Haines (2008) in Community Care talks about a new model for schooling looked after children. The model is hoping to improve children’s chances of achieving better GCSE grades in secondary school and possibly progress on to further and higher education. Haines states that in the late 1990s one out of fifty residents in Shaftesbury care homes attended mainstream schools, the others had part time provision at pupil referral units. They also found that at the age of 19 only 19% of care leavers entered further education on only 6% entered higher education compared to 38% of young people. Also nearly one third of care leavers were in employment or education. After they trailed their new model these figures raised, out of the 41 children in year 11, 40 were entered and gained GCSE’s.
Social work and life story work
Life story work is a technique often used with children; the main idea of life story work is to help the child learn about their own ‘life story’ in order to enhance their self esteem and confidence. It is used most frequently when children have experienced many changes in their lives, such as being placed with many different carers; it is also commonly used when children are going through the stages of being adopted. The work done for a life story may be important for the formation of a book for the child to read through to help them understand their life experiences and the situation they are currently in. Life story work is also being used with people with learning disabilities when they have had significant change in their circumstances. (Caffrey and Maclean)
Burnell and Vaughan state that they believe that life story work should be more than the narrow confines of books and photos designed to preserve a sense of continuity, it should be a more profound and fundamental process of healing, repair and recovery from traumatic experiences which has shaped the whole being of the child. The social workers role is critical to the life story process as the life story work can help the child to recover and develop a coherent story about their lives. According to Fahlberg (2006) the life story book is a way of showing a child their own life history as every individual is entitled to have their own history. When a child is repeatedly placed in different homes they tend to loose sight of their own history and the life story book helps keep it in focus for the child. It is never too early or too late to start a life story book with a child. If a child is legally free for adoption and they have not got a life story book then it is up to the social worker to seek out the information and pictures necessary for the book as part of the preparation for adoption.
Thomas (2005) argues that life story work should be referred to as life journey book or life journey work as the term story can make children think it is a fictional piece of work. Mundle (2007) claims that life story work is a simple yet effective way of helping a child move through the care system and more work around them needs to be undertaken.
Children with disabilities leaving care
Disabled children have the same rights as any other child once in the care system. They need social workers that are able to communicate directly with them and involve them with the decisions about their lives and make sense of the barriers they face, as defined by Marchant (2008). Disabled children face more separations from their families, research states that children with disabilities spend more time with adults and are likely to have fewer friends than children who are not disabled.
The key task for a social worker when working with a child with a disability is to value and protect the child’s positive relationships with any one involved in their lives. Every Disabled Child Matters (EDCM) want children with disabilities in the care system not to be given the automatic title of being a looked after child, even if they are just on a respite care placement. The disabled child goes through the same processes as any other child when leaving care; they may however need additional support in the process and coming to terms with what is happening. This can be achieved by the social worker and the adults that are currently supporting them in their placements. The life story work which has previously been mentioned is an integral part of this process of children coming to terms with their move out of the placement, as it shows them where they have come from and provides pictures to help them visualise the families and homes they have lived in.
The relationships children have with their social workers when in the care system
Children experience many moves whilst in the care system and often feel that they do not see their social workers enough. In September 2007 Community Care Magazine ran an edition written by service users. There is an article written by children in the care system entitled The Problem with Social Workers, in which Michael, aged 18, stated that his six weekly visits have turned into a six monthly discussions over the phone. He felt that his social worker had done nothing for him as he had raised issues with him previously and his social worker had stated he would look into it and get back to him, which has never happened. Michael’s motto is ‘what don’t kill you makes you stronger.’ He also wondered how much his social worker actually knew him as all he had read was case notes and he never spoke to him apart from when rushing through things and getting him to sign different forms.
Fernando, aged 11, told the readers that he has lost count of the amount of social workers he has had, he even had one that he never spoke to as they changed so quickly. He stated that he doesn’t like it when they change too often. He just wants one social worker to remain with him until he leaves the care system.
Asmara, also aged 11, refers to having a social worker as like making a new friend who understands your feelings, however she goes on to say that it is hard to accomplish this as you never really get to see them. She urges other looked after children to tell their social workers they don’t see them enough or that they don’t have a great relationship with them. The time spent with social workers and the distance between visits seems a regular theme in all of these accounts.
Studies conducted by Bell (2001) and Munro (2001), looks at the social workers roles with young people in care as seen by the child, the main points in both of their findings were the importance of the social workers relationship with the child and the continuity in this relationship, both researches found that children complained more about the changes in social workers than the changes in placements. Other roles the children thought the social worker should have were, reliability and availability, confidentiality, advocacy and doing things together. Thomas 2005 goes on to state that if good social work practice with children and young people in care means anything its being on the child’s side and being committed to the child.
What are the main outcomes of children leaving the care system?
There are many outcomes for young people when they leave care, as already discussed previously such as poor education outcomes. Biehal et al (1995) found a marked trend to teenage and early pregnancy among care leavers. The researchers suggested that this could indicate gaps in personal and social education. The researchers devised a diagram (below) that shows the individual factors that influence the outcomes for care leavers.
As you can see from the diagram there are several factors that influence the outcomes for a young person. This diagram helps back up Stein’s (1997) theory that methodological problems assessing outcomes of children because of the range of factors that may influence the outcomes for any young person. Young people leaving care have an exceptionally high risk of unemployment, homelessness and relationship difficulties. They also have an increased risk of entering the criminal justice system Cairns and Stanway 2007 also suggest that it can also effect the brain development of some children may be stuck in age-inappropriate response patterns, the resulting behaviour dos not represent regression but are indicators that development has been impeded or distorted. This is not the case in all children however the children it does affect would need some intense counselling and support to try and enable them to move on to the next stages of development.
Relevant laws and legislation for children leaving the care system
There are many laws that underpin children leaving care, the main ones are the Children’s act of 1989 and 2004 and the Children leaving care act 2000. the Children leaving care act imposes a duty for the local authority to prepare all 16 and 17 year old children for leaving care and to support them up until the age of 21 years. The children that receive this support have to be eligible children. To be an eligible child you need to have been in the care system for at lease 13 weeks since the age of 14 years, it does not have to be 13 consecutive weeks, it can be made up form a series of shorter placements, children that live at home and have agreed respite stays will be excluded from being an eligible child. Eligible children stay in care until they are 18 years old. The child leaving care will have a personal advisor who will help prepare a pathway plan. A pathway plan looks at the support the child will need to live independently; it can help them think about what they already know and about what they need to learn. It is a plan for the future of the child. It includes things like what the child likes, what jobs or training would be available, money, cultural and identity needs, their health and lifestyle. (a way ahead) a pathway plan needs to be completed three months after the child’s 16th birthday. The Children’s act 1989 and 2004 is relevant because it gives the underlying principles of the child’s welfare is paramount in any decisions that are made by or for the child. The adoption and children act 2002 also plays a part as when a child is adopted they are effectively leaving the care system.
Conclusion
The main lessons for social work practice that have been highlighted from this literature review are as follows: The children in car feel that they do not have as much contact with their social worker as they would like, and when they do they rarely help them with any issues they have raised. Another issue was the amount of social workers some children have had. Other arrears are the general outcomes in life children face when they leave care such as the lack of job prospects.
I personally feel that whilst looking through all the resources I found it difficult to find research on children with learning difficulties solely. I did find a book but found it too difficult to get hold of due to availability and the time constraints I had to write it up and with the cut off date I set myself to find research.
I feel that this research is going to impact my practice as I want to go into the area of adoption and fostering, by looking at my findings I will try and be there more for the children I will be working with and try to help them the best I can and work with them on more of a personal level rather than just filling in the paperwork and getting to know the child from their case notes.
References
A Way Ahead, 2006, Pathway Plan, [online] available at accessed 22.5.08
Asmara, Fernando and Michael 13 September 2007, The problem with social Workers, Community Care, issue 1690, Page 20-21
Caffrey B and Maclean S, 2008, A jargon Busting Dictionary for social care Kirwin Maclean Associates; Staffordshire.
Cairns k And Stanway C, 2007, learn the child – helping looked after children learn, a good practice guide for social workers, carers and teachers, BAAF adoption and fostering: Nottingham
Fahlberg v, 2006 a child’s journey through placement UK edition. BAAF Adoption and fostering: London
Haines A, 15 May 2008, A new model for schooling looked-after children, Community Care, issue 1722 page 22.
Lucklock B and Lefevre M eds 2008, Direct Work, Social work with children and young people in care, BAAF adoption and fostering: London
Maclean I and Maclean S, 2006, From birth to 18 years, Kirwin Maclean Associates: Staffordshire
Mundle s 2007, Communication with children and young people, training course; Toby Lodge
National Children's Bureau 2006 Every disabled child matters, Parliamentary meeting highlights success of AHDC programme [online] available at
accessed 22.5.08
Sherwood 2008, social care diary and directory, Sherwood: Essex
Thomas N 2005, Social work with Young People in Care, looking after children in theory and practice, Palgrave macmillian: China
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Doing a literature review
