Data on 242 children looked after by six local authorities between 1st April
1996 and 31st March 1997, and who were still in care or accommodation
12-24 months later revealed that the largest group in this long stay sample
were babies admitted before their first birthday. An in-depth study was
conducted to explore the life pathways and decision-making process for these
very young children

Emily R. Munro (7189754)

English

Loughborough University Institutional Repository

   This item was submitted to Loughborough’s Institutional Repository by the author and is made available under the following Creative Commons Licence conditions.      For the full text of this licence, please go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/  evidenceissue10For further information about the CCFR please contact:Professor Harriet WardDirectorH.Ward@lboro.ac.ukSuzanne DexterAdministratorS.Dexter@lboro.ac.ukCentre for Child and Family ResearchDepartment of Social Sciences Loughborough UniversityLeicestershire  LE11 3TU  UK+44 (0)1509 228355+44 (0)1509 223943www.ccfr.org.ukThis CCFR Evidence paper forms part of the CCFR Outcomes for Vulnerable Children research programmePrincipal researchersn Harriet Ward, Directorn Emily Munro (Research Associate)n Chris Dearden (Research Fellow)n Don Nicholson (Research Associate)Project length18 months – completed August 2003FunderDepartment of Health/Department for Educationand SkillsWhere to find more evidenceFull report: (available from CCFR)Ward, H., Munro, E., Dearden, C. and Nicholson,D. (2003) Outcomes for Looked After Children: LifePathways and Decision-Making for Very Young Children inCare or AccommodationThis paper was written by Emily Munroevidenceissue10n Many of the children in the study experienced a lack ofcontinuity and stability prior to being looked after, whilstlooked after, and after the care episode.  In many casesbeing looked after offered little more stability – althoughconsiderably more safety – than remaining with birth parentsmight have done.n Over half of the babies (24:59%) had mothers whoexperienced problems with drug and alcohol misuse,domestic violence or mental illness. Only one of thesechildren returned to the care of their mother.n By the end of the study (1st April 2002, at least five yearsafter admission), 23 (55%) of the children had beenadopted, 14 (33%) had returned to birth parents, two hadreturned to other relatives and three were still looked after.n The administrative data concerning length of time lookedafter can be misleading, as many of the children achievedpermanence well before they left care. Eighteen (44%)achieved permanence within twelve months of entry to thesystem.n The predominant view that return to birth parents should bethe first choice of care plan led to delay for many of thebabies. This was exacerbated by a lack of twin tracking orconcurrent planning.n Court directions for additional assessment, shortages ofexpert witnesses, judges and court time were also causesof delay.n There was a reluctance to consider foster carers as potentialadopters. This was due partly to the fear of losing fostercarers, but there were also concerns that some foster carerswould not meet the more stringent requirements required ofadopters.Data on 242 children looked after by six local authorities between 1st April1996 and 31st March 1997, and who were still in care or accommodation12-24 months later revealed that the largest group in this long stay samplewere babies admitted before their first birthday. An in-depth study wasconducted to explore the life pathways and decision-making process for thesevery young children. The study found that: Outcomes for LookedAfter ChildrenLife Pathways and Decision-Making for Very Young Childrenin Care or AccommodationProject aimsThe project aims to explore the decision making processthat influences the experiences of very young childrenwho remain looked after away from home for long periodsof time.MethodologyA longitudinal cohort of 242 children looked aftercontinuously by six local authorities and followed sinceadmission in 1996-7 included 42 babies who wereadmitted to care or accommodation before their firstbirthday and were still looked after 12-24 months later.  A comprehensive case file search was conducted in orderto trace chronologically all the changes experienced byeach of the 42 babies from birth until they ceased to belooked after. Case file data were supplemented byexploration of policy documents and interviews with keypersonnel.Family circumstancesMany of the children in the study came from vulnerablefamilies with substantial problems. Over half of the babies(24:59%) had mothers who experienced problems withdrug and alcohol misuse, domestic violence or mentalillness. Eighty eight percent of the children came from familiesthat had had involvement with social services prior toadmission. Moreover, case file data revealed that at least14 of the parents had been looked after during theirchildhood. Children’s circumstancesWhilst over half (27:64%) of these very young childrenappeared to be healthy, fifteen (36%) were reported tohave health problems. In six of these cases the conditionswere attributable to neglect in utero as a result ofmaternal substance misuse. In a further two caseschildren sustained non-accidental head injuries and hadcomplex health needs as a result. These conditionscontinued to affect their future care and life experiences.Nineteen (45%) of the babies were placed on the childprotection register at birth, most commonly because theywere at risk of neglect or abuse; this risk had commonlybeen identified through social services previousinvolvement with the families and siblings.Abuse or neglect was the primary reason for admission in31 (74%) cases. Additional case file data revealed thatten babies had not themselves been abused, althoughsiblings had sustained non-accidental injuries.Placement stabilityParticularly for young infants, consistency in primarycarer and predictable routine are recognised asinstrumental in the development of secure attachments.The findings from this study demonstrate that many ofthe children experienced a lack of continuity and stabilityprior to being looked after, during, and after the careepisode.A high proportion of these young children had experiencedfrequent changes of carer and domicile before theybecame looked after. Eleven (28%) had moved four ormore times prior to entry to care or accommodation.Between them, the babies experienced 143 placementsand 101 moves whilst looked after: the majority of whichwere classified as ‘planned transitions’. Many of thesewere positive moves to permanent placements. However,others were due to: foster carers going on holiday, toreunite sibling groups or moves from short to long-termplacements or for the purpose of assessing parentingcapacity. Over half the residential assessments ofparenting capacity broke down. For the childrenconcerned this often led to additional placements anddelay.One in four placement moves were ‘unplanned’. In fourcases these transitions occurred because of anunforeseen change in the carer’s circumstances, such asillness or sudden bereavement which meant that theplacement was withdrawn. Twenty-one placements brokedown; seventeen of these were with parents or relatives,who were unable to provide satisfactory care.  There was also evidence that not all the children achievedlong-term continuity or stability once they ceased to belooked after. Some of those children permanently placedwith birth parents continued to move between familymembers after they had left care or accommodation.ResourcesA shortage of placements meant that it was not alwayspossible to find carers who could meet all a child’sidentified needs. Placement delays were particularlypronounced for children from ethnic minority groupsand/or larger siblings groups. Very young children couldspend their early childhood moving around the caresystem waiting for a perfect match that was unattainablewithin a timeframe consistent with their need forpermanence and security.centre for child and family research evidenceissue10centre for child and family research evidenceissue10There was a reluctance to consider foster carers asprospective adoptive carers. One reason cited was thatlocal authorities had a shortage of foster cares and werereluctant to lose their services. Some children, havingalready experienced frequent change and loss weretherefore required to leave foster carers they were closelyattached to.However, some foster carers who had looked afterchildren for several months were nevertheless notconsidered as suitable adoptive carers.Delays in achieving permanenceAchieving stability and permanence was a lengthy processfor many of the babies in the study; they were lookedafter for between 14 and 69 months. However,administrative data concerning the length of time lookedafter can be misleading, as many of the children achievedpermanence well before they left care. Eighteen (44%) ofthe babies achieved permanence within twelve months ofentry to the system. Particularly for very young children,long-term stability and continuity of carers are likely to beof greater importance than legal permanence via, forexample, an Adoption Order or Residence Order.When children were placed with birth parents or relativesbut protected by care orders there was evidence ofpurposive delays, where the legal status was retaineduntil such time as their situation was considered stable.Such delays were intended to promote the well being ofthe children concerned.In other cases, however, difficult decisions to place thempermanently away from home were delayed to thedetriment of their long-term well being.At entry, the most common care plan was time-limitedassessment, considered appropriate for 17 babies. Thesecond most common care plan was return to birth family.In the majority of these cases care plans were unfulfilledand the children were eventually adopted.  Retrospectively, it appears care plans were over-optimistic. As a matter of policy and practice,rehabilitation to birth parents was initially considered tobe the optimum outcome for most looked after children.The need to demonstrate that parental rights had beenadequately acknowledged at times underminedprofessional judgment and led to further instability anddelay.Data from a further cohort of babies who entered care oraccommodation about eighteen months after the first,does indicate that care planning may be more realisticnow and that greater use is made of twin tracking.Court issuesLack of court time could delay proceedings. Such delaysincrease the likelihood of additional placement changes.Furthermore, the older children are, the more difficult itbecomes to place them permanently.The low status and lack of confidence in social workers’professional expertise meant that their recommendationswere sometimes given little weight by the courts, whichpreferred to delay proceedings to wait for an ‘expert’opinion.  As one chief clerk said ‘If in the course of courtproceedings, we lose time, for whatever reason,unavailability of experts, guardians not yet allocated…we are losing part of a child’s childhood that we can’tgive back’.Implications for policy and practiceAs this study demonstrates, a complex interplay offactors influence very young children’s life pathways andmany of the issues that led to change and delay areunlikely to be easily resolved. However, it should berecognised that since 1996-7 a range of policy changeshave been implemented. These include: Quality Protects;Choice Protects; Adoption and Children Act 2002 (andaccompanying standards); and the Protocol for JudicialCase Management in Public Law Children Act Caseswhich is intended to minimise delay in the court process.We do not yet know how successful they will be inaddressing some of the issues raised by this study.Messages for improving practice include:n A need for better training on attachment in very youngchildren, parental drug misuse, its consequences andtimetables for rehabilitation.n The importance of having accurate information about achild’s previous experience in order to inform futuredecision-making.n A need for better information about how far theauthority has been able to match children withappropriate carers, so that time is not lost waiting forthe unattainable.

Outcomes for looked after children

https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/Outcomes_for_looked_after_children/9579839/files/17216858.pdf

Outcomes for looked after children

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