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This dissertation is based around the role of corporate parenting in looked after children. It will discuss and explore the role of corporate parenting in general with the exposed group: looked after children as this is relevant to practice experience as it is based upon 80 days work placement.

The concept of Corporate Parenting was first introduced in September 1998 by the Secretary of State for Health Frank Dobson, as one part of the government’s Quality Protects program to make over children’s services. It emphasized the key role that chosen members would play.

The Government’s Quality Protects Initiative (1998) requires local authorities to identify children with additional family burdens and to provide services that are geared to ensure these children’s education and general development do not suffer.” (www.doh.gov.uk/qualityprotects)aˆ?

When a child becomes ‘looked after’, the responsibilities of their parent become the liability. And it is required to serve everyone working for the council as elected members of the council.

This is known as ‘corporate parenting’ and it is the collective responsibility of the council to provide the best possible care and protection for children who are ‘looked after’. As a corporate parent, we should act in the way we would if the child were our own. (http://www.southglos.gov.uk/NR/exeres/b10f32d0-3db1-4b38-980d-147f4ad1f6d4)

1.2 Who are Corporate Parents?

Corporate parenting contains any person who has responsibility for the care and security of children. The concept of corporate parenting relates to the collective duties and responsibilities of the Local Authority for looked after children’ safeguard and to promote the life.

Corporate Parenting’ is a collective responsibility of the Council, with Councillors having a distinct role to play in ensuring that the outcomes and life chances of looked after children are maximized ( The Role of Councillors as Corporate Parents May 2005 Scrutiny Review Group).

The essential principle of Corporate Parenting is that all councillors and staff employed by the Council should parent the Looked After children and young people in their concern as they would their own children.

All selected members of the Council have a duty to act as a Corporate Parent to children in the care of that Council. The function of the Corporate Parent (Councillors) is to make sure that the services provided by the Council as an entire contribute to achieving constructive outcomes for kids in care.

Specifically, they must guarantee that children in their care are:

healthy

safe

enjoy and accomplish in life

make a positive input to society

achieve economic security

In order to implement this responsibility, Councillors must be:

Should be well informed about the children for whom they are responsible

Need to think about how they are affected by council decisions

Must listen to what children and young people say

Must be a supporter for children and young people.

1.3 Who are looked after children?

The phrase “Looked After” was commenced by the Children Act 1989 and refers to children and young people:

under the age of 18

who live away from their family or parents

are supervised by a social worker from the local council children’s services department.

The term ‘Looked after children’ applies to those children who are looked after by a local authority when either:

They are accommodated by the LA at the request of a person with parental responsibility, or because they are lost or abandoned, or because there is no person with responsibility for them (S. 20 Children Act 1989)

They are placed in the care of the LA by a court (part IV Children Act 1989) Interim Care Order or Full Care Order

In very rare cases children and young people may also become ‘looked after’ via Ward ship proceedings (High Court’s exercise of its inherent jurisdiction independent of stature (Children Act 1989)

Thais topic will initiate with the below questions and answers with brief explanation and references to be sorted out the focus upon right direction.

They are subject to emergency orders to secure their immediate protection, (Part V Children Act 1989) Emergency Protection Orders or Police Orders or are remanded by a court to the care of the LA (S. 23 Children & Young Persons Act 1969)

In very rare cases children and young people may also become ‘looked after’ via Wardship proceedings (High Court’s exercise of its inherent jurisdiction independent of stature (Children Act 1989)

For most children, care is proposed to be time-limited with the mean that the child will return home as soon as possible. (The Children Act 1989) aims to get a balance between the need to protect children from destruction and the need to protect children and families from unnecessary intervention.

It encourages arrangements for services to children to be agreed between the parents and the service providers whenever possible. The Act embodies the belief that children are best looked after within the family unit without legal intervention unless this is inconsistent with their welfare and safety.

1.4 Why is corporate parenting necessary?

Children may be looked after for many different reasons, including protection from harm and abuse. Children have had a long history of being looked after away from home, in such places as institutions, orphanages, foster homes, approved schools and borstals (Department of Health 1998a).

Parents who are unable to look after their child may ask a local authority to do so. Children can become “looked after” for a numerous reasons; some children may have been abused or suffered distressing experiences, some may be in care due to family illness or the death of a parent. Others may have complex needs or disabilities and be unable to be cared at home. Often children who become “looked after” for a short time period due to family problem like some children do not have a parent or relative to look after them, possibly because of death or serious illness or because they have been separated.

Young people aged over 16 years may choose to be looked after for a variety of reasons, including abuse, domestic violence or stress at home. Local authorities must provide accommodation for children who are lost, abandoned, or whose parents are unable to care for them. Authorities shall provide accommodation for any child in need in their area who appears to them to require it as a result of there being no person with parental responsibility for him, or because he is lost and abandoned, or because the person who has been caring for him is prevented from providing suitable accommodation or car (Section 20 (1) CA 1989)

Section 20(3) of the Act gives local authorities a duty to provide accommodation for a child age 16 and 17 years if the authority considers that his welfare will be seriously prejudiced without such a service

A local authority may provide accommodation for any young person who has reached the age of sixteen but is under twenty-one if they consider that to do so may safeguard and promote his welfare, even if their parent objects. (Section 20 (5)-(11) CA 1989)

The Government’s aim is for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to give the support they need to:

Improving outcomes also involves narrowing the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers. The Government is focusing particularly on improving outcomes for looked-after children

Ed Balls says in his letter to looked-after children: 2009

“We want to make sure you have the same chances as other children to fulfill your dreams and to be happy.”

When there is breakdown and a child has to be removed from its family, the local authority is then expected to act as the corporate parent and to provide substitute care.

The job is delegated to a local authority department, and its paid professional agents social workers, foster carers or residential staff act on behalf of the wider community.

And when they leave care, they are on their own, having to find their way in the world. It is no wonder that a high proportion of care leavers end up in prison, or with mental health problems, or with unplanned pregnancies, or in abusive relationships.

Chapter 02:
METHODOLOGY

The study aimed to discover from children their views on being looked after and the degree of power they felt they had to manipulate decisions made about them. Total fifteen looked after children were interviewed. Social workers were asked to identify children who met the criteria of between ten to seventeen and having been in care for at least two years. The children were given a questionnaire from the researcher to explain the purpose of the study and asked if they were ready to be interviewed.

The method was selected, however, because confidentiality prohibited the researcher being given names and addresses without the children’s permission. It is not clear how many children were carry forwarded and rejected. Of those who initially said they would participate, later on dropped while arranging their interviews, leaving a total sample of fifteen. This comprised:

Gender: Girls: 7 Boys: 8

Age:

10 years

1

14 years

4

15 years

4

16 years

3

17 years

3

Length of time in care (based on children’s report):

2 years

3

3 years

3

4 years

3

5 years

3

7 years

1

13 years

2

Type of care: only two were in residential care, the remainder in advance care.

Children were given a common view of the research aim. But the interviews were decided to be conducted in unstructured way. They were informed that the examiner wanted to hear their vision on how much they are told about what is happening to them, whether they feel their standpoint is listened to, and whether they are supposed to feel as they are involved in decisions made about their lives.

Research involving children creates particular moral dilemmas in that they are typically less powerful than the adult researcher (Thomas and O’Kane,1998). The unstructured interview was chosen in that it gave them maximum control over the research process and ensured that each child talked only of those topics that mattered to them and could avoid personal issues they did not want to discuss with a stranger.

2.1 Findings:

Because of the promise of confidentiality, care has been taken in reporting the findings to ensure that no individual can be identified.

The importance of the social worker

All mentioned the importance of the social worker in their lives. The social worker was seen as very powerful and, when the relationship worked well, as a very strong ally. One described the qualities needed in a social worker as:

Someone who can talk to children, get to know them, take them out, and phone regularly so they keep in touch with what is happening.

Most could remember at least one social worker with whom they had got on particularly well and who had made them feel well cared for and supported.

‘She would sort out anything that was bothering me’.

The biggest complaint about social workers (from eight children) was the high turnover and the subsequent interruption for them.

Social workers were also criticised for their reliability in everyday matters such as keeping appointments on time or holding reviews on time. Children interpreted this carelessness as a sign of their low priority in the social worker’s life.

However, Butler and Williamson’s research bears out both the approving and critical opinions. They report that many children are seeking a ‘more emotional, empathic level of interaction’ but that the experience for many is, in contrast, an ‘almost technical, allegedly ‘robotic’ nature of professional interventions in children’s lives'(1994, p.84).

Confidentiality

It is essential to share information for good planning and care but, from the child’s point of view, this can seem very intrusive. Again, the problem reflects the normal processes of growing up. Teenagers develop autonomy and increasing privacy as part of maturation but, for a child in care, it is difficult to achieve that same sense of privacy. Several of the older teenagers complained of the lack of confidentiality and, hence, a reluctance to share their thoughts and feelings because it would all get written down in their file and read by strangers.

Butler and Williamson’s research also highlighted the importance and perceived lack of confidentiality to children: ‘there is a pervasive feeling amongst children and young people that even a commitment to confidentiality is, too often, a ‘false promise’ and that information divulged will then be ‘spread around’ without the consent of the individual concerned’ (1994, p.78).

2.2 Anti-discriminatory practice:

Only one young person spoke his experience of racism. He was a seventeen year old black man who complained that he was continually stopped and questioned by the police and that white women looked fearful and crossed the road to avoid him. Since he had no record of crime or violence, he felt this was completely unfair and due to racism.

2.3 Debate

This is only a small sample so the responses cannot be taken as representative of the views of looked after children in general. However, it is possible to examine the issues they raised and discuss the challenges they pose to professionals endeavoring to listen to their voices whether or not they are typical.

Chapter 03:
Literature Review

There are approximately 61,000 children and young people in care in UK, with boys comprising 55% of that population. These statistics are almost a quarter higher than those of a decade ago. Of this group, more than two out of three children live in foster care, and just over one in ten in residential care (children’s homes). An estimated 1% of care leavers progress to University, compared with 37% of young people in the population as a whole (Jackson et al 2003).

The outcome nationally is poor for looked after children and there is an over-representation of previously looked after children amongst those who are homeless, unemployed or in prison. In 2002, 6% of all school leavers were unemployed. Of this figure, 25% were young people in the care of were unemployed. Of this figure, 25% were young people in the care of Local Authorities. There is a high proportion of these children who suffer from poor mental health or become teenage parents with looked after children being 5 times more likely to develop mental illness than their peers. If the child also has a disability or comes from a black or minority ethnic background they face a double jeopardy and are at greater disadvantage. There remain a disproportionate number of disabled children accommodated by local authorities. Only one per cent of Looked After Children go to University.

3.1 THE ROLE OF CORPORATE PARENTING

The role of corporate parent is defined in ‘Think Child’ (1999) as the following:

Finding out getting the facts and follow them up, Make decisions by playing your part in the business of the council, Listening to children and young people also finding out from them how council’s services work for them and remembering that children are citizens too. To be a champion for children by taking a lead in the community in putting children first. This strategy embeds the following core values that all Children in Care should benefit from:

A positive sense of identity and self-worth.

Belonging to a family ‘in the widest sense’ and also a community.

Good health.

A safe, healthy, child-friendly environment, including appropriate housing, play and leisure facilities.

Freedom from bullying.

A right to privacy.

Equal access to services.

Respect

Children in care have a unique relationship with the state. The local authority fulfils some, or all, of the traditional parenting role – this can happen on many levels, from decisions about their day to day care through to decisions about where a child will live and which school they will attend. This responsibility has become known as ‘corporate parenting’ in recognition that the task must be shared by the local authority as a whole, from lead members to frontline practitioners. Strong corporate parenting arrangements are central to improving services for children and young people in care.

Improving the role of the corporate parent, as part of children’s trusts, is key to improving the outcomes for children in care. It is with the corporate parent that responsibility and accountability for the wellbeing and future prospects of children in care ultimately rest. A good corporate parent must offer everything that a good parent would, including stability. It must address both the difficulties which children in care experience and the challenges of parenting within a complex system of different services. Equally, it is important that children have a chance to shape and influence the parenting they receive.

3.2 WHERE ARE THE PROBLEMS?

The circumstances and experiences of looked-after children and young people have shown that they can experience many disadvantages. Research indicates that looked-after children experience poorer outcomes than other children across a range of measures, including health and education.

To achieve these outcomes, councils must demonstrate their commitment to helping every child they look after – wherever the child is placed to achieve their potential.

The complicated role of parenting happens on many levels – from basic decisions about their day to day care and the quality of the emotional support they receive, through to big decisions about where a child will live and what school they attend as well as imparting values which help to shape their future aspirations and ambitions.

For most children, these different levels are fulfilled by the same people but it is more complex for children in care. And children and young people in care themselves have told us repeatedly that they want and need stability and continuity of care so that those who look after them do not change so frequently. The challenge, therefore, is to ensure that the quality of care which children experience meets their need for a secure attachment and promotes their resilience and that this is achieved as far as possible without the need for a series of placements before finding the right one.

For the first time, the Department for Children, Schools and Families presented data on the emotional and behavioral health of looked-after children and young people, finding that about 60% of those looked after in England were reported to have emotional and mental health problems. It also reported that a high proportion of looked-after children and young people experience poor health, educational and social outcomes after leaving care (Department for Children, Schools and Families 2009c).

A government strategy for children and young peopleaˆYs health noted that a third of all children and young people in contact with the criminal justice system have been looked after (Department for Children, Schools and Families and DH 2009).

3.3 EVERY CHILD MATTERS

Green Paper, 2003, led to the Children Bill, which was presented to Parliament in March 2004 and is now enacted as the Children Act 2004. The Act sets out a long term programme for change for children’s services across the country. It places a duty on all Local Authorities to produce a plan which addresses disadvantage, raises achievement and safe guards children and young people in their area.

This legislation is the legal underpinning for Every Child Matters, which sets out the Government’s approach to the well-being of children and young people from birth to age 19.

The aim of the Every Child Matters program is to give all children the support they need to:

be healthy

stay safe

enjoy and achieve

make a positive contribution

achieve economic well-being.

The Every Child Matters agenda has been further developed through publication of the Children’s Plan in December 2007. The Children’s Plan is a ten-year strategy to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up. It places families at the heart of Government policy, taking into account the fact that young people spend only one-fifth of their childhood at school. Because young people learn best when their families support and encourage them, and when they are taking part in positive activities outside of the school day, the Children’s Plan is based around a series of ambitions which cover all areas of children’s lives.

The Plan aims to improve educational outcomes for children, improve children’s health, reduce offending rates among young people and eradicate child poverty by 2020, thereby contributing to the achievement of the five Every Child Matters outcomes. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/about/

This strategy reflects many of the initiatives recommended in the Children Bill and subsequent Act and demonstrates the commitment of the Council to discharge its duties and improve children’s services. The development of Children’s Trust arrangements will bring together representatives from key agencies and Primary Care Trusts. Whilst the Council’s responsibilities towards looked after children are discharged primarily through the and Young Person’s Department, the Council recognises the significant contribution to the well being of looked after children and their carers to be made by other Council departments and therefore requires, as part of this strategy, the effective and executive engagement of all service departments in meeting the needs of this group of vulnerable children and young people.

3.4 WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT DOING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM?

In 2003, the Government published a Green Paper called Every Child Matters alongside the formal response to the report into the death of Victoria Climbie. After a thorough consultation process, the Children Act 2004 became law. This legislation is the legal underpinning for Every Child Matters, which sets out the Government’s approach to the well-being of children and young people from birth to age 19.

The aim of the Every Child Matters programme is to give all children the support they need Looked-after children have a right to expect the outcomes we want for every child.

These are that they:Enjoy the best health and live a healthy lifestyle .Are kept safe from harm and neglect and feel secure at all times .Are given the chance to learn and achieve, and enjoy leisure time .Are given the opportunity to make the most out of life and take a full part in the community .Grow up in a strong and secure family situation and achieve rewarding adult lives .( The Charter for Children and Young People )

( Every Child Matters Agenda)

To practice without a theory is to sail an uncharted sea; theory without practice is not to set sail at all Susser 1968 cited in Lishman, 2005 pg 87. Therefore, this essay uses the task centred approach and the solution focused therapy to explain what is happening in the Banks family and how it affects Mark. It will predict Mark’s future behaviour and it will suggest a plan of actions for intervention in order to make a difference in Mark’s life. The problems identified in the banks family are; Mark’s bullying behaviours, both at school and at home, his failure to form relationships with his counterparts, and lack of progress in his education. The essay will discuss the similarities and differences in the identified theories. It will also investigate the advantages and disadvantages of each of the theories. At the same time, the essay will explain how the concept of the anti discriminatory practice can be employed to underpin the interventions whilst using the identified theories.

Theoretically, Social work is influenced by the relationship between theory and practice from different perspectives in meeting the client’s unique needs in a desired situation and at a particular period of time (Coulshed, 1988). Again, applying theory to practice involves different schools of thought whereas practitioner-client relationship maybe a difficult subject (Taylor and Devine, 1993). However the mandate here is to explain two major theories or approaches but highlights on a third is necessary. Firstly, ‘Solution focused approach’ developed by Erickson’s (1963) and De Shazer (1972) at the therapy centre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The theory is regarded as a positive solution building approach focusing on the client. Clearly the aim is to explore the principles of anti-oppressive practice and involving the client in finding a solution to their problems. This approach does not focus on the past but what is happening in the present and future. It is focusing on two important issues, supporting clients to preferably explore their own future and taking into consideration when, where, with whom and how is it all happening to reach the desired outcomes in a shortest route. The features of solution based approach is to keep the client at the centre of their activity and encouraging them to bring about problems that need attention, furthermore, move from the problems to make slight changes in their behaviour and make some improvements. Nevertheless, it is assumed that clients feel part of their problems. The key concept of this approach is that focus is based upon the here and know with positive thinking and avoiding pre-judgmental. Above all solution based approach has no time limit as it tries to move from the centre to where clients can feel happier by reducing the problems step by step.

In another of school of thought, task-centred approach has been considered as a structured way of working with clients in a time limit framework. The most important part of the task-centred approach is partnership and empowerment; this involves two or more people working with a common purpose. Moreover, this theory builds on client’s strength and avoids talking about their faults by providing the necessary help they need. According to coulshed (1988), those trying to bring about models for ethnic-sensitive practice favour task-centred approach that promotes anti-oppressive practice (Doel and marsh, 1992). Task centred is unique in that it breaks down the problems into small manageable components, it involves the social worker and the service user identifying the main problem(s) and then working out how to reformulate them in to easily manageable tasks. After the tasks have been agreed the next step is to divided them between the social work and the service user and then decide who is going to work on which task and over what period of time. Using this approach the social worker and service user look very closely at the presenting problem(s) and reformulating them into a range of small practical tasks. The task centred approach fits together well with anti discriminatory practice because it encourages the social worker to do what they do best by bring their expertise into the relationship and work alongside the service user. Okitikpi et al, (2010) argues that the core aspects of the task centered approach that include working with partnership, collaboration, service users strengths, building on confidence, systematic and responsive communication are the same core elements that characterise ADP.

Task-centred approach is seen to be effective with interpersonal concerns like those of mark. (Ramos and Tolson 2008 cited in Hepworth 2010 pg 379) Says that this theory is, “incompatible with mandated clients who refuse help or are unable to identify changes that they wish to change”.

By direct contrast, the third approach, ‘Attachment theory’ by Bowlby (1973) which grew out of rejection of some aspects of psychoanalysis and childhood raring with no separation could have been used but it is not relevant in this case study.

Examining the influence of the ‘task-centre approach’ and the solution-focused therapy’, there are similarities and differences which have to be highlighted. Firstly, the case scenario of the Banks family clearly indicates that there need to be an intervention process by using the task-centred approach or solution-focused approach. Ride and Epstein (1972) hypothesised on the task-centred approach as effective and more durable. Time-limit on the approach shows that changes could occur rapidly as all participants are motivated (Maslow, 1943). This involves eight areas of concern among which Behavioural problems, reactive emotional distress and difficulty in role performance are selected target problem areas. However, there are steps to be taken in task-centred approach: The first step is problem exploration, Agreement; second step is, formulating an objective, achieving the task(s), and finally terminations stage. To start with there were behavioural problems identified in the case of Mark, like yelling, fighting and disruptive. But as required the focus here is to move from what is wrong to what is needed to be done. Similar to the task centred approach is the solution focused approach; it is action oriented and uses a number of strategic questions to find out the solution to a series of problems that the client has. (Trepper et al 2006) cited in Hepworth (2010. Pg. 356). When using TCA with minors like Mark, the tasks involved in this are that there is need to work with the parents and teachers in a collaborative and anti-oppressive way to solve the problems, discuss basic care needs interest in how to help Mark to do his work in class, and work on his tantrums and arguments, discuss with parents how to get Mark to interact with other children and make arrangements for Mark to visit his father in order to came him down. (Enos 2008) cited in Hepworth (2010. Pg. 357) argues that lack of mandated contact from a family member can cause fear, a sense of failure, concerns about status and use the attitudinal weapons at their disposal may react with anger and a minimum refuse to cooperate.

Mark’s parents need to reduce his inappropriate behaviour by developing skills to improve parent-child relationships for instance, listening and negotiating skills, teach Mark skills of approaching others, how to introduce himself, interact with others by engaging in conversations.

In evaluating the two approaches in the scenario there are advantages and disadvantages. In the ‘solution-focused therapy’, Mark is the focus and his self esteem is promoted. The problem is the primary concern not the client. SFA offers a positive approach working with the service users. The emphasis of engaging the service user to talk about solutions not just problems is an empowering method. The commitment to service users’ empowerment, a focus on strengths and service users’ capacities towards improving their situations and reaching solutions is a significant contribution. In contrast, there is negative focus and there will be problem as poor communication skills will lead to poor practice by social workers. Some aspects of the SFA have been criticised for being directive in nature in particular the assessing of tasks and the emphasis on solutions. “Research conducted by the family therapist using the approach revealed discrepancies between the client’s experiences and the observations made by their therapists related to the outcomes”, (Metcalf et al 1996) (Cited in Hepworth 2010 pg.406). Storm (1991) and Lipchik (1997) cited in Hepworth 2010 pg. 406) maintain as a result of their work the primary focus on adherence to solution was embarrassing to some clients. The positive trust of the approach prevents the service user from discussing their real problems and to avoid talking about their concerns.

‘In the task-centred approach’, the problem is the main concern not Mark. He is empowered, considering his self esteem and independence. The approach is short termed and time-limited. In contrast, there is lack of motivation in this approach, the underlying problem has not been addressed, there is tendency that social workers might force Mark through coaching as to complete tasks.

Payne (1997) cited in Wilson et al (2008 pg371) suggests task centred approach may not be effective in situations where there are constant difficulties, where long-term psychological problems are the main issues or where users do not accept the right of the social worker or the agency to be involved. Reflecting in this case scenario it is seen that Ken comes from a dysfunctional family which made him spend most of his teenage life in the care of the local authority and this may have affected him psychologically and he may not want to cooperate with the social worker in order to make the approach effective.

Doel and Marsh (1992) suggest the service user’s ability to think and reason is a key ingredient to the success of the approach. “In those cases where social work is appropriate but where the reasoning is impaired such as people with considerable learning difficulties or great degree of confusion, task-centred work is often not possible in direct work with that person”, (Doel and Marsh 1942 cited in Wilson et al 2008 pg 99). However in the case scenario all the family members are in sound mental state so the approach is suitable.

A further disadvantage of task-centred is that where a wide range of problems is experienced, each of which interacts with other problems which threaten to over whelm the family the approach seems rather a weak response. It is argued that unless one is able to deal with problems on many fronts, the combination of these problems will continue to undermine the functioning of family members. For example if one family member has the capacity to reason, but when other members of the family are not prepared to engage in the same process and consistently undermine the efforts of the social worker and service user, the approach may not achieve much. In relation to the case scenario the approach will not be effective if Mark who has multiple problems refuses to cooperate.

In conclusion effective social work practice is based on principles and the application of theories or ‘approaches give to different explanations and lead to different practice’ (Howe, 1987). According to research in to service-users’ views of social work practice has highlighted that effective practice depends on the combination of good interpersonal skills and clear, organised practice. It is argued that when social work activities are clearly focused, problems clearly identified and specified goals set with service users, then studies produce positive results. This essay has looked at two approaches and how they can be used by a social worker to help engage the Banks family in order to get the necessary support to improve Marks behaviour problems.

A 6000 word literature review project which critically analyses and evaluates the effectiveness of family support services aimed at reducing stress and poverty for the parents of children in need.

Introduction

The whole issue of parents and children in need is a vast, complex and ethically challenging one. This review is specifically charged with an examination of those issues which impinge upon the stresses and strains that are experienced by parents of children in need.

A superficial examination of these issues that are involved in this particular area would suggest that there are a number of “sub-texts” which can all give rise to this particular situation. Firstly, to have a child in need is clearly a stressful situation for any parent. (Meltzer H et al. 1999)

This can clearly be purely a financial concern and a reflection of the fact that the whole family is in financial hardship, perhaps due to the economic situation or perhaps due to the actions of the parents themselves. Equally the need of the child can be a result of a non-financial need, so we should also consider the child who is in some way handicapped, ill, emotionally disturbed or perhaps in need in some other way. This produces another type of stress on the parent, and these stresses are typically longer lasting and, in general, less easily rectified than a purely financial consideration of need. (Hall D 1996).

It is part of the basic ethos of the welfare state that it should look after its less able and disadvantaged members. (Welsh Office 1997). Parents of children in need will often qualify in this definition. We shall therefore examine the various aspects of this problem.

Literature Review

We will make a start by considering one type of child in need. The first paper that we will consider is that of Prof. Vostanis (Vostanis 2002), which looks at the mental health problems that are faced by deprived children and their families together with the effectiveness of the resources that are available to them.

It is a well written and well researched paper, if rather complex and confusing in places. We will consider this paper in some detail as it provides an excellent overview of the whole area.

The paper starts with a rather useful definition for our purposes. It qualifies the deprived child, initially in terms of a homeless family, that being :

A family of any number of adults with dependent children who are statutorily accepted by local authorities (housing departments) in the UK, and are usually accommodated for a brief period in voluntary agency, local authority or housing association hostels.

This period of temporary accommodation can vary enormously depending on the time of year and the area considered, and can range from a few days to perhaps several months. The target in Greater London is currently to rehouse homeless families within 4-6 weeks. In London particularly, the homeless families can be placed in Bed & Breakfast accommodation. (D of H 1998)

In this respect, the immediate family support mechanisms do appear to be in place. Vostranis however, goes on to make the observation that despite the fact that the definition of the homeless family is rather broad, it does not cover all of the potential children in need, as those children and their carers who have lost their homes but have managed to live with relatives, on the streets or perhaps live as travellers, are not covered by the statutory obligation to provide housing. The official figures therefore, he observes, are generally an underestimate of the true situation. The official figures for the homeless families are put (in this paper) at 140,000. (Vostanis & Cumella, 1999)

The authors give us further information in that many families will become homeless again within one year of rehousing and the typical family seen is the single mother and at least two children who are generally under the age of 11 yrs. They also observe that the typical father and adolescent child tend to be placed in homeless centres. (D of H 1995)

In exploration of the particular topic that we are considering, the authors give us the situations that typically have given rise to the degree of parental stress that may have led to the homelessness. They point to the fact that a homeless family is usually homeless for different reasons to the single homeless adult. Vostanis (et al 1997) is quoted as showing that 50% of the cases studied were homeless as a direct result of domestic violence and 25% as a result of harassment from neighbours. The authors observe that the numbers in this category (and therefore the problems), are rising. (Welsh Office 1999).

There are a number of section to this paper which are not directly referable to our considerations. We shall therefore direct our attention purely to those parts that have a direct bearing on the subject. One particularly useful and analytical part of the paper is the section that details the characteristics and needs of the target group. This is a very detailed section, but it makes the point that the children in need in this group are particularly heterogeneous, generally all with multiple and inter-related needs. Homelessness is seldom a one off event. This particular observation, (say the authors), is crucially important for the development and provision of services.

Most families have histories of previous chronic adversities that constitute risk factors for both children and parents (Bassuk et al, 1997). Such events include family conflict, violence and breakdown; limited or absent networks for family and social support; recurring moves; poverty; and unemployment. Mothers are more likely to have suffered abuse in their own childhood and adult life and children have increased rates of placement on the at-risk child protection register, because of neglect, physical and/or sexual abuse.

If we specifically consider the health needs of this population, the authors categorise them thus:

The children are more likely to have a history of low birthweight, anaemia, dental decay and delayed immunisations, to be of lower stature and have a greater degree of nutritional stress. They are also more likely to suffer accidents, injuries and burns. (BPA 1999)

Some studies have found that child health problems increase with the duration of homelessness, although this finding is not consistent. A substantial proportion of homeless children have delayed development compared with the general population of children of a similar chronological age. This includes both specific developmental delays, such as in receptive and expressive language and visual, motor and reading skills, as well as general skills and educational status (Webb et al. 2001).

It is for this reason specifically, that it has proved extremely difficult to assess the effectiveness of the family support services because of the multivariate nature of the problems that are presented.

The authors point to the fact that one of the prime determinants of the degree of support available, is the actual access that the families have to these services. Many sources (viz. Wilkinson R 1996), equate the poor health of the disadvantaged primarily with the lack of access to services. One immediate difficulty is the current registration system in the UK. In order to be seen in the primary healthcare team setting, one must be registered with a named doctor. In the majority of cases that we are dealing with here, they have moved area and registration is probably not high on their list of priorities. One can argue that there is the access to the A & E departments of the local hospitals but there is virtually no continuity here and they are no geared up to provide anything other than immediate treatment. (Hall D 1996).

This fact restricts their access to primary healthcare team procedures such as immunisations and other preventative medicine health clinics. (Lissauer et al, 1993) . By the same token these groups also have restricted access to the social services, whether they be the access teams, the family teams or the family support units and other agencies.

The authors also point to other more disruptive trends in this group such as an inability to attend a particular school for fear of being traced by an abusive partner. It follows that these children do not have a stable social support of a school. They are denied such factors as peer groups, routines and challenges which are both important protective and developmental factors. (Shankleman J et al 2000).

The summation of all of these factors, and others, is that the effectiveness of the family support services is greatly reduced by the mobility and the transient nature of the family unit. Quite apart from the difficulties outlined above relating to the problems of access to avenues of help open to the child in need and their families there are the problems engendered by the fact that social service departments in different areas of the country may not have immediate access to the previous records giving rise to many potential, and real, problems with continuity of care. This problem is brought into more immediate focus when one considers the increased frequency of child protection registrations in this particular group. (Hall D et al 1998).

One specific analysis of the family support services of this particular group comes in the form of the psychiatric services. In the context of the title of this piece, it demonstrates how these particular services, (but not these alone), are failing to deal with the totality of the problem.

All of the aspects that we have outlined so far are conspiring to dilute the effectiveness of the services provided. The fact that they are a mobile population with no fixed address means that some of the services may choose to invoke this as a reason for not making provision for them, particularly if resources are stretched. If more resources are given, then they are typically preferentially targeted at the single adult homeless population where the need is arguably greater.

The authors of this paper point to the fact that this may not actually be true as some studies have shown that homeless single mothers and their children have a 49% psychopathy rate and only an 11% contact with the support services. (Cumella et al, 1998). The impact of this fact on the children can only be imagined. To an extent however, it can be quantified as the authors cite other studies which show a 30% need rating for children, (they do not actually define exactly what their perceived level of need was), contrasted with a 3% contact rate for children and adolescents in this area. (viz. Power S et al. 1995).

Putting these considerations together, the authors outline a set of proposals which are designed to help improve the access to some of the essential services. The model that they propose could, if successful and with a degree of modification, prove suitable for adaptation to other areas of the family support services. It is not appropriate to discuss this model in detail, but suffice it to say that it has a tiered structure so that the degree of distress and need is titrated against the degree of input generated.

One of the reasons that we have selected this particular paper to present in this context is for its last section. It proposes a “family support services model” which has been developed and pioneered in the Leicester area. In the context of our review, it is worth considering in some detail.

A service provided through a family support team (four family support assistants).This is designed to detect a range of problems at the time of crisis; manage a degree of mental health problems (behavioural and emotional); provide parenting-training; support and train housing (hostel) staff; co-ordinate the work of different agencies; and provide some continuity after rehousing by ensuring intake by appropriate local services.

The family workers are based at the main hostel for homeless children and families. Other, predominantly voluntary, services have established alternative posts, such as advocates and key workers. Whatever the title of the post, it is essential that the post-holder has some experience and ongoing training in mental health and child protection, so that he or she can hold a substantial case-load, rather than merely mediate between already limited services.

The family support workers have direct access to the local child and adult mental health services, whose staff provide weekly outreach clinics. Their role is to work with the family support workers and other agencies, assess selected children and families, and provide treatment for more severe problems or disorders such as depression, self-harm and PTSD. A weekly inter-agency liaison meeting at the main hostel is attended by a health visitor, representatives of the local domestic violence service and Sure Start, There are also close, regular links with education welfare and social services. The aim is to effectively utilise specialist skills by discussing family situations from all perspectives at the liaison meeting.

A bimonthly steering group, led by the housing department, involves senior managers representing these agencies, as well as the education and social services departments and the voluntary sector, and they oversee and co-ordinate the service.

This appears to be something of an exemplar in relation to services provided elsewhere. The paper does not provide any element of costings in this area neither does it provide any figures in relation to its success rates, contact rates or overall effectiveness. In conclusion this paper is an extremely well written and authoritative overview of the situation relating to the stresses of the homeless parent with children and the effectiveness (or lack of it) in its ability to reduce the stresses experienced by the homeless children in need and their parents. It proposes remedies but sadly it does not evaluate the effectiveness of those remedies.

In order to address these shortcomings we can consider another paper by Tischler (et al 2000). This looks at a similar outreach set up which has been designed to capture the families of children in need who might otherwise slip through the net. This paper is written from a different perspective and specifically analyses the effectiveness of these services as they pertain to an entry cohort of 40 families.

This particular study was set up after preliminary work was done in the Birmingham area with 114 homeless families and this study defined the needs of the families but did not quantify their support systems.(Vostanis et al 1998). This paper set out to identify and measure the support systems available and their effectiveness as far as the families were concerned. The stresses encountered were partly reflected by the incidence of psychiatric morbidity. The mothers in the group were found to have over 50% more morbidity than a matched control group. The children in the group were found to have “histories of abuse, living in care, being on the at-risk protection register, delayed communication and higher reported mental health problems.” All of which adds to the general background stress levels. (Kerouac S et al. 1996).

This particular study found that despite the psychiatric morbidity in the children, (estimated to be about 30%), and the psychiatric morbidity in the parents, (estimated at about 50%), only 3% of the children and 10% of the parents had had any significant contact or support from the social services. In this respect, this paper is very useful to our purpose as it quantifies the levels of intervention and access to healthcare resources that this particular group has. By any appreciation, it would be considered woefully inadequate in any society that calls itself civilised. In the terms of the title of this piece, the effectiveness of the family support services is minimal.

Like the last paper discussed, this one also considered how best to tackle the problem, and this one is of much greater value to us, as it specifies a response, or intervention, to the problem in much the same way as the Vostranis 2002 paper did, but it makes the same measurements as it did prior to the intervention, and therefore allows us an insight into the actual effectiveness of the intervention.

The way this particular study worked was to assess the problem (as it has been presented above), devise an intervention strategy and then to measure its effect. This particular study goes to great lengths to actively involve all the appropriate agencies that could help the situation by having a central assessment station that acted as a liaison between all of the other resources. In brief, it actively involved liaison with the following:

Education, social services, child protection, local mental health services, voluntary and community organisations to facilitate the re-integration of the family into the community, and particularly their engagement with local services following rehousing; and training of staff of homeless centres in the understanding, recognition and management of mental illness in children and parents. This is essential, as hostel staff often work in isolation and have little knowledge of the potential severity and consequences of mental health problems in children.

It was hoped that, by doing this, it would maximise the impact that the limited resources had on reducing the levels of morbidity and stress in the families of the children in need.

The post intervention results were, by any estimate, impressive considering the historical difficulty of working with this particular group (O’Hara M 1995). 40 families (including 122 children) were studied in detail. The paper gives a detailed breakdown of the ethnic and demographic breakdown of the group. By far the biggest group were single mothers and children (72%)

The results showed that the majority of referrals were seen between 1-3 times (55%), with a further 22% being seen 4-6 times. It is a reflection of the difficulty in engaging this type of family in need that over 25% did not actually keep their appointments despite the obvious potential benefits that could have been utilised. The authors investigated this group further and ascertained that a common reason for non attendance was the perception that the psychological welfare of the children was not actually the main concern. The families perceived that their primary needs were rehousing and financial stability. Other priorities identified were that physical health was a greater priority than mental health.

The authors also identify another common failing in the social services provision, and that is the general lack of regular contact. They cite the situation where some families cope well initially, apparently glad to have escaped an abusive or violent home situation, but a prolonged stay in a hostel or temporary accommodation may soon precipitate a bout of depression in the parents and behavioural problems in the children of such parents. (Brooks RM et al 1998). They suggest that regular re-visiting of families who have been in temporary accommodation for any significant length of time should be mandatory.

This paper takes a very practical overview by pointing out that workability of the system is, to a large extent, dependent on the goodwill of a number of committed professionals. The authors state that this has to be nurtured and they call for sufficient funding must be given to enable this particular model to be extended to a National level.

Thus far in the review we have considered the effectiveness of the service provision in the support of the families of the children in need in one specific target grouping, those who are stressed by virtue of the fact that they are homeless. We will now consider the literature on a different kind of family stress, and that is when a parent dies. This leaves the children with a considerable amount of potential emotional “baggage” and the surviving parent with an enormous amount of stress. (Webb E 1998).

An excellent paper by Downey (et al 1999) tackles this particular problem with both sensitivity and also considerable rigour. It is a long and complex paper, but the overall aims and objectives are clear from the outset.

The structure of the paper is a prospective case study which aims to assess whether the degree of distress suffered by a family during a time of bereavement is in any way linked to the degree of service provision that is utilised.

The base line for this study is set out in its first two paragraphs. Parentally bereaved children and surviving parents showed a greater than predicted level of psychiatric morbidity. Boys had greater levels of demonstrable morbidity than did girls, but bereaved mothers showed more morbidity than did bereaved fathers. Children were more likely to show signs of behavioural disturbance when the surviving parent manifested some kind of psychiatric disorder. (Kranzler EM et al 1990).

The authors point to the fact that their study shows that the service provision is statistically related to a number of (arguably unexpected [Fristad MA et al 1993]) factors namely:

The age of the children and the manner of parental death. Children under 5 years of age were less likely to be offered services than older children even though their parents desired it. Children were significantly more likely to be offered services when the parent had committed suicide or when the death was expected. Children least likely to receive service support were those who were not in touch with services before parental death.

Paradoxically the level of service provision was not found to be statistically significantly related to either the parental wishes or the degree of the psychiatric disturbance in either the parent or child. (Sanchez L et al 1994) The service provision did have some statistical relationships but that was only found to be the manner of the parental death and the actual age of the child at the time.

The authors therefore are able to identify a mismatch between the perceived need for support and the actual service provision made. Part of that mismatch is found to be due to the inability of the social services and other related agencies to take a dispassionate overview. Elsewhere in the paper the authors suggest that there are other factors that add to this inequality and they include lack of resources and a lack of specificity in identifying children at greatest risk. (Harrington R 1996)

The authors examine other literature to back up their initial precept that bereaved children have greater levels of morbidity. They cite many other papers who have found distress manifesting in the form of “anxiety, depression, withdrawal, sleep disturbance, and aggression.” (Worden JW et al. 1996) and also psychological problems in later life (Harris T et al. 1996).

In terms of study structure, the authors point to methodological problems with other papers in the area including a common failing of either having a standardised measure or no matched control group (Mohammed D et al 2003). They also point to the fact that this is probably the first UK study to investigate the subject using a properly representative sample and certainly the first to investigate whether service provision is actually related to the degree of the problems experienced.

The entry cohort involved nearly 550 families with 94 having children in the target range (2-18). With certain exclusions (such as two families where one parent had murdered the other etc.) and non respondents, the final cohort was reduced to 45 families and one target child was randomly selected from each family.

It has to be noted that the comparatively large number of non-respondents may have introduced a large element of bias, insofar as it is possible that the families most in need of support were those who were most distressed by the death of a family member and these could have been the very ones who chose not to participate. (Morton V et al 2003) The authors make no comment on this particular fact.

The authors should be commended for a particularly ingenious control measure for the children. They were matched by asking their school teacher to complete an inventory of disturbed behaviour on the next child in the school register after the target child.

A large part of the paper is taken up with methodological issues which ( apart form the comments above) cannot be faulted.

In terms of being children in need, 60% of children were found to have “significant behavioural abnormalities” with 28% having scores above the 95^th centile.

In terms of specific service support provision, 82% of parents identified a perceived need for support by virtue of the behaviour of their children. Only 49% of these actually received it in any degree.

Perhaps the most surprising statistic to come out of this study was the fact that of the parents who were offered support 44% were in the group who asked for it and 56% were in the group who didn’t want it.

The levels of support offered were independent of the degree of behavioural disturbance in the child.

As with the majority of papers that we have either presented here or read in preparation for this review, the authors call for a more rationally targeted approach to the utilisation of limited resources. The study also provides us with a very pertinent comment which many experienced healthcare professionals will empathise with, (Black D 1996), and that is:

Practitioners should also be aware that child disturbance may reflect undetected psychological distress in the surviving parent.

While not suggesting that this is a reflection of Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, the comment is a valid reflection of the fact that parental distress may be well hidden from people outside of the family and may only present as a manifestation of the child’s behaviour. (Feldman MD et al. 1994)

The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are that there is a considerable gap in the support offered ( quite apart form the effectiveness of that support) in this area of obvious stress for both parents and children. (Black D 1998). This study goes some way to quantifying the level of support actually given in these circumstances.

We have considered the role of the effectiveness and indeed, even the existence, of adequate support services for the children in need and their parents in a number of different social circumstances. The next paper that we wish to present is an excellent review of the support that is given to another specific sub-group and that is women and children who suffer from domestic violence. Webb and her group (et al 2001) considered the problem in considerable (and commendable) depth

The study itself had an entry cohort of nearly 150 children and their mothers who were resident in a number of hostels and women’s refuges that had been the victims of family violence at some stage in the recent past. The study subjected the cohort to a battery of tests designed to assess their physical, emotional and psychological health, and then quantified their access to, and support gained from, the primary healthcare teams and other social service-based support agencies. This study is presented in a long and sometimes difficult to read format. Much of the presentation is (understandably) taken up with statistical, ethical and methodological matters – all of which appear to be largely of excellent quality and the result of careful consideration.

The results make for interesting and, (in the context of this review), very relevant reading. Perhaps one of the more original findings was that nearly 60% of the child health data held by the various refuges was factually incorrect. This clearly has grave implications for studies that base their evidence base on that data set (Berwick D 2005).

Of great implication for the social services support mechanisms was the finding that 76% of the mothers in the study expressed concerns about the health of their children. Once they had left the refuge there was a significant loss to the follow up systems as 15% were untraceable and 25% returned to the home of the original perpetrator.

The study documents the fact that this particular group had both a high level of need for support and also a poor level of access to appropriate services. In the study conclusions, the authors make the pertinent comment that the time spent in the refuge offers a “window of opportunity” for the family support services to make contact and to review health and child developmental status.

This is not a demographically small group. In the UK, over 35,000 children and a parent, are recorded as passing through the refuges each year, with at least a similar number also being refered to other types of safe accommodation. Such measures are clearly not undertaken lightly with the average woman only entering a refuge after an average of 28 separate assaults. One can only speculate at the long term effects that this can have on both the mother and the children.

In common with the other papers reviewed, this paper also calls for greater levels of support for the families concerned as, by inference, the current levels of effectiveness of the family support services is clearly inadequate.

Conclusions

This review has specifically presented a number of papers which have been chosen from a much larger number that have been accessed and assessed, because of the fact that each has a particularly important issue or factor in its construction or results.

The issue that we have set out to evaluate is the effectiveness of the family support services which are specifically aimed at reducing the stress levels for the parents of children in need. Almost without exception, all of the papers that have been accessed (quite apart from those presented) have demonstrated the fact that the levels of support from the statutory bodies is “less than optimum” and in some cases it can only be described as “dire”.

Another factor that is a common finding, is that, given the fact that any welfare system is, by its very nature, a rationed system, the provision of the services that are provided is seldom targeted at the groups that need it the most. One can cite the Tischler (et al 2000) and Downey (et al 1999) papers in particular as demonstrating that a substantial proportion of the resources mobilised are actually being directed to groups that are either not requesting support or who demonstrably need it less than other sectors of the community. Some of the papers (actually a small proportion) make positive suggestions about the models for redirecting and targeting support. Sadly, the majority do little more than call for “more research to be done on the issue”.

In overview, we would have to conclude that the evidence suggests that the effectiveness of the family support services in reducing stress and poverty for the parents of children in need is poor at best and certainly capable of considerable improvement.

References

Bassuk, E. Buckner, J. Weinreb, L. et al (1997), Homelessness in female-headed families: childhood and adult risk and protective factors. American Journal of Public Health, 87, 241–248 1997

Berwick D 2005 Broadening the view of evidence-based medicine Qual. Saf. Health Care, Oct 2005; 14: 315 – 316.

Black D. 1996, Childhood bereavement: distress and long term sequelae can be lessened by early intervention. BMJ 1996; 312: 1496,

Black D. 1998, Coping with loss: bereavement in childhood. BMJ 1998; 316: 931-933,

BPA 1999, British Paediatric Association. Outcome measures for child health. London: Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 1999.

Brooks RM, Ferguson T, Webb E. 1998, Health services to children resident in domestic violence shelters. Ambulatory Child Health 1998; 4: 369-374.

Cumella, S. Grattan, E. & Vostanis, P.

Within this essay I am not going to list the reasons to believe in the effectiveness of the early intervention approach. The usefulness of early intervention itself is not in dispute. I will, however, be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of different types of early intervention. I will discuss the reasons to believe that some intervention schemes are better than others concerning ways to handle social issues. This essay will discuss the definitions of the terms used in the title. I will look at the motivations behind the schemes and discuss ways of analysing their effectiveness. In relation to the importance of child participation and the amplification of children’s voices, I would also like to look at children’s views on their own situations and why they feel like they should engage in acts that would qualify as a social issue.

Defining the key words

Using the term ‘social issue’ in reference to children and families tends to suggest childhood delinquency, drug abuse, violence, teenage pregnancy, crime and etcetera. The word ‘issue’ implies that there is a problem that should be dealt with; an issue is not an acceptable or desired means of behaviour and it opposes the social ideal. However, many questions arise concerning who has created the definition of this ideal. The language used in the title suggests that the ideal consists of the eradication of all social issues. (which the Government has highlighted.) Used in CTC??

Effectiveness is an expression that is used by the Government when evaluating early intervention. In the UK, The government drives forward the need for evaluation and assessment of early years practices (Lewis & Utting, 2001). It is a commonly held assumption that to achieve the goals of evidence-based practice and cost-effectiveness, “evaluation is a necessity, not a luxury” (Ghate, 2001, p23).

Preventative early intervention initiatives have become more common since the arrival of the New Labour government in the late 1990s (Ghate, 2001). Whether they are led by the government or by other organisations, an early intervention programme generally has the aim of reducing negative social outcomes the children may contribute to when they grow up. Within this essay, I will be using examples of two different types of early intervention scheme: government-led and community-led.

Different types of intervention

Government-led

Throughout the 1990s, there was a growing recognition that wider social, political and economic factors were negatively influencing the families and communities that children grew up in (Hannon & Fox, 2005; Glass, 2001). Shortly after New Labour was elected to power in 1997, Tony Blair stated that by 2010, the number of children living in poverty within the UK would be halved and by 2020 it would be eradicated ( ). As a result of this, the New Labour government introduced a number of early intervention initiatives with the aim of reducing social exclusion due to poverty (Clarke, 2007).

The New Labour government has shown a serious commitment to the early intervention approach, having invested hundreds of millions of pounds into one initiative in particular: Sure Start (Hannon & Fox, 2005). To begin with, Sure Start was targeted primarily at working with parents of young children from the most socio-economically deprived areas in the UK. By doing this, therefore, the government aimed to potentially tackle future ‘issues’ that their children might create. One statement of Sure Start’s intentions is described by Clarke (2007); “(Sure Start aims to avoid) social exclusion in adulthood, primarily by enabling children to realise their potential within the education systemaˆY (p.699). Sure Start reflects its aim by working both directly and indirectly with the child; directly by providing such things as pre-school childcare; and indirectly by providing services for parents and the wider community (Belsky & Melhuish, 2007).

Other government early intervention approaches that have been introduced since 1997 with the aim to break the cycle of poverty include: child tax credits, working tax credits and child benefits. Government policies and green papers such as Every Child Matters (2003) support the early intervention approaches by outlining the standards for child well-being and suggesting guidelines to help professionals reach these standards. The 2007 Children’s Plan recognises the importance of providing support for parents, in order to gain their enthusiasm for their child’s education. Parental enthusiasm and involvement is a key factor when trying to initiate an intervention scheme ( ).

Government programmes and large scale intervention programmes such as Communities That Care (CTC) are not the only types of early intervention. Communities themselves have long developed programmes that tackle issues important to them. “Sure Start was to be focussed on relatively small areas of need, reflecting… the desirability of action at the level of communities” (Hannon & Fox, 2005, p3)

Community-led

Non-government led organisations have been set up all over the country in response to different communities’ needs. One example is ‘Kids Company’, a charity which aims to “provide practical, emotional and educational support to vulnerable inner-city children and young people” (Kids Company Website, 2008). This statement seems very similar to the one Sure Start uses. Kids Company’s methods of early intervention, however, differ significantly from those of Sure Start.

“Kids Company’s effectiveness lies in its provision of innovative, flexible and child-centred services. Kids Company provides targeted therapeutic and social work interventions, and universal class and group access to the arts.” (Gaskell, 2008, p4)

Personal relationships with people they are reaching.

Self-referal.

Accessibility is an important factor for intervention schemes. If parents or children do not access intervention (whether it be through choice or lack of knowledge)

“The assumption is that behind every child is a responsible adult, who will navigate the path to services” (Camilla Batmanghelidjh, 2006, p15). Sadly, the truth for many children who would benefit most from intervention services is that their main carers are not willing or cannot be bothered (uninterested?) to allow their child to attend (Batmanghelidjh, 2006).

Motivations behind intervention schemes

Politics

Children’s welfare?

Money

The intention for the Sure Start initiative was that it “should be based on the best evidence of what works” (Glass, 2001, p14).

Lack of funds can mean that some children get overlooked by local authorities and social services. In her book, Camilla Batmanghelidjh (2006) describes coming into contact with children who were suffering from lack of food and neglect, referring these children to social services, but discovering that they were not eligible for help due to lack of resources and too many cases of sexual and physical abuse.

Many children drop out of the education system and are never pursued by the ‘system’ because the behavioural and emotional difficulties of the children are too much of a burden to school staff (Batmanghelidjh, 2006).

Many interrelated factors place children ‘at risk’ of adopting behaviour that could be seen as a social issue. Many children who already practice such behaviour are likely to have been conditioned by their family’s socio-economic circumstances. Socially unacceptable behaviours can lead to social exclusion, which can, in turn, result in the next generation’s social exclusion (Clarke, 2007).

Children’s attitudes, achievements and behaviour are shown to be linked to the environment in which they grow up in. The largest influence is shown to be that of the family (Parton, 2007). Talk about EPPE. The key, when looking at dealing with social issues, lies in tackling the underlying factors. This could be by the means of providing services and/or resources.

These factors include poverty, poor nutrition, emotional neglect and underachievement. There is an overall understanding that these factors cannot be isolated from one another (find evidence).

Intervention is a term that suggests that an outside source will come ‘in’ to intervene with whatever is going on and disappear again once too ‘issue’ is fixed or eradicated.

Analysing effectiveness (research)

Evaluating larger scale early intervention programmes

Early Effects of CTC (Hawkins et al, 2008)

Reports positive effects, but the results are quantitative – looking at if the children have taken drugs or shown signs of ‘delinquent’ behaviour.

Not looking at the children’s views of how the project may have changed their lives – issues such as being listened to, valued and feeling part of the community.

“if services cannot specify what changes they expect to see for `successful’ users, evaluators certainly cannot measure them, let alone pass judgement on whether the service has proved effective.” (Ghate, 2001, p25)

Strengths of early intervention approaches imply that these are the reasons for perceived effectiveness. Contrary to the strengths of early intervention projects, their weaknesses reveal the space for improvement within the services.

The New Labour government has introduced several interventions that aim to benefit families. Much research would support the idea that early intervention schemes such as Sure Start have a positive benefit on children’s well-being ( ), but how far can research reflect the true picture of what is happening to under-privileged children in this country?

This pressure to measure a setting’s effectiveness can detract from the amount of time practitioners can spend with the children: “Time and energy is, therefore, increasingly sapped from those providing services to fill in forms for external purposes, rather than supporting children.” (Lewis and Utting, 2001, p4). Ironically, this could negatively affect the ‘effectiveness’ of the intervention.

Accessibility- If many people are accessing services, then the likelihood of them having an impact is increased. Alternatively, if there are not enough staff members to meet the needs of the attendees, then the likelihood of effectiveness is inevitably decreased.

“Before an educational outcome there needs to be an emotional one” (Batmanghelidjh, 2006, p23). Successful outcomes or effectiveness of an intervention service are not instantly noticeable. It may take years for disturbed children to engage in behaviour they were previously unable to. “Their outcomes are personal, and their successes are often individual and emotional first, before they become visible in the world of academia and work.” (Batmanghelidjh, 2006, p 22)

“The problem with presenting outcomes in the way that they are being demanded is that clinicians try and exclude children from their services who are likely not to provide positive outcomes.” p.23 – This is not through cruelty, though, but because the clinician relies on the money they earn for doing their job ‘effectively’. Money is essentially the reason why so many children do not receive the services they should. Children are being dehumanised by being treated as statistics that keep adults in their jobs.

“So many of our current interventions with vulnerable children come from the perspective of the well-adjusted adult, needing to preserve our own sense of safety.” (p 153)

Short-term initiatives, where the practitioner enters the child’s situation, offers a ‘quick-fix’ cure and then disappears again, are merely cosmetic. This kind of intervention offers no real solution to the issues that disadvantaged children face. The government thrive on statistics that have been distorted to reflect their political goal (find some). The public want statistics to show them that issues are being resolved.

It is to do with how committed people are to seeing change. Short-term initiatives are ineffective, due to the fact that people are complex beings. Effective early intervention programmes have recognised the need to build relationships with the people behind the ‘issues’.

Conclusion

Children who carry out anti-social behaviour are sometimes referred to as being ‘delinquent’ (Hawkins, 2008). This reflects the medical model of disability, that which implies that the fault lies within the child and needs to be fixed.

The aim of some early intervention programmes can be to benefit wider society rather than the child. Blair (2008) spoke of a new political initiative that would identify those most at risk of offending at birth. This kind of intervention would not be beneficial to the child. Being labelled from birth as a potential offender could produce a self-fulfilling prophesy.

The most effective early intervention programmes are those that make a commitment to the children themselves; that aim to make them feel valued as members of society and offer them the best opportunities.

Many of the ‘early intervention’ programmes explored, such as Communities That Care (CTC) concentrate on notions of bringing the community together and building social capital from within the community. We cannot expect children to act as responsible members of the community unless they are treated as such. Not just gathering their views but involving them, involving them in planning and developing of programmes – as will see constant criticism from the children is ‘nothing actually happens’

Disenchantment

The ‘delinquent’ child (Hawkins, 2008)

Looking at how the child is framed within early intervention programmes. Is it to make them feel valued, important and give them the best opportunities? Or is it to sort them out for the sake of wider society?

Government initiatives: Identifying those at risk of offending at birth (Blair, 2008). Fits with governments crack-down on anti-social behaviour and ASBO’s.

More positive: Sure Start, parenting programmes.

Want to prevent the problems before they start, but such approaches label the child before they have even offended. This is likely to alienate them further from society. Not helpful!

Distribution of power

CTC

Programme is systematically applied from the outside

Community driven and the community identifies problems they believe need addressing

But, research by (Brown et al 2007) into the ‘Community Youth Development Study:’

Leaders were those who already held leadership positions i.e. mayors, city managers, police chiefs, school superintendents. These were the people who were interviewed, alongside five ‘referred leaders’

No effort to break down power relationships. Study itself is not representative. We do not hear the views of different community members.

‘Older respondents and those from law enforcement were more likely to report higher baseline levels of collaboration’ than younger respondents or those from other community sectors’ (Brown et al 2007). So again criminal justice system taking the lead.

Ultimately, people sacrificing their time and finances can do such impressive things for the need of their communities….

“And I think that’s what our world is desperately in need of – lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about.” – Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution, 2006)

Define what can be meant by social issues in this essay.

What does it mean to ‘deal’ with social issues?

What is effectiveness? How can we measure such a relative/ idiosyncratic thing?

What types of early intervention are there?

Government programs – Surestart

Voluntary sector- charity work/ people choosing to live in disadvantaged community to help change for the better.

Education?

Therapists?

Health? – NHS, midwives, health visitors etc.

What reasons are there to believe that these methods work?

CTC data (large no.s of opinion surveys – do these fully reflect true picture?)

Case studies?

Government studies (truly reliable? Short term? Who are they financed by and for what purpose?)

What alternative approaches are there to early intervention?! (What are we comparing early intervention to to make the assumption that it is the most effective approach to deal with social issues?

Other countries (Norway and Sweden)

Are families engaging with intervention projects?

Non-engagement (Anning and Ball 2008)

Intervention or need of resources??

Arnold et al (2003):

Specific needs of communities and the individuals themselves within such communities need to be addressed. Great diversity of needs

It is the environment that needs changing not the individual.

Brown et al (2007) ‘CTC organizes the adoption of a science-based approach to prevention into five stages that correspond to Rogers’ (1995) stages of innovation diffusion. Each stage is guided by a set of “milestones” and benchmarks” that are used to monitor CTC implementation’ p181

Diffusion is the process through which (1) an innovation (2) is communicated through certain channels (3) over time (4) among the members of a social system (Rogers, 1995).

Most individuals evaluate an innovation, not on the basis of scientific research by experts, but through the subjective evaluations of near-peers who have already adopted the innovation. Diffusion is essentially a social process through which people talking to people spread an innovation.

Work-life balance is defined here as an individual’s ability to meet their work and family commitments, as well as other non-work responsibilities and activities. Work life balance, in addition to the relations between work and family functions, also involves other roles in other areas of life. In this study, due to its more extensive associations, the concept of work -life balance is preferred.

Work-life balance has been defined differently by different scholars. In order to broaden our perspectives, some definitions will be presented. Greenhaus (2002) defined work -life balance as satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role conflict. Felstead et al. (2002) defines work-life balance as the relationship between the institutional and cultural times and spaces of work and non-work in societies where income is predominantly generated and distributed through labor markets.

Aycan et al. (2007) confined the subject only with work and family and put forward the concept of “life balance” with a more whole perspective. Scholars defined life balance as fulfilling the demands satisfactorily in the three basic areas of life; namely, work, family and private.

Work demands work hours, work intensity and proportion of working hours spent in work. Additional work hours subtract from home time, while high work intensity or work pressure may result in fatigue, anxiety or other adverse physiological consequences that affect the quality of home and family life( White et al.,2003). Family demands include such subjects as the roles of the individuals (e.g. Father, mother, etc.,) family responsibilities (e.g childcare, house chores, etc) looking after the old members, children. Besides this, there are some other demands in work life balance than family and work live relaxation, vacation, sports and personal development programmes.

Work -life balance is not the allocation of time equally among work, family and personal demands. In literature, it is also emphasized that work-life balance is subjective phenomenon that changes from person to person. In this regard, work-life balance should be regarded as allocating the available resources like time, thought and labor wisely among the elements of life.

While some adopt the philosophy of ‘working to live’ and sees work as the objective, others consider “living to work” and situated work into the centre of life.

DETERMINANTS OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Many things in life are the determinants of work life balance. The subjects in the literature that are related the most with work life balance are grouped here.

INDIVIDUAL:

An individual is the most important determinant of work -life balance.

two American cardiologists Rosenman and Friedman determined two different types of personality depending on heart disorders and individual behaviours: type A and type B. Type A expresses someone who is more active, more work oriented, more passionate and competitive, while Type B is calm, patient, balanced and right minded. It can be argued that since type A is more work oriented, there will be a negative reflection of it to work -life balance.

Yet work holism, which is considered as an obsessive behavior, is another thing that destroys work-life balance. When work holism connotes over addiction to work, being at work for a very long time, overworking and busy with work at times out of work. Since life is not only about work, workaholics suffer from alienation, family problems and some health problems. Porter(1996) states that alcoholics, workaholics neglect their families, friends, relations and other social responsibilities.

FAMILY:

The demands that one experience in family life and that have effects on life balance can be given as the demand of workload and time, role expectations in family and support to be given to the spouse. It is also included in the literature that such variances as marriage, child rising, caring of the elderly at home have effect on work-life balance since they demand more family responsibilities.

Those who have to look after a child or the elderly might sometimes have to risk their career by shortening their working hours, which becomes a source of stress for them. On the other hand, those without children or any elderly to look after at home experience less work-life imbalance.

WORK AND ORGANISATION:

Work environment is more effective in work-life imbalance than the family environment. The job and the institution one works in both demands on his time, efforts and mental capacity. Among the efforts to increase organizational efficiency, one of the subjects managers focus on is to raise the organizational efficiency, one of the subjects managers focus on is to raise the organizational loyalty of the staff.

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT:

Another determinant of work-life balance is social environment. Especially in countries that stand out with their culturally collectivist characteristics, an individual also has responsibilities towards certain social groups he belongs.

CONSEQUENCES OF WORK-LIFE IMBALANCE

The stress – based conflict occurs when one of the roles of the individual at work or in the family causes stress on the individual and this stress affects the other roles of the individual. The behavior stress occurs when the behavior at work and out of work are dissonant and conflicting.

PERSONAL IMPLICATIONS

According to Lowe (2005), work life imbalance affects the overall well-being of the individual causing such problems as dissatisfaction from life, prolonged sadness, using drugs or alcohol.

FAMILY IMPLICATIONS:

Organization expects from individual to allocate more time for their work while at the same time the family want him to perform his responsibilities too.

Those who can’t sustain work-life balance are bound to experience many problems in their families such as lower family satisfaction, decreased involvement in family roles etc.

ORGANIZATIONALIMPLICATIONS:

Those whose demands of the family and one’s social interest are not met duly naturally prefer sacrificing his working hours, and carry out their personal needs.

ORGANIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

In order to decrease the negative consequences of work- family conflict on working individuals, family friendly organizational culture and human resources applications have recently been in agenda of executive. The components of the organizational strategy are flexible working hours , child care and elderly care scheme, home working ,job sharing. Supportive programmes for the family life of employees in an organization contribute to providing work -life balance. Thanks to these programmes, the employees will be encouraged, their attendance will be supported and their efficiency will increase.

Flexible working hours is one of the methods used to maintain work-life balance. For example employees with flexi-time will have to fulfill certain amount of time weekly. Other thing which can be done is to allow employees to work at home away from traditional work environment.

CONCLUSION:

If one has managed to allocate the required time for every aspect of life duly and not to reflect the problems in one part of life to another it means that he has been able to achieve work-family balance. Life as a whole is composed of many other aspects along with work. Those who have achieved a balance among these aspects are sure to achieve the life balance, which does away with any imbalance.

Social work is a professional and academic discipline that pursues to progress the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and coaching on behalf of those distressed with poverty or any real or perceived social injustices and violations of their human rights (Cavanagh & Lane, 2012). To make all this happen, social workers have to communicate with the people affected and listen their problems carefully in order to take them out from the painful situation. Social work relies heavily on communication to identify problems and solutions related to social behaviours, including family relations, workplace interactions and substance abuse. Lack of communication can lead to clients shutting down, stepping away from assistance or losing trust in their social worker. Developing strong communication skills helps social workers work more efficiently and effectively with clients, resulting in more positive outcomes with less confrontation and fewer missed opportunities.

Communication is the ability to deliver/convey the thoughts, ideas or message effectively (Pathak & Joshi, 2010). The exchange of thoughts, feelings, messages, or information, as by reading, speech, gestures, visuals, signals, writing, or behaviour is known as Communication.

Despite of the fact, that language is the main element of communication. However the linguistic structure of all the languages are same, although according to cultural differences, they are been expressed differently.

There are several skills for a social work or a psychology profession to communicate with their clients, although this essay will discuss the major communication skills which should be applied by psychological professional or a social worker towards his/her clients. Everybody needs to be heard and understood; active listening is also one of the communication skills which make it possible (Kelan, 2007). Social workers have to focus on his/her client sayings and must answer appropriately. Listening actively will make the client feel more comfortable and in this way he/she can discuss all the issues faced.

Questioning is another technique for healthier communication. It is the way in which the social worker will be able to get as much information as he/she need, to make the right decision for the client and show him/her the right path, which leads him/her towards better future.

Moreover, silence is one of the virtuous types of communication which social workers exercise. Suppose, if the client is too much upset or suffering from something of real anxiety and emotional behaviour, then silence is the skill used by social workers to calm the client down. Once, the client come to normal, then the communication takes place to resolve the issue by providing different suggestion.

Technical jargons or slangs are some of the barriers in communication that the client would not be able to understand. To make the communication effective and realistic, one must not use the slangs or jargons because social workers would not be having any idea, whether the language or technical term they are using is being understood by their clients or is passing over the head of their client.

Approaching open or closed question by the social workers is exercised while interviewing their clients. It is the quicker and easier way found to get quick response from the clients. Statistical interpretation can be assessed easily through close ended questions. Close questions are specific and are cost effective in survey method, although these questions do not offer the clients to express their desires and feelings.

Communication skills every so often focus on picking the suitable words to reflect what they’re projected to convey, especially in social work. However listening remains an important element of effective social work communication. Social workers need to be vigilant about being active listeners while collaborating with clients, who may sometimes struggle to articulate their experiences. Focus attention on what clients, co-workers or controllers are saying by listening without worrying around what your reply will be. Repeat information to make sure you’ve understood, and ask additional questions to clarify information.

When working with clients on a complex problem, non-verbal communication skills are critical for social workers. Sit or stand up straight when conversing to help stay alert. Social workers must lean towards clients when they speak to create familiarity, nodding to affirm that you’re following along. Friendly eye contact should be maintained when culturally appropriate, they should not stare or prevent their eyes in awkwardness if someone begins to weep or cry. Says Pathak & Joshi, 2010 that alteration into people’s breathing helps realize temperament; held breath might specify fear, while shallow, hasty breath might reflect annoyance or a highly emotional state.

It is basically a challenging task to understand the language of the people where one works, because of communication barrier (if any). The basic ttool for social work is communication, although to communicate effectively there need to be some research done. As on average, Social workers have to answer positively when they are asked several questions regarding the work they are doing for the wellbeing society or community.

Social work can be very physically and emotionally demanding work. When coupled with long hours and low pay and benefits, the turnover rate for social work can be quite high, especially among first-year social workers. This can be countered if supervisors use empathetic communication skills to provide support and prevent burnout. Asking your social workers focused questions can help them identify problems and solutions more quickly. Provide constructive feedback to recognize successes and defray negative effects of setbacks. Apologize for mistakes, misunderstandings or instances when you weren’t fully able to address the needs of your staff.

Social workers must consistently undergo self-examinations about beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, feelings, fears and prejudices toward clients or situations to be effective communicators. Unexamined attitudes about drug use, child neglect, cultural biases or language choice may affect how you communicate with clients.

It might be concluded that communication plays an important role in making relationship strong and to help other understand the right meaning to its best. The language social workers and psychology professionals use to communicate in their profession must be easy for the client understand. Psychology professional and social worker must ask questions, remain silent, gestures, communicate empathetically, listen, reflect and build rapport, clarify towards their clients where appropriate. Social workers or psychology professionals must be aware of assumptions held when communicating with clients, supervisors or other social workers related to the case; these may prevent them from seeing the things objectively and helping develop an appropriate solution.

Community Care

Introduction

Foster and Roberts (1998, p. i) indicate that there are deficiencies in … the ‘triangular’ relationship between user, carer an community”. They point out that there is a “…common tendency to establish a two-way relationship, and disregard the perspective of the third party …” which “…obstructs the healthy functioning of the care system” (Foster and Roberts, 1998, p.i). Booker and Repper (1998, p. 4) expound upon the preceding in adding that “… community living is particularly difficult for people who have serious mental illness, many of whom experience frequent re-admissions in times of crisis and survive inadequately: in poverty and isolation, without work, with poor social supports and networks, and at risk of victimisation, exploitation, homelessness and imprisonment”. They add that “Indeed the community tenure of this population is often dependent upon the support of informal carers who inevitably have problems and needs themselves” Booker and Repper, 1998, p. 4).

The foregoing points to valid issues brought out regarding the community care system that indicate need further examination, and which represents the focus of this examination. Such asks the question, ‘to what extent is current community care policy and practice responsive to the needs and concerns of service users and carers? The preceding represents an expansive discussion. In order to formulate a balanced assessment of these aspects, this examination shall seek to break down the context into the three frameworks as indicated by Foster and Roberts (1998, p. i), and examine key policy frameworks, and practice developments representing the four specific areas of disability, health, mental health and older people in community care. In said examination, this study shall consider the extent to which policy and practice has been shaped by factors other than the needs and concerns of service users and carers. In a study conducted by the Hull Community Care Development Project over a three year period, it found that “… care and support issues have been largely neglected in area-based work” (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2004). The following shall seek to reach a determination if that assessment is true in terms of the four areas identified, disability, health, mental health and older people.

Community Care represents the help as well as support that is provided to individuals that aids them in being able to live either in their own homes, or in a home type setting in their community (careline.org.uk, 2007). The foregoing assistance can consist of representing help for the individual that needs the aid to live in the community as well as help and or assistance for the carer. The government’s policy on community care sets forth six key objectives (careline.org.uk, 2007). The first represents the providing of “… home care, day and respite services …” that enables individuals, wherever feasible as well as possible, to live in their own homes (careline.org.uk, 2007). Secondly, it entails the making of a proper assessment concerning “… need and good care management …” which represents “… cornerstone of high quality care” (careline.org.uk, 2007). The third area represents the promoting and “… the development of a flourishing independent sector alongside good quality services” (careline.org.uk, 2007). The fourth element consists of the clarification of responsibilities to thus make it easier to hold the various agencies accountable for their performance (careline.org.uk, 2007). The fifth aspect represents, “… to secure better value …” for expenditures as a result of the introduction of “… new funding structures for social care” (careline.org.uk, 2007). With the last area, sixth, representing the providing of “… additional help for carers …” as well as offering a choice for patients and the general public (careline.org.uk, 2007).

Community Care services are available to support older people, individual with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, mental health problems and chronic illness (careline.org.uk, 2007). The services that are available, which can differ slightly in some areas, basically consist of 1). Home care, that includes assistance with washing and dressing, 2) meals on wheels and frozen meals, 3) equipment as well as various adaptations to make living at home an easier prospect, 4) Day care centers that contain helpful activities, 5) respite services, 6) supported housing for individuals that with mental health and or disabilities. 7) intermediate care, 8) practical as well as financial assistance, 9) community nursing, 10) incontinence as well as NHS supplied nursing equipment (careline.org.uk, 2007).

Community Care Policy

The National Health Service and Community Care Act of 1990, that was phased into operation over a three year period, established a system whereby the needs of individuals were assessed entailing an agreed upon care plan, assigned worker and regular progress reviews (BBC News, 1998). Part of the procedural aspects of the foregoing was identifying those individuals whom might represent a significant risk, either to themselves and or others (BBC News, 1998). Those so identified where placed onto a ‘Supervision Register’ to prevent them from ‘slipping through the net’, which of course did not, and has not proven full proof (BBC News, 1998). The purpose of the National Health Service and Community Care Act of 1990 was to “… split health and social care provision between purchasers and providers to create an internal market” (Leathard, A., 2003, p. 16). This approach represented a means “To curb costs, purchasers were required to assess needs, while providers were intended to compete against each other to secure contracts from the purchasers” (Leathard, A., 2003, p. 16). The foregoing represented efficiency from the standpoint of governmental administration, however, it shortchanged the ends users, and the patients, in that it immersed them into a bidding supply system that did not place their needs and concerns upper most in the hierarchy. Leathard (2003, p. 16) states that the preceding “The split between purchasers and providers, as well as the competition between the providers themselves, led to fragmentation of services but a collaborative momentum began to build up between the purchasers”.

Important in the foregoing, is the understanding that the methodology provided the District Authorities with the power to purchase hospital care, and the family health service authorities had the responsibility “…for services provided by GPs, pharmacists, dentists and opticians, while local authorities covered the purchasing of all social services in the community” (Leathard, A., 2003, p. 18).

The Secretary of the Central Association for Mental Welfare, Evelyn Fox, in 1930 stated the pure view of community care was one that has seemingly gotten lost in the translation to practice, (Fox, 1930, p. 71):

“Community Care should vary from the giving of purely friendly advice and help to the various forms of state guardianship with compulsory power . . . It should include the power of affording every kind of assistance to the defective – boarding out, maintenance grants, the provision of tools, travelling expenses to and from work, of temporary care, change of air – in a word, all those things which will enable a defective to remain safely in his family . . . If the state has undertaken the duty and responsibility of active interference in the life of an individual by supervision, compulsory attention and so forth, it must undertake the corresponding duty of making his life as happy as possible.

The effective control of a defective at home does inevitably mean a restriction in his complete freedom to go in and out as he pleases, to make what friends he chooses, to select what type of employment he likes out of those that are open to him. To impose these limitations without at the same time giving compensating interests is to court disaster”.

Her statement, which has validity today, saw the family at the centre of community care. In fact, her view was that families should be co-opted to supply effective control (Fox, 1930, p. 73). The policy statements thus far put into action have tended to favour the carers more than the service users, which is shown by the following. The NHS and Community Care Act 1990 is based upon the “… triumvirate of autonomy, empowerment and choice (Levick, 1992, pp. 76-81). Smart, 2002, p. 102) as well as Biggs and Powell (2000, pp. 41-49) both state that the ‘Act’ has a major weaknesses in that it fails to account for any critical analysis concerning the role as well as daily practices of care managers. Clements (2000) provides a critical observation in stating that community care law bears the indelible stamp of its poor origins and that the present shape still resembles Beveridge’s vision of the welfare state. Care in the Community was a policy of the Margaret Thatcher government in the 1990’s whereby she questioned the existence of society and sought via the NHS as well as the Community Care Act 1990 to extend the privatisation agenda into health and community care through the creation of NHS trusts, the greater use of independent residential and nursing homes, and the general promotion of the mixed economy of care (reference.com, 2007). The preceding represented the second shift in the community care / health care approach. The third shift occurred under Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 which casts the definition of a public authority as “to embrace any person some of whose functions are of a public nature” (Bacigalupo et al, 2002, p. 249). The preceding continues “The expansive nature of this concept was explained by the Lord Chancellor who stated that the key question is whether the body in question has ‘functions of a public nature … If it has any functions of a public nature, it qualifies as a public authority” (Bacigalupo et al, 2002, p. 249).

The foregoing means that “… private community care providers as represented by residential care home owners, and or voluntary sector service providers such as Age Concern, MIND or housing associations are ‘public authorities’ in relation to anyone for whom they provide publicly funded care” (Bacigalupo et al, 2002, p. 249). They continue that “Such providers now shoulder public responsibilities for their vulnerable clients and are accountable in public law for their actions” (Bacigalupo et al, 2002, p. 249). The Department of Health has accordingly emphasised the need for English social services departments to ‘ensure that contractors and independent providers are made aware of their new duties” (Bacigalupo et al, 2002, p. 249). Under Article number 2 of the Act, which relates to policy for the Community Care Act 1990, it requires that the government and local authorities take reasonable measures to protect life (Bacigalupo et al, 2002, p. 249). Studies conducted by the Times (1994) found that relocating institutionalised elderly people to a new residence may have a dramatic effect on their mental health and life. A study by the Journal of American Geriatric Society (1994) indicated that mortality rates run as high as 35% in such instances.

Service Users and Carer Perspectives

Both aspects point out the fact that the system was not geared to the well being of the users. Further evidence of the foregoing was also expressed by Hardy et al (1999, pp. 483-491) who pointed out that the changes as brought forth in policy by the 1989 white paper ‘Caring for People’ as well as the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act were to increase choices for users as well as carers. The preceding changes were as a result of the fact that service users had been subordinate to professional service providers (Hardy et al, 1999, pp. 483-491). In addition, their had also been an inherent bias of funding that was geared for residential and nursing care and that such had deprived service users of the choice of being cared for in their own homes (Hardy et al, 1999, pp. 483-491). This was expressed by Leathard (2003, p. 16) who stated, “The split between purchasers and providers, as well as the competition between the providers themselves, led to fragmentation of services but a collaborative momentum began to build up between the purchasers”. The preceding was a result of the efficiency the Act brought to community care which did not address the needs, wishes and concerns of the users as it put them into a bidding system that saved money, but resulted in poorer care.

The foregoing included all four areas, disability patients, health patients, as well as mental health, and elderly patients who were caught in policy and practice developments. The Kings Fund Rehabilitation Programme (Hanford et al, 1999) addresses the foregoing deficiencies through policy initiatives based upon three themes, 1) working in partnership, 2) joint planning, and 3) commissioning. The preceding has been further developed through the King’s Fund updated statements on health and social care, in community based settings (King’s Fund, 2003). The combined initiatives have been devised to loosen governmental control and provide more accountability to patients and the local community (King’s Fund, 2003). Such a shift in policy will also affect hospitals as well as other what is termed as frontline providers to thus be more responsive to local needs and potentially improved performance (King’s Fund, 2003). The King’s Fund (1999) pointed out that the primary responsibility for the improvement in health programmes, specifically with regard to community care, lies with the health authorities, The King’s Fund (1999) also pointed out the however it is the local authorities that are expected to work out the objectives in improving the health and well being of their local communities. The initiatives put forth by the King’s Fund (1999) (2003) have been designed and crafted to achieve these lends through streamlining of the policy and operational facets.

An important aspect of the 1999 King’s Fund initiative entailed calling for improved preventive services that called upon local authorities to aid users to take on as many tasks as they could for themselves for as long as they could, along with living in their own homes for as long as possible. The preceding was borne out of fiscal realities, in order to better conserve funds. However, in light of the findings of studies conducted by the London Times (1994) as well as the Journal of American Geriatric Society (1994) that found that elderly patients that were institutionalized had morality rates that ran as high as 35% in many instances, means that this approach had definitive merits beyond the saving of funds. The foregoing approach was based upon older policy documents by the government that reinforced the methodology of fostering greater independence. Such was put forth by the Department of Health that stated the promotion of independence would “… have a positive effect on informal or unpaid carers … (King’s Fund, 1999). The King’s Fund (1999) also pointed out under ‘Best Value Initiatives’ “… local authorities should reduce delays in providing housing adaptations as part of the general move towards increased accountability to local people”.

The above recognizes the need as well as better care that users would and do receive from home based care that Evelyn Fox brought forth back in 1930. Her statement “If the state has undertaken the duty and responsibility of active interference in the life of an individual by supervision, compulsory attention and so forth, it must undertake the corresponding duty of making his life as happy as possible” (Fox, 1930, p. 71). The initiatives of the King’s Fund helped to remove the stigma as indicated by Clements (2000), that community care law bears the indelible stamp of its poor origins and that the present shape still resembles Beveridge’s vision of the welfare state. The initiative also addressed the observations of Smart, 2002, p. 102) as well as Biggs and Powell (2000, pp. 41-49) who both stated that the ‘Act’ had a major weaknesses in that it failed to account for any critical analysis concerning the role as well as daily practices of care managers. Through promoting more in home care for as long as possible, signaled a change in direction.

Policy changes as brought forth in 1997 resulted in the United Kingdom government issuing in June of each year a policy document informing the Health Authorities of their purchasing intentions for the following year (NHS Executive, 1996). Resulting there from were three sets of objectives: long-term objectives and policies; medium-term priorities and objectives for the 1997/98 year; and baseline requirements and objectives for 1997/98 year (NHS Executive, 1996). In the longer term, performance will be assessed under three headings: equity, efficiency, and responsiveness (NHS Executive, 1996, pp. 11-21). Under the 1997 New Labour reforms, Health Authorities are to be responsible for drawing up three-year Health Improvement Programmes, which are to be the framework within which all purchasers and providers operate (NHS Executive, 1996, pp. 11-21). Under Section 17 of the Health Act 1999 it accords wide powers to the Secretary of State to give directions to Health Authorities, Primary Care Trusts, and NHS Trusts. Prior to the 1997 New Labour proposals, monitoring efforts in the UK’s internal market concentrated on a small set of dimensions of output: annual growth in activity, waiting times, and targets for improvements in the health of certain groups of the population (Propper, 1995, pp. 1685). The foregoing is why the Health Authorities had focused on performance being monitored, but not the needs, desires and wishes of patients and carers.

Changes in Direction

The preceding facets were thus corrected under the indicated 1997 New Labour proposals promise to broaden performance measures to “things that count for patients, including the costs and results of treatment and care” (Department of Health, 2007). This represented the backbone of the indicated King’s Fund (2003) initiatives that have resulted in better patient and carer involvement. The Human Rights Act has had implications both for service users as well as carers in terms of re-focusing upon rights afforded them. It provides for them to have the right to life, the right to be free from inhuman and or degrading treatment, as well as the right to respect for private and family life (Carers UK, 2005). These aspects might seem as being basic rights that carers should have had all along. However, governmental surveys have shown that all too often the rights of carers are ignored and need to be balanced against the people they care for (Carers UK, 2005).

The United Kingdom’s National Strategy for Carers (Carers.UK, 2005) revealed, “carers’ rights are not adequately considered”. The preceding represents that under the Human Rights Act the rights of patients is balanced against the rights of the carer to mean that their views are considered by social services in the rendering of decisions. In addition, the research uncovered that all too frequently “carers’ rights are not real” (Carers.UK, 2005). The foregoing refers to assessments of carers regarding either their opinions and or rights as well as those expressed on behalf of their patients. Research conducted uncovered that carers’ all to frequently feel that their views and opinions are not considered in assessments and or decisions (Carers.UK, 2005). The third aspect of this facet represents the fact that carers’ as well as patients feel that “resources are inadequate to allow rights to be protected” (Carers.UK, 2005). The foregoing refers to the services needed are in all too many instances not available as a result of resources that are inadequate in terms of the cost and or staff time (Carers.UK, 2005). The last aspects refer to “good practice need not be expensive” (Carers.UK, 2005). The research conducted indicated that there are instances whereby imaginative good practice helped to safeguard the human rights of carers. One such example that was provided referred to the utilization of a 24-hour hotline that enabled carers as well as patients to arrange for support in cases of emergency thus referring to the ‘right to life’ aspect of human rights (Carers.UK, 2005). However, unfortunately, there are too few such examples.

Conclusion

The King’s Fund has been most progressive in being circumspect as well as balanced in their review and analysis of legislation, policy, procedures and rights as contained in documentation and as provided by carers and patients. Steps to shore up the human rights of carers as well as patients have been implemented under the Carers Recognition and Services Act 1995 (opsi.gov.uk, 1995) that calls for a separate assessment of carers at the same time one is carried out for patients. The vagueness is being addressed to clear up ambiguities in terms of words and phrases such as ‘substantial care’ services are a result of assessment, autonomy, health and safety, management of daily care routine and involvement (opsi, 2000). The preceding represents four key criteria under the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 (opsi, 2000). It corrects the loopholes found under the Carers Recognition and Services Act 1995 in that anyone over the age of 16 years of age who are or intend to provide substantial care that will be on a regular basis for another individual over the age of 18 years of age is entitled to an assessment (opsi, 2000). The preceding occurs regardless of whether the individual for whom they provide care and or support to has refused community care services (opsi, 2000). Additionally, social workers are advised to provide potential carers of their rights through the hand out of a special booklet that sets forth the benefits in receiving a carers assessment (Carers.UK, 2005). All of the foregoing represent policy and practice developments that are and have addressed a number of carer and patients concerns and issues under community care for disability, health, mental health and the elderly, yet there is still room for improvement.

As shown and evidenced throughout this examination, governmental policies in terms of community care policies and practice for the areas of disability, health, mental health and the elderly has been one of evolution. Sometimes however, representing backward steps before moving forward. Evelyn Fox (1930, p. 71) represents an example of progressive thinking and understanding that was not put into practice initially, but was gradually recognized as the approach later in the process. Her statement that placed the family at the center of community care was initially usurped by the efficiency of the National Health Service and Community Care Act of 1990 was devised to curb costs, but shortchanged patients and carers (Leathard, 2003, p. 16). As the system evolved, through its triumvirate of autonomy, empowerment and choice (Levick, 1992, pp. 76-81), it was impacted by the Human Rights Act 1998 and more recently by the combined initiatives of the King’s Fund (2003). These initiatives helped to reshape the inadequacies as presented by the efficient governmental system and adding more humanity, understanding and caring. Through addressing the observations of Smart, 2002, p. 102) along with Biggs and Powell (2000, pp. 41-49) who commented that the Act’s major weaknesses represented its failure to account for a critical analysis of the roles and daily care practices of carers and the importance of maintaining home care for as long as possible. Additionally, the King’s Fund (2003) initiatives brought forth the importance of the carer, patient voice in their affairs as a part of the overall community based care programmes. Thus, after 80 years, the system as swung back to Evelyn Fox (1930. p. 71). Family, after all, is the basis for the community, and as such is the foundation of community care.

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“Standing still enough to absorb the emotional impact of (service users) experiences is something that allows the movement hidden beneath the frozen state of psychological hypothermia to emerge in a tolerable way at the right time.” (Kohli, 2007, p. 180).

This paper will address the relevance of Kohli’s statement above to the discussion on the effective communication with accompanied minors. The paper will first define the term “unaccompanied minors”. It will then provide a definition of communication, then identify and examine its main theoretical perspectives. The paper will unpack the meaning of Kholi’s quotation by advancing a discussion of the importance of timing when working with unaccompanied minors and the intricacies involved in navigating the sometimes harrowing and emotional experiences of unaccompanied minors. The paper will also examine the issue of silence and how this reflects a state of being frozen in time with unaccompanied minors and will interrogate methodologies for delving below these issues, in a timely manner while ensuring that the service feels safe revealing their often locked away emotions. All these factors will be examined in the context of how communication can impact both the practitioner and the service user and how managing each factor effectively is essential to unlocking hidden feelings, emotions and trauma from which unaccompanied minors may suffer. The paper will draw on contemporary literature to empirically ground its arguments.

Both the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) defines unaccompanied as:

“under 18 years of age or under a country’s legal age of majority, are separated from both parents, and are not with and being cared for by a guardian or other adult who by law or custom is responsible for them. This includes minors who are without any adult care, minors who are entirely on their own, minors who are with minor siblings but who, as a group, are unsupported by any adult responsible for them, and minors who are with informal foster families.” (United Nations: 2007)

More recently, there have been a plethora of studies examining the psychosocial and day to day needs after they arrive in Western countries.

Communication is said to be a difficult concept to pin down by way of definition because of its many complexities, forms and application to everything. For the purposes of this paper, the definition provided by Fiske (1990:2) that communication is “social interaction through messages”, provides a good starting point to examine the concept in relation to unaccompanied minors. Thompson (2003) contends that the social aspect of communication is vital to consider because individuals interact within a social space and the nature of this communication dictates the nature of a relationship or how that relationship develops or breaks down.

Thompson (2003) navigates various theoretical model of communication by drawing on the work of other scholars. He identifies Shannon and Weaver’s 1949 definition of communication which locates 3 elements: The transmitter (person who starts communication), noise (the actual message communicated, and the receiver (the person who the message is communicated to). This definition has received ample criticism for oversimplifying a difficult concept wherein communication is not always transmitted by noise but also through silence and body language.

In addressing these omissions, the semiotics model was advanced as an alternative. In this model, communication is described by Cobley (2001) as a form of semiosis which is concerned with the exchange of any messages whatsoever: from the molecular code and the immunological properties of cells all the way through to vocal sentences.” This definition introduces other aspects rather than the spoken word into the communication discourse and Miller (1973) articulates that “communication includes not only the study of spoken communication between people, but also the many kinds of unspoken communication that go on constantly when people interact.” In this respect, communication also encompasses culture, because culture determines shared norms and values, language and ultimately these norms affect how information is communicated or transmitted. Thompson (2003) draws on Pierre Bordieau’s concept of cultural capital based on the strength of power bases, to explain how culture and power can interact to determine how information is understood and communicated, because it informs the semantics of language and the formation of identity. The identification of language as a prominent variable in any communication discourse is inescapable because as Thompson (2003) states, language does not only reflect reality, but it also constructs reality. This fact is elucidated when certain words or actions communicate a task, or certain actions communicate joy, distress or uncertainty, as is postulated by the speech act theory. Similarly, identity is informed by cultural norms and values, and determines how individuals view themselves and how they relate to others.

It is this connection between culture, identity, language and power which informs the foundations of the discussion on how practitioners can cut through the difficulties of intercultural communication barriers to assist usually traumatized unaccompanied minors. Intercultural communication skills in the social work discipline, is fraught with difficulties. Husbands (2000) maintains that the various biographical routes and stories of practitioners does interact in the social space of service users and can affect how information is communication based on how trust is fostered when communicating to service users that difference will be accepted and not judged. Kohli (2006) deftly describes the vulnerable unaccompanied child who arrives in a new country and who is reticent about divulging details to practitioners. He, alongside other scholars (Kohli and Mather: 2003; Beek and Schofield: 2004) observes that unaccompanied children often remain silent, or emotionally closed about their past. He writes that such children have usually been told over and over by others to remain quiet about themselves in order to keep safe. Kohli (2001, 2006, 2007) insists that it is imperative that social work practitioners gain skills that enable them to probe the past of unaccompanied asylum children, in order to truly understand their needs. Kohli recognizes that demands to meet targets faced by modern day practitioners, may interfere with the time they need to build trust and safely pry open the thoughts of unaccompanied minors. In light of this, the nature of their silence and the impact their experiences may have had on them must be explored, before addressing how social workers should “time” their intervention to open communication and prompt life histories from unaccompanied minors.

The silence displayed by unaccompanied minors should not be immediately adjudged to be because they are hiding harmful secrets. In fact, scholars such as Finkenauer et al (2001), argues that the keeping of secrets are normal adolescence developmental characteristics. However, the literature on silences among refugee children often points to explanations of fear and the silencing effects of war on children. Psychological studies (Melzak: 1992) contend that children often bury extreme hurt, pain or loss in order to survive, some to the extent that they can forget some events or the sequence of events as a defense mechanism. The risk of acting out buried emotions in a harmful way, compels many practitioners and scholars to argue for methodologies to unlock these stories which according to Kohler’s quotation, presented at the beginning of this paper, may be in a “frozen state of psychological hypothermia”, wherein they are unable to communicate their hidden pain. Papadoupolos (2002) posits that this frozen state could be purposely imposed to assist in healing and may be necessary to allow affected children the space to reflect, make sense of and accept before being able to move on successfully. Kohli (2006) therefore views this silence as both “burdensome and protective”, and it requires a skillful practitioner to know when to encourage unaccompanied minors to open up.

Krause (1997) and Rashid (1996) both warn against social workers rushing to conclusions about unaccompanied minors based on their cultural backgrounds and what is known about their country of origin. Focusing on organizational targets and not the clients needs first, may result in the practitioner missing the cultural contexts of the minors’ experiences, within specific times and risks simplifying complex information that may be transmitted without adequate reflection on the communication experience overtime. In order to determine when it is appropriate to prompt for hidden information or stories from unaccompanied minors, social workers must recognize that such children may be trying to be accepted within a new culture while suffering a loss from their own (Kohli and Mather: 2003). Therefore, social workers must be observant and reflective (Schon: 1987, 1983) to determine when a child is assimilated enough and trusting of the practitioner service user relationship to reveal any hidden stories of their past lives. Richman (1989) also reminds that many unaccompanied children are very resilient because of their experiences and they may be busy trying to figure out their next move, or how to survive within a new environment and culture, or thinking about their asylum status, than they are interested in reliving past experiences which do not in their estimation contribute to their present survival.

Consequently, practitioners are encouraged to engage in “therapeutic witnessing” (Kohli and Mather: 2003) rather than feeling the need to wring past experiences from unaccompanied minors. In drawing on Blackwell and Melzak (2000), Kohli and Mather (2003: 206) states:

“In essence, workers are asked not to become action orientated helpers in the face of ‘muck and bullets’, but stay still enough to bear the pain of listening to stories of great loss as they emerge at a pace manageable for the refugee.”

While Kohli acknowledges that it is difficult for a practitioner to remain still and allow a “discovery by drip” process to unfold with the refugee, he maintains that it allows refugees to “exorcise their demons and ghosts in the process of self-recovery” (Kholi and Mathers: 2003). This does not diminish the level of practical support that workers should offer to refugees, in fact it is through assisting to order their lives, that they will also make sense of their past and be more willing or open to sharing information about themselves. However, if and when refugees begin to share their experiences, practitioners must be versed on skills to encourage such interaction and should also be cognizant of their own reactions and judgement which can also be communicated to the client nonverbally and affect the “drip” method of divulging information. It is to these issues which this paper now turns.

Relationship based interaction between service users and practitioners remain central to the core value of social work and reflect its best practice. Holloway (2003) concurs with this view by asserting that conversations between practitioner and client dictate how the trust relationship is formed and how the worker is emboldened to assist the client. In this context, a discussion on emotional intelligence (EI) and its importance to the communication process is relevant. Morrison (2007) quotes Goleman’s 1996 definition of EI as “Being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope.” This delayed gratification is applicable to the need for social workers to allow unaccompanied minors the space to understand themselves and their new realities while making sense of their past. It requires great empathy and being able to perceive and identifying feelings in the self and others. Morrison (2007) links emotional intelligence and successful social work as being able to be conscious of the self while establishing good communication channels with the refugee. Morrison advises that social workers must be in tuned with their own prejudices and assumptions because many vulnerable clients such as unaccompanied minors are used to reading body language and silent communication signs to determine whether they should trust individuals. Therefore practitioners must ensure that their methods of practice reinforce good communication values rather than downplay them.

One of the first methodologies used by the social work practitioner is that of assessment. Assessment frameworks in the UK give little space for the exploration of histories (Morrison: 2007). Consequently, the emotions which compel youth behaviour is often not deeply understood from unaccompanied minors, especially since they may be silent and initially provide minimal normative sketches of their past. Accurate observation during assessment will take note of feelings which may hide deeper emotions and record the moments when these windows into the past were glimpsed or sensed. Much can also be gain by the observation that expression is void of emotion, as this may also be an indicator that the unaccompanied minor realize that communication certain emotions in their language may give the practitioner space to questions their past and they may be skilled at hiding such feelings in their language and tone. If information from the refugee is sparse and void of emotion, the practitioner should make extra effort to be reflective in practice to ensure that their own perceptions or impressions are not being transmitted to the client. Goleman et al (2002) articulates that there is a situation of dissonance when one party feels like the other is out of touch with their feelings. The Audit Commission’s 2006 report (p.66) into the treatment of unaccompanied children, demonstrates how practitioner bias can affect the level of treatment given to refugee children:

“Many unaccompanied children have multiple needs because of their experiences of separation, loss and social dislocation . . . Yet in many cases they do not receive the same standard of care routinely afforded to indigenous children in need, even though their legal rights are identical.”

Practitioners must therefore guard against treating unaccompanied minors as “another client”, because the literature identifies them as being particularly in tune to all forms of communication within the interaction process, and they use this as a guide on who, when and how to trust.

A vital part of the assessment is the interviewing of the unaccompanied minor. Wilson and Powell (2001: 1) maintain that “a child’s thinking is dependent on a number of factors including memory, conceptual development, emotional development and language formation.” They further assert that there are three aspects to remembering information: knowledge, sequencing and prioritizing. They contend that practitioners must seek to gain all three trough safe methods when interviewing and practice patience. It is important to note their guidance that a memory may not always be told in the right sequence, and be prioritized according to the present needs of the child or in the case of this paper – the unaccompanied minor. Furthermore, they remind us that a child’s memory may not be accurate, this could be deliberately so (as already explored by Kohli: 2006), and they argue that it is up to the interviewer to use a method of questioning when appropriate to maximize the accuracy of responses.

The Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings (2007) document which provided information on interviewing children stated that interviewers must approach the interview with an open mind and that enquiries should not increase the distress of a child by allowing them to reluctantly relive bad experiences. Similarly, the 1998 Cleveland Inquiry Report suggests that: All interviews should be conducted by a professional with child interview training; Interview questions should be open-ended; There should be one and no more than two interviews for the purpose of assessment and it should not be too long; the interview should be paced by the child not the adult among others and it is recommended that the both the police and the social worker (if necessary) interview the child at the same time. These guidelines ensure that the interview adopts a child-centered approach. Another method that is advised with unaccompanied children is the phased interview approach.

The phased interview approach is structured in three parts: the introduction and initial rapport establishment, the free narrative section and questioning section where the child is given space to communicate, alongside being questioned, and the closure of the interview. It is important to prepare children for the interview, through pre-interview contact to lessen any stress which may arise from being fearful of the process. Children should get ample time to consider whether they wish to share their stories or keep them locked away. Furthermore, the skill to actively listen is paramount to a social work practitioner as it not only assists with accurately observing, but it assures the child that what they are saying is being heard (Wilson and Powell: 2001). To assist in accuracy, the interviewer should reflect back the child’s responses to them for affirmation of clarification paying particular attention to maintaining neutral body language and tone while doing so (Thompson: 2002). However, Wilson and Powell (2001) maintain that if a term is not familiar to the interviewer or seems like slang, the interviewer should make every effort to clarify its meaning with the child in order to maximize accuracy and assist in avoiding possibilities of intercultural communication. Bradford (1994) further posits that the interviewer has the responsibility to ensure the validity of the communication process by pursuing the statement validity analysis (SVA). The SVA checks that the testimony contains no contradictions or logical inconsistencies, the abundance of details, the accuracy of contextual evidence which may be verifiable, the ability to reproduce conversations and interactions and the presence of complicated obstacles. However, Davies (2006) warns that while this tool may be useful, it is not a accurate fix, particularly in the case of silent children who may choose to withhold traumatic information (Kohli: 2006).

Wilhelmy and Bull (1999) argues that the use of drawings within interviews with child by practitioners should be encouraged where appropriate because it also provides assurance to the child that the interviewer is child centered. If this method is used, the interviewer must be very observant that this method does not make the child uneasy. While drawing may presents many opportunities to further question the child, the practitioner must as Kholi’s quotation suggests be extremely patient to unlock information and allow the interview to be paced by the child, thereby giving them space to trust the interviewing process. A child’s comfort with drawing, ay actually provide an opening to more difficult or painful areas and care should be taken to note and protect the child’s wellbeing and level of distress when painful information is disclosed. The use of role play and storytelling also offers unique methodologies to social workers to assist children in disclosing painful information.

Outside of the interview process, Chamberlain (2007) recounts the use of storytelling by the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture to assist refugee children from war torn countries to unlock their deeply buried painful memories when they are ready. He quotes Sheila Melzack the centers consultant child and adolescent psychotherapist as saying:

“Many are in a state of suspended animation because they do not know whether they will be forced to return home. We are trying to give them coping strategies to deal with all these issues. But instead of saying directly what they saw or did we deal with it through displacement. They can be extracted through stories which create safe arenas to talk about these issues.”

Therefore, Chamberlain (2007) and Davis (1990) asserts that stories can be utilized as a therapeutic intervention method to assist unaccompanied children to recall incidents, not necessarily airing them, but developing coping strategies that assist in building resilience in a new environment.

There are however, instances where unaccompanied children come from countries whose language differ from that of the receiving country. Gregory and Holloway (2005) maintain that language is used both to grant and restrict access to a society or organization. Chand (2005) identifies the lack of adequate interpreting and translation services within the UK social work sector. Chand’s research located many instance where the services of interpreters and translators were needed but they did not show, usually because of lack of resources, so they prioritise which cases they believe are more important such as more formal case conferences. Humphreys et al (1999) found that many interpreters left case conferences and assessment early, or that interviews or conferences may be rushed because of lack of resources. In light of the previous discussion on the need for social workers to be patient and allow unaccompanied minors to work through past recollections until they are in a space to share, this practice of rushing sessions to facilitate interpreters, is detrimental to the communication process between practitioner and the unaccompanied child and could discourage disclosure and engender trust issues.

As was discussed earlier in the theoretical section of this paper, language is closely related to power and can be used to control and regulate discourses and effect social control, based on its ability to include or exclude. The client-practitioner relationship is one in which the practitioner asserts their professionalism and therefore must take great care that such imbalance of power is not misunderstood by the client or imposed on them to hinder effective communication (Gregory and Holloway: 2005). Unaccompanied children, who have suffered trauma are usually used to being victimized by relationships of power imbalances, and therefore the social worker must always recognize that the relationship with such individuals is aimed at building their resilience and capacity :to adjust to all or any part of their new environment.

While keeping practice client focused, recent years have seen the introduction of numerous guidelines, new legislation and policy changes which require the adherence and commitment of the social work practitioner. Some critics (Young: 1999; Malin: 2000), debate that social work has become mediatory and managerial under modern day guidelines and stipulations which risk the developing of solid client-practitioner relationships and the development of trust. While Gregory and Holloway (2005) argue that the language of such guidelines can be interpreted as the social control of the social work profession which ultimately seeks to “fix” the meanings of grounded work with vulnerable clients to suit political agendas. Social workers must remain committed to the ethic of the profession and promote good social work values by ensuring that such language of control is not transferred from the managerial spheres to what Schon (1983) terms as the trenches of social work, that is, the interpersonal communication with clients. It is this regard that social workers must be aware of the power of language in working with unaccompanied minors, and ensure that the practice language is not dominated by a controlling or power induced thrust, but recognizes the vulnerability of clients and their need to slowly build trust and thaw their emotions (Kohli: 2006, 2007).

As with language, the relations between social work practitioners and other services, can directly affect relationship with unaccompanied minors and how they trust the professionalism of those who communicate to them that they care. The death of eight year-old Victoria Climbie presents an example of how the lack of effective communication between professional practitioners can result in harm, especially to children from foreign cultures. The Laming Report of 2003, an inquiry into Victoria’s death concluded that the young girl’s death could have been avoided if individual social workers, police officers, doctors and nurses who came into contact with the girl, had effectively responded to Victoria’s needs. The National Service Framework for Children and Young People (NSF) and the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), both strive to ensure the effective communication between service providers across sectors. Glenny (2005) states that:

“a lot of inter-agency collaboration is not about collaborative activity as such, but about communicating effectively with regard to individual pieces of work , ensuring patchwork of individual effort in relation to a particular [case], made sense…”

Ensuring proper communication between agencies when dealing with unaccompanied minors, is therefore essential to build trust in the client-practitioner relationship (Cross:2004) and to remove any doubts the minor may have that the capillaries of power that agencies appear to be, will work for their benefit and well being and not contribute to any further victimization they may have suffered.

It is therefore conclusive to say that the issue of managing effective communication is absolutely essential to successful social work practice with unaccompanied minors. The paper navigated the theoretical intricacies of the concept of communication to highlight its broad nature and how culture, language, body language and even silence are powerful communication tools tapped into by both practitioner and the unaccompanied minor in establishing boundaries of trust. One of the most evident revelations of this paper, is the need for practitioners to practice patience to allow unaccompanied minors the space to unlock their hidden stories, while providing them with support for their daily needs. Furthermore, the issue of intercultural communication difficulties that lack of interpreting and translation resources can cause in fostering best practice with accompanied minors was explored and it was identified that despite the lack of resources, unaccompanied minors are better served when they are not rushed for their hidden experiences. Finally, the paper identified the how the language of managerial control within social work can hinder best practice, if control of power imbalance is communicated even non-verbally to unaccompanied minors, who are very attuned to detecting such relations in order to protect themselves.

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Richman, N. (1998b) Looking Before and After: Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the West. In: P.J. Bracken & C. Petty (Eds.) Rethinking the Trauma of War. London: Save the Children.

Schon, D. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Schon, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books.

Thompson, N. (2003) Communication and Language. Hampshire: Palgrave.

United Nations (2007), Report No. A/52/273. Report of the United High Commission for Refugees, Questions Relating to Refugees, Returnees and Displaced Persons and Humanitarian Questions: Assistance to Unaccompanied Refugee Minors. Accessed at: http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/52/plenary/a52-273.htm.

Wilhelmy, R., Bull, R. (1999). Drawing to Remember: The Use of Visual Aids to Interview Child Witnesses. Practitioners’ Child Law Bulletin, 12, 66-69.

Wilson C and Powell M (2001) A Guide to Interviewing Children. London: Routledge.

Young, J. (1999) The Exclusive Society. London: Sage.

‘Analyse the contribution of Ecological theory to our understanding of typical and atypical child development, and discuss this model in relation to the factors and possible interventions for child abuse’

‘The importance of insight regarding the parent/child bond has always been a component of social services custom, but the significance has not always been indentified of the interaction that the environment plays on a parents ability to act in their child’s best interests’ (Department of Health, 1999). A significant breakthrough in the knowledge of child abuse appears to have emerged through the application of an ecological model of child maltreatment, ‘The ecological paradigm is currently the most comprehensive model we have for understanding child abuse’ (Gallagher 2001; 76). Such a perspective has generally been derived from theory based on Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) pioneering work, in which he defines to which ‘The ecology of human development involves…the progressive, mutual accommodation between an active, growing human being and the changing properties of the immediate settings…this process is affected by relations between these settings and by the larger contexts in which these settings are embedded’. (Sidebotham, 2001; 105).

The importance of an ecological standpoint in the perception of abuse is, firstly, that it widens the boundaries of the unfavourable effects of maltreatment on children beyond just the parent-child relationship to consider the familial and social context in which such abuse occurs. Second, the ecological model is transactional; in the sense that it acknowledges the individual and the immediate and wider influences as actively interacting with each other. However, it should be noted that this ideology holds some limitations in the sense that it would not seem to account very well for child sexual abuse. Any pairing together of juxtapositions forms of behaviour ‘as occurs with ‘child abuse’ or ‘child maltreatment’, is bound to result in some loss of specificity…It would be foolish to think that ecological models are the final word on child abuse…there is not single solution to abuse’ (Gallagher 2001; 77).

Specific hazardous factors contribute to parents abusing their children. Although maltreatment does not often occur without numerable of these factors interacting in the same household simultaneously. Firstly, the risk of abuse increases in any household exposed to significant stress, regardless if this stress arises from unemployment, poverty, neighbourhood violence, a lack of social support, or an especially demanding infant (CDC, 2006). Bronfenbrenner’s predominant layer, or microsystem, refers to the collaborations that occur within the child’s immediate environment. The child’s own genetic and social characteristics affect the habits, behaviour and patience of their peers, For example, a temperamentally tiresome infant could disaffect their parents or even create friction between them that may be sufficient to damage their marital relationship (Belsky & Crnic, 1995). Also, the relationship between any two individuals in the microsystem is likely to be influenced by the introduction of a child. Fathers, for example, clearly influence mother-infant interactions, happily married mothers who have close supportive relationships with their husbands tend to interact much more patiently and sensitively with their infants than mothers who experience marital tension, little support from their spouses, or feel that they are raising their children on their own (Cox et al, 1992).

In regards to the emphasis on family, the notion to which a parent regards their competence and rates the performance of their parenting role is also a relevant matter. Parenting competence has been noted as problematic among abusive parents (Marsh & Johnston, 1990) and linked with increased abuse possibility. Whilst acknowledging that improvement of parenting capacity is an important objective ‘one must be cautious in concluding that improved competency in parenting directly results in a reduction in child maltreatment as observations on interactions based under experimental conditions rarely reflect in daily life’ (Gallagher,2001;248).

Direct exposure to abuse can have a dangerous impact as abused children tend to function less adaptively than their non-abused peers in many areas (Cicchetti, Rogosch, 1993). According to Hipwell et al (2008) Children in a caring and loving environment feel more secure in their immediate surrounds in regard to the microsystem, they develop greater self-confidence, are altruistic and show higher signs of being empathetic. These children are also shown to have larger IQ’s throughout their schooling life, and show lower levels of anger and delinquent behaviour. As Bronfenbrenners ecological model would present, higher degrees of affection can even buffer a child against the negative implications of otherwise precarious environments (Bartley & Fonagy, 2008). Several studies of children and teens growing up in poor, dangerous neighbourhoods show that the single ingredient that most clearly distinguishes the lives of those who do not become delinquent from those who do is a high level of maternal love (McCdord, 1982).

The Mesosystem is the connections or interrelationship among such microsystems as homes, schools, and peer groups. Bronfenbrenner argues that development will be increased by supportive and strong connections between Microsystems. For example, children who have instigated attached and secure relationships with parents have a tendency to be accepted by others and to have close, supportive peers during their development (Perry, 1999). According to McAdoo (1996) a child’s competence to learn in a schooling environment is dependent upon the quality of the teaching provided and also the degree to which their parents place value upon education capital and how they interact with the teacher and vice-versa. However, this can also impact negatively at this level as when deviant peer groups or friends of the child devalue scholastics, they will tend to undermine that child’s school performance in spite of teacher and parents best efforts.

Numerable research has revealed that exposure to abuse had a severe negative impact upon a child’s academic functioning. Schwab-Stone et al (1995) concluded that as the consistency of maltreatment increased this had a direct negative correlation with academic performance. Likewise, Bowen (1999) found in a sample of over 2000 high school students that exposure to community and school violence put limitations on school attendance, behaviour and results. Warner and Weist (1999) revealed that children from low income families who are witnesses to household and neighbourhood violence demonstrated atypical symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and depression. The symptoms continue upon the latter to include atypical externalising behaviours such as anger, inability to form relationships and a decline in academic performance.

‘Surviving on a low income in a bad neighbourhood does not make it impossible to be the caring, affectionate parent of healthy, sociable children. But it does, undeniably, make it more difficult’ (Utting, 1995, p. 40). Children from low-income households may display more behavioural troubles than their better-off peers. However, according to Gorman-Smith (1998) family factors, including parenting practices do not predict children’s exposure to violence. He suggests that other community factors rather than their household income will influence and operate on children and those family factors are not powerful enough to mediate or moderate their effects. Such studies have often found there to be an important correlation between communities in which citizens have described a high level of community cohesions and children safety, with an increase in child abuse being linked with a negative sense of community identity.

Self-care has the most negative effects for children in low-income neighbourhoods with high crime rates (Marshall et al, 1997). Children who begin self-care at an early age are more vulnerable to older self-care children in their communities who can damage or abuse them. These children are more likely to have adjustment problems in school and are more likely to use after-school with socially deviant peers who do not value school and undergo criminal activities. Predictably, then the positive effects of organised after school programs on academic achievement are greater for children in low-income neighbourhoods (Mason & Chuang, 2001).

Bronfenbrenner’s penultimate layer, or exosystem, consists of contexts that children and their peers may not be aware although nevertheless will influence their development. For example, parents’ work environments are an exosystem influence. Children’s emotional relationships at home may be influenced considerably by whether or not their parents enjoy their work (Greenberger, O’Neal, & Nagel, 1994). In a similar fashion, children’s experiences in school may be influenced by their exosystem, by a social integration plan taken on by the school council, or by job cuts in their community that result in a decline in the school’s revenue. Negative impacts on development can also result when the exosystem breaks down. For example, Sidebotham (2002) has shown that households that are affected by unemployment, poor housing and poor social networks are more likely to be involved in increased occurrences of child abuse. Whose comments are justified next to Beeman (1997) who concluded that a lack of social support and a high consistency of negative attitudes towards available networks all contribute towards the chances of child maltreatment.

The majority of the research on the impact of mother’s employment concludes towards a small positive influence on most children (Scott, 2004). Children whose mothers are in employment are more confident and show more admiration for their mothers in contrast to those mothers who do not work. The effect of the mothers work on influencing attitudes and results in school become less apparent, with many studies showing no difference (Gottfried, Bathurst, 1994). Muller (1995) in his large study on the latter topic distinguished a small but comprehensible negative difference on the effect on maths results if that child’s mother was in employment. However, this difference seemed to be based on the fact that mothers who do not work as much are less engrossed with their child’s work and are less likely to oversee the child’s work continuously after school, rather than from a long-lasting deficit brought about by maternal employment in the early years. Thus, working mothers who find ways to provide such supervision and who remain involved with their children’s schools have kids who do as well as children whose mothers are homemakers.

Research evidence intuitively shows that when a man becomes unemployed, it places a strain on his marriage; which in turn leads to an increase in marital conflict and both mother and father show more signs of depression. The effects of these conflicts eventually show the same characteristics as families who are experiencing divorce; both parents appear less coherent in their attitudes towards their children, become less loving and less effective at monitoring them. Similarly, children, in turn respond to this situation as they would during their parents divorce by exhibiting a series of atypical behaviours which can include depression, anger or becoming involved in delinquent behaviour. According to Conger et al (1992), the likelihood of abuse at all levels, shows an increase during times of households unemployment. However, according to Berger (2004) parents who are experiencing divorce but who have a supportive framework and emotional support from friends are increasingly more likely to provide a safe and affectionate environment for children in comparison to those who are occupied in social isolation.

Gorman-Smith and Tolan (1998), in their study of the effects of divorce, did not find that family structure and other familial influences had an independent involvement towards the prediction of exposure to abuse in comparison to that of other risk factors such as the breakdown of traditional social processes in the community. Low income parents are characterised by contributing towards their child’s atypical development as Evans (2004) concludes that parents of such a nature are less likely to communicate with their children, spend less time engaging with them in intellectually stimulating activities and in turn are harsher and more aggressive in their discipline techniques. Not all children follow the same development pathways and there are certain factors that influence their development. For example, children below the poverty line are half as likely to recall the alphabet and have the ability to count by the time they enter the first years of schooling. This development according to Brooks-Gunn (1995) also applies, and is maintained through to adolescence as older children in poverty are twice as likely as their counterparts to repeat a year of school and are less likely to go onto higher education.

In keeping with Bronfenbrenner’s model, parental values on the best way to deal with discipline will be largely in coherence with the larger culture in which they reside. According to Lockhart (Ecology of Development; 345), by striking a child it will usually stop the chid from repeating the behaviour. Although research evidence suggests that children who are spanked, like children who are abused at later ages are less popular with their peers and show higher levels of aggression, lower self-esteem, more emotional instability, higher rates of depression and distress, and higher levels of delinquency and later criminality (Mostow & Campbell, 2004).

Bronfenbrenner’s concluding layer is that of a macrosystem which entails a broad, overarching ideology in which the child is embedded, and whose principles dictate how a child should be treated and how discipline should be distributed. These principles differ across macrosystems (cultures) and sub-cultures and social classes and can have a direct influence on the types of experiences a child will have in all levels of their ecological system. To cite one example, Belsky (1993) discusses how the incidence of child abuse in families (a microsystem experience) is much lower in those cultures (or macrosystems) that discourage physical punishment of children and advocate nonviolent ways of resolving interpersonal conflict. Similarly Clarke (1997) revealed how at the level of the macrosystem, a Government policy that ensures parents have the option to take paid or unpaid leave from their jobs to see to family matters could provide a significant intervention towards child abuse allowing parents more free time to observe their child’s development and resolve difficulties that may arise within their child.

The debate that encircles the surrounding links between culture and child abuse is a complex notion, which has resulted in a myriad of concerns. For instance, recent statistics of child maltreatment has indicated that ethnic minority children are substantially more at risk of abuse than their Caucasian counterparts (U.S Department of Health, 2006). However Lassiter (1987) has countered, showing that these minorities may be over-represented to the relevant services. Lassiter argues that biased statistics do not take into consideration other influencing factors such as socioeconomic status and the level of schooling received. Without considering socioeconomic factors that may also influence the parent and child, research risks inadvertently concluding that factors that increase abuse potential are because of race or ethnicity, or are universal.

The contextual risk variable that looks to have the biggest part in forecasting child maltreatment is having a family member who has also been a direct victim of some form of previous abuse. For example, A parent suffering from the stress of having been victimised herself or having another family member who has been victimised may be overwhelmed and more disturbed by the child’s behaviour and may, therefore, have a lower threshold for viewing the child’s externalizing behaviour as problematic. Primary or universal support targets the community as a whole, with generic initiatives, campaigns and community-based services that support parents and families without entry criteria. Their aim is to prevent problems such as child abuse and family breakdown (Healy & Darlington, 1999).

MacMillan (1994) in describing child abuse interventions found it necessary to distinguish between the differing forms of prevention, including that of primary intervention to which he describes as ‘any manoeuvre that is provided to the general population or a sample of the general population or a sample of the general population to reduce the incidence of child maltreatment;, and secondary prevention, ‘early detection of a condition with the aim of shortening the duration of the disorder’, and tertiary prevention, ‘prevention of recurrence of maltreatment and impairment resulting from abuse’. MacMillan further explained the difficulties in prevention in regards to psychological and emotional maltreatment, which accounts for a high number of reported cases but difficulty arises when evidence needs to be collated, and if emotional abuse is accepted as a form of abuse, then the distinction between primary and secondary prevention or indeed tertiary prevention becomes less clear.

Osofsky (1995) in his research on primary prevention has called for a nationwide campaign that would address to change the attitudes toward maltreatment and lower peoples tolerance of child abuse. Support for an ecological approach to child welfare is evident in the Framework for the Assessment of Children and their Families (Department of Health et al, 2000), which stresses the need to consider not only the factors relating to the child and their parents, but also the wider context in which children live when assessing their needs, acknowledging the impact of social and community factors on children’s welfare. This is also justified through the Every Child Matters document which refers to the concept of ‘Making a positive contribution; being involved with the community and society’. Involving local communities in the prevention of child abuse was acknowledged by Nelson and Baldwin (2002) who asserted that the Every Child Matters model ‘has the potential to involve communities enthusiastically in partnership with agencies in identifying problems and seeking solutions and that the process can help to build communities which are more informed, aware and thoughtful about child protection’. Although the presence of risk factors, such as a poor environment or unsupportive relationships with primary caregivers, or being looked after outside the family, increases the likelihood of a negative outcome for the individual, studies of competence and resilience have shown that, regardless of background, children are generally resourceful. Competence has been shown to be a mediating variable that predicts positive or negative outcomes (Smith, Cowie, Blades, 2001; 569).

‘Analyse the contribution of Ecological theory to our understanding of typical and atypical child development, and discuss this model in relation to the factors and possible interventions for child abuse’

‘The importance of insight regarding the parent/child bond has always been a component of social services custom, but the significance has not always been indentified of the interaction that the environment plays on a parents ability to act in their child’s best interests’ (Department of Health, 1999). A significant breakthrough in the knowledge of child abuse appears to have emerged through the application of an ecological model of child maltreatment, ‘The ecological paradigm is currently the most comprehensive model we have for understanding child abuse’ (Gallagher 2001; 76). Such a perspective has generally been derived from theory based on Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) pioneering work, in which he defines to which ‘The ecology of human development involves…the progressive, mutual accommodation between an active, growing human being and the changing properties of the immediate settings…this process is affected by relations between these settings and by the larger contexts in which these settings are embedded’. (Sidebotham, 2001; 105).

The importance of an ecological standpoint in the perception of abuse is, firstly, that it widens the boundaries of the unfavourable effects of maltreatment on children beyond just the parent-child relationship to consider the familial and social context in which such abuse occurs. Second, the ecological model is transactional; in the sense that it acknowledges the individual and the immediate and wider influences as actively interacting with each other. However, it should be noted that this ideology holds some limitations in the sense that it would not seem to account very well for child sexual abuse. Any pairing together of juxtapositions forms of behaviour ‘as occurs with ‘child abuse’ or ‘child maltreatment’, is bound to result in some loss of specificity…It would be foolish to think that ecological models are the final word on child abuse…there is not single solution to abuse’ (Gallagher 2001; 77).

Specific hazardous factors contribute to parents abusing their children. Although maltreatment does not often occur without numerable of these factors interacting in the same household simultaneously. Firstly, the risk of abuse increases in any household exposed to significant stress, regardless if this stress arises from unemployment, poverty, neighbourhood violence, a lack of social support, or an especially demanding infant (CDC, 2006). Bronfenbrenner’s predominant layer, or microsystem, refers to the collaborations that occur within the child’s immediate environment. The child’s own genetic and social characteristics affect the habits, behaviour and patience of their peers, For example, a temperamentally tiresome infant could disaffect their parents or even create friction between them that may be sufficient to damage their marital relationship (Belsky & Crnic, 1995). Also, the relationship between any two individuals in the microsystem is likely to be influenced by the introduction of a child. Fathers, for example, clearly influence mother-infant interactions, happily married mothers who have close supportive relationships with their husbands tend to interact much more patiently and sensitively with their infants than mothers who experience marital tension, little support from their spouses, or feel that they are raising their children on their own (Cox et al, 1992).

In regards to the emphasis on family, the notion to which a parent regards their competence and rates the performance of their parenting role is also a relevant matter. Parenting competence has been noted as problematic among abusive parents (Marsh & Johnston, 1990) and linked with increased abuse possibility. Whilst acknowledging that improvement of parenting capacity is an important objective ‘one must be cautious in concluding that improved competency in parenting directly results in a reduction in child maltreatment as observations on interactions based under experimental conditions rarely reflect in daily life’ (Gallagher,2001;248).

Direct exposure to abuse can have a dangerous impact as abused children tend to function less adaptively than their non-abused peers in many areas (Cicchetti, Rogosch, 1993). According to Hipwell et al (2008) Children in a caring and loving environment feel more secure in their immediate surrounds in regard to the microsystem, they develop greater self-confidence, are altruistic and show higher signs of being empathetic. These children are also shown to have larger IQ’s throughout their schooling life, and show lower levels of anger and delinquent behaviour. As Bronfenbrenners ecological model would present, higher degrees of affection can even buffer a child against the negative implications of otherwise precarious environments (Bartley & Fonagy, 2008). Several studies of children and teens growing up in poor, dangerous neighbourhoods show that the single ingredient that most clearly distinguishes the lives of those who do not become delinquent from those who do is a high level of maternal love (McCdord, 1982).

The Mesosystem is the connections or interrelationship among such microsystems as homes, schools, and peer groups. Bronfenbrenner argues that development will be increased by supportive and strong connections between Microsystems. For example, children who have instigated attached and secure relationships with parents have a tendency to be accepted by others and to have close, supportive peers during their development (Perry, 1999). According to McAdoo (1996) a child’s competence to learn in a schooling environment is dependent upon the quality of the teaching provided and also the degree to which their parents place value upon education capital and how they interact with the teacher and vice-versa. However, this can also impact negatively at this level as when deviant peer groups or friends of the child devalue scholastics, they will tend to undermine that child’s school performance in spite of teacher and parents best efforts.

Numerable research has revealed that exposure to abuse had a severe negative impact upon a child’s academic functioning. Schwab-Stone et al (1995) concluded that as the consistency of maltreatment increased this had a direct negative correlation with academic performance. Likewise, Bowen (1999) found in a sample of over 2000 high school students that exposure to community and school violence put limitations on school attendance, behaviour and results. Warner and Weist (1999) revealed that children from low income families who are witnesses to household and neighbourhood violence demonstrated atypical symptoms of PTSD, anxiety and depression. The symptoms continue upon the latter to include atypical externalising behaviours such as anger, inability to form relationships and a decline in academic performance.

‘Surviving on a low income in a bad neighbourhood does not make it impossible to be the caring, affectionate parent of healthy, sociable children. But it does, undeniably, make it more difficult’ (Utting, 1995, p. 40). Children from low-income households may display more behavioural troubles than their better-off peers. However, according to Gorman-Smith (1998) family factors, including parenting practices do not predict children’s exposure to violence. He suggests that other community factors rather than their household income will influence and operate on children and those family factors are not powerful enough to mediate or moderate their effects. Such studies have often found there to be an important correlation between communities in which citizens have described a high level of community cohesions and children safety, with an increase in child abuse being linked with a negative sense of community identity.

Self-care has the most negative effects for children in low-income neighbourhoods with high crime rates (Marshall et al, 1997). Children who begin self-care at an early age are more vulnerable to older self-care children in their communities who can damage or abuse them. These children are more likely to have adjustment problems in school and are more likely to use after-school with socially deviant peers who do not value school and undergo criminal activities. Predictably, then the positive effects of organised after school programs on academic achievement are greater for children in low-income neighbourhoods (Mason & Chuang, 2001).

Bronfenbrenner’s penultimate layer, or exosystem, consists of contexts that children and their peers may not be aware although nevertheless will influence their development. For example, parents’ work environments are an exosystem influence. Children’s emotional relationships at home may be influenced considerably by whether or not their parents enjoy their work (Greenberger, O’Neal, & Nagel, 1994). In a similar fashion, children’s experiences in school may be influenced by their exosystem, by a social integration plan taken on by the school council, or by job cuts in their community that result in a decline in the school’s revenue. Negative impacts on development can also result when the exosystem breaks down. For example, Sidebotham (2002) has shown that households that are affected by unemployment, poor housing and poor social networks are more likely to be involved in increased occurrences of child abuse. Whose comments are justified next to Beeman (1997) who concluded that a lack of social support and a high consistency of negative attitudes towards available networks all contribute towards the chances of child maltreatment.

The majority of the research on the impact of mother’s employment concludes towards a small positive influence on most children (Scott, 2004). Children whose mothers are in employment are more confident and show more admiration for their mothers in contrast to those mothers who do not work. The effect of the mothers work on influencing attitudes and results in school become less apparent, with many studies showing no difference (Gottfried, Bathurst, 1994). Muller (1995) in his large study on the latter topic distinguished a small but comprehensible negative difference on the effect on maths results if that child’s mother was in employment. However, this difference seemed to be based on the fact that mothers who do not work as much are less engrossed with their child’s work and are less likely to oversee the child’s work continuously after school, rather than from a long-lasting deficit brought about by maternal employment in the early years. Thus, working mothers who find ways to provide such supervision and who remain involved with their children’s schools have kids who do as well as children whose mothers are homemakers.

Research evidence intuitively shows that when a man becomes unemployed, it places a strain on his marriage; which in turn leads to an increase in marital conflict and both mother and father show more signs of depression. The effects of these conflicts eventually show the same characteristics as families who are experiencing divorce; both parents appear less coherent in their attitudes towards their children, become less loving and less effective at monitoring them. Similarly, children, in turn respond to this situation as they would during their parents divorce by exhibiting a series of atypical behaviours which can include depression, anger or becoming involved in delinquent behaviour. According to Conger et al (1992), the likelihood of abuse at all levels, shows an increase during times of households unemployment. However, according to Berger (2004) parents who are experiencing divorce but who have a supportive framework and emotional support from friends are increasingly more likely to provide a safe and affectionate environment for children in comparison to those who are occupied in social isolation.

Gorman-Smith and Tolan (1998), in their study of the effects of divorce, did not find that family structure and other familial influences had an independent involvement towards the prediction of exposure to abuse in comparison to that of other risk factors such as the breakdown of traditional social processes in the community. Low income parents are characterised by contributing towards their child’s atypical development as Evans (2004) concludes that parents of such a nature are less likely to communicate with their children, spend less time engaging with them in intellectually stimulating activities and in turn are harsher and more aggressive in their discipline techniques. Not all children follow the same development pathways and there are certain factors that influence their development. For example, children below the poverty line are half as likely to recall the alphabet and have the ability to count by the time they enter the first years of schooling. This development according to Brooks-Gunn (1995) also applies, and is maintained through to adolescence as older children in poverty are twice as likely as their counterparts to repeat a year of school and are less likely to go onto higher education.

In keeping with Bronfenbrenner’s model, parental values on the best way to deal with discipline will be largely in coherence with the larger culture in which they reside. According to Lockhart (Ecology of Development; 345), by striking a child it will usually stop the chid from repeating the behaviour. Although research evidence suggests that children who are spanked, like children who are abused at later ages are less popular with their peers and show higher levels of aggression, lower self-esteem, more emotional instability, higher rates of depression and distress, and higher levels of delinquency and later criminality (Mostow & Campbell, 2004).

Bronfenbrenner’s concluding layer is that of a macrosystem which entails a broad, overarching ideology in which the child is embedded, and whose principles dictate how a child should be treated and how discipline should be distributed. These principles differ across macrosystems (cultures) and sub-cultures and social classes and can have a direct influence on the types of experiences a child will have in all levels of their ecological system. To cite one example, Belsky (1993) discusses how the incidence of child abuse in families (a microsystem experience) is much lower in those cultures (or macrosystems) that discourage physical punishment of children and advocate nonviolent ways of resolving interpersonal conflict. Similarly Clarke (1997) revealed how at the level of the macrosystem, a Government policy that ensures parents have the option to take paid or unpaid leave from their jobs to see to family matters could provide a significant intervention towards child abuse allowing parents more free time to observe their child’s development and resolve difficulties that may arise within their child.

The debate that encircles the surrounding links between culture and child abuse is a complex notion, which has resulted in a myriad of concerns. For instance, recent statistics of child maltreatment has indicated that ethnic minority children are substantially more at risk of abuse than their Caucasian counterparts (U.S Department of Health, 2006). However Lassiter (1987) has countered, showing that these minorities may be over-represented to the relevant services. Lassiter argues that biased statistics do not take into consideration other influencing factors such as socioeconomic status and the level of schooling received. Without considering socioeconomic factors that may also influence the parent and child, research risks inadvertently concluding that factors that increase abuse potential are because of race or ethnicity, or are universal.

The contextual risk variable that looks to have the biggest part in forecasting child maltreatment is having a family member who has also been a direct victim of some form of previous abuse. For example, A parent suffering from the stress of having been victimised herself or having another family member who has been victimised may be overwhelmed and more disturbed by the child’s behaviour and may, therefore, have a lower threshold for viewing the child’s externalizing behaviour as problematic. Primary or universal support targets the community as a whole, with generic initiatives, campaigns and community-based services that support parents and families without entry criteria. Their aim is to prevent problems such as child abuse and family breakdown (Healy & Darlington, 1999).

MacMillan (1994) in describing child abuse interventions found it necessary to distinguish between the differing forms of prevention, including that of primary intervention to which he describes as ‘any manoeuvre that is provided to the general population or a sample of the general population or a sample of the general population to reduce the incidence of child maltreatment;, and secondary prevention, ‘early detection of a condition with the aim of shortening the duration of the disorder’, and tertiary prevention, ‘prevention of recurrence of maltreatment and impairment resulting from abuse’. MacMillan further explained the difficulties in prevention in regards to psychological and emotional maltreatment, which accounts for a high number of reported cases but difficulty arises when evidence needs to be collated, and if emotional abuse is accepted as a form of abuse, then the distinction between primary and secondary prevention or indeed tertiary prevention becomes less clear.

Osofsky (1995) in his research on primary prevention has called for a nationwide campaign that would address to change the attitudes toward maltreatment and lower peoples tolerance of child abuse. Support for an ecological approach to child welfare is evident in the Framework for the Assessment of Children and their Families (Department of Health et al, 2000), which stresses the need to consider not only the factors relating to the child and their parents, but also the wider context in which children live when assessing their needs, acknowledging the impact of social and community factors on children’s welfare. This is also justified through the Every Child Matters document which refers to the concept of ‘Making a positive contribution; being involved with the community and society’. Involving local communities in the prevention of child abuse was acknowledged by Nelson and Baldwin (2002) who asserted that the Every Child Matters model ‘has the potential to involve communities enthusiastically in partnership with agencies in identifying problems and seeking solutions and that the process can help to build communities which are more informed, aware and thoughtful about child protection’. Although the presence of risk factors, such as a poor environment or unsupportive relationships with primary caregivers, or being looked after outside the family, increases the likelihood of a negative outcome for the individual, studies of competence and resilience have shown that, regardless of background, children are generally resourceful. Competence has been shown to be a mediating variable that predicts positive or negative outcomes (Smith, Cowie, Blades, 2001; 569).