Search results for ‘Subject term:"looked after children"’ Sort:
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Born into care: evidence of a failed state
- Authors:
- BILSON Andy, BYWATERS Paul
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Youth Services Review, 116, 2020, p.105164.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
This paper shows that the number of children who entered state care in England before they were a week old was 44% higher than shown by previous research if children ‘voluntarily’ placed in care are included. A series of freedom of information requests show the rapid increase between 2007 and 2017. The difference in rates between local authorities is also rapidly increasing and bigger increases are associated with both levels of deprivation and local authorities whose performance was graded inadequate or needing improvement by the Office for Standards in Education. In 25 local authorities an average of one child in every 100 live births is separated from its parents in the first week in life, with very few ever being reunited. The growth in numbers and proportions of children entering care in the first week of life is a key driver of adoption rates. But far from acting as a form of prevention, with lower proportions of older children entering care, where local authorities undertake very early removal from parents the opposite is true. This points to a possible spiral of failure as a high proportion of parents who have been in care risk losing their children at birth. (Edited publisher abstract)
Inequalities in English child protection practice under austerity: a universal challenge?
- Authors:
- BYWATERS Paul, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child and Family Social Work, 23(1), 2018, pp.53-61.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The role that area deprivation, family poverty, and austerity policies play in the demand for and supply of children's services has been a contested issue in England in recent years. These relationships have begun to be explored through the concept of inequalities in child welfare, in parallel to the established fields of inequalities in education and health. This article focuses on the relationship between economic inequality and out‐of‐home care and child protection interventions. The work scales up a pilot study in the West Midlands to an all‐England sample, representative of English regions and different levels of deprivation at a local authority (LA) level. The analysis evidences a strong relationship between deprivation and intervention rates and large inequalities between ethnic categories. There is further evidence of the inverse intervention law (Bywaters et al., 2015): For any given level of neighbourhood deprivation, higher rates of child welfare interventions are found in LAs that are less deprived overall. These patterns are taking place in the context of cuts in spending on English children's services between 2010–2011 and 2014–2015 that have been greatest in more deprived LAs. Implications for policy and practice to reduce such inequalities are suggested. (Edited publisher abstract)
Child welfare inequalities in the four nations of the UK
- Authors:
- BYWATERS Paul, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Work, 20(2), 2020, pp.193-215.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Comparative international data on patterns of inequality in child welfare interventions, for example, the proportion of children about whom there are substantiated child protection concerns or who are in out-of-home care, are far less developed than data about inequalities in health. Few countries collect reliable, comprehensive information and definitions, methods of data collection and analysis are rarely consistent. The four UK countries (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) provide a potential ‘natural experiment’ for comparing intervention patterns. This study reports on a large quantitative, descriptive study focusing on children in contact with children’s services on a single date in 2015. It found that children’s chances of receiving a child protection intervention were related to family socio-economic circumstances, measured by neighbourhood deprivation, within all four countries. There was a strong social gradient which was significantly steeper in some countries than others. Ethnicity was another important factor underlying inequalities. While inequalities in patterns of intervention between the four countries were considerable, they did not mirror relative levels of deprivation in the child population. Inequalities in intervention rates result from a combination of demand and supply factors. The level and extent of inequity raise profound ethical, economic and practical challenges to those involved in child protection, the wider society and the state. (Publisher abstract)
Child protection in England: an emerging inequalities perspective
- Authors:
- BYWATERS Paul, SPARKS Tim
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Children's Services, 12(2/3), 2017, pp.107-112.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose: In the past 40 years, both health policy and educational policy in England have adopted commitments to reducing socially created inequalities. However, an inequalities perspective has only begun to emerge in relation to child protection, and child welfare services more widely. The purpose of this paper is to chart evidence of these green shoots of a new policy direction which focuses on two aspects: equalising service provision and outcomes for looked after children. Design/methodology/approach: The paper provides an analysis of trends in policies as expressed in official documents, research studies and policy statements. Findings: The paper outlines the argument for a more comprehensive approach to addressing inequalities in child protection and child welfare services, and concludes by suggesting some implications for policy and practice. Originality/value: The paper develops the concept of an inequalities perspective in child protection and outlines key implications. (Publisher abstract)
Identifying and understanding inequalities in child welfare intervention rates: comparative studies in four UK countries. Single country quantitative study report: England
- Authors:
- BYWATERS Paul, JONES Chantel, SPARKS Tim
- Publisher:
- Coventry University
- Publication year:
- 2017
- Pagination:
- 31
- Place of publication:
- Coventry
This report examines the connection between social inequality and child welfare interventions in England. It is based on the analysis of routine administrative data from a sample of English local authorities on the children on child protection registers and in care (looked after) on 31 March 2015. Key findings include: for every increase in the level of deprivation, the rates of children on child protection registers and looked-after by LAs increase; there is no statistically significant difference between boys and girls in terms of child protection and looked-after children rates at each level of deprivation; the youngest age group (0-4) are the biggest proportion on child protection registers at every level of deprivation while the age group most strongly represented among looked after children are 16-17-year-olds; the highest rate of both child protection and looked-after children is in mixed ethnicity children; there is a clear social gradient for neglect, physical abuse and emotional abuse; there was a 14% reduction in spending per child on Children’s Services between 2010-11 and 2014-15. The study focuses attention on children’s unequal chances of involvement with high end children’s services related to, in particular, neighbourhood deprivation, ethnicity and LA level deprivation, and argues that from an inequalities perspective, policy and practice should address the underlying factors that lead to difficult or disadvantaged childhoods as well as providing equal services. (Edited publisher abstract)
Inequalities in child welfare: towards a new policy, research and action agenda
- Author:
- BYWATERS Paul
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 45(1), 2015, pp.6-23.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Over many years, large differences have been observed between local authorities (LAs) in England in the proportion of children who are 'looked after' out of home, or the subjects of child protection plans, with deprivation being identified as the major explanatory factor. This article proposes that such differences be reconceptualised as 'child welfare inequalities' and suggests that drawing parallels with health inequalities would have value in a number of respects. Four aspects of child welfare inequalities are suggested. An analysis of officially published data provides new evidence of inequalities between LAs in two key markers of child welfare, and the relationship with deprivation, measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation scores. Although this correlation is unsurprising, there has been a lack of recent research into the extent and the underlying causes of child welfare inequalities, a reluctance to describe differences as inequalities or to propose action on the underlying social determinants. Reading across from the field of health inequalities opens up new directions for child welfare policy, practice, theory and research internationally as well as creating the potential for alliances with others taking action to reduce health inequalities. (Publisher abstract)
Identifying and understanding inequalities in child welfare intervention rates: comparative studies in four UK countries. Briefing paper 2: UK four country quantitative comparison
- Authors:
- BYWATERS Paul, et al
- Publisher:
- Coventry University
- Publication year:
- 2017
- Pagination:
- 7
- Place of publication:
- Coventry
This briefing draws on quantitative data relating to inequalities in the proportions of children who are either subject to child protection plans or registers (CPP) or who are being ‘looked after’ in out of home care (LAC) in the four UK countries. The study found that in every country of the UK children in some places are much more likely to be looked after than children in other places. Within each LA or Trust and within each country these differences are systematically linked to how poor they and their families are. There is a strong social gradient in rates of intervention in all the countries. Each step increase in deprivation is accompanied by an increase in children’s chances of being a LAC or on a CPP. The gradient appears to be less steep in Northern Ireland than in the other countries and steeper in Wales than in England. Some substantial differences were found in the proportions of children who were on CPPs or LAC in the four countries with different patterns also found in the ratio of CPP cases to LAC cases. Substantial elements of the differences in overall LAC rates between Scotland, England and Wales can be explained by the differences in deprivation, demography, legal systems and what is counted in LAC statistics. Factors that may be relevant to the lower rates in NI include less inequality, stronger communities and a greater emphasis on community based family support services. Some broad policy directions are suggested: a policy objective of reducing children’s services inequalities, greater attention to the impact of socio-economic conditions on children’s life chances in policy, practice and training and better data, including data about family circumstances. (Edited publisher abstract)
Identifying and understanding inequalities in child welfare intervention rates: comparative studies in four UK countries. Briefing paper 1: England
- Authors:
- BYWATERS Paul, et al
- Publisher:
- Coventry University
- Publication year:
- 2017
- Pagination:
- 7
- Place of publication:
- Coventry
Sets out findings of a study to quantify and understand inequalities in the proportions of children who are either subject to child protection plans (CPP) or who are being ‘looked after’ in out of home care (LAC). Drawing on a literature review and quantitative analysis, the study found that children in some places are much more likely to be looked after than children in other places and in each local authority these differences are systematically linked to how poor they and their families are. In England, children in the most deprived 10% of small neighbourhoods were over ten times more likely to be looked after or on a child protection plan than children in the least deprived 10%. In every LA studied there was a strong social gradient in rates of intervention. Each step increase in deprivation was accompanied by an increase in children’s chances of being a LAC or on a CPP. There were also very large inequalities between ethnic groups which can only be understood when deprivation is also taken into account. LA responses to children and their families were also associated with deprivation. Low deprivation LAs were intervening more when similar neighbourhoods were compared. Processes for managing cases and managerial priorities focused on risk while reinforcing a limited attention to family or neighbourhood socio-economic and environmental conditions. Staff showed limited awareness of the impact of poverty on families’ relationships and behaviours and did not consider part of their role to try to help families maximise their income and deal with their financial problems. The paper indicates some broad policy directions: reducing children’s services inequalities as a policy objective, greater attention to the impact of socio-economic conditions on children’s life chances in policy, practice and training, better data, including data about family circumstances, and a review of the level and distribution of expenditure. (Edited publisher abstract)
Child welfare inequalities: new evidence, further questions
- Authors:
- BYWATERS Paul, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child and Family Social Work, 21(3), 2016, p.369–380.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Research internationally has identified large differences in rates of child safeguarding interventions, recently characterised as child welfare inequalities, markers of social inequalities in childhood with parallels to inequalities in health and education. This paper reports a Nuffield Foundation-funded study to examine the role of deprivation in explaining differences in key children's services interventions between and within local authorities (LAs). The study involved an analysis of descriptive data on over 10% of children on child protection plans or in out-of-home care in 14 English LAs at 31 March 2012. The data demonstrate very large inequalities in rates of child welfare interventions within and between LAs, systematically related to levels of deprivation. There is evidence of a gradient in child welfare inequalities across the whole of society. There also appears to be an equivalent of the inverse care law for health: For any given level of deprivation in local neighbourhoods, LAs with lower overall levels of deprivation were intervening more often. The findings raise fundamental questions for research, policy and practice including whether the allocation of children's service resources sufficiently recognise the impact of deprivation on demand and how we judge whether a safeguarding system is effective at the population level. (Edited publisher abstract)
Deprivation and inequalities in children's services: research briefing 2: deprivation and identity
- Authors:
- BYWATERS Paul, et al
- Publisher:
- Coventry University
- Publication year:
- 2014
- Pagination:
- 4
- Place of publication:
- Coventry
This briefing focuses on research examining child welfare inequalities arising from the intersection of deprivation with different aspects of identity, primarily focusing on ethnicity but also gender, disability and age. A vital dimension of child welfare inequalities is the difference in rates of children on child protection plans (CPP) and looked after child (LAC) between ethnic groups. The paper summarises the findings of a Coventry University study aimed to gather and analyse data about inequalities in numbers and rates of CPP and LAC between local authorities (LAs) and between small neighbourhoods within LAs. The study shows that children are disproportionately found amongst relatively poor households. Almost 2 in 5 children lived in the most disadvantaged fifth of neighbourhoods nationally. For very young children (aged 0 to 4) the over-representation was even greater: 4 times more young children lived in quintile 5 than in quintile 1. In addition, ethnic minority children were very greatly over-represented in high deprivation neighbourhoods compared to White children. Rates for Black children in need, on child protection plans or looked after in quintiles 4 and 5, in which almost 90 per cent of Black children lived, were substantially lower than for White or Mixed heritage children. Rates for Asian children in quintiles 4 and 5 were between 2.5 and 6 times lower than for White children. The paper sets out a number of questions for local authorities wishing to explore their own policy and practice approach within the context of deprivation. (Edited publisher abstract)