Welfare Reform on the Web (November 2002): Child Welfare - UK
ALL IN THE FAMILY
B. Broad
Community Care, Aug. 22nd-28th 2002, p. 38-39
Kinship care is emerging in the UK as a viable alternative to residential or foster care for children who are unable to live with their birth parents. Article highlights the need for more informational, financial and social support for those involved in kinship care.
BILL COULD PAVE THE WAY FOR BIRTH MOTHERS TO TRACE THEIR ADOPTED CHILDREN
T. Philpot
Community Care, Aug. 15th - 21st 2002, p. 20-21
Amendments to the Adoption and Children Bill currently before Parliament could give birth relatives wishing to trace adopted children rights of access to information and intermediary services. However the government is not supportive.
A CATALOGUE OF ERRORS
R. Cook
Family Law Journal, July/August 2002, p. 21-24
This article examines the system failures leading up to the death of Victoria Climbie.
DRESS REHEARSAL FOR THE WORLD OF WORK
D. Hayes
Community Care, Sept. 5th - 11th 2002, p. 16
The Teenagers to Work Scheme aimed to prepare young people in care for the job market. As the scheme draws to a close, article looks at how it operated in Sutton, Surrey.
EXAMINING THE PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES OF STAFF WORKING IN COMMUNITY BASED CHILDREN'S HOMES: ARE THEIR NEEDS BEING MET?
G. Heron and M. Chakrabarti
Qualitative Social Work, vol. 1, 2002, p. 341-358
The article summarises the findings of a study of staff working in children's homes and the tasks they undertake. It examines the social processes and interactions that shape key tasks.
POOR CHILDREN AT GREATER RISK ON ROADS
A. Clark
Guardian, Sept. 24th 2002, p. 10
The Institute for Public Policy Research is calling for widespread speed limits of 20 mph in residential areas, with poor districts given high priority. The call comes following a study which shows that children from Britain's most deprived neighbourhoods are three times more likely to be knocked down by cars.
A PROBLEM SHARED
P. Padbury
Community Care, Sept. 5th-11th 2002, p. 36-37
A minority of children in foster care feel unsupported in making their views known and in using the complaints procedure. Article presents proposals for giving the children a voice, including increasing the size of their support networks, emphasizing the key role of social workers, and establishing systematic methods for collecting and collating young people's views.
SERVING CHILDREN WELL: A NEW VISION FOR CHILDREN'S SERVICES
Local Government Association; NHS Confederation and Association of Directors of Social Services
London: LGA Publications 2002
Report sets out the case against the establishment of a national child protection agency in the wake of the Climbie Inquiry. Instead proposes a local solution building on existing local partnerships. It suggests setting up revised children's strategic partnership boards reporting to local strategic partnerships (LSPs), as well as the creation of children's champions to scrutinise available services. Other key recommendations include: a unified performance management system; a single assessment system with a shared approach to assessing need and a shared multi-agency in-basket; involvement of children; and a co-ordinated workforce plan to prevent staff leaving core services to move on to new initiatives.
WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE WANT
N. Stanley
Community Care, Aug. 15th-21st 2002, p. 36-37
Describes a research study in which young people in care gave their views on the kind of support they needed at a series of focus groups. Young people valued consistency and continuity of care and individual attention from workers. They also considered confidentiality important and found it helpful to talk to people with relevant personal experience of the care system.
"WHO YOU GONNA CALL?"
G. Loughran
Community Care, Aug. 29th-4th Sept. 2002, p. 32-33
The Referral Telephone Service (RTS) provides long term one-to-one support for parents in crisis who do not use Parentline Plus's helpline. Professionals refer parents who are matched with a Telephone Support Worker (TSW). The TSW will phone the parent to discuss problems at a pre-arranged time over six to 12 weeks. The RTS helps parents who are ineligible for assistance from social services.
WHOSE STANDARDS? USING THE STANDARDS FUND FOR CHILDREN WITH SPEECH AND LANGUAGE NEEDS: A SURVEY OF ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES IN ENGLAND.
J. Law, M. Luscombe and J. Roux
British Journal of Special Education, vol. 29, 2002, p. 136-140
Reports the results of research into the use of Standards Fund money in relation to children with speech and language needs. The data suggest that there is a considerable shortfall between government rhetoric in announcing an extra £10m for services to children with speech and language needs and the realities on the ground. Although some speech and language therapy services received the full allocation as envisaged by government, they are the exception rather than the rule.