children’s services will be looking for evidence that “Children and young people, parents and carers are involved in identifying their needs and designing services” and “Children and young people contribute to performance management and their views are listened to” (Ofsted, 2004). IV. Important proposal for changes The Government’s response to the inquiry report and the first joint Chief Inspectors’ Report (Cm 5861) identified the key features of an effective system to safeguard children. These informed the Green Paper Every Child Matters (Cm 5860) and the Children Act 2004, in particular the plans for integration of services around the needs of children through the creation of children’s trusts, the requirement for local authorities (LAs) to set up Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) and the new duty on agencies to make arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (HM Government, 2006, p. 32). The key outcomes of children’s growth and development detailed in the Every Child Matters report and represent a considerable shift in focus for staff providing public services for children. (Baxter & Frederickson, 2005). Being so, a number of agencies providing services and support to children in need and their families are concerned in upgrading the quality of their services. They also find themselves collaborating with a number of other agencies which also provide services for children and families. Many agencies are after safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Every Child Matters defines such as : “protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s health or development; ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and undertaking that role so as to enable those children to have optimum life chances and to enter adulthood successfully.” (HM Government, 2007, p.11) V. Legal framework Protecting children from harm, it seems, is the battlecry of parents and child advocates. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) declares that "the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth", Article 2.2 further details, “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the childs parents, legal guardians, or family members.” The Children Act 1989 covers the following: “reforms the law relating to children; makes provision for local authority services for children in need and others; amends the law with respect to children’s homes, community home, voluntary homes and voluntary organizations; makes provision with respect to fostering, child minding and day care for young children and adoption and for connected purposes.” (DfEs Children Act and Reports, 1989; 2004). This act is further polished with Children Act 2004 and provides a wider strategy for improving children’s lives. “The overall aim is to encourage integrated planning, commissioning and delivery of services as well as improve multi-disciplinary working, remove duplication, increase accountability and improve the coordination of individual and joint inspections in local authorities.: (DfEs Children Act and Reports, 1989; 2004). VI. Issues in policy-making and future direction for children’s services The case on normative and empirical grounds, drawing on data from other countries which have banned the chastisement of children and on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires in Article 19 that ‘States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child’. It is pathetic that most often, the abuser or neglector is someone known by the child (i.e. parent, relative or neighbor) and the abuse usually happens in the child’s home or child care center, places where the child views as his safe haven. (Administration for Children and Families, 2004). This brings up the issue of parental rights, especially if they are the ones being suspected of the perpetrators of the abuse. The question of the state infringing on the rights of parents over their children’s upbringing is addressed by the “Paramountcy Principle” or the principle that the welfare of the child should be of paramount priority. Simply put, in consideration of Article 8, the European Court of Human Rights will hold firm to promoting the best interests of the child, which should offer reassurance to social workers in upholding the welfare of the child as being paramount.” (Duffy, Taylor & McCall, 2006, p.84). A key driving principle behind Every Child Matters (DFES 2003), and the Children Act 2004, is to create a single integrated service for children and young people covering education, social care and health. “Multi-agency working is essentially about bringing together practitioners with a range of skills to work across their traditional service boundaries.” (HM Government 2006). Section 10 of the Children Act 2004 places a duty on each children’s service authority to make arrangements to promote cooperation between itself and relevant partner agencies to improve the wellbeing of children in their area. VII. Evaluate impact of these proposals In terms of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, the proposals of Every Child Matters have a number of considerations to ponder in order to effectively implement plans for the betterment of all children. To ensure that each child is safe and provided with the needs in order to grow and develop into healthy, productive adults, questions such as the following need to be satisfied (from HM Government, 2006, p. 110) What are the developmental needs of the child? Are the parents able to respond appropriately to the child’s identified needs? Is the child being adequately safeguarded from significant harm, and are the parents able to promote the child’s health and development? What impact are family functioning and history, the wider family and environmental factors having on the parents’ capacity to respond to their child’s needs and the child’s developmental progress? Is action required to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child? Although the intention to uphold children’s health and safety is of utmost good, parents may feel offended when investigated on such issues of provision for their children. However, personal emotions aside, the Paramountcy Principle ensures that the welfare of each child is a priority. When parents use such an argument in defending their rights over the state’s interference with the upbringing of their children, both parents and court should not lose sight of the fact that the children, who are the focus of the dispute may have rights and interests of their own which need proper assessment and deliberation, as this usually gets lost in the adults’ perspectives (Fortin, 2006). Another impact of the proposals from Every Child Matters is the collaboration of multiple agencies to achieve the goal of safeguarding all children. Collaboration among various agencies and working towards the goal of achieving the highest possible outcome definitely yields a lot of benefits not only for the children (and their families) receiving the support but also for the staff of the agencies. In Multi-agency services, families with key workers to coordinate services report improved quality of life, better relationships with services, better and quicker access to services and reduced levels of stress (Sloper, 2004). Professionals from a wide variety of fields and disciplines devote much time and energy in helping these children live comfortable and fulfilling lives with the end view of mainstreaming them into society and the real world. Educators, therapists, psychologists, speech pathologists, physicians, social workers and even government officials join hands in the care and education of these children to ensure their optimum growth and development. VIII. Strength and Weakness The Every Child Matters document is a testament to government’s sincere efforts to uphold the safety and well-being of all children. It is a well-researched body of work that took into consideration the smallest detail that would affect the process of safeguarding children from harm. It shows the support of a wide network of individuals and organizations who share the same commitment to protecting children and working to help them maximize their potentials. Perhaps the only weakness the document may be construed to have is its seemingly intrusive approach in defense of children. When a child is suspected to be abused, everyone around him or her can be the perpetrator, parents included. Although it is a pathetic reality that for most abused children, a person or persons significant in his or her life is usually the culprit. However, the Every Child Matters document stands firm in its conviction to safeguard children. It is about time something like that has come along. IX. Obstacles In anything that is well-planned for the good and is bound to succeed, there are always bumps along the way to test its integrity. In the case of Every Child Matters’ proposed reforms, some pessimistic individuals or organizations may prove to be obstacles that are powerful enough to hinder the plans from pushing through. One would be guilty parents or individuals who will be unyielding to cooperate with the government in its efforts to safeguard their children because it may be inconvenient for them. Others would be grandstanding agencies that crave for the spotlight and would refuse to share it with other agencies in the achievement of multi-agency working towards helping children at risk. Practitioners bring with them their professional training and credibility. When they become part of a multi-agency team, they may use this as a shield of security which may protect them when they are threatened. However, they need to shift the paradigm they have been accustomed to “reinterpret their professional role against a backdrop of changed expectations about how professionals should operate in a group” (Every Child Matters: Changes for Children) or else, they may suffer from anxiety that parts of their job can be done by others who may not be as qualified as they are. On the other hand, the unqualified support workers may likewise feel inadequate in carrying out their jobs if their more qualified colleagues question their abilities. Attitudinal factors usually serve as impediments to the effectiveness of multi-agency working. This may be exhibited by a reluctance to step out of the box and work in new and flexible ways to support children, young people and families. Practitioners must remember that their commitment in reaching their shared goals takes priority over their preferences in staying in their comfort zones. If this basic philosophy and discipline is not established, then it becomes a huge barrier to the success of the whole team. X. Conclusion The herculean effort put into the creation of Every Child Matters in terms of safeguarding children has been worth it. It provides rich information on how to help children develop their potentials to the fullest while ensuring their health, safety and well-being. It also provides resources for parents to approach for specific needs for their children and families. Being our hope for the future, children indeed deserve utmost love, care, respect and protection if the world is to be envisioned as a better place tomorrow. References Administration for Children and Families. 2004. Chapter 5: Perpetrators. In Child maltreatment 2004.Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Baxter, J. & Frederickson, N., (2005) “Every Child Matters: Can educational psychology contribute to radical reform?” Educational Psychology in Practice, Vol 21, No. 2 DfEs Children Act and Reports, (1989; 2004) information retrieved on March 12, 2011 from http://dfes.gov.uk/publications/childrenactreport/#1989 and http://dfes.gov.uk/publications/childrenactreport/#2004 DfES (2003) Excellence and Enjoyment: A Strategy for Primary Schools, London, DfES. Duffy, J., Taylor, B. & Mc Call, S.,(2006) “Human Rights and Decision-making in Child Protection through Explicit Argumentation”, Child Care in Practice Vol. 12, No. 2, April 2006, pp. 81_/95 Every Child Matters: Change for Children. Retrieved on March 9, 2011 from http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/deliveringservices/multiagencyworking/ http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/strategy/voluntaryandcommunity/backgroun d/ Fortin, J.(2006) “Accommodating Children’sRights in a Post Human Rights Act Era”, Modern Law Review, Volume 69 May 2006 No 3 HM Government (2006) Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter- agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Every Child Matters Change for Children. London: TSO HM Government (2007) Statutory guidance on making arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children under section 11 of the Children Act 2004” Every Child Matters Change for Children. London: Department for Education and Skills Ofsted. (2004). Every child matters: Inspection of children’s services: Key judgments and evidence. Retrieved March 10, 2011 from www.ofsted.gov.uk/everychildconsultation Sloper, P. (2004) Facilitators and barriers for co-ordinated multi-agency services in Child Care, Health and Development, 30:6, 571-580 United Nations (1989) Convention on the rights of the child (Geneva, United Nations). Read More