Search results for ‘Subject term:"looked after children"’ Sort:
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The adoption process in England: a guide for children's social workers
- Authors:
- LORD Jenifer, LUCKING Mary
- Publisher:
- CoramBAAF
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Place of publication:
- London
An accessible guide to the adoption process, newly revised and updated to take account of changes to legislation and practice. The book helps practitioners answer some key questions about adoption and the tasks associated with it, including: what are the options for securing permanence; how to get started on life story work; how to plan for contact; how to prepare for the adoption panel; and what is the legal effect of an adoption order. The adoption process is a complex and demanding one. It is necessarily regulated and can be fraught with pitfalls. Written for social workers of looked after children who are, or may be, placed for adoption in England, this guide takes the reader through the various stages, from planning adoption for a child to contributing to the court report for the adoption order. It focuses on what legislation and standards require to be done; it points to useful forms and templates; and it describes good practice and makes suggestions for further reading. (Edited publisher abstract)
Factors associated with re-entry to out-of-home care among children in England
- Authors:
- McGRATH-LONE Louise, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child Abuse and Neglect, 63, 2016, pp.73-83.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Exiting and re-entering out-of-home care (OHC) is considered a disruption to permanence which may have long-lasting, negative consequences for children due to a lack of stability and continuity. Each year approximately one-third of children in OHC in England exit, but information is lacking on rates of re-entries and associated factors. Using national administrative data, the authors calculated rates of re-entry among children exiting OHC from 2007 to 2012, identified key child and care factors associated with re-entry using Cox proportional hazards modelling, and developed a simple probability calculator to estimate which groups of children are most likely to re-enter OHC within three months. Between 2007 and 2012 re-entries to OHC in England decreased (from 23.3% to 14.4% within one year of exit, p < 0.001), possibly due to concurrent changes in the way children exited OHC. Overall, more than one-third of children exiting OHC in 2008 re-entered within five years (35.3%, N = 4076), but rates of re-entry varied by child and care characteristics including age, ethnicity, mode of exit, and placement stability. Based on these associated factors, the authros developed a calculator that can estimate the likelihood of rapid re-entry to OHC for a group of children and could be used by social care practitioners or service planners. The findings provide insight into which groups of children are most likely to re-enter OHC, who may benefit from additional support or ongoing monitoring. (Edited publisher abstract)
Starting Out Right: early education and looked after children
- Authors:
- MATHERS Sandra, et al
- Publishers:
- University of Oxford, Family and Childcare Trust
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 91
- Place of publication:
- London
This study presents the findings of a scoping research to review national and international research evidence relating to looked after children within their first five years. It summarise current English policy relating to early education for LAC and establishes what data are currently available, locally and nationally, on the take-up of early years provision by LAC in England and on the quality of that provision, with a focus on the free early education entitlement. The report also examines the views of key stakeholders and experts on the importance of early education for LAC, on the extent to which LAC in England currently access early years provision and on how best to meet the needs of LAC within early education settings; and establish current local government authority systems for encouraging take-up of early education by LAC, and ensuring that provision is of high quality. The report suggests that looked after children have worse outcomes at every stage in their education, while a good early education may help to close the ‘achievement gap’ between them and their peers. It identifies a number of barriers to access, included the relative priority given to attendance at high quality early education by social workers and foster carers, alongside a number of practical barriers, including the short-term nature of many foster placements. The study reveals a consensus that looked after children need ‘the same as other children, but more so’ from their early education provider. This means that many general aspects of good practice, particularly around child-centred education and adequate levels of staffing, are important for this group. (Edited publisher abstract)
Children's journeys through organizations: how inspectors evaluate coordination of care
- Authors:
- RUTZ Suzanne I., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child and Family Social Work, 21(4), 2016, pp.608-618.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Inspectorates have been criticized for assessing compliance with the rules rather than outcomes for children. In the Netherlands, inspectorates have developed a ‘journey tool’ to reconstruct children's travels through all the organizations providing care. Using document analysis and semi-structured interviews, the authors evaluated how inspectors use this tool in practice. They applied an ontological theoretical framework to the coordination of care to analyse 24 journeys through care organizations, including a selection of six journeys in further detail. The analysis shows that up until now, inspectors used only one form of coordination, the creation of a hierarchy, resulting in one problem definition. However, in complex care practices, children have multiple and often incompatible problems so that one coherent problem definition cannot be made. The authors show that ‘patchwork’, a form of coordination that allows discrepancies enables inspectors to reflect on complex care practices and evaluate options to improve outcomes for children. (Edited publisher abstract)
Electronic Information Systems to guide social work practice: the perspectives of practitioners as end users
- Author:
- GILLINGHAM Philip
- Journal article citation:
- Practice: Social Work in Action, 28(5), 2016, pp.357-372.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Evaluations of electronic information systems (IS) being used in social work agencies in England and Australia have been highly critical of their effects on frontline social work practice. Attention is now turning to how IS might be redesigned and used in the future. One particular development is the inclusion of particular practice frameworks in the design of IS, in order that, when practitioners use them, practice is shaped and guided. With the aim of improving social work practice, the IS is intended to act as an ‘external expert’. In this article, the findings of a small-scale ethnographic study of an IS that incorporates the Looking after Children framework for children in out of home care are presented. The challenges of incorporating practice frameworks into IS are discussed. (Publisher abstract)
Education outcomes for looked after children 2014/15
- Author:
- SCOTLAND. Scottish Government
- Publisher:
- Scotland. Scottish Government
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 38
- Place of publication:
- Edinburgh
This publication links school and social work data to present information on the attainment, post-school destinations of looked after young people who leave school, and the school attendance and exclusion rates of all looked after children. The first two chapters give information on the education outcomes of the 427 young people who were looked after from August 2014 to July 2015 and who left school during 2014/15. The report then focuses on rates of attendance and exclusions among all looked after children who were at publicly-funded schools. In 2014/15 almost three quarters of looked after school leavers were aged 16 and under (i.e. they left school at the earliest point they could) compared to over one quarter of school leavers more generally. More than three-quarters of children looked after for a full year who left school during or at the end of 2014/15 were in a positive destination three months after leaving school, compared with nine in ten of all 2014/15 school leavers. The attendance rate of looked after children is increasing steadily, and in 2014/15 is close to four percentage points higher than it was in 2009/10, and it is increasing in all stages for looked after children. The rate of exclusions among looked after children is much higher than in the general school population (218 cases per 1,000 looked after pupils, compared to 27 per 1,000 in the general school population), and is falling at a similar rate. (Edited publisher abstract)
Looked after children in residential care: analysis
- Author:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Department for Education
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department for Education
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 21
- Place of publication:
- London
Statistical data showing the characteristics of about looked-after children in children’s homes as at 31 March 2015, produced as part of an independent review into children’s residential care by Sir Martin Narey. Data are included on age, gender, ethnicity, distance from home, ownership of children's homes (by number of children resident), legal status of child, category of need, Special Educational Needs (SEN) of children and offending by children who are living in children's homes. Information on the proportion of looked after children living in homes and the number of looked after children in secure units is also provided by individual local authority. (Edited publisher abstract)
Looked after children's health: key official guidance documents
- Authors:
- NATIONAL CHILDREN'S BUREAU, THE CHILDREN'S PARTNERSHIP
- Publishers:
- National Children's Bureau, The Children's Partnership
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 14
- Place of publication:
- London
An interactive tool enabling easy access to key official guidance documents (published by government or government sponsored agencies) relating to looked after children’s health from one place. The tool provides an overview of each document and links to full text. The guidance signposted in this tool covers three key areas: process for planning individual care; working directly with looked after children and young people; and planning services at population level. (Edited publisher abstract)
Fostering now: law, regulations, guidance and standards (England)
- Authors:
- SMITH Fergus, et al
- Publisher:
- CoramBAAF
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Place of publication:
- London
Presents the law, regulations, standards and guidance relating to fostering in England today in easily digested bite-sized chunks. This new edition has been fully revised and updated to draw together all current legislation and procedures, including the 2011 National Minimum Standards, as well as recent changes and new initiatives. (Edited publisher abstract)
Children: out-of-area and distant placements in residential homes (England)
- Authors:
- JARRETT Tim, HARKER Rachel M.
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons Library
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 17
- Place of publication:
- London
Briefing paper on out-of-area and distant placements for looked after children in residential homes. The briefing looks at the current law on distant placements in England, including those out of the local authority that has responsibility for the child. It also presents conclusions from a range of reports covering out-of-area placements, including those by the Education Select Committee, the All-Party Parliamentary Groups for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults, and for Looked After Children and Care Leavers, and thematic reports from Ofsted. Details of evidence from the ongoing review of children’s residential care, led by Sir Martin Narey are also included. (Edited publisher abstract)