Scottish Government

8 Including children

Children, young people and their carers should have access to high quality services, when required, and should be assisted to overcome the social, educational, physical, environmental and economic barriers that create inequality. (Vision for children 2005)

They [foster carers] were just being as fair to us as they would be to their own children. Like, they never really treated us any differently. They took us on holiday to Florida because they didn't want us to feel left out. (Fraser)

It's hard to pinpoint one thing. It's all the small things. They've a comfortable family environment and it's how they talk to you, the level they talk to you. Just because you don't stay with your mum and dad it doesn't mean you have to be totally alienated from society and your community. (Ross)

The challenge of corporate parenting

230. This chapter focuses on the contribution professionals can make towards promoting the best possible opportunities for looked after children. The concept of corporate parenting is ill defined and often misunderstood. The term originated in the 'Quality Protects' (1998) initiative in England. The initiative was a five year programme intended to improve the care of children in need, which included targets to be achieved and systems of management and accountability. For the first time the role of elected members was clarified. They were required to " make sure that the interests of children come first and should do their utmost to ensure that children in public care get a good start in life" (The Government's response to the Children's Safeguards Review 1998: para 8.1).

231. The involvement of elected members with looked after children has been limited in England and Wales. In Scotland also there is little evidence in most authorities of this aspect of the legislation being implemented in practice (Crimmens and Milligan 2005). One local authority representative did describe to us how its Joint Children's Committee had been a vehicle for change, due to the passion and commitment of the chairperson for better services and outcomes. A specially appointed children's champion had supported the chair, who played a role in heightening awareness among elected members, promoting effective scrutiny of services and supporting staff.

232. Many of the adult respondents to this review told us that they think corporate parenting is not sufficiently understood or applied in Scotland. Therefore we need to change how we think about corporate parenting. We think local authorities should measure all of their services for looked after children against what good parents do. Some looked after children are placed by local authorities to be cared for within the private and voluntary sectors and a co-ordinated approach for all looked after children is vital for their care.

233.Changing Lives (Scottish Executive 2006b) emphasised the importance of social work governance as opposed to management control, as:

A framework through which social work services are accountable to the local authority and the general public for continuously improving the quality of their services, effectively managing risk and safeguarding high standards of care, through creating an environment in which excellence can flourish (2006b:52).

This approach could have a vital role in improving the quality of care for looked after children and their families.

A skilled residential workforce

234. The publication of the Pin Down Report (Levy and Kahan 1991) led to the government requesting the chief inspectors of Scotland, Wales and England to review residential care. Crimmens and Milligan (2005) suggest that the reviews were the foundation for the recovery of residential childcare in the UK.

235.Another Kind of Home ( SWSG 1994) identified the importance of effective and skilled childcare staff who meet the needs of children and young people. However, the report found that although residential staff were working with Scotland's most vulnerable children, they were the least trained and least qualified of all social care staff. In 1992, when the report was published, 83% of residential care staff had no qualifications.

236. In the light of continuing concerns about poor practice in residential childcare the Scottish Executive proposed in Aiming for Excellence (1999) that residential child care workers would be amongst the first social care workers in Scotland to be registered by the Scottish Social Services Council ( SSSC). The SSSC was set up following the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. The SSSC identified three separate categories of residential child care workers who can register: managers of residential child care services, residential child care workers with supervisory responsibilities and residential child care workers. There are different qualification requirements for each of these staff groups, for example managers of services are required to have completed management training as well as holding a relevant practitioner qualification. As a minimum, all workers are required to hold at least a Higher National Certificate ( HNC) level qualification plus a level 3 Scottish Vocational Qualification ( SVQ). Once registered, residential child care staff along with other registered staff are required to complete 15 days of post registration training and learning ( PRTL) in each three year period.

237. In order to provide child care workers with a reasonable length of time to achieve the required qualifications, the SSSC can currently grant registration to workers on the condition that they will achieve the required qualifications within specified timescales. Registration of residential child care workers will become mandatory once a sufficient number has made progress towards achieving the required qualifications. This will mean that all new entrants to this work will be required to register with the SSSC, where necessary with a condition that they achieve the required qualifications within specified timescales.

238. Registration of social service workers is a major part of the drive for higher standards in social services and will bring this workforce into line with their professional colleagues in nursing and teaching. However, both the registration of managers and residential child care workers with supervisory responsibilities (which started when registers opened in June and October 2005 respectively) is proving to be slow. The registration of all other residential child care staff will start in July 2006.

239. Many employers continue to find it hard to recruit fully qualified social workers into the residential child care sector. Of those staff who gain the qualifications they need to meet the requirements for registration many are given no financial recognition for their efforts. In a few authorities, residential staff who hold the diploma in social work are paid less than their counterparts in other service areas. In others they are rewarded equally. Many employers who are finding it hard to recruit qualified staff, recruit staff who are neither qualified nor experienced. For unqualified staff, many residential child care posts offer attractive salaries but whilst caring people make a contribution to the care of children, they may have some way to go before becoming sufficiently skilled and knowledgeable to gain qualifications.

240. The Scottish Executive set up the Scottish Institute of Residential Child Care ( SIRCC) in 2000 as a response to the need for improved training for residential child care staff. The Institute also undertakes research. The Institute provides a full-time and distance learning social work course, which has a 'residential child care pathway', an HNC in social care, and a short course programme targeted at residential childcare staff. In recognition of the fact that some staff require additional support to re-engage with education after a long gap, SIRCC has developed a core skills compact disc ( CD) for which it has won a care accolade. The CD helps individual staff analyse their training and development needs. They can then access appropriate training from SIRCC to help them prepare for successfully completing the HNC in social care. Of the 456 people on HNC courses in 2005, 307 had completed a core skills course appraisal prior to starting.

241. In 2005, SIRCC delivered 161 short courses attended by over 2000 residential care staff from Scotland. Many of the courses provided are one or two day courses on core subjects for residential staff. At present these courses are not assessed and the staff who take part do not accumulate credits as a result. Being assessed and gaining credit for every course they undertake could enhance their progress towards qualification. SIRCC's short courses are eligible to be counted towards the SSSC's PRTL requirements.

242. Changes in how SVQs are reviewed may speed up the process to qualification. A range of SVQs in children's care was launched in February 2006 by the Sector Skills Council, Skills for Care and Development and the Scottish Qualifications Authority ( SQA). The new SVQs at levels 2, 3 and 4 replace the existing vocational qualifications in early years care and education and reflect the changing face of the early education and child care sector. Colleges and universities are discussing arrangements to make Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning ( APEL) more accessible so that staff are able to have their years of experience recognised and valued.

243. Ten years on from the publication of Another kind of Home ( SWSG 1994), SIRCC was commissioned to carry out a qualifications audit of residential childcare staff based on the published qualifications framework. They found that little progress had been made and only 18% of residential child care staff were qualified, with a great variety of qualifications. Only 23% of those who responded were in the process of carrying out a care qualification (Hunter et al. 2004). However, the audit did show some evidence of progress. Attitudes and expectations are changing and it is becoming increasingly the norm for staff working in residential care to have, or be working towards qualifications.

244. The 2nd report of the national workforce group on Scotland's Social Services Labour Market (Scottish Executive 2006c) also suggests that there is progress in qualifying the workforce as a whole:

• 60% of staff have qualifications of SVQ Level 3 or higher, whilst around 18% have no qualifications
• of those with no qualifications, around one third are currently working towards a qualification

SIRCC plan to audit the qualifications of staff working in residential child care again in 2006.

245. In 2005, the Scottish Executive published a national strategy for the development of the social service workforce a plan for action 2005-10. The strategy requires employers to plan how they are going to address the targets for workforce registration and meet other employee development needs including PRTL. The strategy acknowledges that making sure ' we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place at the right time' is not easy and will take time to achieve.

246.Changing Lives (Scottish Executive 2006b) noted the importance of practitioners needing increasingly different combinations of specialist skills to meet the particular needs of their client or care group. Management and leadership skills and training are equally important to create the ethos and environment which offers the best care for children and young people and encourages staff to develop in the job. Leadership in looked after children's services is about consolidating good practice and embracing new ways of working. Sustaining and keeping skilled managers in residential child care will be a challenge to all agencies.

247. Increased integration of children's services should create new opportunities for delivering the right service to each child and family. However this will demand that people are willing to overcome existing boundaries to deliver services which fit together. Greater recognition of the skills of managers and staff in residential child care could lead to stronger partnerships with the families of young people. Some foster and kinship carers could benefit from flexible arrangements with a local unit and sharing of skills and expertise with staff.

One local authority unit makes extensive use of SIRCC courses, but also ensures that all staff recruited has a minimum qualification of HNC. A private training company has been employed to provide assessors and verifiers for SVQs. Staff turnover is low. Staff are involved in the admission policies and in the outreach work with the children and their families. The team has access to skilled specialist advisors with whom they can discuss their work. As a result, the unit expects to have all staff qualified by 2007.

248. It is important to remember that whilst only a minority (13%) of looked after children are cared for in residential care, including secure care, the majority of these children and young people have experienced trauma, abuse and rejection. To overcome their adversities they need staff who are not only caring but skilled, qualified and confident. We think SIRCC, together with the Scottish Executive and employers, need to review their roles in achieving the outcomes of the current strategy.

A residential school run by a voluntary organisation has a five year training strategy started in 2002 as part of the redevelopment of the school. Managers in the school are encouraged to achieve the Registered Managers Award. The School has its own SVQ centre and works closely with SIRCC releasing 10% of staff at any one time to attend day release courses. As a result, the school has achieved significant progress in registering staff.

249. In addition to training staff, more needs to be done to recruit and retain qualified staff in the sector. That is likely to mean creating incentives to attract staff as well as improving pay and conditions of service so they are at least equal to those of similarly qualified staff working in other social work/care settings. Changing Lives (Scottish Executive 2006b:93) notes that:

Employers must make sure that social workers are enabled and supported to practise accountably and exercise their professional autonomy. This requires: … new career pathways in practice and professional leadership linked to an agreed competence framework; and the continued development of a national recognition and reward framework for social workers reflecting career pathways and competence.

The Scottish Executive responded:

A capable, well prepared and supported workforce … will require investment in developing the whole workforce, building a culture and supporting learning for practice at all levels, making sure that everyone has the necessary skills to fulfil their roles (2006e:10).

Fostering

250. For many years fostering was a taken for granted activity which received little attention or resources. Across the UK about 73% of all children looked after away from home are fostered. Many are in temporary care and will return home, others will need a home for life. In 2005 the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering ( BAAF) and The Fostering Network ( TFN) published a review of fostering, The cost of foster care, which pointed to the shortage of foster carers, and the costs to local authorities of fostering children. The report called for new investment to address the retention and recruitment crisis and to ensure children and young people get high quality care.

251. A number of reports have identified the need for foster carers to be trained and properly supported to care for the complex needs of children ( Farmer et al. 2004, Sinclair 2005). A report in Scotland into the care and protection of children in Eilean Siar concluded that:

The placement of sexually abused children in foster homes requires intensive support and help for the family in understanding the issues the child may bring to them … Foster carers should have appropriate initial and ongoing training and support to help them to understand and manage the children they are caring for and sustain their own family. Only relatively recently has the role of foster carers' own children been recognised and the demands which foster children can make on them and their parents ( SWIA 2005a:66).

252. The changing role and demands on foster carers was noted in a survey by the Commission for Social Care Inspection which found that a third of foster carers said children they had fostered had a disability. A similar number found that fostered children needed help with their education. The survey also found that the most frequent advice from foster carers on how to recruit and retain more foster carers was to give better payments (2005ii.). The foster children who took part in the above study made some strong statements about their lack of involvement in what was happening to them, for example, two thirds of the sample had no choice in the decision about which foster home they should go to.

253. The fostered young people who took part in this review told us how much they valued being consulted and involved when they were given the opportunity:

What could other foster carers learn from my foster carers? Get on their level and treat them as if they were their own, if they don't already. Equality in the house! (Glenn)

He got me interested in things and he would encourage my interest … and everything he could do to help me, he would do it. He even fought against the social work department to help me. (Darren, talking about his foster carer)

We discuss ways in which children and young people can be included in plans and decisions, later in this chapter.

254. Fostering is no longer a voluntary activity by families who receive allowances. Some families are recruited and paid similarly to professionals in the childcare workforce. There are specialist fostering projects which are an alternative to residential care or are intended to help young people leave a residential setting, for example, one residential unit in the west of Scotland has recruited trained carers to provide placements for young people who show problem behaviours. The mix of provision in foster care is increasingly complex. Some local authorities use private, voluntary and not for profit agencies to provide foster placements. Some authorities have specific contracts for a number of places, others fund individual placements as required. Some local authority managers told us of their concern at the financial implications of increasing reliance on foster placements provided by non statutory organisations.

255.The cost of foster care ( BAAF and TFN 2005) report concluded that:

We are calling on all four governments to provide the sustained investment we have shown is necessary in the UK's fostering services. The funding is required to secure improved outcomes for looked after children and to narrow the gap in life chances between young people who have been looked after and other young people … This funding must be seen as investment in a group of children and young people who, as adults, are over represented in prisons, the homeless and adult mental health services. Tragically, research demonstrates that many of these adults will be unable to care for their own children who may also be admitted to public care. We recommend that work be carried out to assess the cost of annually providing services to support these adults and their future children. It is likely that even 10% of this cost would far outweigh the investment which is needed in foster care (2005:31).

256. The increasing number of very young children becoming looked after suggests that the demand for foster places will grow. Responses to parents who misuse drugs and alcohol may include shared care with foster carers who look after children at times of crisis or when parents are getting treatment. Shared care schemes can be beneficial to children. Careful planning for children can provide the framework for alternative care settings for some children whose parents' care can be insufficient at certain times, such as parents with mental ill health, or those who periodically misuse alcohol or drugs. Older children can be part of planning and recognising when they may need to leave home and stay with foster carers. Shared care schemes can widen the pool of potential foster carers as people can be recruited to provide weekend and holiday care.

257. A more strategic approach to fostering could contribute to the safety of children who may become or are looked after. This could include the setting of a national rate for fostering allowances and additional resources to make sure good foster carers carry on fostering. The recognition of helping families to look after their own children is an important theme in Changing Lives (Scottish Executive 2006b).

The place of social work and social care

258.Changing Lives recommended that the future workforce will need:

to work smarter, developing new roles and new ways of working … together we will need to shift the balance towards a much greater focus on preventing problems and intervening early to resolve them (2006b:3).

259. New and flexible approaches are needed to help and support families. Several Scottish Executive publications set out research findings and examples of good practice in supporting parents to care for their children. Growing Support (Scottish Executive 2002a) Appendix C contains a literature review of services for vulnerable families with children aged zero to three years. It notes that the changing pattern of people's lives has had important repercussions, with many families living away from their original communities with little support from extended families. Often neighbours now do not know each other.

260. Changes in some areas of social policy such as health and community care legislation have resulted in parents with mental health problems spending more time at home in the acute stage of their illness. This results in added stress for them and their children. Growing Support (Scottish Executive 2002a) also notes that ascertaining what works is not easy to achieve. The authors noted that there was a paucity of information on the quality and effectiveness of services, particularly in Scotland. However there were key messages, which are important:

• multi-level and multi-method approaches have most impact
• nurseries and family centres have long-term benefits for children and parents from vulnerable families when they are well, structured, involve mothers and continue for some time
• intensive home visiting by professionals or experienced befrienders is helpful
• parenting is helped when professionals seek to enhance informal network support
• interventions mainly focus on mothers; concerted efforts are needed to engage fathers
• usually input needs to last months, if not years, to have lasting effects on families with serious multiple difficulties
• much care is required to access families with the most serious difficulties or alienation and to keep them involved (2002a:118).

261. These findings are directly relevant to staff working with problem drug-misusing parents of young children. Getting our Priorities Right (Scottish Executive 2003b) sets out good practice for working with children and families affected by substance misuse. The report found that nearly 20% of new clients who made contact with services were living with dependent children. Parental substance misuse greatly increases the risk of family problems and neglect and distress to children and is a substantial risk factor for poor mental health in their children (2003b:13). The impact may vary depending on the different ages of children and whether they have additional needs in terms of health or disability. Babies and very young children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of physical and emotional neglect or injury. Getting our Priorities Right sets out advice to agencies about how to decide when children need help, working with families, sharing information and confidentiality, and legal resource issues.

262. The Scottish Executive has reinforced the need for local services to work together to protect children and promote their future well-being. Hidden harm next steps (2006a) sets out actions that the Scottish Executive is taking with partners such as Alcohol and Drug Action teams ( ADATs), NHS boards, local authorities, police, courts and the Scottish Prison Service ( SPS) to support young people affected by their parents' substance misuse.

263. Many of the young people who contributed to this review told us about their family problems caused by alcohol misuse. We have drawn on two recent studies of the views of children and young people of drug misusing parents to reflect the views of this group. Although there are strong similarities in the difficulties which can be experienced by all children of parents who misuse substances, the illegality of drug misuse can add another dimension of stress and of separation. A number of parents may be imprisoned and children may then be separated from their parent or parents.

264. We know little of the views of children and young people whose parents misuse drugs although more studies are being undertaken. Barnard and Barlow (2003) describe the experience of 36 children and young people growing up in families where parents are drug dependent. Keeping it Quiet (2004), a study by McGuire of children and families in Govan affected by parental misuse of drugs, examined the literature about the impact of parental drug misuse on children and interviewed family members. The study confirmed many of the things which this review has identified as being important for children, being able to take part and achieve at school, to enjoy leisure activities and to have their views and voices heard. The study makes a number of recommendations for support and services for children and their families (2004:59).

265. A study of older children and young people affected by parental substance misuse (Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2004) found that many of the young people who took part had been carers from an early age looking after parents and siblings. They also protected siblings and often their parents from immediate danger as well as ensuring that parents did not harm themselves. A significant minority of the sample already had a current or past drug problem. The study concluded that building an independent life was not easy, many of the children had had a shortened childhood but through becoming a carer had learned to look after themselves. The young people mostly had some kind of support from the wider family and some were fostered. The study found, similarly to this review, that what often mattered most to the young people was the quality of their relationships with caring adults, including social workers and housing support workers.

266. In the UK there has been relatively little attention paid to the issues of successfully reuniting looked after children with their families compared to the attention given to the question of placement. Most of the research comes from the USA. Only a small number of UK studies have followed up children who have been returned home. Although samples were small and therefore there is caution about the conclusions, between a third and a half later returned to care. Several studies have indicated that family poverty, parental drug misuse and mental ill health may be associated with a high risk of re-entry to the care system.

267. Many of the child protection inquiries of the past 30 years from Maria Colwell (Field-Fisher 1974), Jasmine Beckford (Blom-Cooper 1985), Rikki Neave (Department of Health 1997) and the care of the three children in Eilean Siar ( SWIA 2005a) were about children who have been cared for away from home and subsequently returned home to die or experience further abuse. We know what can go wrong when looked after children return home, we know much less about what works for them. The outcomes for children who return home could be enhanced by research which could tell us what helps children and their families when authorities are planning their return home.

268. Research (Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2005) has indicated that many children who are looked after away from home, return home quite quickly, but if they stay for more than six months the likelihood of them ever returning diminishes sharply. This pattern has been widely misinterpreted as suggesting that the passage of time itself affects reunion. This view collapses a variety of factors, which may contribute to children remaining longer in care, including family circumstances, levels of help offered and accepted and the strength of the social work assessment. A recent literature review Re-uniting looked after children with their families: a research review by Nina Biehal (2005) suggests that there should be a sharper focus on this issue, given the trend for children to remain in care for longer periods than before, and given that adoption is a route for permanence for only a small minority of looked after children.

Resourcing services for looked after children

269. There are significant shortages of foster carers, therapeutic services such as play therapy and counselling, and education services that can provide full-time placements for children with challenging behaviour. The struggle of some care and health services, such as residential care and speech therapy, to recruit sufficient qualified and experienced staff, has had a significant impact on the ability of local authorities to meet the needs of looked after children.

270. We also know that when children who need help do not get it, there may be a demand on adult services. Young people who have experienced residential care are over represented among young offenders in prison, and amongst homeless people. The incidence of mental ill health is much greater among looked after young people than their peers. All these adult services are very costly.

Including children, young people and their families and carers

271. The importance of seeking the views of people who use services has increasingly been recognised by service providers. As Changing Lives (Scottish Executive 2006b) noted:

we are becoming increasingly well informed and demanding consumers, yet our changing lives and circumstances present increasingly complex problems in a fragmented and ageing society (2006b:2).

This perhaps applies more to adults than children and young people. Those who took part in this review valued being consulted and involved, but were not on the whole at all well informed about what they could expect from being looked after. Information is one important element of participation and inclusion.

272. There are two crucial areas for looked after children, the right to participate in planning and discussions about their own future and a second broader area about participating in policy or planning. For example, many of the young people who took part in this review objected to a rigid policy by some local authorities on overnight stays. All young people should be encouraged and enabled to take part in the former area, that of their own lives. The second is optional, however many young people have much to offer in terms of insights and suggestions from their own and others' experiences. We think that local authorities should take much stronger steps to involve young people in policy and planning.

Private fostering

273. The Utting Report (Department of Health 1997) described privately fostered children as some of the most vulnerable children living away from home. The safety of privately fostered children has been recognised in Lord Laming's report (2003) with recommendation 17 stating that the "Government should review the law regarding the registration of private foster carers by January 2005." The Westminster government published in 2005 proposals to change the ways local councils in England check up on private fostering arrangements. The proposals are intended to make sure that parents arranging for their child to be fostered privately are aware of the need to inform the local authority and that there will be checks made to make sure that privately fostered children are safe and supported.

274. Many privately fostered children have families in other parts of the world and are placed with families who have not been assessed by the local authority. A study of the views of privately fostered children (Commission for Social Care Inspection, 2005i) found that many of the children who took part proposed that:

Every privately fostered child should be given a social worker's telephone number on a special card, so that they were able to phone a social worker if they felt unsafe. Schools too could be given the number to call a social worker if they were worried about a privately fostered child in their school. Some children thought that private foster carers should also be given the social worker's telephone number to use if they had problems as carers (2005i:8).

275. Under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001, the Care Commission became responsible for the regulation of fostering and adoption services. This includes those fostering and adoption services provided by local authorities. Local authorities have a responsibility to oversee private fostering within their area and the extent to which they do this is included in the Care Commission's inspections. In 2005, the Scottish Executive provided information to local authorities on obligations and duties in relation to private fostering. Although privately fostered children do not come within the scope of this review it is important that local authorities and the Scottish Executive meet their needs for safety and protection.

What we can do to help children and young people be included.

i. Ensure partnerships are effective in looking after a child or young person to achieve the best outcomes for them.

ii. Develop a shared definition of the local authority as the corporate parent for each service provided by the authority.

iii. Achieve a skilled well trained workforce for residential child care.

iv. Encourage registration of residential care staff as part of the wider planning action requested of social service employers in the National Strategy for the Development of the Social Service Workforce Plan for Action.

v. Value and appropriately reward front line staff caring for looked after and accommodated children.

vi. Value and appropriately reward foster carers.

vii. Commission research to guide workers about what they need to do to help children who are looked after return home and remain there safely.

viii. Help children make sense of their lives, understand their family problems and plan their futures.

ix. Strengthen partnerships between foster carers, residential care and families.

x. Involve looked after children and young people in planning and developing services for them.

Key issues:

• making working in residential care an attractive career option for qualified staff
• achieving quicker progress towards a well trained and well qualified residential child care workforce
• recruiting more foster carers at the same time as supporting good foster carers to carry on fostering
• recruiting more carers from black minority ethnic communities and from those with different faiths, so children and young people and their carers can be better matched
• creating incentives for agencies to develop more flexible shared care
• the need to know more about what works in helping children to return home
• making sure children, young people, carers and parents are included in decision-making
• investing in looked after children to help them become more successful as adults.

Further reading and web sites

Biehal, N. (2005) Reuniting looked after children with their families: A research review. Joseph Rowntree Foundation- published by National Children's Bureau. www.jrf.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/0056asp

Renewal.net (2005) Parenting programmes www.renewal.net

Renewal.net (2005) Good early years provision www.renewal.net

Effective early years provision (2005) renewal.net Solving The problem. www.renewal.net/

The Government's Response to the Children's Safeguards Review. Cmnd 4105 London: The Stationery Office

Sure Start www.surestart.gov.uk

What works and doesn't work in parenting programmes www.e-parents.org