A new book examined the child care system in England. It offers an overview of the placement process, including: the children (who they were, what they needed, and what they wanted); their movements (where they entered and exited the care system); their placements (what these were and how effective they were); the outcomes (whether the children were settled or happy); and the underlying reasons for these results (why all this happened and turned out the way it did).
Source: Ian Sinclair, Claire Baker, Jenny Lee and Ian Gibbs, The Pursuit of Permanence: A study of the English child care system, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (020 7833 2307)
Date: 2007-Dec
A report published by the inspectorate for education and children's services set out the views of children and young people who were consulted on what the new national minimum standards for children's social care should cover. They said that care placements should be designed so that brothers and sisters could stay together.
Source: Children on Care Standards, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Dec
The Scottish Government published a strategy for kinship and foster care, aimed at ensuring that children and families received personalized care which met their complex needs over time. There was scope for 'considerable improvements' to the existing arrangements for the recruitment, training, and support of carers.
Source: Getting It Right for Every Child in Kinship and Foster Care, Scottish Government, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Strategy | Scottish Parliament debate | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Dec
A report said that vulnerable children who were sent to boarding school during term time and foster families in the holidays excelled academically – performing better than the average for their age within three years of starting boarding school.
Source: Colin Morrison, Breaking Through: How boarding schools can transform the lives of vulnerable children, Royal Wanstead Children's Foundation (01932 868622)
Links: Report | Guardian report | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Nov
The government published a Children and Young Persons Bill, and the Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to reform the statutory framework around the care system for children and young people. It was aimed at increasing transparency and the quality of care planning, and at ensuring that the child's voice was heard when important decisions that affected their future were taken.
Source: Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech to Both Houses of Parliament, 6 November 2007, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Children and Young Persons [HL] Bill, Department for Children, Schools and Families, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Summary | Hansard | DCSF press release | BAAF press release | NCH press release | Barnardos press release | CPAG press release | CBI press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Nov
A report presented the interim findings of the national evaluation of targeted youth support pathfinders (designed to improve support for vulnerable young people by a range of different agencies). Relative progress, in terms of reaching the stage of 'delivery' to young people, varied across the case study areas.
Source: John Rodger, Helen Palmer and James Mahon, Targeted Youth Support Pathfinders: Interim Evaluation, Research Report RR016, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Nov
A new book summarized the results of the national evaluation of Sure Start programmes. It examined the nature of the communities in which the programmes were situated, and how they changed over time; the early effects on children and families; and identified the specific features that helped to determine whether or not individual programmes benefited children and families.
Source: Jay Belsky, Jacqueline Barnes and Edward Melhuish (eds.), The National Evaluation of Sure Start: Does area-based early intervention work?, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Nov
A report said that more attention needed to be paid to communication between hospitals and children's social services in order to effectively protect vulnerable children. Hospitals might be the agency best placed to first detect signs of abuse or neglect in children, so it was important that the working relationship between hospital and social services staff was a positive one.
Source: Jessica Datta and Di Hart, A Shared Responsibility: Safeguarding arrangements between hospitals and children's social services, National Children's Bureau (020 7843 6029)
Links: Report | NCB press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Nov
The watchdog in Scotland for the rights of children and young people said that an exaggerated risk aversion on the part of those responsible for the residential care of children and young people in Scotland 'blighted' the lives of the young people concerned and hampered their development.
Source: Playing It Safe? A study of the regulation of outdoor play for children and young people in residential care, Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People (0131 558 3733)
Links: Report | SCCYP press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Nov
A study examined the children's residential care market in England, and the optimal level of provision of places in registered homes.
Source: Deloitte MCS, Determining the Optimum Supply of Children's Residential Care, Research Report RW023, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Oct
Researchers examined how children's and parental services could engage effectively with black and minority ethnic parents. There was evidence that values and attitudes (particularly towards education) varied widely across different minority ethnic groups: the starting point for engaging minority ethnic parents was to recognize this inherent diversity, and to tailor services appropriately (in contrast to taking a 'colour blind' approach).
Source: James Page, Gill Whitting and Carl Mclean, Engaging Effectively with Black and Minority Ethnic Parents in Children's and Parental Services, Research Report 013, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | Children Now report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government announced pilot projects designed to explore how best to give young people in care a greater say over whether they moved out into independent flats or hostels once they reached the age of 16, or instead stayed in care until they were 18.
Source: Press release 4 October 2007, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0870 000 2288)
Links: DCSF press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Oct
A report by a commission of the opposition Conservative Party examined the future of children's social work. It called for a national recruitment campaign and a 'high impact advertising campaign' to promote social work. It also called for numerical adoption targets to be phased out.
Source: Commission on Social Workers, No More Blame Game: The future for children's social workers, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release | GSCC press release | Community Care report | Children Now report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Oct
An article examined the payment of foster-carers. It looked at the associations between attitudes towards payment and demographic, socio-economic. and fostering career variables. There was a generally low level of satisfaction among local authority carers, and growing support among carers for salaried status.
Source: Derek Kirton, Jennifer Beecham and Kate Ogilvie, 'Gaining satisfaction? An exploration of foster-carers' attitudes to payment', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 37 Number 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Oct
A report said that education, health, and private sector professionals were not engaging enough with integrated working practices in children's services. One-third of people implementing integrated services at a local area level had encountered difficulties engaging teachers and health professionals.
Source: Moving Towards Integrated Working: Progress Report 2007, Children's Workforce Development Council (0113 244 6311)
Links: Report | CWDC press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government began consultation on what should be done to improve the lives of children in England, including an examination of the effects of the media and the internet on children. It said that it would use the answers to help draw up a 10-year plan for children's services.
Source: Time to Talk, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Consultation document | DCSF press release (1) | DCSF press release (2) | Downing Street press release | NCH press release | NUT press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Sep
A report said that Sure Start children's centres could be effective in delivering child and family services in England: but they needed to gear up their efforts to help parents overcome practical and other barriers to employment, and to bring about lasting change in their communities.
Source: Margaret Lochrie, Children's Centres: Ensuring that families most in need benefit, Capacity (020 8977 1688) and Esm?e Fairbairn Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | Capacity press release
Date: 2007-Sep
Research found that 69 per cent of voluntary sector providers of residential child care were not getting a sufficient number of referrals. Over 50 per cent of commissioners cited cost as the determining factor in choosing placements.
Source: VCS Engage, The Impact of Market Forces on the Operation and Capacity of the Residential Child Care Sector, National Centre for Excellence in Residential Care/National Children's Bureau (020 7843 6093) and Social Care Association
Links: Report | Summary | Appendices | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Aug
An article said that there were particular challenges in finding direct output indicators for children's social care services. Because services for vulnerable children were often delivered by multi-agency teams, and were intended to have a continuing benefit throughout the children's lives, it was difficult to measure the specific outcomes of interventions.
Source: Jean Soper, Lisa Holmes and Enliz D'souza, 'Measuring government output: issues for children's social care services', Economic & Labour Market Review, August 2007, Office for National Statistics, Palgrave Macmillan (01256 329242)
Date: 2007-Aug
The government announced details of a grant of more than £4 billion (for the period 2008-2011) for children's centres, early years education, and childcare. The money would go towards: providing a Sure Start children's centre in every community by 2010; outreach work to reach the most disadvantaged families; training and support for the early years workforce; ensuring that there were sufficient childcare places in each local authority; ensuring that every nursery and children's centre had a graduate to lead children's learning and development.
Source: Press release 2 August 2007, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0870 000 2288)
Links: DCSF press release | Sure Start press release | CPAG press release | EDCM press release | NDNA press release | Daycare Trust press release | PSLA press release | Guardian report | Community Care report | Children Now report
Date: 2007-Aug
A report presented the findings of a study of the pattern of social services for children and young people up to the age of 18 in England, and the options for the funding formula. There were wide variations in spend per capita between local authorities.
Source: Roy Carr-Hill, Paul Dixon and Charlie Owen, Options for the Funding Formula for Children?s Social Services, Research Report RW007, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Aug
A report said that the level of support that young people in Scotland experienced on leaving care was variable. Certain kinds of services, such as supported accommodation, appeared to be more effective than accommodation with less access to on-site support. The ability to sustain tenancies was affected by high costs and expenses, too little support, loneliness, and a lack of independent living skills.
Source: Susan Elsley, Kathryn Backett-Milburn and Lynn Jamieson, Review of Research on Vulnerable Young People and Their Transitions to Independent Living, Scottish Executive (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Aug
A new book drew on recent research to address key issues in residential child care policy and practice, offering guidance for developing best practice and improved outcomes for children and young people.
Source: Andrew Kendrick (ed.), Residential Child Care: Prospects and challenges, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (020 7833 2307)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Aug
A report by a committee of MPs said that government plans for a network of Sure Start children's centres in every community in England by 2010 might be at risk, because of a shortage of trained staff and doubts over local authorities' capacity to deliver them. Only one-third of Sure Start centres were pro-actively seeking out 'hard-to-reach' families.
Source: Sure Start Children's Centres, Thirty-eighth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 261, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Jul
The Court of Appeal overturned a High Court judgement that a girl (aged 17) was not eligible for accommodation as a looked-after child because she had accepted a place in a hostel for homeless women on leaving custody in a secure training centre. The local council had 'sidestepped' its responsibilities under the Children Act 1989 to accommodate the girl, who was estranged from both her parents, by arranging the hostel placement and encouraging her to declare herself homeless.
Source: S v London Borough of Sutton, Court of Appeal 26 July 2007
Links: Text of judgement | HLPR press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report said that collaboration between Sure Start local programmes and social services departments over the safeguarding of children posed challenges for many local authorities: these reflected longstanding tensions between services designed to support families and those designed to protect children.
Source: Jane Tunstill and Debra Allnock, Understanding the Contribution of Sure Start Local Programmes to the Task of Safeguarding Children?s Welfare, Research Report NESS/2007/FR/026, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | Children Now report
Date: 2007-Jul
A new book examined care and care work in children's services. It looked at the factors that influenced why people entered and left care work, their motivations, and the intersection of their work with their family lives.
Source: Julia Brannen, June Statham, Ann Mooney and Michaela Brockmann, Coming to Care: The work and family lives of workers caring for vulnerable children, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary | IoE press release
Date: 2007-Jul
A report examined the part that children?s centres could play in improving access to services for the most disadvantaged children under 5 and their families living in rural areas.
Source: Janet Williams, Developing Children?s Centres in Rural Areas, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jul
The government announced that it planned to introduce a Children in Care Bill. The Bill would be designed to give children in the care system in England and Wales more stability, and to improve their performance at school.
Source: The Governance of Britain: The Government?s Draft Legislative Programme, Cm 7175, Leader of the House of Commons, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Date: 2007-Jul
A report examined changes in the characteristics of Sure Start local programme areas in rounds 1 to 4. Over the five-year period, improvements in SSLP areas were detected, and often the level of change was significantly greater than that seen in England as a whole. However, few of these changes could be linked in a straightforward way to Sure Start activities.
Source: Jacqueline Barnes et al., Changes in the Characteristics of SSLP Areas Between 2000/01 and 2004/05, Research Report NESS/2007/FR/021, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-Jun
A report examined variations in the way Sure Start local programmes were implemented (their proficiency) and in their impact on the children and parents (their effectiveness). Proficient and effective SSLPs took a holistic approach to implementing the Sure Start vision: they built on the strengths of inherited provision, and were creative in improving and setting up services.
Source: Angela Anning, Jane Stuart, Michelle Nicholls, Joanna Goldthorpe and Anita Morley, Understanding Variations in Effectiveness amongst Sure Start Local Programmes, Research Report NESS/2007/FR/024, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-Jun
An article examined the perceptions of statutory-service providers about their experience of working with Sure Start professionals. Although interviewees welcomed the additional input provided by Sure Start for the most vulnerable families, a number of tensions arose over key divergences between the philosophical positions of statutory providers and Sure Start. The most important tension was over Sure Start's philosophy of targeting resources on an entire geographical area. This was seen as antithetical to statutory providers? case-by-case approach, and raised questions about access and equity for families living outside Sure Start's boundaries. Sure Start's concentration on young children, and the time-limited nature of their services and activities, frustrated statutory providers who had a broader family focus and a longer-term perspective. The perceived under-resourcing of statutory services in comparison to Sure Start, and statutory providers? responsibility for 'selling' Sure Start services, strained a sense of equality between agencies and professionals, and undermined a sense of a shared agenda.
Source: Alison Edgley and Mark Avis, 'The perceptions of statutory service providers of a local Sure Start programme: a shared agenda?', Health and Social Care in the Community,Volume 15 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jun
An article presented findings from a study of children looked after by 24 local authorities in England. It highlighted a complex picture of continuity and discontinuity in attempts to achieve stability and permanence for long-stay children. Some children were moving smoothly and in a planned way towards a family for life, while some experienced long periods in stable but temporary placements or had a number of moves prior to finding stability and a sense of belonging. A further group of children experienced stability while looked after, without having a family to belong to when they moved into adult life.
Source: Gillian Schofield, June Thoburn, Darren Howell and Jonathan Dickens, 'The search for stability and permanence: modelling the pathways of long-stay looked after children', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 37 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that private fostering should be recognized as a potentially useful service: but it was urgently in need of better support and much tighter monitoring.
Source: Charlie Owen, Sonia Jackson, Sofka Barreau and Edwina Peart, An Exploratory Study of Private Fostering, Research Brief TCRU03-07, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Brief
Date: 2007-Jun
The new Prime Minster (Gordon Brown MP) announced the creation of a Department for Children, Schools and Families. The new department would take over the responsibilities of the (disbanded) Department for Education and Skills for children's services and family policy, and for education up to the age of 19. It also acquired responsibility for youth justice and the Respect Taskforce (dealing with anti-social behaviour), and cross-cutting roles on child poverty and child health.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 28 June 2007, columns 36-40WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Downing Street press release | DCSF press release | OCC press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | BBC report | Community Care report | FT report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that the level of satisfaction by parents with the services provided by Sure Start children's centres was 'very high'. Learning and socializing were seen as the main benefits to children of attending the centres. Suggestions for improvement frequently related to: changing or extending the times when provision was available (particularly at ?non-core? times such as evenings and weekends), and requests for more courses and training opportunities. More childcare was also requested, especially for a broader range of age groups.
Source: Kate Ridley-Moy, Sure Start Children?s Centres Parental Satisfaction Survey: Report and Annexes 2007, Research Report RW108, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report examined the policy and practice issues that arose from the operation of Sure Start local programmes in areas where there were significant black and minority ethnic populations. Experiences and practice varied widely. SSLPs that were successful understood and worked closely with local community organizations. Some SSLPs had been discouraged from pursuing relationships with certain minority groups and abandoned the attempt, effectively excluding some already very marginalized communities.
Source: Gary Craig et al., Sure Start and Black and Minority Ethnic Populations, Research Report NESS/2007/FR/020, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-Jun
A report examined the funding and membership of local safeguarding children boards. The boards (established in England in April 2006) had raised the profile of safeguarding, and on average were better resourced than the non-statutory area child protection committees they replaced.
Source: Local Safeguarding Children Boards: A Review of Progress, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Letter | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Jun
The government published a White Paper on children in care. The paper focused on ways of improving educational opportunities. £305 million of extra government spending was promised over the period to 2010-11. Businesses would offer children in care private tutors, apprenticeships, and management training.
Source: Care Matters: Time for Change, Cm 7137, Department for Education and Skills, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: White Paper | Hansard | DfES press release | LGA press release | NCH press release | NCB press release | BAAF press release | Barnardos press release | ECM press release | EDCM press release | CWDC press release | CPAG press release | Conservative Party press release | IDeA press release | Guardian report | Community Care report | Children Now report | Young People Now report
Date: 2007-Jun
An article presented findings from a study of children looked after by 24 local authorities in England. The study found considerable variation between the authorities in their rates of children starting to be looked after. It also highlighted the variety of legal routes and placement options used for children entering the looked-after system, and proposed a matrix that summarized the various combinations that the authorities were found to be using.
Source: Jonathan Dickens, Darren Howell, June Thoburn and Gillian Schofield, 'Children starting to be looked after by local authorities in England: an analysis of inter-authority variation and case-centred decision making', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 37 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jun
An article examined the results of a study of complaints to social services in Wales involving children, and their use of advocacy services commissioned by local authorities. It revealed the adult-dominated nature of the children's complaints system, and the limited involvement of advocacy in supporting children who made a complaint. There was a pressing need for a more child-focused approach that gave authentic voice to children and their rights.
Source: Andrew Pithouse and Anne Crowley, 'Adults rule? Children, advocacy and complaints to social services', Children & Society, Volume 21 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-May
A report examined ways of improving the measurement of the output of children?s social services in the national accounts. Immediate improvements could be made to the children?s social services output measure, including broadening the coverage of services for which output was measured directly and accounting for change in the quality of services over time. It was not possible in the short term, however, to isolate and measure the impact that children?s social services had on individuals? welfare, because there was a lack of child-level data linking interventions to outcomes.
Source: Jean Soper, Lisa Holmes, Xiaozhen Hu and Enliz D?Souza, Valuing Changes in Welfare to Individuals and Society Resulting from the Government's Provision of Children's Social Services in England, Research Report RW104, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-May
A new book presented findings from studies evaluating Sure Start programmes in north-east England.
Source: Nigel Malin and Gillian Morrow, Evaluating Sure Start, Whiting and Birch (020 8244 2421)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-May
An article examined the findings of a series of focus group discussions with social workers in children's services, and highlighted lessons for sustaining a competent and stable social work workforce.
Source: Anna Gupta and James Blewett, 'Change for children? The challenges and opportunities for the children?s social work workforce', Child & Family Social Work, Volume 12 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-May
The Court of Appeal ruled that local authorities did not owe a duty of care to a parent of a child when exercising, through social workers, its duties to protect children from their parents, for example by placing them on the child protection register as being at risk. The local authority?s principal duty was to the child in need of protection, and there were powerful public policy reasons for not having a duty of care to the parents. There was no reason to treat social workers in this context any differently from policemen or doctors who were not subject to such a duty of care.
Source: Stephanie Lawrence v Pembrokeshire County Council, Court of Appeal 15 May 2007
Links: Text of judgement | Times report
Date: 2007-May
A report examined the use of 'children in need' in Scottish local authority policy and practice. Only 5 out of 32 local authority integrated children?s services plans made explicit use of children in need and used it as an organizing concept.
Source: Kay Tisdall and Vicky Plows, Children in Need: Examining its use in practice and reflecting on its currency for proposed policy changes, Childhood Studies/University of Edinburgh (0131 650 3930)
Date: 2007-May
An article examined the apparent resistance to involving children's families and networks in designing and developing the services children needed. It raised some questions about the understandings held by professionals about children and families who took up child welfare services, that enabled traditional exclusive forms of practice to be sustained.
Source: Kate Morris and Gale Burford, 'Working with children's existing networks ? building better opportunities?', Social Policy and Society, Volume 6 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Apr
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that most local authorities were making a good contribution towards delivering better outcomes for the majority of children and young people: but for a significant minority provision was not good enough, and authorities needed to do more to redress this inequity.
Source: Narrowing the Gap: The inspection of children's services, HMI 070041, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | OFSTED press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Apr
A report said that children's services provided by local voluntary and community sector organizations were being cut, with preventative services being the hardest hit. Vital VCS services were being taken in house by local public bodies, and existing commissioning practice was discouraging voluntary and community organizations from applying.
Source: Jason Leman, Frontline Hopscotch: VCS engagement in delivering change for children and young people - a jumpy start or a step back?, National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (0114 278 6636)
Links: Report | NAVCA press release
Date: 2007-Apr
A report said that almost 1 in 6 young people leaving care were placed in unsuitable and sometimes unsafe accommodation where they experienced harassment and discrimination.
Source: Home Alone: Housing and support for young people leaving care, Rainer (01959 578200)
Links: Report | Rainer press release | Community Care report | Young People Now report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Apr
A report examined how Sure Start local programmes delivered services to families where there were children with specials needs and disabilities.
Source: Anne Pinney, A Better Start: Children and families with special needs and disabilities in Sure Start local programmes, Report 019, Sure Start Unit/Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Date: 2007-Mar
Researchers in Scotland examined evidence of the effectiveness of family group conferencing for children with different needs, and to gather views about the use and experience of it in children's services in the United Kingdom. (Family group conferencing is a decision-making approach which involves the extended family in making plans for children.)
Source: Lee Barnsdale and Moira Walker, Examining the Use and Impact of Family Group Conferencing, Scottish Executive (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Mar
An article examined the experiences of young women who became mothers while in, or following, local authority care, and the significance of risk and vulnerability faced by them. Although pregnancy might not be a planned activity, young women demonstrated choice and rationality in their decision to become mothers.
Source: Ravinder Barn and Nadia Mantovani, 'Young mothers and the care system: contextualizing risk and vulnerability', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 37 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Mar
An article highlighted problems with idea that services could be provided for young children within their families in a seamless way that served the interests of children and families simultaneously. It said that extended childcare services should be clearly targeted to the needs of the child-within-the-family.
Source: Jo Warin, 'Joined-up services for young children and their families: papering over the cracks or re-constructing the foundations?', Children & Society, Volume 21 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Mar
The final report was published of an evaluation of the 35 children's trust pathfinders (2004-2006). It said that the pathfinders had acted as a catalyst for more integrated approaches to the diagnosis and provision of services for children; and had drawn together a variety of statutory and local services with the aim of enabling them to make a difference to the well-being of children and young people. (Children's trusts, or equivalent arrangements, are intended to promote co-operation between education, health, social services, and other partners.)
Source: National Evaluation of Children's Trust Pathfinders, Children's Trust Pathfinders: Innovative partnerships for improving the well-being of children and young people, Research Report 839, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-Mar
The Northern Ireland Executive began consultation on a radical overhaul of services for children in care. Proposals included new legislation, finance, and support. A target would be set for reducing the number of children and young people in care by 20 per cent.
Source: Care Matters in Northern Ireland: A bridge to a better future, Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 0500)
Links: Consultation document | NIE press release | NICCY press release | BAAF press release
Date: 2007-Mar
The children's services inspectorate brought together ideas that children and young people had given it over the previous three years based on their experiences of social care services, and produced over a hundred suggestions for new policies.
Source: Policy by Children, Children's Rights Director/Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release
Date: 2007-Mar
A report examined levels of pay among foster carers. Many were struggling to make ends meet. Some were poorly paid and received what amounted to token payments. Others were paid nothing for the work they did, and had to rely on a partner's salary, resort to benefits, or take on additional work.
Source: Vicki Swain, Can't Afford to Foster: A survey of fee payments to foster carers in the UK, Fostering Network (020 7620 6400)
Links: Report | Briefing | Fostering Network press release | Community Care report | Guardian report | Children Now report
Date: 2007-Mar
The social care inspectorate said that many children were getting a better deal from children's social care services: but much more needed to be done before all those children who relied on social care got the help they need to be safe and achieve their potential.
Source: Children's Services: CSCI Findings 2004-07, Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release
Date: 2007-Mar
A study compared the experiences of care leavers with those of other young people who had had difficulties in life (such as homelessness, drug addiction, offending behaviour, learning/physical disabilities) but who had not been in local authority care. Care leavers were doing better in terms of access to housing, educational participation, being in employment, and self-assessment of their health and well-being.
Source: Claire Cameron, Kristina Bennert, Antonia Simon and Valerie Wigfall, Using Health, Education, Housing and Other Services: A study of care leavers and young people in difficulty, Research Report TCRU-01-07, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Brief
Date: 2007-Mar
The children's services inspectorate said that one-fifth of children in care (based on those who responded to an ad hoc survey) said that gangs and bullies were the worst thing about where they lived. Over half the children had been bullied.
Source: Looked After in England: How children living away from home rate England's care, Children's Rights Director/Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Mar
The social care inspectorate said that children with extreme, and sometimes very complex, needs were being placed in single-place children's homes without a clear idea of the impact that these placements had on them. (Single-place homes are care settings, other than foster homes, in which the child is the only person in care.)
Source: One-person Children's Homes: A positive choice or last resort?, Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Mar
A report examined how children's trusts could create the best environment for voluntary and community organizations to work in partnerships with them.
Source: Talking Trusts: Recommendations for children's trusts working with voluntary and community organisations, National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (020 7253 1010) and others
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Feb
A Member of Parliament introduced a Bill designed to establish a national strategy to safeguard runaway and missing children; to make provision for the collection and reporting of information about runaway and missing children; and for related co-ordination between local authorities and other bodies.
Source: Safeguarding Runaway and Missing Children Bill, Helen Southworth MP, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill
Date: 2007-Feb
A report by the children's services inspectorate gave children's views about the government's Green Paper proposals for the care system, and how it could be made better for children in the future. Children wanted a good home that was safe, and to be treated as individuals rather than children in care.
Source: 'Care Matters': Children's Views on the Government Green Paper, Children's Rights Director/Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release
Date: 2007-Feb
A report (by an official advisory body) provided an update and overview of progress in implementing recommendations (made in 2003) regarding the needs of children of problem drug-users.
Source: Hidden Harm: Three Years On - Realities, challenges and opportunities, Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (020 7035 0454)
Links: Report | ACMD press release | Drugscope press release
Date: 2007-Feb
An inspection of child protection services in Northern Ireland found evidence of serious shortcomings, and in some instances a failure on the part of organizations to protect vulnerable children and young people. In response the Northern Ireland Executive announced a fundamental reform of child protection services, including establishment of an independent 'Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland' to replace the area child protection committees and child protection panels. The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 would be extended to Northern Ireland.
Source: Our Children and Young People ? Our Shared Responsibility, Social Services Inspectorate/Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety/Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 0500) | Press release 15 January 2007, Northern Ireland Executive
Links: Report | NIE press release | NICCY press release | Children Now report
Date: 2007-Jan
A group of agencies concerned with child welfare responded to the Green Paper on children and young people in care ('Care Matters'). They made recommendations designed to enable more children who could not live with their parents to be raised by relatives. Children being raised in family and friends' care were a unique group of children in need, requiring tailored policies and provision of support services at national and local level, including a ministerially-led taskforce to drive forward this development.
Source: The Role of the State in Supporting Relatives Raising Children who Cannot Live with Their Parents, Family Rights Group (020 7923 2628)
Links: Response | Green Paper
Date: 2007-Jan
A report examined how children?s social care services responded to families where problems required the intervention of both adult and children's services, focusing on cases where there were safeguarding concerns and evidence of domestic violence and/or parental substance misuse.
Source: Hedy Cleaver, Don Nicholson, Sukey Tarr and Deborah Cleaver, The Response of Child Protection Practices and Procedures to Children Exposed to Domestic Violence or Parental Substance Misuse, Research Report RW89, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jan
A report by the children's services inspectorate gave up-to-date views about staying safe from harm, from children and young people living away from home or getting help from children?s social care services.
Source: Children and Safeguarding, Children's Rights Director/Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release
Date: 2007-Jan
Researchers examined participation by disabled children and young people in decision-making relating to social care. Participation at any level was only happening for a small number of disabled children. More training was needed for staff to enable them to support children's participation.
Source: Anita Franklin and Patricia Sloper, Participation of Disabled Children and Young People in Decision-making Relating to Social Care, Social Policy Research Unit/University of York (01904 433608)
Date: 2007-Jan
An article said that the early recognition given by the Sure Start programme to the evidence base, and to the interconnected nature of social problems, had given way to a more targeted approach - arguably marginalizing those aspects that had been key to success.
Source: Joyce Halliday and Sheena Asthana, 'From evidence to practice: addressing health inequalities through Sure Start', Evidence & Policy, Volume 3 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jan
A ministerial working group made recommendations designed to improve the education of looked-after children in Scotland. They included improving training for teachers and other professionals, and a national 'champion' who would work with councils.
Source: Looked After Children & Young People: We Can and Must Do Better, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SE press release
Date: 2007-Jan
A report by the children's services inspectorate examined children?s views on the government?s proposals concerning how the new children?s index, which would hold basic information about every child in England, should work.
Source: The Children's Consultation on the Children's Index, Children's Rights Director/Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release
Date: 2007-Jan