Government Changes And Rules Of The Law Social Work Essay

The 1989 Children Act counsel required Local Authorities to supply educational chances for looked after kids and support, and that this must be included in their attention program ( Goddard, 2000 ) . In 1994 the Department of Health and Department of Education to boot stressed the importance of co-operation between schools, societal services and Local Authorities. Yet, in 1995 these steps to advance instruction for looked after kids were found to hold made small difference ( Social services Inspectorate and the Office for Standards in Education, 1995 ) .

In response the Government set specific marks for Local Authorities with regard to education alongside a demand to print counsel on the instruction as per that from the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Health, 2000. This ensured all local governments were working towards the same end and by the same guidelines. Equally good as presenting new guidelines for instructors, designated to back up looked after kids and each looked after kid was given a personal instruction program ( PEP ) . Another portion of the mark was to guarantee that no arrangement was given before an educational arrangement could be secured. The amended Children Act 2004 implemented new responsibilities advancing the educational accomplishment of looked after kids. The schools nevertheless are merely expected to take a proactive attack to the instruction of looked after kids and organizing with different sections there is merely an outlook. If the school believes it does non hold the resources to back up one looked after kid so it will non be rebuked because of it.

There have been a figure of debuts of legislative policies and counsel for illustration Bettering the educational accomplishment of looked after kids ( Department for kids, schools and households, 2009 ) this introduced new cardinal elements affecting the instruction of looked after kids presenting a practical school caput whom keeps path of every looked after kid to guarantee all have appropriate commissariats. Care affairs: clip for a alteration ( 2007 ) was introduced to better the results of looked after kids. This policy addresses the corporate parenting, wellness, instruction and societal work pattern and committee of looked after kids services to better arrangement pick and stableness. Similarly The Children go forthing attention Act ( 2000 ) was introduced to heighten proviso for attention departers, For illustration, giving Local Governments a responsibility to guarantee they continue to run into the looked after kid ‘s demands until 21 old ages old, and apportion an adviser who would take duty for co-ordinating support. This thesis will see the grounds why there are still a relatively little figure and proportion of looked after kids with good educational results. By and large and more specifically why an even smaller comparative proportion of looked after kids enter third instruction. The thesis will besides see what societal workers can make to advance an instruction docket for looked after kids.

Previous research has shown that looked after kids have low educational attainment ( Jackson, Ajayi and Quigley, 2005 and Jackson et Al, 2002 ) . 6 % of looked after kids go on to entree third instruction. Several important beginnings indicate a go oning deficiency of formal makings among kids in attention, with subsequent chances for come ining higher instruction less likely. Research has shown ( Berridge, 2006 ) a broad scope of grounds why looked after kids do non entree third instruction. These grounds vary from child experiences of maltreatment, the type of arrangement the kid has, attachment jobs and hapless services given to kids who are looked after. McLeod ( 2008 ) found that kids in local authorization attention need a positive and sustained relationship with their societal worker to advance their well being and underscore the importance of instruction and other facets of the looked after kid ‘s life that may hold been antecedently ignored. As such, a societal workers function to work with a kid holistically to guarantee all their demands are met, has profound deductions for instruction.

The grounds presented here suggests that the instruction of kids looked after by Local Authorities continues to be debatable. This reappraisal will besides oppugn if going a looked after kid is necessarily negative in footings of the kid ‘s opportunities to entree third instruction is this was the instance so relatively looked after kids in other states should hold the same results.

Presently the Governments precedence is to contract the spread between the educational accomplishments of looked after kids and that of their equals. In 2008 14 % of looked after kids achieved five A*-C classs at GCSE compared to 65.3 % of all other kids ( Department for Children, Schools and Families ( 2009 ) . New enterprises include public service understandings for illustration Public Service Agreement 11 purposes to contract the educational accomplishment spread between kids from low income and disadvantaged backgrounds and their equals. This understanding involves taking for the looked after kids to make 3 national marks. Including to take for 20 % of looked after kids get derive 5 GSCE ‘s A*-C, for 55 % of looked after kids to make flat 4 of cardinal phase 2 in mathematics and 60 % to make cardinal phase 2 in English. Local governments must now back up looked after kids enrol in higher instruction and go on with it by allowing bursaries if they desire to go on their instruction.

Universally the grounds presented above suggests that there is a general understanding amongst informed authors that looked after kids continue to hold poorer educational results than their equals. There are legion grounds postulated for this shortage, looked after kids face jobs that their equals do non. First, many have faced great upheaval and accordingly some may hold behavioral jobs compared to the general population impacting the relationship with other kids, instructors and hence impacting their work and relationships within school. Weyts ( 2004 ) high spots that looked after kids are ‘expected ‘ to execute lower than their equals so may non be given the same encouragement as others. The major job facing looked after kids with regard to instruction nevertheless would look to be upheaval caused by alteration of arrangements ( O’Sullivan and Westerman, 2007 ) , which may show troubles in acquiring used to different schools, friends and instructors all set uping their instruction and results. Yet with positive arrangement, and promoting carers so there is grounds that kids may achieve good educational results ( Jackson, 1998 ) . It may besides be the instance that the theoretical account of public assistance adopted at national degree, will besides impact upon single results for looked after kids, as is apparent from some international comparings ( Petrie, Boddy, Cameron, Wigfall and Simon, 2006 ) ) .

This thesis will link the information from the research gathered to reply the research inquiry. Using a best grounds attack to synthesize the information to guarantee all facets of the research inquiry can be answered efficaciously.

Methodology

As referred to in my research proposal, this thesis will follow a systematic reappraisal attack ( pg.4 of research proposal ) . This type of reappraisal will supply a synthesis of research on this subject. A systematic reappraisal identifies all available literature on a specific subject whilst depicting a clear method. Bryman ( 2008 ) defines a systematic reappraisal as one which summarises briefly all the best grounds that address the research inquiry. An inclusion and exclusion standard is set to guarantee merely the best research is used in the reappraisal. The research documents will so be critiqued and a best grounds attack method for reviewing the documents will be used. Decisions will be drawn by uniting observations from the reappraisal with bing theories and theoretical accounts. A best grounds attack selects literature which has most relevancy to the research inquiry. The literature that gives the best reply to the research inquiry and has a good grounds base are the documents more likely to be most effectual in replying the research inquiry.

This literature reappraisal was derived from hunts of the undermentioned databases via the Leicester University Library web site:

Sage diaries online

Intergentaconnect

Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts ( ASSIA )

Oxford University Press E-Journals

Social Care online

Wiley online library

Searchs were carried out on each database utilizing the undermentioned hunt footings:

Looked after kids or kids in attention

Educational results or educational attainment or educational accomplishment

The hunt will be restricted to cover between 1980 and 2010. This bound was chosen as most research is between this epoch and to hold a wider inclusion bound would impact on the range of the thesis.

The consequences will be filtered manually utilizing the undermentioned standards:

The relativity to the topic of looked after kids and accessing third instruction

Theoretical or empirical research

Harvard referencing will besides be adopted

The looked after kids population in the United Kingdom

The term looked after was introduced in the Children Act, 1989. Looked after kids are those under the age of 18 who are capable to a attention order it besides includes kids who are accommodated voluntarily for over 24 hours. Presently there are about 60,900 kids who are looked after by local governments in England ( Department for kids, schools and households, DCSF ( 2009 ) . Of this population 57 % was male and 43 % female. The per centum of looked after kids increased when comparing the age of the looked after kid. The greater the age group of looked after kids the higher the per centum. There was a important addition from ages 5 to 9 to that of the age group of 10 to 15 increasing from 17 % to 41 % . From the age group 10 to 15 and 16 over the per centum of looked after kids decreases to 21 % ( See appendix 1 ) ( DCSF, 2009 ) .

Statisticss from DSCF ( 2009 ) show that that chief class of demand of the looked after kid is because of maltreatment or disregard at 61 % , which has n’t changed greatly over the past five old ages. Other grounds for being in attention are ; the kid holding a disablement, parental unwellness, the household is in hurt, disfunction in the household, socially unacceptable behaviors, low income and absent parenting. In 2009 most kids in attention were of white British beginning ( 74 % ) . 36,200 kids were looked after on a attention order in 2009. This is a lessening of 2 % from the old twelvemonth ‘s figure of 36,900 and a lessening of 10 % from 2005 ( DCSF, 2009 ) .

When kids are capable to a attention order parental duties are vested in the local authorization through the societal services section. A attention order is a tribunal order made under subdivision 31 of the 1989 Children Act which places a child compulsorily in the attention of a designated local authorization. The tribunal can merely do this order if they are satisfied that a kid is enduring or is likely to endure important injury. The local authorization assumes parental duty every bit good as the parents for the kid. Other grounds why kids may be looked after are if there is no responsible grownup available to look after the kid and if the kid is being adopted but is non yet lawfully adopted by the new lasting household.

Harmonizing to the 1989 Children Act, all local governments have a statutory responsibility to advance instruction and to advance looked after kids ‘s educational accomplishment. They should see all the determinations sing arrangement they make on behalf of the looked after kid to guarantee their instruction is non impinged upon. The local authorization must guarantee those kids looked after are offered everything that kids who are n’t looked after receive, so they perform the function every bit parent every bit near as possible.

Of those in attention, 73 % were kids looked after in surrogate arrangements, 10 % in unafraid units, kids ‘s places & A ; inns, 7 % with parents, 4 % placed for acceptance, and 5 % in “ other ” attention ( this included residential schools and other residential scenes ) ( DCSF, 2009 ) . Sing the types of arrangements the looked after kid has the instruction of the carers needs to be considered. All persons involved with arrangements and giving attention to looked after kids need to be given a degree of instruction so they are able to carry through the kid ‘s demands and guarantee that educational results are to be achieved.

Looked after kids belong to the kids in demand group within the UK. When kids and households require assist their appraisal of demand becomes the first mechanism. The province should so be involved in back uping the households fulfil their duties as parents. If the province decides that the kid ‘s developmental demands are non being met so they should step in. If the kid has experienced important injury is there is a likeliness of sing important injury so the kid should be removed from the household to measure the state of affairs.

The Children Act ( 2004 ) states that the kid ‘s development is the footing of specifying demand. The chief dimensions involve societal, physical, rational, behavioral and educational. This had so been developed within the looking after kids dimensions and includes wellness, individuality, household and societal relationships, instruction, emotional and behavioral development, societal presentation and self attention accomplishments ( DOH, 1995 ) . To understand the definition of what demand is involves understanding the criterions that should be met. Bradshaw ( 1972 ) suggested that there are four dimensions to necessitate these include normative demands which most professionals define for populations, felt demands which include what people say they need, expressed demands including what people want by actions and comparative demands which are those demands established when comparing to another group. This apprehension of demands is needed to give the best responses as societal workers and other professionals to run into the demands. The underpinning theories which contribute to understanding the demands of a kid include Maslow ‘s ( 1968 ) Hierarchy of Need which includes physiological, societal, security, narcissistic, and psychological dimensions. Bowlby ‘s ( 1988 ) fond regard theory besides underpins the apprehension of demand. Attachment theory has become an of import portion of working with kids and pattern, it gives understanding of development and the impact that loss or injury can impact kids.

Understanding each of these dimensions of a kid ‘s life aid ‘s in pattern when measuring the kid ‘s demands and how to react.

Looked after kids and instruction

There have been a figure of enterprises ( SEU, 2003 ) introduced in the UK which highlight a go oning job with respect to low educational results for looked after kids and immature people in comparing to the general population.

Basic jobs, such as a high rate of exclusion for looked after kids have been identified, and are now good known, but have proved hard to eliminate and go on to do relentless jobs for the looked after kids. These include the impact of frequently regular alterations of arrangement, the possibility that the outlooks of instructors or societal workers may be lower for looked after kids than would be typical for most parents aspirations for their ain kids.

Many kids taken into attention have a history of household crisis and have experiences of injury whether through direct maltreatment or more general disfunction within the household. The impact of this frequently affects the looked after kid ‘s ability to larn or come on through school without excess support ( REF ) .

When kids enter the attention system it is about ne’er the program for them to stay looked after for a drawn-out period. Social workers are merely excessively cognizant of the possible negative effects of clip in attention ( REF ) and so the bulk of kids who come into attention return to household attention fleetly. For some kids nevertheless, normally those with the most complex jobs and intractable household state of affairss, being looked after can go long term. The impact of being looked after nevertheless will impact the kid ‘s educational attainment no affair what age they are.

The latest figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, published in 2009 show that while 66 % of looked after kids in twelvemonth 11 from old ages 2007 to 2008 passed at least one GCSE OR GNVQ 99 % of other kids achieved this degree. In 2007 to 2008 14 % of looked after kids passed at least 5 GCSEs or GNVQ ‘s at classs of A* to C compared to 65 % of other kids.

Primary school consequences are besides low. Cardinal Phase trials at age 7, 11 and 14 ( SEU, 2003 ] for illustration found that at Key Stage one 57 % of looked-after seven year-olds achieved at least flat 2 in reading in 2008, compared to 84 % of all kids. At Key Stage level two 46 % of 11 year-old kids looked after achieved degree 4 in English, compared with 81 % of all kids. In Key Stage three maths, 33 % of looked-after immature people achieved flat 5, compared to 77 % of all kids ( DCSF, 2009 ) .

Looked after kids in the United Kingdom may accordingly be argued to be a vulnerable group who as a consequence of the inequality of the instruction system frequently face exclusion from society in a more general sense, frequently widening long after their period of clip looked after has come to a decision, and throughout their grownup lives. Hugh ( 2009 ) argues that looked after kids tend to be from less flush households, proposing correlativity between poorness and hapless educational results. Hugh ( op cit ) extends this statement to propose that societal exclusion will impact many countries of looked after kid ‘s life, one major concern if holding hapless educational experience.

The SEU ( 1998 ) found that those kids who miss big sums of schooling are more likely to be exploited. Harker, Ober, Lawrence, Berridge and Sinclair ( 2003 ) further suggested that looked after kids are over represented within the group of excluded kids, and that many have behavioral and particular educational demands likely to impact their advancement through instruction.

Research by Daniels, Cole, Sellman, Sutton, Visser and Bedward ( 2003 ) found that lasting exclusion from school normally followed a history of behavioral jobs. This survey found that four out of five of the excluded immature people had received two or more fixed term exclusions prior to them being for good excluded. Research by the SEU ( 1998 ) found that kids in attention were 10 times more likely to be excluded from school than other kids but besides that this disagreement was widening. Quality Projects Research ( 2003 ) found that the bulk of excluded kids failed to subsequently complete their schooling or have any educational accomplishments.

The SEU ( 2003 ) paper Better Education for Children in Care highlighted five large issues impacting the accomplishment of looked after kids. These included Instability, ( frequent alterations in arrangement frequently besides require a alteration of school ) . Too many kids in attention are fring big sums of clip out of school because of exclusions or as a consequence of holding no unafraid school topographic point. Relatively hapless place environments for looked after kids are besides identified as a factor that will impact educational attainment, likewise differences in encouragement and support at place by the carer affects the kid ‘s results and these incompatibilities need to be addressed with, the concluding issue identified as the emotional, physical and mental wellness of the kid in attention. As a consequence it is of import for the school, societal worker and carer to understand that extra support may be needed for kids in attention, particularly if they are bullied or have experienced legion alterations of relationships and friendly relationship webs, declarative mood of a high potency for disrupted fond regards ( SEU, 2003 ) .

‘Education undertakings ‘ was launched in 2003 by the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills, its purpose was to better educational results for looked after kids. Concentrating on multi-agency working, Education undertakings recommended the debut of local authorization preparation for designated instructors within schools. It besides provided support to be used to develop new educational schemes across local governments. The Department for Education and Skills so published ‘The Role of the School in Supporting the Education of Children in Public Care ( 2003 ) likewise urging specific enterprises with looked after kids affecting Personal Education Plans, Attendance and hooky and Transition planning and admittance to call but a few.

The SEU ( 2003 ) highlighted the five debatable countries sing the educational results of looked after kids which have prevented alteration, or slowed it down ( Cocker and Allain, 2008 ) .

These five countries included Capacity mentioning to the vacancy rates within the kids ‘s societal attention work force, proposing limited penetration into the specific educational demands of looked after kids. Management and leading with respect to staff at senior degrees deficiency of clip and attendant committedness they can offer in this country taking to feelings of impotence to impact existent alteration. Limited resources, including for illustration incompatibilities between countries in the UK and which resources are available to looked after kids, impacting the support available to looked after kids. Similarly the attitudes of the societal workers and professionals who work with looked after kids were besides deemed to lend to low outlooks of the educational results of looked after kids. The concluding job highlighted was systems and construction within local governments impacting on inter bureau communicating and impacting the work between the bureaus, hence impacting their pattern with looked after kids ( SEU, 2003 ) ( Cocker and Allain, 2003 ) .

The Every Child Matters ( 2004 ) green paper included five results critical for all kids, including good wellness, an chance to remain safe, achieve economic well being, enjoy and achieve and do positive parts towards society.

Most late the white paper Care Matters, clip for a alteration ( Department for instruction and accomplishments, 2007 ) proposes that looked after kids should be given the highest precedence in school admittances. The paper for illustration requires Local Governments to guarantee looked after kids ‘s arrangements were non changed within twelvemonth 10 and 11 of school, to forestall the break of their instruction. The paper highlighted once more the importance of a designated instructor to work with looked after kids to go statutory, whilst besides presenting the practical caput instructor within each authorization. Their duty is to track the advancement of the kids in the local authorization who are go toing school and those moved into a different local authorization. A designated instructor has duty for the looked after kids within a school. They are expected to recommend on behalf of the kids and immature people in attention and they should guarantee that each has a personal instruction program ( Department for Education and Skills, 2005 ) . The paper implemented more support for looked after kids sing absences and exclusion. The paper besides proposed the providing of a grant of ?500 yearly to be used for support for illustration one to one tutoring.

Jackson and Martin ( 2002 ) pull attending to jobs that looked after kids face when seeking to happen a suited beginning of instruction, whether this is because they need to travel due of arrangement alterations or because of old exclusions from other schools. Most schools need to maintain a high degree within the conference tabular arraies in order to guarantee support is continued. With this is mind many are loath to take on looked after kids. Many schools stated that they did non understand what these kids faced and that they did non hold the resources to back up them ( Jackson et al, 2002 ) .

Berridge ( 2006 ) has identified the spreads of informations when accessing statistics. The societal procedures behind organizing the statistics may non straightforward. Interpreting the footings within statistics may do farther jobs. Berridge, besides highlights force per unit areas from outside groups to acquire indexs of why looked after kids have low educational results.

The statistics gathered sing looked after kids have restrictions. First 27 % of the looked after population who had been in attention for over 12 months have a particular educational demands statement, compared to 2.7 % of the overall population ( DCSF, 2009 ) clearly impacting the public presentation of a big group of looked after kids. Second the educational results of looked after kids who have been in attention more than 12 months are published, there is besides the overall consequences of looked after kids. These kids may merely be in attention for a short period because of household jobs. Berridge ( 2006 ) argues that if we are to utilize these statistics at that place needs to be a clip period given for societal workers and other professionals to be responsible for the looked after kid to turn their state of affairs about. Social services can non be responsible for giving the looked after kid a start in life if they have merely entered attention as an stripling and have bing educational troubles.