Children In Care Get "A Raw Deal" Say MPs In New Report

Children in care "get a raw deal" and the government is not doing enough to help them, MPs have said in a new report.

The report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee "Children in Care" says that in particular, the Department of Education shows "alarming reluctance to play an active role" in improving the lot of these children.

The report comes a day after Ofsted found child social care inadequate or requiring improvement in three quarters of the English local authorities it inspected last year, with services under "intense pressure".

The report says that 62% of children in care have suffered abuse and neglect but "too many still do not get the right placement first time, too many are moved too often, and too few are placed close to their homes."

In 2012-13 more than a third of children in care had more than one placement during the year, while a third of children in residential care and 14% of fostered children were placed more than 20 miles from home, it found.

The MPs say such instability can have a long term impact on emotional and physical health, social development, education and future employment prospects. They describe the gap in educational attainment between children in care and their peers as "shockingly wide".

The report urges the Department of Education to take an interest in the outcomes of its initiatives, evaluate progress and share successful practice.

It also urges the setting up of a national database of missing children, arguing that without such a register it is harder to find children who go missing from care, including victims of sex exploitation.

MPs also want the DfE to set out how it will attract more high-quality people into social work, to allow Ofsted to inspect council children's services more frequently and involve the watchdog in improvements between inspections.

Disabled People Could "Miss Out" Under Social Care Reform



Photograph by Smerikal

Research carried out for the charities Mencap, Scope, the National Autistic Society, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Sense indicates that adults with disabilities in England are being deprived of basic care and support and are at risk of being forgotten in the wider reform of the social care system.

Much of the focus on care has been centred around the crisis facing the elderly. However, a coalition of charities has warned people with disabilities under the age of 65 are being neglected too.

Ministers are soon expected to announce a cap will be placed on the costs people face for care - but this will largely benefit older people who have built up substantial assets through savings, pensions and property.

Younger adults with disabilities are less likely to have such assets, and as a result get care free through the means-tested system.


About 500,000 working age adults get social care support - a third of the total number getting help. But the figure has been falling in recent years as councils have started to ration care so that only those with the most severe needs get help.


Research carried out for the charities indicated there were now 90,000 fewer people receiving help than in 2008 - at a time when there are more people living with disabilities.

The study also warned if the reform of the system was pushed through it could lead to more being excluded. This is because the government's desire to have national eligibility criteria could result in those areas that have yet to ration care imposing tighter restrictions.

Meanwhile, the research also raised concerns about the quality of services being provided. A survey of 600 people receiving social care found nearly 40% were failing to get enough help to ensure their basic needs, including eating properly, washing and dressing, were met. Overall, the report estimated there was a £1.2bn funding gap for younger disabled adults.

You can read more on this story on the BBC News website here.

Pace Of Child Protection Reforms Needs To Be Accelerated Says Munro

Professor Eileen Munro, author of the Government’s review of the child protection system, today said a “culture change” was underway in the child protection system but outlined an urgent need to now accelerate reforms to create a more child-centred system.

She said reforms had reached a “watershed moment” but, while progress is moving in the right direction, it now needs to move faster with more prescription and bureaucracy stripped away so social workers are able to focus on giving children and young people the help they need. Professor Munro said social workers must be confident to use their judgment instead of applying rules that do not match a specific child’s needs.

Professor Munro's Progress Report: Progress report: Moving towards a child centred system may be read by clicking on this link.

What Social Workers Think About The State Of Their Profession In 2012

 A survey conducted by the British Association of Social Workers has revealed that of 1,100 social workers surveyed: 88% said vulnerable lives could be put at risk by cuts to services; 85% have seen notable cuts to services in the last 12 months; 77% are concerned about unmanageable caseloads; 46% are afraid to speak out about for fear of repercussions; 65% expressed concern about the use of unqualified staff.

The frontline social workers who responded to the survey repeatedly expressed their fears about the potential consequences of a system at breaking point. You can read the research here: http://cdn.basw.co.uk/upload/basw_23651-3.pdf

The Government's Progress On Reforming The Care System

Tim Loughton, the Children's Minister spoke to social workers at the Community Care Live conference about the Government's progress in reforming child protection, fostering, adoption, the care system and the social work profession.

Mr Loughton's speech is available to read here:
http://www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/speeches/a00209139/community-care-live

What Can Care Providers Do To Support Older Gay People?

May 17th was the International Day Against Homophobia. A recent paper by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation: Perspectives on ageing: lesbians, gay men and bisexuals by Sally Knocker shines a spotlight on the huge impact that prejudice has had on older people's lives and on the impact that the morms of their youth still have upon their present experience.

Sally found that many fear needing services, believing (rightly or wrongly) that their identity will become invisible or that they will experience prejudice from care professionals or their own peers. This is particularly true for those who are HIV positive. A national survey found that many HIV-positive older people fear that social care services, care homes and sheltered housing might be HIV prejudiced and/or homophobic. One in five reported experiencing age- or HIV-related discrimination in the past year, and HIV discrimination was worst in healthcare and goods and services.

Warning Over Social Care & the Elderly

Minsters have promised to reform the care system amid signs that local councils are stuggling to look after the elderly, according to social care chiefs.

However, Sarah Pickup, the new president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said changes in England would still be years away.Instead, she urged councils to look at new ways of providing services. In an interview with the BBC, she said the key was to end the traditional assumption that long-term social care support was inevitable as people aged.

Mrs Pickup cited the success her council, Hertfordshire, had had in helping to avoid that spiral of decline by offering intensive, short-term support following problems such as broken hips and stroke. The county has been running an enablement service for the past few years which offers the elderly six-week stints of rehabilitation. She acknowledged that such opportunities were not the "solution to the problem in its entirety" as the system was still under funded and in need of reform. She also warned any reform of the system was still a "way off", pointing out any new funding arrangements would have to wait until the next Spending Review period which is three years away.

Her comments come as campaigners have been upping the pressure on government.This week Age UK and the British Geriatrics Society released a joint briefing paper warning that the elderly were being "catastrophically let down". The two groups pointed out that councils had been increasingly cutting back on the services they provide so that there were now an estimated 800,000 people with care needs who were not getting any support.

New Commisioning for Personalisation Video Available From SCIE

This new film from Social Care TV looks at two inner London authorities where personalisation has lead to a total rethink of commissioning. The film highlights how the councils have reformulated their commissioning processes allowing people who use the services to be resources in their own right. This has led to imaginative solutions to complex social needs and supported the development of high quality and sustainable local services.

Live Twitter Debate on Social Workers' Role & Identity

There will be a live debate on Twitter today (Tuesday 18th October) 2011 from 20.00-21.00 GMT (15.00-16.00 EST) covering social worker's roles and professional identity. The debate is sponsored by the Social Work & Media Network, Goldsmiths University of London and the Open University and will address such questions as:

1. How should we define the role of social workers in our society (Are statutory social workers’ an agent of state? and What is the role of non-statutory social workers?)
2. Are social workers such a consistent failure or is social work the easiest “Social Scapegoat”?
3. How can we establish and sustain a more engaged and positive role and identity for social workers?

Anyone is invited to join in. You can find out more & join the debate here: Social Work /Social Care & Media.

What every social work student should know!

Here is an interesting article that I found in The Guardian. Social Work teacher, Peter Beresford gives his top five tips for this year's intake of social work students in an article entitled "What every social work student should know". You can read the article here.

Government Response to the Munro Review

The Government has published its reponse to the Munro Review of Child Protection. The response was formed by an independent working group composed of local authority children's services, social workers, education, police and health professionals.

The response is a first step on the journey towards creating a sustained long term reform of the child protection system. It aims to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable children and young people.

The full report can be viewed here: Munro Review of Child Protection.

New Report on Children Living in Kinship Care in the UK

A major study 'Spotlight on Kinship Care' (16 June 2011), has been published by Dr Shailen Nandy and Dr Julie Selwyn, and the children's charity Buttle UK. It reveals for the first time the number of children being brought up by a relative instead of their mother or father. The study was funded by the BIG Lottery.

Dr Julie Selwyn, said, "This study shows the level of poverty and disadvantage in kinship families. This information will provide a much better basis for planning policy and services than anything previously. If the government is going to meet its targets to reduce child poverty, children in kinship care need to be recognised as a group with specific and considerable needs."

Sir Mark Potter, former Head of Family Justice and Chair of the Research Steering Group said, "This is a very important piece of groundbreaking research. It identities and provides basic and essential information in relation to a large group of children of whom far too little is known within the field of child care and who generally do not receive the support which they need and deserve. I hope it will provide much needed impetus for action to improve their circumstances and their chances in adult life."

The executive summary of the report may be read here: Executive Summary
The full version of the report may be read here: Full Report

Chidren in Care

Only 1% of children in care go on to university, but helping them into further and higher education will help to reduce costs according to new guidance published by the National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence. The new guidance says that more focus on training could lead to less unemployment, crime and mental health problems. Read the guidance in full here: Promoting the Quality of Life of Looked-after Children and Young People.

New Government Consultation Documents on Information & Choice within the NHS

The Secretary of State for Health has just published two new consultation documents about the NHS. These are: "Liberating the NHS: An Information Revolution" and "Liberating the NHS: Greater Choice and Control". The documents set out more of the government's vision of "putting patients first" as set out in the White Paper "Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS". They are about providing people with better information about health and social care services to improve outcomes. Links to these documents and further information may be found at: Liberating the NHS.

Coalition Government's New Vision For Social Care

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has just published a new research paper written by Emma Stone and Claudia Wood. Written in advance of Comprehensive Spending Review in October 2010 and the Coalition Government's new vision for social care (expected in early November); the paper:

• examines the fact that we are at a critical point in the history of social care reform
• poses the question: will the proposed funding settlement and statute be aligned with each other - will social care be designed around people's lives rather than services?

You can read the report in full here: A Funding Settlement That Works For People Not Services

New Publication on Older People with High Support Needs

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have just published the first publication from their new programme "A Better Life" - a new research programme looking at how we can improve the quality of life for older people with high support needs.

The full report considers what we know about the needs and situations of older people with high support needs from different equality groups and the barriers they face in service provision. You can view the report here: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/better-life-high-support-needs

New Student Website From "Community Care"

The magazine Community Care has launched a new website "Student Zone" especially for social work students. The website contains help and advice on: placements, careers, writing essay, dissertations and there is a Forum where you can discuss issues ands concerns with other students.

You can check out the website at: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/social-work-degree-social-care-students/

Guidance for Social Workers on Alcohol & Drugs

The Tilda Goldberg Centre for Research in Social Work & Social Care (based at the University of Bedfordshire) has produced a pocket guide for social workers entitled "Alcohol and Other Drugs". The guide aims to support social workers in taking professional responsiblity for ensuring that their knowledge and skills meet the needs of service users in relation to alcohol and drugs.

You can access the guide (and other publications produced by the Centre) here: http://www.beds.ac.uk/goldbergcentre/resources

Social Care TV

SCIE have now launched "Social Care TV" a broadband channel featuring films and links to resources on the big issues in adults’ and children’s care services. The films cover everything from dementia care to child safeguarding and young care leavers and should be useful to anyone interested in learning about good practice in social care.

Designed as a learning and development tool, you can view, download or e-mail films, and check out the key resources related to the subject. The service has been launched with 25 films, with two new films being released every month.