Children to be given greater voice in care proceedings

More will be done to ensure children over the age of 10 who are involved in care proceedings or custody cases have their views heard in court, the government has announced.

Under the Children Act 1989, courts considering a public or private law order in relation to a child already have to pay regard to “the wishes and feelings” of the child concerned.

However, speaking at an event today, justice minister Simon Hughes said that the legal right is often overlooked.

“Children and young people have a legal right to be heard before decisions are made about their own future, and where decisions are being made that will impact on them,” Hughes said at a conference held by the Family Justice Young People’s Board today.

“Too often that legal right is not being exercised or it is being interpreted to mean others can make a presumption about a child’s view – often for the best of intentions and acting in their interest, but nevertheless the outcome is that the child does not feel that their own distinct voice has been heard.”

Hughes said the government is committed to all children and young people having a role in all family proceedings affecting them so that they can put across their views and feelings.

“It is my clear intention that where disputes about children are settled in court or through an alternative form of resolving disputes such as mediation, children and young people aged 10 and over will in the future be given the chance to make clear their views, in person or if preferred in an another way, as to what is the best resolution of the family dispute in their interest,” he said.

Hughes said he will work alongside the president of the Family Division, Sir James Munby, and other family court judges, as well as the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), local authorities, and young people to implement this change.

Ensuring children and young people are able to make their views known was one of the recommendations to come out of the Family Justice Review, which was published in November 2011.

It said that children should, as early as possible, be supported to make their views known, and older children should be offered a menu of options, to lay out the ways in which they could, if they wish, do this.

Anthony Douglas, Cafcass chief executive, said the government had outlined “some progressive and practical ways” for how children can be more included in their own cases.

He added: “All agencies will be sitting down together to find a way to make these changes happen on the ground in a way which improves the responsiveness and sensitivity of the whole family justice system to children and young people who need our help, and to find better and better ways of improving their lives.”

Andrew Webb, immediate past president of the Association of Director’s of Children’s Services, said his organisation is in favour of giving young people more of a say, but attention must be paid to how it is achieved.

“In public law cases, the court spends a lot of time dealing with very difficult issues of child abuse, sexual abuse, and has to hear detailed evidence about the child’s life, which is not always an appropriate thing to put children in front of,” he said.

“There’s a lot to do to get children of an appropriate age engaged in the process, and to debate or examine what is in their best interest, in a way that is not making the system abusive.

“It can also be the case that what the child wants, and what is in their best interests, are not necessarily the same thing.

“We would have to make sure courts, and particularly judges, take the child’s view in the context of the much bigger picture.”

Source: CYPNow

Costs of children in care hit £3.4bn

The cost of supporting children in care has reached £3.4bn, according to an Audit Commission report that exposes widespread variation of spending across councils.

The spending watchdog’s briefing on councils’ expenditure on looked-after children revealed that a 12 per cent rise in the children in care population from 2010 to the end of March 2013 had pushed the total bill to £3.4bn during 2012/13.

The briefing highlights “significant variation” in the amount each council spends. The average spend on looked-after children across all councils came to £137 a day, or just over £50,000 for the whole year.

However 21 councils spent less than £40,000 a year per looked-after child, and 32 councils spent more than £60,000.

Local differences in foster care commissioning was identified as a key factor. The Audit Commission found that shortages of local carers pushed costs up as councils rely more on out-of-area placements and on fostering agencies, which were on average a third more expensive to use than in-house council fostering services.

Those councils that bulk purchased care and set up rosters with a wide variety of care suppliers also tended “to get a better price,” the Audit Commission said.

Audit Commission chair Jeremy Newman called on councils to work better together and focus on joint commissioning to push prices down.

He said: “’Councils should use their collective purchasing power to get maximum value for the £1.5bn they spend on foster care.

“Rather than competing with each other, potentially driving up prices, councils should consider whether collaborating with neighbouring councils can secure the services they need, at a price they can better afford.”

But making savings should not bring down the quality of care, Newman warned.

He added: “We encourage all councils to review their spending and in particular urge higher spending councils to understand the reasons for this and to consider whether they can secure more cost-effective placements without compromising on the quality of care.”

Among examples of council co-operation is a two-year government-funded fostering recruitment project that got under way this year, where councils and agencies are working together.

A total of 11 councils across three areas, West Yorkshire, the North West and Oxfordshire, are taking part.

Helen Berresford, head of public affairs at 4Children, said councils should invest in early intervention support for families to keep children in care costs down further.

She said: “We need a system of early and intensive support which sets sights high for struggling families and helps reduce the risk of children falling into care.”

The Audit Commission report also highlights the long-term social and economic cost of supporting looked-after children into adulthood.

It flags up figures showing that 23 per cent of the adult prison population have been in care and a quarter of homeless people living on the street have a care background.

Source: CYPNow

Government U-turns on early years qualification entry requirements

he government has backtracked on plans to require applicants to have at least a GCSE grade C in English and maths before they can begin an early years apprenticeship.

Instead the two GCSE qualifications will become an exit requirement for those taking the apprenticeship.

The move has been made amid concern from the early years sector that making GCSEs an entry requirement would set the bar too high.

Earlier this month the Early Years Trailblazer Group, which is made up of early years employers and groups had urged the government to ensure applicants could study GCSEs alongside their vocational training.

The new entry requirements have been approved by the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation and the Department for Education, and will be reviewed after a year.

Source: CYPNow

DfE approves childminder agencies plan despite safeguarding concerns

Childminder agencies will be introduced in September despite widespread safeguarding concerns from the sector, the Department for Education has confirmed.

The DfE has said the plans are subject to parliamentary approval but expects the new arrangements to be in place in time for next month’s deadline.

Under the plans, childminders will have the option of registering with and being inspected by Ofsted.

The proposed inspection framework, published in May, prompted the early years sector to warn about potential safeguarding issues and called on the government to abandon the plans.

However, in its response to its childminder agencies and changes to the local authority role consultation, the DfE reveals that it will not request any changes to the proposed framework.

The report reveals that a number of respondents raised concerns about the “clarity of safeguarding arrangements” but states that the views expressed do not “warrant changes” to the draft regulations.

However, the report does acknowledge that the issue is complex and states that the government will say more about it in due course.

Liz Bayram, chief executive of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years, is disappointed with the decision.

She said: “The assurances from the DfE that Ofsted’s registration and inspection criteria will be enough to ensure quality mean little when you consider agencies will not be providing direct services to parents, and that childminders who register with an agency will no longer have an Ofsted registration.

“Although the decision to require agencies to share agency-registered childminder inspection grades with local authorities is welcome, the fact agencies won’t be required to share those grades publicly risks parents being unable to easily access information about childminder quality, thus further confusing the system.”

The DfE received 678 responses to its consultation, including those featuring comments on extremist views.

Earlier today Education Secretary Nicky Morgan announced plans to give councils powers to stop funding for early years providers with links to extremism.

Source: CYPNow

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‘Mistaken beliefs’ on information sharing hold back safeguarding work

Misunderstandings among child protection professionals about what information can be shared between agencies is undermining the effectiveness of multi-agency safeguarding hubs (Mash), a government report has concluded.

Many of the professionals interviewed by the Home Office for its review of procedures to identify children at risk of abuse,, felt that some practitioners withheld information too frequently because there was a perception that the risk of sharing it with others was higher than it actually is.

The review, which spoke to professionals in 37 local authority areas operating Mash, found multi-agency work to safeguard vulnerable children was being held back as a result of “mistaken beliefs” over information sharing by practitioners and managers.

A MASH co-locates a range of agencies, including police, local authority children’s services, education, probation and health staff to share information and spot emerging problems early, potentially saving lives.

Most of those interviewed for the review felt that while the law around information sharing was fit for purpose, guidance for practitioners needs to be improved. They also raised concerns that a legal ruling over a case involving the London Borough of Haringey was being misinterpreted to mean that information could not be shared by Mash partners due to Data Protection Act restrictions.

The report has prompted the government to review guidance for practitioners and the Centre for Excellence for Information Sharing has been commissioned to work with local areas to provide targeted support to Mash on information sharing. The report’s findings will also be shared at a series of practitioner workshops and roadshows over the coming year.

Crime prevention minister Norman Baker said: “The government is determined to tackle child abuse and Mash have a clear role to play in this.

“Local agencies are now better placed than ever before to make informed decisions about how best to ensure children are protected, and I want to send a clear message – if it’s a choice between data protection and child protection, child protection must come first.”

The report also finds that multi-agency working is key to effective early identification of risk, and highlights best practice examples on how Mashs do this.

A report last year found MASH in London have nearly halved the amount of time it takes to deal with child protection referrals, according to new research.

Has anyone experienced this first hand ?  would love to hear from you.

Children’s social workers face knowledge test

New children’s social workers will have to pass a test of their knowledge in order to become an approved practitioner as part of government attempts to improve the quality of the profession, it has been announced.

The test will be based on a range of skills that social workers will be expected to know, as set out in a Knowledge and Skills Statement created by the chief social worker for children, Isabelle Trowler.

The government has said that the statement, which is in direct response to concerns raised by government adviser Sir Martin Narey about the standard of social workers’ skills, will act as the cornerstone in the drive to overhaul the training of the profession.

The statement, in its proposed form, sets out a range of requirements, including that children’s social workers should be able identify the full range of risks to children, including sexual, physical and emotional abuse and neglect, and that they should know how to protect children.

They should also be able to support families by “strengthening their relationships, resilience and access to resources”.

Following graduation, newly qualified social workers will be required to complete a “rigorous” pass or fail test based on the knowledge and skills outlined in the statement in order to gain an “approved child and family practitioner” status.

The Knowledge and Skills statement will be subject to public consultation for 10 weeks.

Trowler said she is determined to ensure the profession earns the public’s “respect and confidence”.

“Having absolute clarity about what a social worker needs to know and be able to do and testing that knowledge and skill against a national standard is a critical part of this ambition,” she added.

Children’s minister Edward Timpson, said: “These new measures will help set social work on a whole new path to success – setting the very highest standards for social workers providing greater assurance to the public and most importantly ensuring the very best for our children.”

The measures follow the publication in February of Sir Martin Narey’s review into the education of social workers, which called for greater rigour in training, a sharper focus on practical skills and places for only the very best students.

In his report Narey called for a single skills list that would be the basis for all social work curricula – stating that the current absence of one means courses vary widely in quality.

Narey said it was possibly the most important of his recommendations.

“Isabelle Trowler started work on this immediately my report was published and the statement reflects discussions with practitioners, academics and others,” he said.

“I think it has the potential significantly to improve the capacity and confidence of newly qualified social workers and I hope that the response to the consultation is constructive and prolific.”

The government has also announced it will fund a third year of a support programme for child and family social workers in their first assessed year in employment, aimed at developing their skills and improving their confidence in dealing with the most difficult and complex cases.

Dave Hill, chair of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) workforce development committee, said:

“The draft document has been informed by over 950 front line child and family social workers, and builds on the recommendations of the Social Work Taskforce, that ADCS has long supported, in particular a ‘License to Practice’, which has been re-visited in the consultation document.

“Clarification on the skills and knowledge required to undertake high quality social work with children and families is particularly helpful at a time of significant change in the landscape of children’s services.

“ADCS also welcomes the extension of funding for the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, which will enable local authorities to continue to further support newly qualified social workers as they make the transition from education into employment.”

Enver Solomon, director of evidence and impact at the National Children’s Bureau said the skills document will help ensure that all social workers have the right training, skills and support.

“Being a social worker is extremely demanding and the chief social worker quite rightly wants to improve the ability of newly qualified staff so they are equipped to do the best possible job,” he added.

Source: CYPNow