Adoption & Fostering
Abstracts
Summer 2008 – Vol 32 (2)
Editorial: Who should do what, and to whom?
Roger Bullock
Some children matter more than others: issues prompted by Roy Parker’s study of the shipment of poor children to Canada, 1867–1917
Michael Little
Key words: emigration, poor children, Canada, Uprooted, Parker
Roy Parker’s book Uprooted: The shipment of poor children to Canada, 1867–1917 (Policy Press, 2008) charts the events that led to 80,000 children being shipped to Canada by the Poor Law and voluntary bodies during the 50 years following confederation in 1867. This article discusses the issues raised by this historical study for current policy and practice and charts the conditions that allow for government and children’s services to collude with potentially damaging interventions in children’s lives.
Michael Little is a Researcher at the Dartington Social Research Unit, UK
Chapin Hall is at the Center for Children, University of Chicago, USA
Foster care research in Germany: a critical review
Klaus Wolf
Key words: foster care research, Germany, Europe
Foster care research literature is dominated by studies from North America, the UK, Australia and Scandinavia. However, there is growing research activity in many other countries, the findings from which need to be incorporated into the international body of knowledge. In this article, eight studies of foster care in Germany are discussed, looking at their aims, methods and conclusions. A model that aids the comparison of studies and identifies common findings is described.
Klaus Wolf is Professor of Education at the University of Siegen, Germany
Supporting informal kinship care
Hilary Saunders and Julie Selwyn
Key words: informal kinship care, support, children in need
National statistics show that on 31 March 2007 about 7,000 looked after children in England (11% of the total) were placed in kinship care with relatives or friends. There has been no national prevalence study on kinship care in England, so we do not know how many children are living in kinship care arranged informally by family members or friends. However, the Family Rights Group estimates that there are over 200,000 households where kinship carers (usually grandparents) are looking after children who cannot live with their parents. In the London Borough of Greenwich, this hidden population of ‘children in need’ has been targeted for extra support by a Kinship Care Team, which aims to enable children to remain within their family network and to reduce the risk of their becoming ‘looked after’. Saunders and Selwyn report on their evaluation of this initiative.
Hilary Saunders is Training & Research Development Officer, Hadley Centre for Adoption & Foster Care Studies, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol
Julie Selwyn is a Senior Lecturer & Director of the Hadley Centre for Adoption & Foster Care Studies, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol
Untold stories: a discussion of life story work
Polly Baynes
Key words: life story work, children, gender, domestic violence, birth parents, adoption, direct work
This article focuses on life story work with looked after children and is based on the author’s 20 years’ experience as a practitioner, independent life story work trainer and mentor, independent reviewing officer and children’s guardian. The article traces the history of life story work and considers how changes within social work have affected practice, and are played out within the narratives that we create for children who cannot live with their birth families. The re–emergence of life story work within the current ‘target–led, evidence–based’ culture of social work is discussed and the impact of attitudes to gender, poverty and professional accountability is considered. Finally, there is a discussion of respectful practice with children and the issue of social work power, as manifested in the writing of children’s stories.
Polly Baynes is a Children’s Guardian, Independent Trainer & Risk Assessor for Ahimsa Safer Families, an independent agency based in Plymouth
A childhood on paper: managing access to child care files by post–care adults
Jim Goddard, Julia Feast and Derek Kirton
Key words: looked after children, leaving care, Data Protection Act 1998, information, care files
Although the potential importance of care–file information for those formerly in care has long been recognised, little is known about requests for access to such records, whether in terms of scale or how requests are dealt with. The survey reported here was carried out to address this gap. It was conducted in two stages during 2004 and 2005. The first stage comprised a postal questionnaire to local authorities in the UK (with 81 responses received) and a small number of voluntary organisations. This was followed by 40 telephone interviews with key local authority and voluntary sector personnel dealing with access to records requests. Areas of interest within the study included: policy and practice in relation to the retention, storage and retrieval of files; the handling of requests, including by whom; the provision of services (e.g. counselling and intermediary help); and the impact of the Data Protection Act 1998 on the handling of access requests. Two related themes emerged. First, policy, practice and service provision vary enormously between agencies, creating a ‘post–code lottery’ for post–care adults. Second, such provision is often poor in comparison with that offered to adopted adults, thereby raising the question of whether the current legal and policy framework for access to care records is adequate.
Jim Goddard is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy, University of Bradford
Julia Feast is Policy, Research & Development Consultant, BAAF
Derek Kirton is Lecturer in Social Policy and Social Work, University of Kent
Legal notes: England and Wales
Alexandra Conroy Harris and Jitender Birah
Legal notes: Scotland
Alexandra Plumtree
Legal notes: Northern Ireland
Kerry O’Halloran
Health notes: Post–adoption support services: five years experience of a dedicated medical clinic
Dr Rosemary Jones
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