Khyra Ishaq

The full text of statement by the chair of the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board following their review of operational practice, in the wake of the death of Khyra Ishaq, can be read here, courtesy of the Guardian, February 25, 2010.

Nature builds resilience

Harrison, T., (2010). Lessons from the natural world. Special Children, Feb/March 2010, pp. 18-20. Harrison is one of a team from Camphill School, Aberdeen, running the Nature Nurture project, which aims to build the resilience of young children from families affected by alcohol/substance misuse, poverty or domestic violence, though play in the natural world. Find it at Jordanhill serials 371.9.

Children looked after statistics 2008-2009

This statistical report has been published online by the Scottish Executive, collating for returns for each individual looked after child, for the first time, from all 32 authorities.

Social work after Baby P

Eleanor Brazil, working as interim deputy director of social work in Haringey Council explains how change has been implemented to rebuild confidence since the Baby P scandal. See Guardian February 24, 2010. Changes included establishing multi-agency teams, staff recruitment and reorganisation of referral and assessement processes.
A poll carried out by the General Social Care Council has found that most social workers beleive that newly social workers lack key skills in risk assessment vital to ensuring the safety of children and vulnerable adults. Respondents backed the recommendations of the Social Work Task Force, that  an assessed year in employemet post training is essential to building a confident and experienced workforce.

Localism & employee stakeholding in public services

Today NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) publish a report, Blond, P. (2010). The ownership state: restoring excellence, innovation and ethos to the public services. This document advocates the restrucuring of public services, with radical flattening of managment structures and power and decision making devolved downwards to those with an intimate knowledge of the front line delivery of services. See also Guardian February 23, 2010 on how this new model has enabled greater localism and social enterprises to deliver community and health improvement.

Forced Child migration

This week Gordon Brown will formally apologise on behalf of the British state for the forced migration of children, some orphaned, but many separated from their parents for social or economic reasons, to former Brtiish colonies in a period which ended as recently as 1967. An article in the Guardian, February 20, 2010 looks a the work of the Child Migrants' Trust, which offers suport to the victims of forced migration.

Mental health services for looked after children

Ofsted have published a report, An Evaluation of the provision of mental health services for looked after young popel over the age of 16 accomodated in residential settings. The report draws on visits to 27 children's homes across 8 local authorities.

Social Care Institute for Excellence

SCIE continue their series of personalisation papers with At a Glance 21: personalisation briefing: implications for people with autistic spectrum conditions and their family carers.

Arrest and Detention of Children Subject to Immigration Control

The Children's Commissioner for England yesterday released a follow up report detailing concerns over the treatment of children during arrest and transportation procedures leading to detention and the failure of the UK Border agency to ensure that adequate measures are in place to access the psychological well being of the 1000 children detained each year at Yarls Wood detention centre.
You can add your name to the petition to the UK government calling for the end to detention of children in immigration centres.

Teenage relationship abuse

The GB Home Office is launching a national campaign to tackle abuse within teenage relationships, with a new website with information and resources for teenagers, parents and professionals.

This week in CareKnowledge

Weaver, b. (2010). Multi agency protection arrangements (MAPPA): what do the statistics tell us? Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research.
Scottish Executive (2010). Criminal Justice Social work Statistics. Information probation orders, social enquiry reports and community service orders in 2008/9.

Teenage parenthood

A new study, Duncan ,S. (2010) "Teenage parenthood: what's the problem", makes the case that parenthood can be an encouragement for young people to imrove their lives and is not in itself a cause of poor outcomes for mothers or their children. See Guardian February 13, 2010. The study argues against the labelling, by politicians,of teenage parenthood as a social evil, and calls for more attention to be directed towards social and economic disadvantage rather than specific policies targeting teenage pregnancy.

Resilience in the early years.

The latest edition of Nursery World includes an article on how early years practiioners can help young children lving with domestic violence. Stephens, K (2010). Staying strong. February 11, 2010, pp. 24-25.

New E-documents

Speight, S. et al. (2010). Families experiencing multiple disadvantage: their use of and views on childcare provision. National Centre for Social Research.
Silvestra, A. (2009). Young people, knives and guns: a comprehensive review, analysis and critique of gun and knife crime strategies. Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.
Stanley, N. et al. (2010). Children and families experiencing domestic violence: police and childrens' social services' responses. NSPCC.
Loureiro, T. & Fellow, L. (2009). Child and family impact assessments in court: implications for policy and practice. Families Outside.
Centre for Social Justice. (2010). Green paper on the family. Centre for Social Justice.
Ministry of Justice. Reducing re-offending: supporting families, creating better futures.
Esley, S. (2010). "Advocacy makes you feel brave": advocacy support for children and young people in Scotland. Scottish Parliament.

Long Term Care Policies in the UK

Bell, D. (2010)The Impact of Devolution: long term care provision in the UK, published by the Joseph Rowntree foundation.

Social workers secure a huge reduction in child deaths

Research carried out by Professor Colin Prichard of  Bournemouth University, which will be published later this year in the British Journal of Social Work, has found a 38% drop in violent and unexplained child deaths between 1974 and 2006, due to better monitoring by social workers and improved inter-agency working. The BASW chief executive welcomed the findings as a "tribute to the dedication of thousands of unsung - in fact often reviled heroines an heroes.

Adoption - using VAAs and kinship care detectives in the USA

A recent report published by the Policy Exchange, Groves, J. No Place Like Home: improving adoption services in England, asserts that the life chances of looked after children are being affected by local authority decisions not to use Voluntary Adoption Agencies, which they perceive as being more expensive than seeking placement via their own or other local authority services. In addition to this, permanent placments are being delayed as the annual cost of fostering is lower than the one-off cost of an adoption, with local authorities making decsions based on short term budgetary considerations. See also Guardian, January 31, 2010.
Across the Altantic in St. Louis, the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition uses detective work to seek kinship carers for children in foster care, who are in desperate need of family ties. New York times January 30, 2010.