Search results for ‘Subject term:"looked after children"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 10 of 1243
Who cares: young people in care speak out
- Editors:
- PAGE Raisa, GLARK G.A.
- Publisher:
- National Children's Bureau
- Publication year:
- 1977
- Pagination:
- 63p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Predictors of psychosocial adjustment in adolescents in residential care: a systematic review
- Authors:
- COSTA Monica, MOTA Catarina P., MATOS Paula M.
- Journal article citation:
- Child Care in Practice, 28(1), 2022, pp.52-81.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Adolescents in residential care have an increased risk of developing psychosocial problems, however, not all adolescents are equally vulnerable. This study aims to provide a review and methodological evaluation of current studies, which focus on protective and risk factors associated with the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents in residential care. Relevant literature was searched in five databases and the researchers identified 25 publications, which met the inclusion criteria. Information regarding direct/indirect risk and protective factors was organized at the individual, social and contextual levels for different outcomes. The results showed that risk and protective factors, were mainly social and contextual factors. Moreover, very few individual factors were found to be related to psychosocial adjustment. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze each study and showed that some data was poorly or inconsistently reported. This review showed that research on risk and protective factors related to adolescents living in residential care is still limited. Therefore, longitudinal studies with high-quality design and power are needed. (Edited publisher abstract)
Older children and young people in care proceedings in England and Wales
- Authors:
- ROE Alice, ALROUH Bachar, CUSWORTH Linda
- Publisher:
- Nuffield Family Justice Observatory
- Publication year:
- 2021
- Pagination:
- 55
- Place of publication:
- London
This report provides the first national overview of 10 to 17-year-olds subject to care proceedings under Section 31 of the Children Act 1989 (s.31, CA 1989) in England and Wales. The study uses administrative data collected routinely by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) and Cafcass Cymru between 2011/12 and 2019/20 in England and Wales. While most children enter care proceedings before the age of 10, the number of older children and young people (aged 10–17) subject to care proceedings has increased substantially in the last decade—particularly in the over 15s. In 2011/12, 3,081 adolescents were subject to care proceedings in England. By 2019/20, this number had increased to 6,013, representing an increase of 95%. In Wales, 219 adolescents were subject to care proceedings in 2011/12, rising to 323 by 2019/20—an increase of 47%. The majority of adolescents are made subject to a care order at the close of proceedings in England and Wales. This has remained relatively consistent over the last decade. In England, there has been a notable increase in the number of younger adolescents (10 to 14-year-olds) placed with family members (under a special guardianship, child arrangements or residence order), rising from 16% to 23% between 2012/13 and 2019/20. Relatively little is known about adolescent journeys into kinship care or their outcomes. The report also finds that between 2011/12 and 2019/20, there was an increase of almost 150% in the number of 15-year-olds in proceedings, and a 285% increase among 16-year-olds. There is a need for further research to understand the reasons why older children are being brought into care proceedings in increasing numbers. (Edited publisher abstract)
Embedded in relations – interactions as a source of agency and life opportunities for care-experienced young adults
- Author:
- GUNDERSEN Tonje
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Society, 35(5), 2021, pp.680-693.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This paper explores how young people who have been in out-of-home care develop a positive agentic capacity. The analyses are based on longitudinal biographical interviews with 24 care experienced young people (age 16–32 years) living in Norway. At the time of the interviews, they were in the education system or working and described themselves as ‘doing well’. Through the application of a relational understanding of agency, this paper provides in-depth insights into how relations shape the biography, identity and decisions of young people with care backgrounds, scaffold positive possibilities and enhance their life opportunities. (Edited publisher abstract)
’What about me?’ Stories of the educational experiences of care-experienced children and young people in a Scottish local authority
- Authors:
- MERCIECA Daniela, MERCIECA Duncan P., RANDALL Leisa
- Journal article citation:
- Adoption and Fostering, 45(2), 2021, pp.173-190.
- Publisher:
- Sage
This qualitative study explores the educational experiences of looked after children and young people in one Scottish local authority. The preoccupations of government are academic achievement and school attendance, but these are not the prime concerns of the children, carers and professionals involved. Moreover, they can be both enhanced and restricted by the background characteristics and care situations of the young people and the responses of schools to their needs and behaviour. Five influential factors emerged from interviews and focus groups with professionals, carers and young people: behaviour; school attendance; carers as educators; friendships; and communication between home and school. Each of them is discussed with extended quotations that convey the voices of participants.
Professional carers’ attachment style and reflective functioning: links with adolescent behavioral and emotional adaptation in residential care
- Authors:
- PASCUZZO Katherine, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Youth Services Review, 126, 2021, p.106044.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
While previous research has underscored the importance of the professional carer-adolescent relationship in residential care as a means for promoting youth adaptation, very little is known on the processes at work. Namely, can professional carers’ interest and curiosity in adolescents’ mental states mitigate the negative associations between professional carers’ insecure attachment and adolescents’ behavioral and emotional adaptation? This is an important question to examine given that insecure attachment among carers may constitute an important obstacle to developing positive relationships with adolescents in their care. Thirty-four dyads consisting of professional carers and adolescent boys living in juvenile residential care units took part in the current study. Carers completed the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) as well as an adapted version of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ). Adolescents completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and Psychological Availability and Reliance on Adult (PARA) questionnaires as indicators of their socio-emotional adaptation. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that lower carer anxious attachment and greater carer reflective functioning (interest and curiosity in mental states) were associated with fewer youth internalizing problems. Furthermore, carers’ reflective functioning was found to moderate the association between carers’ anxious attachment and both youth internalizing and externalizing problems. Specifically, for carers low in reflective functioning, as their levels of anxious attachment increased, so did adolescents’ internalizing behavior problems. For carers high in reflective functioning, anxious attachment was not related to youth internalizing problems. A similar moderation effect was found for youth externalizing problems. For carers low in reflective functioning, as their levels of anxious attachment increased, so did adolescents’ externalizing behavior problems. For carers high in reflective functioning, anxious attachment was not related to youth externalizing problems. The role of carers’ reflective functioning, abilities that can be developed and enhanced despite one’s insecure attachment, within the context of residential care is discussed. (Edited publisher abstract)
Don’t let me fall through the cracks: homelessness amongst care-experienced young people in Wales
- Authors:
- BRIDGEMAN Jemma, RUSSELL Hugh
- Publisher:
- End Youth Homelessness Cymru
- Publication year:
- 2020
- Pagination:
- 80
- Place of publication:
- Cardiff
This report is based on the voices and experiences of care experienced young people who have been, or are currently, homeless across Wales. The aim of this research is to amplify their voices to highlight the challenges they have faced when homeless and the need for reform of systems which have failed to prevent their homelessness. Interviews with young people took place from October 2019 until March 2020. The participants in the study were aged from 17 to 24 and were living in 10 different local authorities, at the time of interview. The research team spoke to 11 young women and 16 young men who had been in care and experienced youth homelessness. The report reveals that care experienced young people who have been, or are currently, homeless feel that they have been let down by underfunded services, forgotten about when they needed help with their mental health, accommodated with people who have put them at risk of harm and been denied opportunities open to their non-care experienced peers. While many individuals were highlighted by participants as having done superb jobs to help them, the systems those individuals work within are currently failing to prevent these young people from falling into homelessness. The report includes a set of recommendations for change, formulated with the help of young people, aimed at addressing some of those flaws in the systems and, ultimately, contribute to ending youth homelessness in Wales. (Edited publisher abstract)
Physical activity: exploring the barriers and facilitators for the engagement of young people in residential care in Ireland
- Authors:
- McLEAN Lavinia, PENCO Rebecca
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Youth Services Review, 119, 2020, p.105471.
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
Physical activity (PA) is recognised as an important health behaviour associated with a range of physical and psychological benefits for young people (YP). In addition to having experienced significant adverse life events this population of YP can be at a greater risk of experiencing ongoing adversity than their peers. PA is recognised as a strategy to working alongside these YP to allow them to reach their full potential, whilst recognising the significant barriers in their lives. The current research was designed to explore PA engagement of YP living in residential care settings in Ireland. Twenty-five staff working with YP within residential care were interviewed to explore their perceptions of the barriers and facilitators for PA engagement for this group of young people. There was a dominant theme throughout the interviews of the positive impact of PA on YP living in residential care. Social and individual factors were identified as a positive outcome from engagement, whilst simultaneously recognised as presenting significant barriers to YP’s engagement. Similar to previous research with vulnerable YP, the role of identity and relationships was identified as an important consideration for enhancing engagement, and as a positive outcome. The staff working with YP indicated an awareness of the need to adapt a trauma informed practice to enhance engagement in PA and frequently adapted their role to do this. The results are discussed in the context of identifying strategies for the development of opportunities for PA engagement, in order to enhance positive outcomes for this population of vulnerable YP, within the residential care setting and the beyond. (Edited publisher abstract)
Care experienced young people: agency and empowerment
- Author:
- PRIESTLEY Andrea
- Journal article citation:
- Children and Society, 34(6), 2020, pp.521-536.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Empowerment discourses have become fashionable in current policy and practice relating to young people, including those with care experience. Empowerment, however, is a slippery and contested concept, associated with neo‐liberal discourses. An ecological understanding of agency offers more theoretically nuanced understandings of empowerment, taking account of the complex, temporal and relational factors, upon which empowerment is contingent. This paper utilises data generated through an ‘empowerment group’ for care‐experienced young people; it illustrates how an ecological understanding of agency, as a heuristic, might further understanding of the lives of care‐experienced young people. (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)