Agenda Need for change Vision and values underpinning Family Safeguarding Duties in Law Children and Family Rights Exploring implications for practice Language and Culture In the majority of cases families become involved with childrens social care because they are parenting in ID: 1047629
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1. A Family Safeguarding approach for Children in Care and Children returning home from Care
2. AgendaNeed for change Vision and values underpinning Family Safeguarding Duties in Law Children and Family Rights Exploring implications for practice Language and Culture
3. “In the majority of cases, families become involved with children’s social care because they are parenting in conditions of adversity, rather than because they have caused or are likely to cause significant harm to their children. We have a shared obligation to help families raise their children.”The Case for ChangeThe independent review of children’s social carehttps://childrenssocialcare.independent-review.uk/
4. Quote from Lady Hale in the Supreme Court judgment Re B (2013)“This case raises some profound questions about the scope of courts' powers to take away children from their birth families when what is feared is, not physical abuse or neglect, but emotional or psychological harm. We are all frail human beings, with our fair share of unattractive character traits, which sometimes manifest themselves in bad behaviours which may be copied by our children. But the State does not and cannot take away the children of all the people who commit crimes, who abuse alcohol or drugs, who suffer from physical or mental illnesses or disabilities, or who espouse anti-social political or religious beliefs... How is the law to distinguish between emotional or psychological harm, which warrants the compulsory intervention of the State, and the normal and natural tendency of children to grow up to be and behave like their parents?Added to this is the problem that the harm which is feared may take many years to materialise, if indeed it ever does. Every child is an individual, with her own character and personality. Many children are remarkably resilient. They do not all inherit their parents' less attractive characters or copy their less attractive behaviours. Indeed some will consciously reject them. They have many other positive influences in their lives which can help them to resist the negative, whether it is their schools, their friends, or other people around them. How confident do we have to be that a child will indeed suffer harm because of her parents' character and behaviour before we separate them for good?…. a court can only separate a child from her parents if satisfied that it is necessary to do so, that ‘nothing else will do’. ” Link to full judgment
5. Part Three Children Act 1989Provision of services for children in need & their families:(1) It shall be the general duty of every local authority(a) to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need; and(b) so far as is consistent with that duty, to promote the upbringing of such children by their families, by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needsAny service provided by an authority may be provided for any member of his family, if it is provided with a view to safeguarding or promoting the child’s welfare
6. MentimeterWhat are your views about children returning home from care?
7. Need for change
8. Outcomes for care experienced peopleMany care experienced people leave care and live happy and fulfilling lives, and care can provide the lifeline which leads to a better life than they would have had if they remained at home. Care can be a positive, transformational and life saving experience.(Care Review,2022)
9. Outcomes for care experienced people• Over-represented in mental health and prison settings• More likely to die prematurely• Lower educational attainment & subsequent disadvantage• More likely to be unemployed/in low skill jobs• More likely to have their children removed by CS (Rahilly & Hendry 2014)• Negative outcomes linked to lack of support, isolation, loneliness (Munro 2011)• Relationships key to emotional wellbeing, quality and continuity• Care often breaks children’s existing relationships with family & friends (Care Review 2013)
10. Vision and values of Family Safeguarding approachOur primary duty to children is to safeguard them from actual or likely significant harm and promote their upbringing by their familiesWe do this by:assessing needs & providing actual services to meet needs of children & their familiestaking a restorative approach to working with families, building, maintaining and repairing relationships where harm has been causedcaring for children until it’s safe for them to go homefulfilling our duties to share PR and promote contact/family timedeveloping MI skills to promote engagement of families and create changebelieving all people have intrinsic worth and a right to help and support
11. Motivational InterviewingTo improve engagement and encourage change. MI is described as a “collaborative conversation style for strengthening a person’s own motivation and commitment to change”
12. MentimeterWhat are the rights of parents when children are accommodated in terms of Section 20 and Section 31 of the Children Act 1989?
13. How inclusive are we of parents?
14. A parent’s perspective“Had I only known I could get my children back, I would have got help sooner”“I can help my children understand why they are in care”“I only got support when the decision was made for my children to return home”What support do parents get to address their own issues when their children come into care?
15. MS Teams ChatWhen children leave our care where do they most commonly go?
16. For most children, returning home after being looked after is a “common outcome”. This is for children who have been in care and as care leavers (Wilkins and Farmer, 2015;Wade,2008)What does this mean for practice?
17. Despite reduction in % over 5 years, most children still leave care to return to the care of their parents or other relatives/kin(DfE,2021)
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19. Young Person’s view“My social worker was openly judgmental about my parents. Like, I get they had made mistakes, but they were still my parents. I think they should have been trying to repair the relationships, not push them apart even further. They should be neutral and figure out what works best for all involved.”This young person returned home at 16. (Woodworth et al, Community Care,2019 )What are your thoughts on this young person’s experience?
20. Group DiscussionGroup 1Why should we work in partnership with parents when children come into care and what are the benefits of this for the child?Group 2How and when should we start to plan for children to return home from Care?
21. Benefits of working in partnership with parents when children come into care?
22. Barriers to children returning home from care
23. Language Matters
24. How do we develop culturally responsive practice?
25. Some key principles for cultural competence
26. Care Crisis Review, (2018) on children returning home from care The legal framework requires Local Authorities to return children home unless this is not consistent with their welfare. Children returning home to parents can happen at the end of proceedings or later. It is an important permanence option for children overall, and research evidence tells us that it requires adequate planning and support if it is to be sustained. There are particular risks for children who have been maltreated, if the parents’ problems that led to children being removed have not been or are not being addressed, in which case there is increased likelihood of children coming back into proceedings.It is about detailed and clear plans that anticipate the impact of return home The importance of social work that is high in intensity, based on continuing relationships with trusted workers, and with a focus on strengthening fragile relationships between family members and using multi-disciplinary team approaches for as long as they are needed
27. McFarlane 2018‘Holding the Risk’-have we got the balance right between child protection and the right to family life?“Magistrates and judges up and down the country on every day of the week are making these highly intrusive draconian orders removing children permanently from their natural families on the basis that to do so is better for the child and that ‘nothing else will do’. But, I ask rhetorically: ‘How do we know this is so?’
28. Isabelle Trowler & University of Sheffield 2018Clear Blue Water Based on exploratory study of care proceedings in 4 local authorities across England. The study found that ‘the vast majority of decisions taken to initiate care proceedings were certainly reasonable. The question is whether or not they were always necessary.’Needs to be clear blue water between cases taken to court and not taken to court.When making this distinction, LA must consider if this is in the best interests of the children, not just for now, but in 5 or 10 years’ time and for the rest of their lives
29. Mentimeter
30. Further Reading
31. Contact us:FSProjectTeam@Hertfordshire.gov.uk