Source: https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/children-and-families-at-risk/looked-after-children/
Timestamp: 2019-05-20 04:55:48
Document Index: 476247901

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 12', 'art 6', 'art 10', 'art 11', 'art 10', 'art 11']

Looked after children | NSPCC Learning
You are here: Home » Children and families at risk » Looked after children
Scotland’s definition also includes children under a supervision requirement order. This means that many of the looked after children in Scotland are still living at home, but with regular contact from social services.
There are a variety of reasons why children and young people enter care.
The child’s parents might have agreed to this – for example, if they are too unwell to look after their child or if their child has a disability and needs respite care.
A child stops being looked after when they are adopted, return home or turn 18. However local authorities in all the nations of the UK are required to support children leaving care at 18 until they are at least 21. This may involve them continuing to live with their foster family.
Most children in care say that their experiences are good and that it was the right choice for them (Biehal et al, 2014). But more needs to be done to ensure that all looked after children are healthy and safe, have the same opportunities as their peers and can move successfully into adulthood.
Looked after children come from a range of different backgrounds and have varied experiences of care. Each child has their own different and specific sets of needs. However research can give us an insight into how their experiences before and during care makes them a particularly vulnerable group of young people.
Children may enter care for all sorts of reasons. But many enter because they have been abused or neglected. These experiences can leave children with complex emotional and mental health needs, which can increase their vulnerability to abuse (Bazalgette, Rahilly, and Trevelyan, 2015; Luke et al, 2014).
Placement instability and disrupted relationships with caregivers
Many children move repeatedly in and out of care, or between placements. Placement breakdowns can have a detrimental impact on a child's emotional wellbeing and mental health. It can also prevent them forming stable relationships with the adults who could help protect them (Rahilly and Hendry, 2014).
Peer violence and abuse
Many looked after children have previous experiences of violence, abuse or neglect. Often they display behavioural problems and attachment difficulties (problems forming secure relationships) which are associated with their negative life experiences. This means that some find it hard to develop positive peer relationships.
The care system can struggle to provide effective management and interventions to address these problems (Bazalgette, Rahilly, and Trevelyan, 2015).
Looked after children are more likely to go missing than their peers. Children may run away from care for all sorts of reasons. These include:
feeling like they didn't have enough control over their own lives.
Children who go missing are at greater risk of physical abuse, grooming and sexual exploitation (Coffey and All Party Parliamentary Group for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults and All Party Parliamentary Group for Looked after Children and Care Leavers, 2012).
Comparisons with other groups of children
Research suggests that when looked after children are compared with children in the general population, they tend to have poorer outcomes in a number of areas such as educational attainment and mental and physical health (Rahilly and Hendry, 2014).
However, this is not necessarily the case when they are compared with other groups of children who are likely to have had similar experiences, such as children in need. One study, which analysed Government data, found that looked after children who were continuously in care in England had better educational attainment than children in need (Sebba et al, 2015).
Providing children in and on the edge of care with the support they need, when they need it, can help them to achieve their potential.
Deciding whether a child should enter care
Children who come into care are often known to social services for a number of years before action is taken (Masson et al, 2008).
For many children the need to enter care could have been identified at a much earlier stage. This delay in decision-making can prolong children’s experiences of abuse and neglect. This means that when they do enter care they can experience greater degrees of difficulty, and the specialist services they require are less likely to have an impact (Davies and Ward, 2012).
The model puts a child's attachment relationships at the heart of decision making, ensuring they experience a positive and secure care setting as early in life as possible.
> Find out more about the New Orleans Intervention Model
Our publication Promoting the wellbeing of children in care (Rahilly and Hendry, 2014) identifies ways to better safeguard children on the edge of care:
improving understanding of how to identify damaging situations
improving decision making about when it is in a child's best interests to enter care ensuring that decisions are well planned and taken in a timely fashion.
Achieving these aims requires:
revised training for social workers and other practitioners to ensure an improved understanding of:
the identification of risk and protective factors
greater effort to ensure stability for children and young people on the edge of care and following their entry to care (Rahilly and Hendry, 2014).
Providing a secure, caring environment can help looked after children overcome their early life experiences.
Support and sustain children’s relationships.
Help young people identify and strengthen their support networks (Bazalgette, Rahilly and Trevelyan, 2015).
Supporting the birth family
It’s important for professionals to support the child’s birth family, to address the problems which resulted in the child entering care. In time, many children can return home to their family but even if this is not possible their birth family are still likely to be a central part of their lives.
The quality of contact a child has with their birth family can have an impact on their wellbeing, so it’s important to support children to have safe, positive contact with their birth families if the child wants to (Bazalgette, Rahilly, and Trevelyan, 2015).
Returning a child home from care
For many children, returning home from care is the best possible outcome. But research shows that for others this can result in further abuse or neglect (Holmes, 2014).
Many children end up back in care, and a significant number move back and forth between care and their family. Other children remain at home despite continuing abuse or neglect.
There are a number of ways to improve a child’s experience of returning home from care:
Assessing the risks the family could pose to their child, how much they are able to change and their ability to protect their child from harm.
The assessment should consider the family's history as well as the current situation.
Working with the child and their family to help strengthen their relationship.
Making sure the child has a trusted adult they can talk to.
Agreeing with the parents, in writing, what needs to happen before and after their child returns home.
Providing support and services for the child and their family before and after the return home.
This should include support from foster/residential carers, the child's school and friends.
Our Reunification practice framework, created in partnership with University of Bristol, supports practitioners and managers to apply structured professional judgement to decisions about whether and how a child should return home from care.
The framework also helps families and workers to understand what needs to change, to set goals, access support and services and review progress (Wilkins and Farmer, 2015).
For some looked after children, leaving the care system can be a challenging time.
In all nations of the UK, children leaving care at 18 are entitled to support from their local authority until they are at least 21. England and Wales are governed by the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and there is separate legislation for Scotland (Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014) and Northern Ireland (The Children (Leaving Care) Act (Northern Ireland) 2002).
For some children this will mean staying on with their foster carers. For others alternative accommodation options will be required.
Local authorities across the UK have a duty to assess and meet care leavers’ individual needs and to develop a pathway plan, setting out the support that will be provided to the care leaver once they have left care.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland care leavers are also legally entitled to a personal adviser to help with the transition.
Legislation, policy and guidance on looked after children
There is legislation and guidance in each nation of the UK that sets out how the child protection system works and what agencies’ responsibilities are to children and families who need support.
In addition, there is specific legislation, policy and guidance relating to looked after children and care leavers. We’ve outlined the key points below.
In England and Wales, the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 aims to ensure children in care receive high-quality care and services, which are focused on and tailored to their needs.
In England, the Department for Education (DfE) has provided guidance and regulations on care planning, placement and case review (PDF) (DfE, 2015).
The DfE has also published a protocol for local authority children’s services, local care providers, police forces, criminal justice agencies and local health services (including mental health services) on reducing criminalisation of looked after children and care leavers (DfE, 2018a).
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) quality standard on the health and wellbeing of looked after children and young people sets out best practice in meeting the health and wellbeing needs of looked after children and young people in England (NICE, 2013).
In Northern Ireland, The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 sets out the duties, powers and responsibilities of local authorities regarding looked after children. It includes provisions about care and supervision, protection of children and children’s homes.
The Department of Health in Northern Ireland has published a series of regulations and guidance relating to the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. Volume 4 is about children in residential care (PDF) (Department of Health, 2006).
The Department of Health has also published Protecting looked after children (PDF), which advises professionals on protecting and safeguarding looked after children (Department of Health, 2016).
The Department of Health and Department of Education in Northern Ireland have set out proposals for a new strategy, Looked after children: improving children’s lives (PDF). (Department of Health and Department of Education, 2018). Once finalised, this will replace the Care matters strategy (Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, 2007).
In Scotland, the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 sets out many of the duties, powers and responsibilities that local authorities hold in respect of their looked after children and care leavers.
The Foster Children (Scotland) Act 1984 sets out provisions for foster care in Scotland. The Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 includes provisions about care planning, fostering and emergency measures. It also sets out when a child can be classed as ‘looked after’ but still lives with their parents.
The non-statutory guidance Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014: national guidance on part 12: services in relation to children at risk of becoming looked after, etc (PDF) gives frontline practitioners, managers and strategic leaders an overview of the legal framework for providing support services where there is a risk a child may need to go into care, and describes for whom relevant services must be provided (Scottish Government, 2016a).
The Scottish Government has also published guidance to clarify local authorities’ duties under the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007. This includes:
the death of a looked after child
looked after children cared for by their parents
recruitment of foster carers and the fostering panel
placement of children (Scottish Government, 2011).
The Scottish Government’s strategy for looked after children (PDF) sets out priorities to improve the lives of looked after children and young people (Scottish Government, 2015).
In Wales, The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (Wales) Regulations 2015 set out the responsibilities of local authorities to plan looked after children’s care.
The Welsh government has issued a code of practice for looked after and accommodated children (PDF), which provides guidance on supporting looked after children, including:
children accommodated in other types of establishment (Welsh Government, 2015a).
The code of practice for advocacy (PDF) sets out the requirements relating to advocacy services for looked after children in Wales (Welsh Government, 2015b).
The Welsh Government’s strategy for social services is set out in Sustainable social services for Wales: a framework for action (PDF). The strategy highlights four key priorities around families with complex needs:
to ensure greater stability in placements, friendships, school lives and support for children who are looked after
to ensure that children living in Wales who need to be looked after are accommodated and rehabilitated in Wales, close to their home or neighbouring community, unless there is a good reason not to do so
to act sooner to find permanency or replacement families for those children for whom a return is not in their best interest (Welsh Assembly Government, 2011).
In England, the Children and Social Work Act 2017 introduces corporate parenting principles, which set out local authorities’ responsibilities for looked after children.
The Department for Education (DfE) has published guidance on the role of local authorities and the application of corporate parenting principles. Applying corporate parenting principles to looked-after children and care leavers: statutory guidance for local authorities (PDF) sets out seven principles that local authorities must follow when supporting children and young people in care and care leavers (DfE, 2018b).
In Northern Ireland, the Standards for Leaving Care Services (PDF) (DHSSPS, 2012) set out that the Health and Social Care Trusts have ‘lead responsibility as corporate parents to safeguard and promote the well-being of young people in and leaving care.’
In Scotland, the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 sets out the law on corporate parenting.
In Wales, Part 6 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 covers Welsh local authorities’ duties to children in their care.
The Welsh Assembly Government and the Welsh Local Government Association have published If this were my child: a councillor’s guide to being a good corporate parent to children in care and care leavers (PDF) to remind elected members of their responsibility to act as good corporate parents to looked after children and care leavers (Welsh Assembly Government and Welsh Local Government Association, 2009).
In England, the Statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care (PDF) outlines action that local authorities and their partners should take to stop children going missing from home or care and to protect those who do (DfE, 2014).
In Northern Ireland, the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Health and Social Care Board have published a missing children protocol (PDF), which aims to ensure that the police and health and social care agencies work together effectively, and that the best interests of the child underpin their work (Health and Social Care Board and PSNI, 2015).
The Scottish Government has published a National missing persons framework, which includes provision for children (Scottish Government, 2017).
Social Care Wales provides a protocol for children who run away or go missing from care (Social Care Wales, 2011).
The Children and Families Act 2014 introduces ‘fostering for adoption’ in England. This allows approved adopters to foster children while they wait for court approval to adopt.
The fostering for adoption legislation only applies to England but adoption may also start on a fostering basis in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (Coram BAAF, 2018).
Family and friends care, kinship care or private fostering
Family and friends care (or kinship care) is an arrasngement where a child who cannot be cared for by their parent(s) goes to live with a relative, friend or other connected person.
The arrangement can be a private arrangement directly between the parent(s) and the relative, friend or connected person or it can be arranged with the involvement of the local child protection services.
In England, the Department for Education (DfE) provides statutory guidance for local authorities about family and friends providing care for children who cannot live with their parents (DfE, 2011).
In Northern Ireland, The Children (Private Arrangements for Fostering) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 set out how arrangements should be made for fostering a child privately. The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) has published guidance on children living with carers in private fostering arrangements (DHSSPS, 2011).
The DHSSPS has also published a set of minimum standards for kinship care in Northern Ireland (DHSSPS, 2014).
In Scotland, The Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009 set out legislation around foster and kinship care. The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 includes provisions about kinship care.
The Scottish Government has published interim guidance on the assessment and support of kinship carers of looked after children (PDF) (Scottish Government, 2008).
In Wales, Section 81(6) of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 covers family and friends care.
Children in Wales has produced a guide on kinship care in Wales (PDF) (Children in Wales, 2014).
Special guardianship is when a local authority places a child or young person to live with someone other than their parent(s) on a long-term basis. It aims to provide more security than long-term fostering for children where adoption is not the best option.
In England, the regulations for special guardianship are set out in The Special Guardianship Regulations 2005 and The Special Guardianship (Amendment) Regulations 2016.
The Department for Education (DfE) also provides statutory guidance for local authorities (DfE, 2016).
In Northern Ireland, the draft Adoption and Children (Northern Ireland) Bill 2017 includes special guardianship orders.
In Wales, the law on special guardianship is set out in The Special Guardianship (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.
The Welsh Government has also published guidance (PDF) on local authorities’ functions in relation to special guardianship orders.
In some circumstances, children may be taken into care with the permission of their parents. For example, this may happen if a child’s parents are unable to look after them for a period of time due to illness. When this happens a parent retains all their legal rights and can ask for the child to be returned at any time.
A child may be taken into care voluntarily:
in England, through Section 20 of the Children Act 1989
in Northern Ireland, through Article 21 of The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995
in Scotland, through Section 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995
in Wales, through Section 76 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) provides guidance on the use of Section 20 in England and Section 76 in Wales (PDF) (ADCS, 2016).
In England and Wales, the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 aims to improve the life chances of young people living in and leaving local authority care.
The Children and Social Work Act 2017 introduced a new duty on local authorities in England to provide personal advisers who will support all care leavers up to age 25, if they want it. It also extends additional educational support to care leavers.
The Department for Education (DfE) has published statutory guidance on extending personal adviser support to age 25 (PDF). This sets out the responsibilities of local authorities in England around extending personal adviser support to all care leavers up to the age of 25 (DfE, 2018c).
Keep on caring: supporting young people from care to independence (PDF) sets out the English government’s strategy to improve services, support and advice for care leavers. The strategy makes recommendations for local and national government, and wider society (Cabinet Office et al, 2016).
In England, the Department for Education (DfE) has announced the Care Leaver Covenant, a scheme which aims to create 10,000 work opportunities for care leavers over the next 10 years (DfE, 2018d).
In Northern Ireland, the Children (Leaving Care) Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 sets out agencies’ responsibilities for young people leaving care.
The Children (Leaving Care) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 goes into more detail about the matters to be taken into account when assessing and meeting the needs of young people preparing to leave care and care leavers.
In Northern Ireland, there is a duty on Health and Social Care Trusts to assess and meet young people’s individual needs up to the age of 21 (or beyond, if in education) (Department of Health, 2018).
The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) has published Standards: leaving care services in Northern Ireland, which sets out minimum standards for leaving care and aftercare services (DHSSPS, 2012).
In Scotland, Part 10 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 states that any young person who ceases to be looked after on or after their 16th birthday, and is less than 26 years of age, is eligible (between the ages of 16 and 19) or potentially eligible (between the ages of 19 and 26) for aftercare. This applies to all care leavers regardless of the placement type while looked after.
Provisions in Part 11 of the Act state that a young person born after 1 April 1999 who is looked after in foster, kinship or residential care is eligible to remain in their current care placement until they turn 21. This is called Continuing Care.
The Scottish Government has published guidance to explain the changes made by Part 10 (Aftercare) and Part 11 (Continuing care) (PDF) of the Act (Scottish Government, 2016b and 2016c).
Staying put Scotland: providing care leavers with connectedness and belonging (PDF) provides guidance for local authorities and other corporate parents, and outlines an explicit philosophy of care. It emphasises the importance of relationship-based practice and extended and graduated transitions (Scottish Government, 2013).
In Wales, the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 places a duty on local authorities to provide support for children and young people leaving care. The support provided should be equivalent to that which a child who has not been looked after might reasonably expect from his or her parents.
The Care Leavers (Wales) Regulations 2015 make provision about the support to be provided to young people who are no longer looked after by a local authority.
In addition, the When I am ready: good practice guide provides guidance for practitioners involved in making and supporting arrangements for young people leaving care (Welsh Government, 2016).
Bazalgette, L., Rahilly, T. and Trevelyan, G. (2015) Achieving emotional wellbeing for looked after children: a whole system approach. [London]: NSPCC.
Coffey, A, and All Party Parliamentary Group for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults and All Party Parliamentary Group for Looked after Children and Care Leavers (2012) Report from the joint inquiry into children who go missing from care. London: All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults (PDF).
Holmes, Lisa (2014) Supporting children and families returning home from care: counting the costs. [London]: NSPCC.
Luke, N. et al. (2014) What works in preventing and treating poor mental health in looked after children? London: NSPCC.
Rahilly, T. and Hendry, E. (eds) (2014) Promoting the wellbeing of children in care: messages from research. London: NSPCC.
Sebba, J. et al (2015) The educational progress of looked after children in England: linking care and educational data (PDF). Oxford: Rees Centre.
Wilkins, M. and Farmer E. (2015) Reunification: an evidence-informed framework for return home practice. London: NSPCC.
If a child or young person needs confidential help and advice direct them to Childline. Calls to 0800 1111 are free and children can also contact Childline online or read about living in care on the Childline website. You can also download or order Childline posters and wallet cards.
Read our report about a whole system approach towards achieving emotional wellbeing for looked after children (PDF).
For further reading about looked after children, search the NSPCC Library using the keyword “children in care”.
Find out what data can tell us about: the number of children in care, why they are there, their experiences in care and what happens when they leave.