Paper
Stability and wellbeing in care: what makes the difference?
- issue: Issue 3 / 2009
- authors: Ian Sinclair
- keywords: children
- views: 4000
- downloaded: 0
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abstract
Introduction
This talk draws on a study of 7,399 children looked after at any point in a given year by 13 local authorities. The study used administrative records, questionnaires to social workers and team leaders, case studies and qualitative interviews to examine three questions:
- What kinds of children are looked after?
- How and why do they move into, out of and within the care system?
- How far do their chances of stability and wellbeing depend on a) their own characteristics and b) the particular placements, social work teams or councils they happen to have?
Official policy tends to assume that all children 'in care' need stability, that this is closely linked to their wellbeing and that both can be brought about by good organisation. The study provided a chance to examine these assumptions. More generally it allowed us to describe the care system and explore what made a difference to the children's care careers and their outcomes.
Results
Groups of children and stages in care career
The movements of children varied with the stage they were at in their care careers, their age and age at entry, reasons for entry, behaviour and family characteristics.
Just under half of those who started to be looked after away from home left the care system within a year of arrival, most commonly for their own homes. At this point in a child's care career, most placements were meant to end. Frequent movement at this stage was compatible with the achievement of a long-term placement later.
Two years after the children's arrival their chance of leaving within the next year was low. Around six out of ten placements now had the long-term purposes of 'care and upbringing' or 'with a view to adoption'. Such permanent care came through:
- Adoption which was effectively only available to those first entering the system under the age of five.
- Long-stay fostering - mainly reserved for those entering under the age of 11 and only effectively available for a minority of them.
- Long-stay residential accommodation for a small number of severely disabled young people, who did not necessarily have a chance of foster care in the holidays.
The likelihood of achieving such permanence varied between: Young entrants (under the age of 11), Adolescent graduates (first admitted under the age of 11 but now older than this and still looked after), Abused adolescents, other Adolescent entrants and Children seeking asylum. For example, many adolescent entrants could not go home, could not settle in care, and were not in placements meant to help them with their behaviour.
Determinants of outcome
The decisions taken on children varied greatly between councils and within councils between social work teams, in ways not explained by the children's characteristics. The same was not true of the children's long-term stability and wellbeing:
- Our measure of wellbeing was strongly related to age, age at entry, and experience of failed return.
- 'Stability' was related to measures of 'difficult behaviour', but only when the child was over the age of eleven.
- Quality of placement was strongly related to measures of wellbeing, but only appeared to increase stability where the placement was meant to last and the child was over the age of eleven.
- After allowing for the children's characteristics and placements, the children's wellbeing and their stability in long-term placements did not vary by council and varied only marginally by social work team.
Implications for policy and practice
Ways of reducing unnecessary moves in care have to be as varied as the reasons for them. That said, some moves are desirable and most are planned. For example, there is a need for short-stay foster care, some young children need to be moved from long-term placements where they are unhappy and some young people may need quite brief placements where they can work on their behaviour. The key thing is to ensure that, in the end, children achieve a long-term family base where they are happy.
Government has difficulty in delivering these outcomes. Its legislation allows rather than ensures good practice. Its performance indicators are of interest but of dubious accuracy and validity. Local authorities can increase the number of adoptions, placements with kin and children staying on beyond age 18. It is more difficult for them to improve the quality of practice and placements, both of which are key to the happiness of children. The talk will draw on evidence from the study to discuss how long-term stability and wellbeing could be achieved for more children.
References
Sinclair I., Baker C., Lee J. and Gibbs, I. (2007) The Pursuit of Permanence: A Study of the English Care System. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Contact
Professor Ian Sinclair, Social Policy Research Unit, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.