Clearley Henderson – EMPT London

Children in Care Need Male Care workers Too!

Evans Management and Professional Training — Thu, 11 May 2017 12:00:06 +0000

Male care workers can often be the first positive male role models that children have met, and play a vital role. But male care workers can face their own challenges in roles traditionally considered to be mainly carried out by women. Children in Care invariably bring a history of their relationships with males to fostering and adoption placements. Thus, The Fostering Network and CoramBAFF have produced information around how fostering and adoption can be more ‘men friendly’.

In addition, the following research indicates some benefits related to involved fathers: www.emptlondon.com

The father’s education level is important (Yeung, 2004) and is of course linked to his income: better educated fathers tend to earn more. One study found that it wasn’t simply the father’s income but his permanent income that was most significant. Fathers’ education level tends to contribute substantially to permanent income (Chevalier et al, 2013). Also see the EMPT® promoting positive outcomes for children workbook (2014) Promoting positive outcomes workbook.doc Updated 2017.
Fathers with more education are able to provide more resources and learning opportunities for their children, and are also more likely to engage in positive interactions, such as reading, with them (Tamis-LeMonda et al, 2013).
Fathers’ sensitivity in interacting with their children is enormously important and sensitive fathers are not only found among better educated or wealthier fathers: the is enormous variation across social class. Sensitivity/supportiveness by fathers in interactions with their children, their engagement in literacy activities together, fathers’ use of wide vocabularies and strategies such as expanding on what children say, referring to objects and events, eliciting actions, directing attention, prompting play etc. have substantial positive impacts on child outcomes (Tamis-LeMonda et al, 2012).
The experience of becoming a father can provide a catalyst for making the transition to a more responsible masculine identity. Young men’s masculine identities are strongly defined by locality. Young men ‘at risk’ tend to be embedded in local cultures of hypermasculinity, often with problematic consequences. Many aspire to a ‘safer’and more responsible masculinity, with their aspirations again being largely shaped by local expectations (http://www.open.ac.uk/health-and-social-care/research/beyond-male-role-models/report ).

Some other useful male care worker resources:

https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/advice-information/being-foster-carer/men-who-care

Working with challenging behaviour EMPT_SEP_TRAINING_DIGITAL (1)

http://docs.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk/fulltext/71496.pdf

https://carers.org/male-carers

CoramBAFF practice note 49 highlights the role of male carers in meeting the needs of fostered and adopted children. It includes discussion about gender in the family placement environment, the developmental needs of children, the experiences and perspectives of male carers, and the impact of allegations and abuse. Issues for agencies to consider and pointers for good practice are identified.

https://goodmenproject.com/families/a-single-man%E2%80%99s-adoption-story/

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/outcomes-for-children-looked-after-by-las-31-march-2016

Promoting Safe and stable placements in which children can develop safe and secure relationships

Evans Management and Professional Training — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 19:13:29 +0000

The Ofsted Framework for Independent Fostering Services asserts that Looked After children should be supported, ‘in care, to live and thrive in safe and stable placements, in which they develop safe and secure relationships’.
The Ofsted Framework for Inspecting Children Homes (2015:31), related to promoting safe and stable placements, states ‘where young people have left the home since the last inspection, inspectors must focus on the reasons the young person has left (well-planned and facilitated move or placement breakdown) and the contribution the manager, keyworkers and staff have made to the plans for their future’

The Who Cares Trust highlight, related to promoting safe and stable placements, ‘The Government’s Care Matters agenda identifies stable relationships as one of the key factors in ensuring good outcomes for children in care. But there is an unacceptable amount of movement in care for a lot of children, who often don’t get the chance to form stable relationships with carers or social workers’.

The Care Inquiry (2013: 3.18), in terms of promoting safe and stable placements, claims that ‘High-quality relationships matter more than anything else for children in or on the edge of care, and for the adults in their lives’.

Thus, when considering promoting safe and stable placements, breakdowns to family placements can sometimes badly affect children and contribute to their emotional disturbance. Placement breakdown is defined as the placement not lasting as long as planned. Much of the key findings from studies over the past ten years have shown:

Frequent moves can badly affect children.
Breakdowns, or unplanned moves, are much less likely in younger children in comparison, ‘teenage’ placements. Some factors appear to cause frequent placment moves- they include:
a change of social worker
Over-optimistic expectations
Placement breakdown, particularly for teenagers
The child’s level of emotional disturbance and motivation to remain in the placement also appears to be a key factor.

Research also indicates that foster carers often feel like giving up altogether during difficult times. Therefore, assessment around foster carer/s ability to provide durability and commitment to promoting safe and stable placements should continually ensure that carers’ and residential care support worker’s own attachment, sensitivity and motivation are suited towards promoting stable placements for children.
In terms of placement stability, the Department of Education information shows:

89% of all looked after children had up to two placements in the year ending 31 March 2012.
10 year olds were most likely to have a single placement
Promoting stable placements for children in care
Support should be part of all care plans to ensure the best outcomes for children and to prevent carer strain and placement breakdown (Boddy, 2013).

Overall, actively promoting practice that promotes triangulated assessment of foster carers, including reviews, contributes to service management evidence about the quality of foster care provided. On top of this, building very strong policies and procedures based on the legislative research as well as practice standards whilst working in line with the relevant Ofsted inspection framework, will contribute to quality fostering service and residential child care provisions.

Thus, policies, legislation, national standards, Ofsted framework for services and organisation procedures are, of course, of immense importance and serve as a means of promoting stable placements. They promote robust practice and consistent implementation of these policies, standards and procedures contribute to keeping children and young people safe. Leadership and management within fostering and residential services therefore plays a key role when promoting stable placements for looked after children. Thus, Ofsted 2015: states that Leaders and managers actively and regularly monitor the quality of care provided and use learning from practice and feedback to improve the experiences and care of children and young people.

14. Placement stability and permanence

Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children research and guidance information

Evans Management and Professional Training — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:26:59 +0000

Main Legislative Framework and Guidance

The Children Act 1989 places a responsibility upon Local Authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people living in their area. When children in need are identified, an assessment of their needs should be undertaken.

A major factor for unaccompanied asylum seeking children is that the burden of proof is placed upon the applicant to evidence his or her asylum claim.

The Hillingdon Judgement and Local Authority Circular (2003) 13

All UASC should, on arrival, be supported under S20 of the Children Act 1989, until an assessment of needs has been completed.

Based on assessed need, most UASC including 16 and 17 year olds who require accommodation should be provided with S20 support.
The majority of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children will be entitled to leaving care services.
S17 can be used to support Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children in exceptional circumstances where an assessment of needs identified that to become looked after would not be in the UASC’s best interests – for example if the young person strongly expresses aversion to becoming looked after.

Research by the refugee Council

Recent research by the refugee council shows that 88% of unaccompanied children applicants were male and 90% of unaccompanied children were aged 14-17. This research also highlighted that unaccompanied children who have reached the age of 18 are much more likely to have their asylum claim refused. This involves children who have reached the age of 18 having a refusal rate of 70% in 2013.

The refugee council research also highlights that a new category, UASC leave, was introduced in 2013 and is now used in cases where the only reason for giving leave is that the applicant is a child who cannot be returned, and this means there are now far fewer grants of discretionary leave than in the past’.

In terms of finding the families of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children the Kent’s Law clinic publication (2014) shows that even when an accompanied child claims asylum in the UK the Home Office has a duty to endeavour to trace the child’s family.

All Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children should be supported by the appropriate Local Authority. The National Asylum Support Service and Coram Children’s legal centre also provide some useful services for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children.

Health and social care training and the use of reflective functioning

Evans Management and Professional Training — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 12:57:40 +0000

Reflective functioning is described by various researchers to involve both a self-reflective and interpersonal components in which an individual grasps the complex interplay between their own feelings and those of others.

One way of trainers/teachers manifesting the characteristics of reflective thinking is through models of training and/or teaching delivery. For health and social care training it is important to give social care workers working in settings such as foster care and other residential child care, the opportunity to reflect upon the internal experience of the children they are caring for .

This includes promoting the basic principles of how children and young people from all ages form attachments and promoting the understanding around how these attachments affect their development, and the impact of interrupted development, trauma, separation and loss.

The training, support and development standards (5.1 a-c, 5.2 a, 5.3 a-c, 5.4 a-c) covers some basic foster care practising standards around promoting attachments and stages of development. Adoption & fostering quarterly journal by BAAF (Volume 9, 2 July 2015: 145-158 explores reflective functioning in foster carers using the Parent Development Interview.