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Undertaking a Connected Person/Kinship Assessment in Wales
- Author:
- ADAM Paul
- Publisher:
- CoramBAAF
- Publication year:
- 2022
- Place of publication:
- London
This guide is designed to help social workers in Wales to manage and complete a comprehensive and evidence-based assessment of connected people / family and friends who wish to foster or be special guardians to a known child or children. It is to be used by assessing social workers to complete this assessment using the CoramBAAF Form C for Wales. Each chapter considers a different aspect of the assessment, and presents a list of trigger questions that can facilitate further discussion as well as reminders of which details should be included in the report. Logically structured and accessibly presented, this guide: assists the assessing social worker in collecting some of the information necessary to complete a comprehensive connected person / kinship assessment; prompts the worker to analyse the information they have collected with regards to its effect on the decisions to be made about this assessment and the placement of the child; alerts the assessing worker to relevant research and good practice. The guide also includes explanations of the context of assessment, particular issues to be considered with regard to connected/kinship carers, safeguarding, and the legal orders that could apply in these cases. Helpful examples of family trees and ecomaps are also included, along with the Wales Kinship Competencies. (Edited publisher abstract)
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores and mental health in looked after children
- Authors:
- GOODMAN Anna, GOODMAN Robert
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Psychiatry, 200(5), May 2012, pp.426-427.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
British local authorities are required to monitor the mental health of looked after children using mean Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores from parents or carers. This short report used a nationally representative sample (n = 1391, age 5–16) to examine whether differences in mean SDQ scores reflect real differences in child mental health in this group. The SDQ was found to be a genuinely dimensional measure of mental health in these children and provided accurate estimates of disorder prevalence.
Developing outcomes-based data from Looking After Children case records completed for children in care in Victoria, Australia
- Authors:
- CHAMPION Ruth, WISE Sarah
- Journal article citation:
- Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 4(2), June 2009, pp.107-113.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The possibility of deriving reliable outcomes data from the Looking After Children (LAC) Assessment and Action Records (A and ARs) was tested in a recent project undertaken in Victoria, Australia. The paper describes the methodology for obtaining completed A and ARs from non-government placement providers, the process of selecting and constructing 29 outcomes measures from the many data items included in the A and ARs as well as the findings on these outcomes. Whether this process can form the basis of a sustainable system of outcomes monitoring is discussed in terms of the number and representativeness of A and AR returns, data quality and the usefulness of the outcomes findings for policy development.
Establishing health and educational assessments for children entering care
- Authors:
- RANKIN David, MILLS Anna
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work Now: the Practice Journal of Child, Youth and Family, 41, December 2008, pp.35-39.
- Publisher:
- Child, Youth and Family (Department of Child, Youth and Family Services, Te Tari Awhina I te Tamaiti, te Rangatahi, tae atu ki te Whanau)
A brief practice paper which chronicles the development of health and educational assessments to be piloted for children entering care in New Zealand.
Children and Young Persons Act
- Author:
- NATIONAL CARE ADVISORY SERVICE
- Publisher:
- National Care Advisory Service
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 11p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The Children and Young Persons Act came into force on 13 November 2008. It puts into legislation some of the provisions of the Care Matters White paper. This briefing details the main provision of the Children and Young Persons Act and has a particular focus on older young people in care and those making the transition from care. Briefing on the new Children and Young Persons Act - NCAS responds to Ofsted Consultation about inspection of Children's Services NCAS has responded to Ofsted's consultation "Comprehensive area assessment: proposals for assessing local authority services for children and young people". The response highlights the importance of involving young people in service assessments and to ensure that inspections cover leaving care services.
Aspirations: the views of foster children and their carers
- Author:
- BROAD Bob
- Publisher:
- TACT
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 70p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This research study evidences the high value children in foster care place on their current carer whilst also wanting further contact with some members of their birth family. The study points to the positive yet often difficult journeys they make as they seek to sustain friendships, achieve a good education, and in some cases, improve their mental health and behaviour The first cohort of children and their carers were asked their views about schooling, life skills, the importance of family and friends, involvement in activities and what helps to improve these areas. The study reports on their experiences of decision making, participation and connections in respect of living in foster care, education, review meetings and placement decisions. 44% of the children surveyed said they had no say at all at planning/review meetings about decisions that affect their lives. These meetings consider the short and long term decisions that affect the child’s life including where they live, how to support schooling and their emotional and physical health. Young people are supposed to be consulted and involved in making these decisions. Children were positive about their current placements with 96% citing their current foster carer as a very important person in their life. Whilst only 73% cited their birth mother and 47% their birth father as very important. The young people who took part in the study were generally very positive about their experiences of school. Worryingly though, what they found most difficult was getting on with exams, tests and homework. This is against a backdrop of national evidence that children in care perform in education radically below the levels achieved by their peers.
Assessment and support for kinship carers of looked after children
- Author:
- SCOTLAND. Scottish Government
- Publisher:
- Scotland. Scottish Government
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 44p.
- Place of publication:
- Edinburgh
The purpose of this interim guidance is to provide local authorities with advice on an assessment and approval process for kinship carers of looked after children. At the heart of this assessment is the extent to which a kinship carer can meet the needs of the individual child, as identified in the child’s plan, and the support that the carer may need to receive if they are to meet these needs fully. Approval of the carer must rest on not only the support required to be approved but also the ongoing support that may be required to ensure that the child will be brought up in a loving, stable and, if relevant, permanent home.
Children with problematic sexualized behaviours in the child welfare system
- Authors:
- BAKER Amy J.L., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Child Welfare Journal, 87(1), 2008, pp.5-27.
- Publisher:
- Child Welfare League of America
This study assessed the utility of the Child Sexual Behaviour Inventory (CSBI) in a child welfare sample of 97 children aged ten to 12 from foster or boarding homes or a residential treatment centre. Researchers interviewed foster parents or primary therapists about children’s sexual behaviour, traumatic events, clinical symptoms and their attitudes towards the child. Findings revealed that problematic sexualised behaviours were more prevalent in the residential treatment centre (RTC) sample than in a normative sample. The pattern of associations between sexual behaviour problems, traumatic events and clinical syndromes in both the RTC and the foster boarding home samples was similar to what has been found in the samples in which biological custodial parents were the respondents. Analyses comparing youth who did and did not meet the criterion for problematic sexualised behaviours revealed that the groups differed on clinical symptoms, prior traumatic events and negative reports from caregivers. Results confirmed the utility of the CSBI measure for this population and highlight several important clinical and programmatic concerns for addressing problematic sexual behaviour in children in the child welfare system.
A framework for direct work with children in care
- Authors:
- CORRIGAN M., FLOUD C.
- Journal article citation:
- Adoption and Fostering, 14(3), 1990, pp.28-32.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Describes work at different stages: assessment, "holding" while waiting for a child-care decision, "in-depth repair", and moving.
The inner world of children separated from their parents
- Author:
- HARPER J.
- Journal article citation:
- Adoption and Fostering, 12(1), 1988, pp.14-19.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Describes the Lowenfield World Technique which uses play as an aid for children to express their inner feelings.