Adoption & Fostering
Abstracts
Autumn 2003 - Vol 27 (3)
'Skills protect': towards a professional foster care service
Barbara Hutchinson with Jane Asquith and John Simmonds
Key words: skills, fostering, mental health, professional
Almost two-thirds of children and young people looked after by local authorities in England are placed in foster care. Recent studies suggest that the looked after population is significantly different from the general child and young people population in terms of mental and physical health and educational attainment. Failure to recognise and acknowledge the reality of the nature and needs of this population contributes to the current difficulties in providing sufficient and appropriate foster carers. Methods of recruitment, retention and support of foster carers still, in many cases, reflect a historical, now inaccurate, perception of the fostering task. Recent government initiatives have placed a welcome spotlight on the fostering service and are likely to result in improved services. However, the Choice Protects focus on effective commissioning of fostering resources, while necessary, may not be sufficient. The authors of this article, which arises from the observations and conclusions of BAAF social work staff engaged in extensive consultancy with a large number of fostering agencies, analyse the current situation and propose key features for the development of an effective fostering service.
Barbara Hutchinson is Deputy Chief Executive of BAAF
Jane Asquith is Trainer/Consultant, BAAF North West
John Simmonds is Director of Policy Research Development, BAAF
The impact of emotional and behavioural problems on the lives of children growing up in the care system
Gerard McCarthy, Janet Janeway and Angus Geddes
Key words: looked after children, emotional and behavioural problems, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
McCarthy et al investigate the way in which the lives of looked after children and their carers are affected by the emotional and behavioural problems that these children and young people often experience. Starting from a sample of 115 children looked after by one English local authority, their study assessed the level of social impairment and distress experienced by looked after children with behavioural disorders. It also examined the duration of these difficulties and the impact of these problems on the carers. The carers, who completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (n=70), reported very high levels of social impairment in the areas of home life, peer relationships and learning. Fifty-nine per cent of looked after children had an overall impact score of 2 or more, thus indicating the presence of a child psychiatric disorder. Forty per cent had significant problems in three or more key areas of their lives: home, learning, peers and leisure. Where significant problems were identified by carers, 65 per cent reported that the problems had existed for over a year. Almost half the sample revealed that the children's problems were imposing a significant burden on families or other carers, and the level of conduct problems reported was found to be a significant predictor of whether a carer expressed feeling burdened. Some clinical and service implications are discussed.
Gerard McCarthy is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership, Child and Family Consultation Service, Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon
Janet Janeway is Planning and Contracts Manager, Child and Families Division, Swindon Borough Council
Angus Geddes is Senior Social Worker, Fostering and Adoption Team in the same Division
Barriers to adoption? Variations in the use of adoption by local authorities
Derek Clifford with Beverley Burke, Norman Goodwin, Lindsay Amuzu and Simon Ward
Key words: adoption barriers, local authorities, looked after children,
Voluntary Adoption Agencies (VAAs)
Political and media interest in adoption in the last few years in Britain coincided with a research project set up jointly by the North-West Group of Voluntary Adoption Agencies and Liverpool John Moores University. The origins of the research lie in the concerns of the voluntary adoption agencies about the use of their services by local authorities in the light of their own records, which indicated very variable patterns of use. The aim of the research was to investigate these apparent anomalies in the use of adoption services and explore the reasons for the differences. A large range of possible factors was involved - structural, political and organisational, as well as professional and personal issues. In this paper Derek Clifford and colleagues reflect on barriers to the use of adoptive placements by local authorities, with particular but not exclusive reference to the north-west.
Derek Clifford is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Social studies, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool
Beverley Burke is Senior Lecturer in Social Work; Simon Ward is
Part-time Lecturer and Tutor in Social Work; and Lindsay Amuzu is Research Assistant, all at the same university
Norman G Goodwin is Chief Executive, Adoption Matters
Children in limbo: cases where court decisions have taken two years or more
Chris Beckett and Bridget McKeigue
Key words: looked after children, court delays
In spite of section 1(2) of the 1989 Children Act, the time taken to conclude care proceedings has been getting longer year on year since the Act's implementation. The average length of proceedings in 2001 was about 47 weeks and a significant number of children are having to wait over two years for a court decision. The authors looked at a small group of cases where children have waited for over two years. They examine the consequences for the children of this long wait in immediate terms, such as number of placement moves and assessments experienced, and in the long term as a result of reduced options and possible psychological harm. They then consider the possible causes of these long waits, identifying a number of factors but focusing in particular on the long and repetitive assessment process that seems to have typically taken place.
Chris Beckett and Bridget McKeigue are both Senior Lecturers in Social Work at Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge
Support for adoptive families: a review of current evidence on
problems, needs and effectiveness
Alan Rushton
Key words: adoption support, maltreatment, psychosocial problems, consumer views, effectiveness
This review of research literature is concerned with selected aspects of adoption support, namely the problems for the placed children, the characteristics of the new families, the needs of both children and parents for services and what is known about the effectiveness of interventions for placement in difficulty. The author identifies the most useful findings and considers their relevance for providing a modernised adoption support service. He concludes that knowledge is accumulating in many areas although more evaluative research needs to be conducted on promising interventions.
Alan Rushton is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the Institute of Psychiatry, London
Local authority and voluntary adoption agencies' arrangements for supporting adoptive families: a survey of UK practice
Alan Rushton
Key words: adoption and support, adoption and service provision, service
This paper presents the main messages from a survey of adoption support services in local authority and voluntary adoption agencies throughout the UK. The survey examined developments in service provision and delivery resulting from the Government's drive to increase the use of adoption as an option to secure permanence for looked after children. The article reports that substantial changes are taking place in many agencies, but that there is further to go to achieve equitable and timely access to specialist services when they are needed.
Alan Rushton is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the Institute of Psychiatry, London
Moral consciousness and decision-making in child and family social work
Stan Houston
Key words: ethics, children, social work, advocacy, decision-making
Child and family social work is beset by value-dilemmas. Houston attempts to find a way out of these entanglements by delving into the moral philosophy of Jurgen Habermas. It is argued that Habermas's ideas on moral discourse enable social workers and others involved in a child's life to reach ethical decisions. Towards the end of the paper, the argument is grounded in two case examples centering on child placement decisions. At this juncture it is argued that Habermas's position creates certain problems for ethical decision-making involving children, but that these problems can be assuaged by a range of compensatory actions including advocacy and critical reflection.
Stan Houston is Lecturer in Social Work at Queen's University Belfast
Legal notes: England and Wales
Deborah Cullen
Legal notes: Scotland
Alexandra Plumtree
Legal notes: Northern Ireland
Kerry O‘Halloran
Legal notes: USA
James Marsh and Daniel Pollack
Medical notes: The role of Primary Care Trusts in promoting the health needs of looked after children
Dr. Karen Lehner
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