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Homelessness among youth is a comprehensive, multi-faceted social problem in Canada. (Roebuck.2008). According to public health agency (2007) the estimated official number of homeless people in Canada ranges from 150,000 to 300,000, one third of which are youth of age 15 to 24 years.(Stewart et al.2010). Homelessness means living in outdoors and in abandoned building with unsafe situation. (Kisely et.al, 2008). The factors that leads youth into homelessness are family dysfunction, school related problems, need for more freedom and poverty; this issue is being addressed by the services that are available for them in the area of housing, income and support services. (Kisely, 2008). This study also includes the critical analysis of policies relevant to youth homelessness, anti oppressive organisational structure for the marginalised youth and recommendations and suggestions to prevent youth into homelessness.

The understandings about the homelessness among youth in Canada

The most significant reason that leads the young people into homelessness is family dysfunction. The family conflict may lead the young people into homelessness. This starts when youth have gone through emotional and physical conflict with their parents and also some youngsters leave their home due to lack of financial support from their parent. (Miller et al, 2008). On the other hand, lack of family functioning and support leads some youth into homelessness. Similarly, the situational factors like parental divorce or separation and death of the parents also make youth into a stage of homeless. Sometimes parent’s alcohol and drug consumption may lead youth in to homelessness condition. (Duroff,2004).

The poor school performance is another reason for the youth who leaves their home. The premature leaving of the school added to family conflict and the combination of these two factors leads them to leave home. Moreover, failing a grade in school, and problems with teachers or students also leads some youth into homelessness. Based on my understanding lack of education create them barrier in finding job. Later on it leads to extreme poverty and unemployment among the youth homeless. (Miller et al, 2008).

A strong sense of independence is the primary factor some of the youth leads to homelessness. In some cases youth are like to stay their own family but due to family conflict they like to stay away from the home. The desire for the more freedom sometimes youth leads into homelessness. And also, parents over interference to the youth’s personal matters may become the another reason for the youth to live their home.(Miler et al,2008)

The financial crisis of the family or poverty of the family leads to some youth into homelessness. The lack of available housing, limited employment opportunity, and insufficient wages also leads youth into homelessness. Moreover, lack of education sometimes creates barriers to youth find employment. The insufficient material needs of the money lead them into poverty. (Miler et al,2008).

Homelessness among youth is a growing concern in entire Canada. (Stewart et al. 2010). Eventhough Canadian government is offering some service to the youth homeless; their support needs and support interference preference always not match with services available to them. (Stewart et al. 2010). Moreover, youth homelessness are considered as vulnerable due to shortage of affordable housing, lack of employment or income, poverty, poor physical or mental health, reduced government support, and violence or abuse in the home. Stewart et al.2010 (as cited in Campaign, 2009; Laird, 2007) Furthermore, the pattern of life style brings them exposure to violence, neglect, chronic poverty, physical and sexual abuse, crime, drug and alcohol use, unemployment, and social isolation. (Stewart et al 2010 as cited in Naboss et al., 2004; Reid, Berman, & Forchuk, 2005). Apart from that, the homeless youth often reported with inadequate social relationships, conflict within their families, and exposure to violence, criminal peers, and abusive situations.( Stewart et al 2010 as cited in Haber & Toro, 2004; Reid et al., 2005). Therefore, the personal and structural reasons that contribute to oppression to find adequate housing for the youth should be addressed by anti oppressive approach of social work practice.

According to Martin (2002) one of the major reasons that leads young people into homelessness is lack of normal activities has to do with a lack of readiness and ability to seek and find paid employment. (Klodawsky et al.2006). The homelessness youth most of the time doesn’t show much interest to do any kind of physical activity due to lack of knowledge, skill and interest.

The lack of formal support contributes major challenges among homeless youth. In the most of the time homeless youth shows withdraw from the social network. This creates them barriers to know about the services available for them. The homelessness youth barriers to seeking services include denial problems, pressure to focuses on basic resources such as food, clothing and shelter, fear of not been taken as seriously, concerns about the confidentiality, and lack of knowledge about available services. In spite of all available services still they face discrepancies in available and needed service (Stewart et al, 2010).

The housing support helps the youth to stay in a safe situation. The homelessness youth improvement needed in shelters including additional beads, a home like environment, less fighting among themselves and caring staff. The income support helps them to gain financial support. Most of the youth needed financial needs is for the educational expense. Furthermore, most the homelessness youth needed information about the support services in the area of returning to school, skill training, getting a job, budgeting, and seeking counselling. Generally, the support service for the homelessness helps the youth to overcome the situation they are living now. (Stewart et al, 2010).

The strength and limitation of the social policy for youth homelessness

The social policies are necessary for the homeless youth to correct systemic and historic inequalities they are facing in the society. The social policy is important to homeless youth to overcome the systemic barriers they are facing in the affordable and secure housing, lack of income or income support services, and support services. (Hulchanski et al, 2009). In Canada the policies related to homelessness youth include housing policies and program which include tenant protection act and rent supplement units, emergency shelter policies, income assistance, deinstitutionalisation, social services and discharge of policies from correctional facilities. (Ministry of social development and economic security,2001).

The social hosing programs provide housing for the individuals and families who are unable to compete in the housing market. (Ministry of social development and economic security,2001). The social housing program gives benefit to the homeless youth to find better place to live but the insufficient supply of housing due to lack of new rental construction and demolition of existing affordable rental unit are create them less accessibility to the social hosing. The loss of significant number of affordable rental units resulted to tenant protection act. In Canada the most of the tenant and land lords are covered by this policy. According to this act a rental unit can be an apartment, a house, or a room in a rooming or boarding house. And the act also can apply to care homes and retirement homes. (Government of Ontario, 2010). The main critique about this act is that most of the time tenant wants to pay first and last month pay and it create barrier to youth to utilize this opportunity because of insufficient money. The housing cooperation of Ontario has portfolio of rent supplement unit in a private building; these units are available for the low income households. The rent supplement is a financial support directly paid to land lord by provisional government. The main critique about this policy is eligibility criteria of accommodation need the proof of Canadian residency and most of the homeless youth don’t have any document to prove their residency. (Ministry of social development and economic security,2001).

In Canada, the absence of permanent housing for the risk population emergency shelter policies for the homeless population. According to this act the police can use force to compel the homeless people to use shelters especially extreme whether alert. The emergency housing should not provide permanent housing options for the homelessness youth. According to homelessness action task force in Toronto, some of homeless people are using shelter as permanent housing these creates the availability of the beds less. Due to lack of privacy some homeless youth don’t prefer to stay in the shelter. The main critique about this act is the emergency shelters opposed to the development of permanent housing solution for the youth. (Ministry of social development and economic security, 2001).

There are lot of income assistance services are available for the person who are living in the street. The homelessness single person is eligible to receive $195 per month, on a month by month basis. These services are available for the individual who are living in the most vulnerable situation. Homeless youth who are staying in a shelter would not be eligible for income assistance because it is assumed that their needs would be fulfilled in the shelter. The main critique about this policy is that the eligibility criteria for the income assistance create barriers to the youngsters especially the age group of 16 and 17. This makes many youth to turn into illegal or uninvited source of income. (Ministry of social development and economic security, 2001).

The deinstitutionalisation policy offered by the provisional government after the dramatic decline of mental health beds in the psychiatric hospitals in Ontario. The deinstitutionalisation policy offers community based mental health services and addiction service for the homeless people. Deinstitutionalization is often credited with the decrease need of medical care and also it is the new beginning of psychiatric care. The deinstitutionalization process is together with the shortage of community-based care and related to the visible problems of homelessness. The major critique about this policy is that due to lack of societal interaction most of the homeless people are not aware about the mental health issues they are having and the services available for them. (Ministry of social development and economic security, 2001).

The social service policies are helping the individuals, who are insecurely housed to keep their housing and give assistance to the people who became homelessness. Usually these services are given by case managers, housing workers, and different type of people who are working in the social and housing sector. The social service agencies are giving referral service to the homelessness youth to find appropriate services according to their immediate needs. According to social service scheme, the homelessness youth are getting employment skill training and skill development program but due to budget cut many of these programs are cancelled by the social service agencies. The one of critical impact of this policy is that most of the time homelessness youth shows less interest for the skill development. (Ministry of social development and economic security, 2001).

The discharge policies from the correctional facilities help the homelessness youth find emergency shelters upon their release. This policy is made available to the people who are being released from the provisional correctional facilities. It ensured the people they have a place to go in the community. The discharge policy is authorised with the condition of release of the person from the jail. However, the authorised person could not compel the person who already finished their sentence to go in an emergency hostel. Moreover, the discharge plan is accessed by all offenders who are about to return the community. The major critique of this policy is that most of the time the young offenders don’t prefer to live again in an institutionalised setting. (Ministry of social development and economic security, 2001).

The strength and limitation of the anti oppressive social work practice

Anti oppressive approach is a form of social work practice to address the structural inequalities and social division of the people who are living in a particular social system. It tries to change organisational structure and people attitude about the particular issue. (Mullaly, 2010).’An anti-oppressive framework involves several key overarching tenets: awareness of the mechanisms of oppression, domination and injustice; acknowledgment of the structural elements at play in human behaviour; acceptance of diversity and difference; recognition of the complexity of power; and necessity for action.’ (Karabanow, 2004 as cited in Campbell, 2000). In the anti oppressive approach the homelessness among youth can be addressed by locality development, social development, active participation, structural definition of the situation, consciousness raising and social action. (Karabanow, 2004).

In the anti oppressive approach, the social development helps the person to address their needs in a collective way. The organisation that works based on the anti oppressive approach do not look for the street youth’s deviant behaviour such as criminal behaviour and drug addict on the contrary, it works for the holistic development of the person. The holistic approach helps the youth to learn values and respect themselves and others. Moreover, through the social development approach an organisation can make better understanding about the issues related to youth homelessness. The anti oppressive approach helps the youth to build self identity and strength to change things in their life. (Karabanow, 2004)

The active participation based on the anti oppressive approach helps the youth to design and implement the shelter plan which include youth resident represent the committees responsible for shelter policy. Moreover, there are several position available for street youth in the organisation especially the areas of self help, mutual aid group, peer mentoring and cooking. Participation within the organisation helps the youth to understand mainstream culture. The active participation in the organisation always associated with the acceptance and respect which make the marginalised youth feeling worthy and being needed. The active participation represent both street youth and workers to join together to construct a common vision and direction for the organisation. (Karabanow, 2004)

The anti oppressive organisation’s main insight is to make balance between the populations self constructed images about homelessness youth. The structural approach helps the organisation to believe that the social, political and economic factors of the youth push them into street life. The survival of the most youth on the street is due to lack of affordable and clean houses and adequate employment. The anti oppressive organisations always admit the street activities instead of criticising the street behaviour because the organisations place them within the large context of exploitation and victimisation. (Karabanow, 2004)

The conscious raising help the youth to share past, present and future goals and experience in genuine manner. Through the consciousness raising a youth can share experience to others and connect with deeper understanding of particular issue. In the anti oppressive practice, conscious raising involve an intimate and in-depth exploration of one’s action through a process of knowledge building, commitment and solidarity. (Karabanow, 2004 p.56). Furthermore, for the part of consciousness raising a person can critically self reflect about the situation they are facing now. Consciousness raising come out as an intimate process of exploring, accepting and ultimately reconstructing the ideas of one’s past, present and future orientation. (Karabanow, 2004 p.56). The anti oppressive organisations promote safe community settings where marginalised youth can build and rebuild a sense of identity, worth, and understanding of their immediate environments. (Karabanow, 2004 p.56).

In the anti oppressive framework an organisation move a step further to advocacy for the alienated and stigmatised people. Social action involves a commitment to the fundamental change in the society on the form of equal treatment for the marginalised youth. The social action endeavours includes when the street youth to petitioning in the provisional leaders to increase the number of affordable housing and youth employment. Through the social action movement, the service users and service providers try to achieve specific goals based on the common needs of the population. Based on the anti oppressive approach social action is sense of commitment and trust for the social development. Through the social action the marginalised group also can participate in the societal activities. (Karabanow, 2004)

The anti oppressive approaches help the organisation to build safe and respectful environment for the marginalised populations. Moreover it helps the marginalised youth to identify the grass root of the problem and the structural inequalities they are facing in the society. The anti oppressive practice at the structural level tries to change intuitional arrangements, social process and social practice that work together to benefit the dominant group at the expense of subordinate group. (Mullay,2010)

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The anti oppressive is useful to identify systemic inequalities, discrimination, and violence faced by marginalised youth based on their gender, age, race, poverty, disability, sexual orientation, immigration or aboriginal status. Moreover the anti oppressive approach is very useful to understand how these types of structural inequalities make possibility to youth become homeless. The anti oppressive social work practice is necessary for reconceptualise the idea of power. (Mullaly, 2010). This help the marginalised youth to recognise that how age and poverty create them barrier to find appropriate housing.

The anti oppressive practices in the structural level help the marginalised youth to find alternative services and organisation. According to these services marginalised homeless youth can connect homeless people in the mainstream organisation. The mainstream organisation helps them to find adequate solution to the problem in a collective response. The collective response always gives immediate response to the problem. (Mullaly, 2010.)

The recommendations and suggestions for the homelessness youth

‘The four primary recommendation to reducing the homelessness among youth of includes build on the youths’ optimism and determination through the development of peer networks; mobilize and support interest in education and employment through contacts with employers; support ties to family, including extended family or families of choice when available; and use current living arrangements or create living arrangements which can facilitate education and employment.'(Miller etal,,2008)

The hopefulness is very important for the youth to gain strength to mind.. Building strength is very important among the homelessness youth because the studies conducted by Millier et al 2008 shows that to stay longer as homelessness made them remain as homelessness. The strength can build among homelessness youth through counselling in the school, shelters and other and other social service agencies and also to the youth support group and networks. The most of the homeless youth consider their situation is temporary and look for the future development, this shows the clear need of the building the sense of optimism and determination among youth especially in the areas of education and finding a job. (Miller etal,,2008)

The organisation that works for the homelessness should support and mobilize the youth to gain interest in education and employment. The lack of education creates employment barriers to the youth but the part time work helps them to continue their education. The marginalised youth is looking to improve their ability to work through education. This shows necessity of the guidelines for youth employment appropriate schooling and training. Moreover, the alternative schooling option also helps the youth to satisfy their expressed needs in the education. This shows the clear need of more educational grants and subsidies for the marginalised youth. (Miller etal,,2008)

A support tie with family is very important for the marginalised youth. The family dysfunctions are one of the major reasons for the youth to leaving their home. Family and friends are able to provide assistance in the accommodations, financial and emotional support. Generally youth has lots friends in the variety of fields. The family counselling is very important to prevent homelessness among youth. Through the family counselling the worker can prevent family systems break down in the first place. (Miller etal,,2008)

The living arrangement and support service for education and employment is the most important wanted thing for the youth homelessness. The current living arrangement creates barriers to youth in education and finding employment. And some of the marginalised youth think that living or socialising with similar issue having peers is not favourable for their development. They also express similar concern in the shelter system. On the other hand, the marginalised youth express to live in a both positive and supportive environment. This can accomplish by the government through development of teen program that offer alternative living arrangement and positive peer groups through foster or group homes. (Stewart et al, 2010)

Hosing is the fundamental right of the human being. The main recommendation of this study is to improve housing facilities for the youth. Homelessness sometimes leads to the offending and victimisation. The government also should arrange social and income support services for the youth. Through the counselling service the worker can guide the homeless into proper track. Moreover government should spent more money for the social service who are giving services for the youth. The funding cutbacks always affect the service agency to provide adequate services for the youth. And also federal government also organise some support services for the youth homeless. (Stewart et al, 2010).

Conclusion

The community based approaches is necessary for the homeless youth to satisfy their needs especially in the areas of housing, income, and support. The positive attitude of the social service agency helps the youth to come out of the situation they are living now. Moreover the alternative service of the agency, especially in the area of skill training and alternative schooling also help the youth to overcome the systemic barriers they are facing in the society.

Ethics: Texas Homeless Network
Samantha Maggiani

Ethics are a critical component in any profession. This is particularly true for professions rooted in health or other human services. Professional ethics are at the core of the Social Work profession and are utilized when focused attention is needed on ethical issues that arise in practice. Ethical codes provide insight on ethical norms, provide guidance for ethically informed decisions, and contribute to the strengthening of professional identity (Warren, 2014). The literature and research on professional ethics has considerably expanded in recent years and many professional training programs address ethical issues. This awareness of ethical issues is necessary in a field like social work because of the complex ethical dimensions of practice. Social Workers often serve disenfranchised or vulnerable populations taking on a variety of roles and responsibilities. The profession focuses on the client and encourages taking a person-centered, humanistic approach to services. This approach lends itself to ethical dilemmas as practioners are involved in very personal, sometimes life changing events with their clients. Because of this, it is important that professional ethics remain at the core of the work of social workers and other human service workers.

Ethics are of extreme importance to Texas Homeless Network (THN) and are a value identified in their Guiding Principles to Service. THN works to provide exemplary standards of ethical behavior and believes it is imperative to achieving its mission (THN.org, 2015). THN does not provide direct services to clients. Rather, THN works with service providers and individuals working to end homelessness in Texas. Although they do not assist clients directly, staff at THN still encounters ethical dilemmas in practice.

For example, a current ethical dilemma identified in practice is related to Source of Income Protections advocacy work. In April 2014, the city of Austin amended its housing discrimination ordinance to add “lawful sources of income” as a protected class. The ordinance classifies lawful sources of income as non-employment income such as social security benefits, child support, and tenant-based rental assistance otherwise known as housing vouchers. This amendment was approved unanimously by city council and was intended to increase housing opportunities for low income families, working poor, disabled, veterans, and the elderly. Austin City Council adopted this amendment in response to the large amount of fair housing complaints and increasing economic segregation the city was experiencing.

Another piece of evidence supporting the ordinance was a 2014 Austin Tenant’s Council survey that found 91 percent of private landlords across five area counties who own units within a voucher price range refused to accept Section 8 vouchers (Austin Tenants Council, 2014). This refusal to accept vouchers concentrates voucher holders in areas of high crime, high poverty, and low performing schools, thus exacerbating the problems around economic segregation and economic mobility. Immediately after the ordinance was passed, the Austin Apartment Association (AAA) filed a lawsuit claiming the ordinance “contravenes both state and federal law” demanding it be declared invalid and unenforceable. Their argument is that private property owners have the right to use it as he/she sees fit as long as overt discrimination is not involved. The AAA says that their members are not refusing to rent to Black or Hispanic applicants because of their race and therefore no discrimination is taking place.

On February 27, 2015 Federal District Judge Sam Sparks rejected the AAA’s request for an injunction that would have blocked the implementation of the ordinance. The court ruled that the AAA failed in its “burden of demonstrating a substantial likelihood of success on the merits” of the case noting that although some burden is placed on the landlord the ordinance was advancing “an obvious legitimate government interests of ensuring low-income, minority populations have access to affordable housing.”(Sparks, 2015) The judge also ruled that “the AAA was violating the liberty to contract or not to contract…except as restricted by antitrust, antidiscrimination, and other statues.”(Sparks, 2015) Judge Spark’s ruling allowed the City of Austin to continue working on implementation of the fair housing ordinance but now Texas’ lawmakers are getting involved. Legislators from around the state have introduced legislation that would reverse Austin’s Source of Income protections, as well as legislation that would not allow local municipalities to enact or implement similar ordinances that are more restrictive than state law. This attempt to turn the legislature into an appellate court is in response to Austin’s fair housing ordinance and other local more controversial ordinances, such as identifying LGBTQ as a protected class for housing. The proposed legislation would restrict local governments from enacting locally driven solutions for issues such as fair and affordable housing.

The topic of housing discrimination of voucher holders has many ethical concerns. On one side is the AAA and its members who claim that the American system of laws and ethics allow them to rent to whomever they choose as long as they provide safe housing for all residents. On a different side of the ethical debate is the National Association of Social Workers that posits six ethical standards that are relevant to the professional activities of all social workers, some of which are directly related to this issue. For example, an ethical dilemma that THN has identified related to housing discrimination is (1) the responsibility to our clients to promote their well-being and (2) to respect and promote their right to self-determination (NASW, 2008). For this example, a caseworker is helping his/her client obtain and secure permanent housing with the use of a housing voucher. Ideally, the client would be given the opportunity to choose where he/she wanted to live and the case worker should respect that client’s right to self-determination and autonomy and diligently help the client obtain their housing of choice. If the property owner does not accept vouchers, it is then the caseworker’s responsibility to serve as a liaison between the client and property management to educate property management and build a relationship for the client. This is where the ethical dilemma arises. As the social worker in this situation, does the client’s right to autonomy and self-determination trump the landlord’s right to the same? Do we restrict those rights to our clients and no one else? What if the landlord feels disenfranchised by the ordinance from the city taking away his property rights to choose who he wants to serve? These are all questions related to ethics that social workers must pay very close attention to in a situation like the one described.

The factors impacting this dilemma on a micro level relate to the client and the landlords. If a client does not get the choice to live outside of high poverty, low opportunity areas, then the likelihood of his/her progressing toward self-sufficiency and success could decrease. For the property owners, they argue that their freedom to run their business as they see fit is unnecessarily, and illegally, compromised. On a macro level, not addressing the issue and accepting apartment owner’s ability to have a “no Section 8” policy would only intensify the already dire economic segregation and goes against the social work value to challenge social injustice. Based on analysis of the consequences of not implementing an ordinance like the one in Austin, as well as the actions and other alternative options that City Council looked at prior to enacting the ordinance, the ethically responsible response is to support the ordinance and combat social injustice. This argument is strengthened by the decision of Judge Sparks. Part of his reasoning is that the real world damage or “burden” to the AAA members of abiding by the ordinance is small given the fact that the voucher holders are still paying the rents charged by the property owners. They are not suffering an economic loss at all. So the bigger loss to society would be with the AAA’s reaction to the attempt by the City of Austin to address the realities of discrimination against voucher holders since it would further discrimination and maintain the racially segregated status quo that has existed in Austin for far too long. Other cities and some whole states have enacted ordinances similar to Austin’s with many already found constitutional in respective higher courts.

Possible consequences to Austin’s plan to address housing discrimination is the effect on the relationship between AAA and local housing service providers. The service community has expressed concerns with such a public fight against the group since they often work together in partnership to house people within their programs. The AAA has identified reversing Source of Income ordinance as a priority this legislative session and there have been many heated conversations during public hearings and sessions on the chamber floor. This high-profile battle could have consequences on housing placement options for providers in the near future.

But source of income protections are not enough to solve economic segregation. Texas cities are facing an unprecedented lack of affordable housing. Low wages and the underfunded, often inaccessible mainstream programs such as SNAP or TANF also contribute to the issues surrounding housing affordability for a large percentage of citizens. An effort to create a local minimum wage of fifteen dollars per hour would be needed also. To prevent similar ethical dilemmas from occurring it takes concerted, strategic efforts from all stakeholders involved. Public Housing Authorities and other city entities need to work harder to outreach to property management and apartment associations to educate them on their programs. Housing providers and human service agencies must work with their clients to advocate and share experiences with lawmakers. And agencies like THN that work with both, need to make more efforts to bridge the gap between providers and consumers. The current efforts by THN during the 84^th Legislature are exemplary of this effort to combat housing discrimination and prevent homelessness for vulnerable Texans.

References

Austin Apartment Association vs City of Austin. U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division. 27 Feb. 2015. Print.

Austin Tenants Council. (2014). Voucher Holders Need Not Apply: ATC 2014 Study Housing Discrimination

National Association of Social Workers. (2008). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. Washington, DC. NASW Press.

“Resources.” Texas Homeless Network, Helping Communities End Homelessness. n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2015

Warren. (2014, January 1). Ethics in Social Work: An Ethical Code for Social Work Professionals. Retrieved from http://cdn.ifsw.org/assets/Socialt_arbete_etik_08_Engelsk_LR.pdf

Homeless Children in America

The presence of adequate housing plays a crucial role in the well-being of children during their growth. Furthermore, stable housing plays a pivotal role in the progressive development of children into their adulthood. Unfortunately, the number of homeless children has witnessed exponential growth in the recent years warranting more efforts to forestall the impending crisis. This is mainly attributable to inaccessibility of affordable housing and the worsening economic crisis. Moreover, the current economic recession and the resulting housing crisis have greatly increased the likelihood of more children succumbing to the threat of homelessness.

Homeless children can be categorized into those who experience family homelessness and those who are unaccompanied. The former are children living in homeless families while the latter are homeless on their own. According to Aratani (2009), approximately 1.5 million children in the United States live in families without adequate housing. More worryingly, about 42% of these are children under the age of six thereby greatly reducing their chances of having a prosperous adulthood. Children of African American descendant are greatly disadvantaged with 47% coming from homeless families. Moreover, children from the Indian and Alaskan ethnicities have approximately 2% chance of homelessness in the United States. Aratani (2009) further states that another notable fact amongst these homeless families is that a single mother in her twenties usually acts as the breadwinner.

A further 1.7 million children constitute the unaccompanied youth segment of the homeless children annually. These include youth who stay away overnight from their homes without their guardianaa‚¬a„?s permission. Another category comprises of those children who were chased from home or opted to leave at their own volition. This category also comprises of throwaway youth whose parents could no longer live with them due to their deliquesce behavior. The final category of unaccompanied children comprises of children who left home due to irreconcilable differences with their families. Such cases usually results from conflicts within the family leading to loss of contact with their parents.Girls are also considerably larger in number among runaway homeless and independent children. In addition, African-American and Native American youth form the largest proportion among all three types of unaccompanied youth.

Factors that Contribute to Homelessness

Swick, (2010) argues that homelessness represents a major deprivation from one of the most fundamental human needs. Another type of deprivation includes lack of inadequate food leading to hunger and malnutrition. The main causes of these inadequacies are majorly linked to poverty and economic insecurity. However, other factors that adversely contribute to homelessness are multi-faceted. These factors also vary depending on the type of homelessness experienced by children in the United States. They include inaccessibility to affordable housing, economic instability, home based violence, behavioral health, inadequate social support, and involvement in the child welfare system.

Lack of Affordable Housing

The number of affordable housing units in the United States has steadily declined in the past decade. As Arattani (2009) affirms, the period between 1993 and 2003 witnessed a 13% drop in the proportion of affordable, low cost houses due to the massive loss of older, low-quality apartments in the private market segment. He further argues that in 2005, approximately 40% of households with children aged between 0 and 17 reported at least one housing problem. These ranged from inadequate housing space leading to crowding to rising costs of renting. Generally, any household paying in excess of 30% of its annual income on rent is regarded as living in the red.

Although the percentage of families reporting challenges of inadequate housing and crowding declined between 1978 and 2005, 34 % of households reported a rising cost burden resulting from rising rental costs in the same period. On the contrary, a paltry 15% of households reported this worrying cost burden in 1978. Overall, the number of families reporting severe housing problems had drastically increased from just 8% in 1978 to 13.8 % in 2005. Indeed the unmet demand for decent and affordable rental housing units had been on the rise way before the current housing crisis (Hicks, Burnside & Peters, 2003).

Gray (2009) agrees that way before the financial and foreclosure crisis hit, the number of homeless children in the United States had peaked at alarming rates. The Center on Family Homelessness in its 2009 report disclosed that at least one in every 50 children in the United States was homeless between 2005 and 2006. The cumulative 1.5 million kids between that period was further expected to rise due to the worsening economic conditions. Moreover, a study conducted with different parameters and published in 2000 had already put the total at 1.35 million homeless kids each year.

Economic Insecurity

According to Hicks, Burnside & Peters (2003), by 2005, more than 60 % of families were spending more than 50% of their disposable income on rent. A similar percentage of households were also living in pathetic and inadequate housing units. Inadequate affordable housing coupled with the current economic crisis will certainly add to the rising levels of homeless children. From the beginning of the economic recession in late December 2007, the proportion of unemployed people has risen by roughly than seven million, to 14.5 million. In addition, the overall unemployment rate has also risen to approximately 9.4%.

This essentially makes low-income families vulnerable to layoffs. They further add that amongst homeless households with children, a higher proportion of 80% are female headed. Furthermore, 54 % of children from low-income households reside with a single parent. To worsen the situation, the larger proportions of homeless mothers rely on public assistance. This has also contributed to widespread escapes from home leading to forced homelessness.

Violence at Home

Aratani (2009) further agrees that violence at home is a major contributor to children homelessness. For instance, amongst homeless households, more than 80% have previously experienced domestic violence. Disturbances at home occasionally lead to instances of c children running away from home to seek better children. Moreover, domestic violence causes major challenges in the childaa‚¬a„?s physical and psychological development. These include exposure to traumatic experiences that affect their emotional well-being. Consequently, parental has been proven as a major determinant of housing instability. Furthermore, unaccompanied children normally have prior experiences of violence. These range from witnessing actual violence to being abused physically or sexually. In most cases, children in foster care and homeless initiatives recall incidences of physical and psychological abuse from their family members.

Involvement in the Child Welfare System

Indeed, children living in foster care are severely exposed to homelessness. About 49% of children in foster care have a history of running away from home. Furthermore, American children of the Indian ethnicity in foster care are more likely to run away from home compared with their white counterparts.

The Impact of Homelessness on Children
Behavioral Health

Behavioral health problems are consequences of children running away from home and eventually becoming homeless. This is partly due to the higher risks of exposure to violence and trauma when a child is away from the care of an adult. Moreover, unaccompanied youth are at a higher risk of going into depression (Swick, 2010). This may in time lead to mental health issues or substance abuse compared with children living in their families. Therefore, children who have previous experience with homelessness are at a higher risk of exhibiting tragic behavioral problems compared with sheltered children.

Lack of Positive Social Support

Homeless families generally exhibit unreliable, weak and unsteady social support structures to aid in a childaa‚¬a„?s development. Moreover, such families have fewer viable social networks consequently resulting in reduced social support. Furthermore, homeless families that have wider social networks rarely utilize the importance of such networks. However, these networks play a crucial role as resources for positive support and form strong foundations for strong relationships when used wisely. Aratani (2009) reaffirms that unaccompanied children are more inclined to expose problems within their families. Furthermore, they tend to rely on their friends as a more significant source of support than their parents do. In addition, they substitute street networks in place of their failed family networks.

Food Insecurity

Swick (2010) adds that about 60 % of homeless children face the challenge of inadequate food in terms of quantity, preference and frequency of meals. Approximately 40% cite fasting as an everyday experience while due to their inability to access food. Indeed children coming from homeless families experience severe food insecurity given their diminished capacity to secure adequate food.

Health

The problem of food insecurity due to homelessness further affects negatively on the health of the affected children. Therefore, homeless children often bear the consequences of poor health compared with sheltered low-income children. Moreover, homeless mothers report more cases of health complications affecting their children ranging from fevers to diarrhea and asthma compared to sheltered mothers. In addition, homeless youth are at a higher risk of contracting STDs because of their risky social lifestyles. These include the inconsistent use of condoms, having multiple sexual partners and sharing needles. Moreover, homeless female children have a significantly higher chance of falling prey to unplanned teenage pregnancies (Hicks, Burnside & Peters, 2003).

Exposure to Trauma

According to Hicks, Burnside & Peters, (2003), children from homeless families also have a greater risk of experiencing severe mental health problems in comparison to their sheltered peers. A study on school-going children amongst homeless families indicated that a large proportion of homeless children experience mental disorders. Such children are often exposed to disruptive behavior disorders, social phobia, and depression that significantly affect their interaction with their peers. This is in huge contrast with their sheltered counterparts who rarely suffer from these conditions. In addition, homeless children and youth often experience or witness violence from their early ages.

This significantly raises their risk of mental instability. Moreover, this public nature of their living conditions worsens their already dire situation and raises their vulnerability to mental breakdowns. These sustained deplorable living conditions also expose them to both physical and emotional traumatic experiences leading to long-term mental disorders. Unaccompanied children are also more vulnerable to physical and sexual victimization that may affect them into adulthood. Eventually homeless children often suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder due to the living conditions they are exposed to (Swick, 2010).

Education

The link between family residential stability and educational success of children significantly raises the concern about the welfare of homeless. The affected children have certainly proved that homelessness contributes greatly to poor educational performance. Therefore, homeless children are more likely to undergo grade retention than their sheltered colleagues are. As Aratani (2009) reports, previously homeless children attend 4.2 schools on average from kindergarten compared with 3.1 schools for sheltered children. He further asserts that absenteeism and school mobility contribute greatly to school performance. While homeless children occasionally miss school, their sheltered counterparts are always present therefore increasing their chances of passing their examinations.

He further argues that across all age levels homelessness impacts greatly on academic performance with homeless children lagging in their reading and writing skills compared with their sheltered peers. Although homeless children merit a special evaluation criterion, the education system is unfair benefiting only the sheltered kids. Consequently, homeless children rarely complete high school spelling doom in their future endeavors.

Juvenile Delinquency

Aratani (2009), agrees that homeless children usually engage in delinquent survival strategies on the streets thereby endangering their lives from an early age. However, several factors can be attributed to these thought provoking survival instincts. Firstly, children on the streets have limited legal means to support themselves to guarantee their survival. Moreover, children with a previous history of runaway experiences are automatically engaged in delinquent survival strategies. These include peddling drugs, shoplifting, burglary, violent robbery and prostitution.

Therefore, runaway children are occasionally arrested by law enforcement agencies resulting in long jail terms that wipe away most of their useful life period. These homeless children usually start as juveniles and transform into hard-core criminals as they enter into adulthood. A Canadian research study indicated that the longer unaccompanied children encounter homelessness, the greater the probability of them committing criminal activities. Furthermore, inadequate monetary assistance from the government also raises the probability of homeless children and youth engaging in violent crime (Aratani, 2009).

Conclusion

The challenges posed by homeless children in America pose a widespread problem that needs to be handled by all concerned authorities. Some measures that could be adopted to tackle the issue include increasing housing subsidies to facilitate permanent homes for children coming from homeless families.

Also by raising school and community-based healthcare services, a huge segment of the homeless children will benefit. Such measures must also encompass assessing and screening all genuine homeless children. A trauma focused trauma approach to handling mental development of homeless children is also crucial in alleviating the high rate of mental torture amongst these children (Hicks, Burnside & Peters, 2003). Moreover, these programs must seek to better identify and serve all deserving children in the society without discrimination. The federal government is therefore obligated to raise funding for both transitional and independent programs targeting homeless children. This will facilitate the provision of adequate food in major outreach shelters and temporary housing for homeless children. In addition, more funding should be directed towards providing education to lower the prevailing high school dropout rate amongst this lot. Vocational training on the other hand would empower homeless children to attain economic independence. Finally, only a paradigm shift in the approach to aid the homeless children will help the society get rid of this menace (Hicks, Burnside & Peters, 2003).

Weizhi You (Peter)

Alternative care placement for BD

Workplace: hoani waititi social services

1 Outline the information and issues relevant to the decisions about the alternative placement for this individual.

BD is a 13years old boy. The boy’s parent are both not working and they are drug and drunk everyday. The boy couldn’t receive the good care from the family, not enough food, always wear on dirty clothes. He’s suffered from abuse in verbal and physical. The grandparents called the social services for some help because they are old and could not look after BD, and they would like BD to be placed in foster care. After discuss with grandparents, the social workers decide to remove BD from the parents care to another family which is full of love and willing to look after DB. The social worker concerned the parents of DB and told them that their children will leave them until they change them self and find themselves.

2 What other information did you need to obtain?

Safety: The person is safe from any kind of harm that comes from themselves, or any other person. Make sure he won’t be abused in foster care. Check if he is at risk of running away from foster are.

Wellbeing: We need to check the boy’s health situation and the psychology health situations.

The person’s wellbeing is looked after – for Maori people wellbeing should be considered in the holistic sense. We need concerned the family members and have a family meeting to discuss about it.

Arrange the visit for grandparents.

3 Key points of information provided to the parties involved or other observations

The boy is so silent and don’t want to talk with others and hide on the back of grandparents. So we spend the tie with BD and build the trust.

The grandparents have pain legs and sore back who need take medications every day and no family members can take BD, so foster family is necessary.

4 Outline how decision making was facilitated in accordance with the service provider’s standard

Gain information that is relevant to the decision making process. Before an Alternative Placement happens, the families including SW, BD, BD’ parents and BD’ grandparents may meet several times to discuss and share relevant information, issues and needs of the client for their safety and wellbeing.

The safety and wellbeing of BD is the subject of an alternative care placement is the first consideration

Social workers use verbal and non-verbal communications to obtain information relevant to decision making

Obtaining sufficient information to facilitate decision making about the alternative care placement includes all information and issues relevant to all parties involved in the decision about the alternative care placement

Keep the information confidential, and get family consent to discuss family concerns with outside agencies e.g drug agency.

5 other notes which reflect on the decision making process

The boy and the whanau will have the different preferences for the placement, perhaps related to the ease of access for visiting etc.

Cultural issues are an important consideration for social workers, particularly when dealing with Maori.

Some information may reflect on the decision making process including Health needs, Language, safety, client’s privacy,spiritual needs, Dietary needs, Medication needs, Physical comfort

Task 2

Student name: weizhi you(peter)

Alternative care placement for BD

Workplace: hoani waititi social services

1 Outline any further or additional information or issues relevant to the decisions about the alternative placement for this individual.

DB is more shy and silent at first week, but with the help of social workers and new families, he becomes improved both in physical and psychology health. For the spiritual support, the social worker bring him to the marae to join in maori activities and practice maori culture. DB made friend with them and develop his social network. But from the feedback of school, he is not focus on study and seldom do the homework.

BD will go to the same school so he won’t need to involved at another school. He always walk to school.

BD is happy to live in the foster family, the risk of running away is low.

2How did you plan the placement in line with the decisions of the parties involved and any other key people?

The social workers keep contact with family members involved. They keep contact with the fostr family and BD, gain feedbacks and make plan to help BD get used in the new family. They also contact with BD’s parents and grandparents. Helping BD’s parents stop drug and find a job to earn some money. They have a talk with the school and the teacher of BD then the school decide to spend extra hours to help BD study.

3 how did you plan the placement in line with ethical practice?

Followed agency’s policies/protocols.

Ethical practice, the ethics of social work practice also need to apply to decisions about alternative care placements. For example, it will be unethical to tell the person’s family the only place available was one a long distance away, because it had a vacancy and social worker can end their involvement quickly and move on to another case. A place was found nearly to garandparents’s home and easy to visit, families kept informed at all times of all the decision making.

4 how did you make sure that everything you did was focused on the current and future safety of the person who needed the alternative care placement?

BD need to moved from home because he couldn’t receive the properly care from parents which is bad for his well beings. The social worker together with relevant people needs to determine the best alternative care placement for BD, with the safety and wellbeing of the person as the first consideration.

5 key points of information provided or other obeservations

The parents of BD have agree to receive the help from the community and local organizations to stop drug.

BD is happy living in the foster home.

6 outline how planning was facilitated in accordance with the service provider’s standards. Give examples

Followed agency’s policies.

Family Group Conference (FGC) lead by Youth Justice Co-ordinator and Social Work.

Family group conference (FGC) supported CYF care as an interim measure.

completion of checklists: all the paper should be done and checked, it need to be sign by social worker, care provider and families.

security of information: make sure that all the information through inside the person who is involved.

Confidentiality and keeping accurate records of conversations or meetings

Social workers acknowledging the needs and issues of parties to the alternative care placement, use the interpersonal skills to work with the different parties and make sure everything goes on line.

7other notes reflect on the planning process

Home environment: low risk – high risk safety issues. Always consider person’s safety and well being first.

Family visit provide spiritual support.

Task 3

Student name: weizhi you(peter)

Alternative care placement for BD

Workplace: hoani waititi social services

1how did you encourage self-determination of the person who is the subject of the alternative care placement?

To encourage self-determination means encouraging families members to the plan to fulfil their identified roles, and to take ownership of these roles. Dependency on the social worker or social service provider needs to be discouraged. Encourage grandparents to visit. Provide BD’s parents 2or 3 councilling agencies to choose to solve their problems.

Outlined agency’s objectives and appropriate legislation, backing up agencies mandate/kaupapa.

Fully informed BD and whA?nau/family of the parameters and scope of the meeting, and allowed them to define the best options. Informed all the decision making at all times before it satarts.

Where possible I (agency) worked collaboratively with the family to find a middle ground where agency mandate and whA?nau choices weren’t aligned.

2how did you discourage dependency on you as the social worker and the social service provider?

Gave space (and resourced where necessary) so the whA?nau/family could define their own possible solutions. Give them 2to3 useful local agencies and let BD’s parents choose the way to help themselves.

Where possible the agency would step aside, so the family/whA?nau could step up.

3how did you assist key people in the implementation of the plan to identify progress?

I will provide key people with a care-plan that included key indicators of progress, such as attending school regularly, keeping curfew, behavioural contract etc and informed all decision making at all times.

4how did you assist parties to the plan to review the plan? What if any further options were identified? If the plan was amended, how was it amended?

Regular meetings to review progress were held between social service provider,BD , whA?nau and care giver(s). to check the which task has been achived so far and what to improve.

When implementation of the plan is complete, the plan (in its entirety) needs to be reviewed. In some cases the review will result in further options being identified. The review may also determine some different outcomes in terms of achievement of objectives and these also need to be recorded in the plan

5 key points of information provided or other observations

Parents have enrolled the drug councilling center

6outline the implementation was in accordance with the service provider’s standards

Cultural practices were followed eg a karakia/blessing was arranged for BD when he arrived at the home.

The checking in processes was completed fully, including areas such as health and safety, and rules for behaviour etc were explained to BD.

7other notes reflect on the implementation process

His study in school have a big improve under the help of teacher.

Task 4

Student name: weizhi you(peter)

Alternative care placement for BD

Workplace: hoani waititi social services

1how you know you had completed your required tasks or involvement in the plan?

DB is now in foster care family and the parents were enrolled in drug councilling. BD attend the school regular and make new friends. When the implementation of the alternative care placement is complete, it is time for the social worker to complete their involvement in the plan. Always first consider the safety and wellbeing of the person who is the subject of the alternative care placement.

2what possible future involvement might be required from the social service provider in this case? Think about factors that may lead to further contact being needed, what functions or services a social service provider might offer the person in the future, and how the person could go about re-establishing contact with social service provider

The parents may need parenting program to help them learn how to take care of BD. If the parents could not stop drug and abuse on BD, in this situation, BD have to move to another home. The social workers will provide many suggestions and some useful organizations for them. If they need services in the future, they can ring the organizations again.

3notesor key points of information received or other obeservatons made

Social worker’s tasks were clearly finished on the care plan, and the plan was updated to show they were completed.

Transition from home to residential care completed.

4outline how the closure was in accordance with the service provider’s standards

Review the items that were part of your role or responsibility in the plan. Check you have completed them all, and completed all related documentation etc.

Consult with the other parties to the plan. Check that they consider you have completed your responsibilities, or whether there is something else they were expecting you to do.

Handover meeting with host home family, BD and whA?nau.

5outline how you made sure information was kept confidential

Followed agency privacy policy. For example, consent from whA?nau to share information with alternative education provider was received.

6provide two examples of how your actions were in accordance with relevant legislation. Name the legislation in the example.

Privacy Act – I (agency) only kept information that was necessary for the purpose of facilitating BD’s placement in the host home.

CYPF Act – both BD and whA?nau were kept informed of decisions made, and wherever possible involved in the decision making process.

7other notes reflect on the closure process

All parties updated and keep contacting with them.

Provider policy followed, case file checked and updated, renew the information and regular check visit BD.

Task5

How tiriti o Waitangi in social services? Give 3 examples how your actions on placement were guided by the tiriti.

There are four principles in the Te Tiriti o Waitangi to ensure that maori’s rights were covered including partnership, protection, participation and permission.

A partnership in good faith between two Maori and Crown, for that principle, when engaging with Maori or creating policy that could affect Maori, the Social Service organisations ensure needs of Maori are prioritised. In order to make ensure Maori have rangatiratanga rights over their taonga, always consultation with Maori leadership and management when organisational policies are being discussed. Te Tiriti o Waitangi applies in social services including ensure that all social services have a bi-cultural perspective. For example, we respect our maori client, maori way to deal with things, our maori workmates and client’s families, keep good relationship with them.

Protection: for that principle, it allowed maori to exercise their Tino Rangatiratanga (absolute sovereignty) over all of their taonga(land), and benefit from these. Taonga in Maori language means land, resources, language, knowledge, and other aspects of the Maori way of life. Maori have the rights to enjoy their taonga in social service settings, and social service organisations must respect their way of life. It protect Maori’s rights to make choices that best serve their culture, that line with tika and kawa, suit their traditions and practices customary. For example, we working in the maori marae, we follow their traditional cultures and their process in the marae, we are not allowed to bring the food into marae and turn off the phone, no noisy when join the formal welcome.

Participation: it ensure that maori take part in the social counseling and have the equal rights with crown. Consultation at all levels with Maori. It must be service accessibility for MA?ori. Allowed Maori choose their models of health i.e (Te Whare Tapa Wha) rather than western models when working with MA?ori. So when we working with maori, we should knowing their needs and their culture respect, provide their prefer ways to help them.

Task6

How your actions throughout the process of contributing to the facilitation? At least 3 examples and include your inflections from your activities in this assessment all linked to theory for social service practice.

respect my client, always ask their permission, I always collect the family agreement before the action and listen to my client, respect their choices and their maori way to do things. And I respect their culture, when enter Maura, I will follow their traditional approach and customs.

Gain information that is relevant to the decision making process. Before an Alternative Placement happens, the families including SW, BD, BD’ parents and BD’ grandparents may meet several times to discuss and share relevant information, issues and needs of the client for their safety and wellbeing.

We keep contact with family members involved. Keeping contact with the fostr family and BD, gain feedbacks and make plan to help BD get used in the new family. Contacting with BD’s parents and grandparents. Helping BD’s parents stop drug and find a job to earn some money.

Weizhi you 13010121[e”®a…??-‡a­-] 1

Abuse can be defined as “to treat wrongfully or harmfully”. There are different categories of abuse that have been recognized and within our case study there appears to be two distinct forms of abuse, domestic abuse and child abuse. These can be sub divided into terms of physical abuse, emotional /psychological abuse, and non-organic failure to thrive. Physical abuse is the intentional inflicting of physical injury or harm or deliberately not preventing harm occurring.

The minimum physical signs seen in our study to both Mrs Black and James are bruising with suspect excuses for their appearance. Emotional abuse is the continual failure to meet basic emotional needs. Emotional development is stunted and well- being impaired. The emotional signs in our case study can be seen in James by his actions of being withdrawn and non-communicative. The behavioural sign to abuse taking place to James is his aggressive behaviour.

The short term effects of physical abuse to James are bruising and pain. In the long term recurring injuries can result in secondary illness and complications, permanent scarring and disfigurement. His emotional effects in the short term are a fear of adults or others, withdrawal, poor relationship with his peers. The long term emotional effects for James could be low self esteem, depression, inability to form relationships.

Abuse can arise for many reasons and there are a number of theoretical perspectives which may be useful in clarifying why the abuse has taken place. The Feminist perspective believes that gender and family roles gives approval to a culture of abuse. Consider the historical and stereotypical ideas of the family, with men, women and children having definite roles. With the men having power and control in the perspective of abuse. In James case he lives in a reconstituted family with the father figure being dominant and a heavy drinker. From a psychological perspective, alcohol misuse can bring mental health problems which may increase aggression in the person and so James is more at risk from abuse by his step father. The family dysfunction theory suggests that the family is not functioning due to family dynamics. The dysfunctioning family attempts to find alternative ways of coping. The relationship between the mother and James, involves a dependency of James on his mother. With other problems in James mothers life, this leads to increasing stress and the inability of his mother to cope and manage the situation within the relationship. The attachment theory state that significant separations of a child from the carer in the early years can have an effect on their emotional development and can lead to psychological and social difficulties in later life. With the loss of both his father and his sisters` father with whom he was close, may have contributed to his deterioration of his behaviour

If a client begins to make a disclosure of abuse it is important to ensure privacy and confidentiality. It is necessary to show that listening skills are employed and that I remain calm and receptive. I must listen without interruption and make it clear that I am taking their disclosure seriously. I must only ask questions of clarification if I am unclear as to what the vulnerable adult is saying. It is important that I acknowledge their courage in coming forward and tell them that they are not responsible for the abuse. I must let it be known to them what I will do to help them and where possible get their consent to inform my line manager. I must speak to my client in comfortable and quiet surroundings. I would ask my client to sit down where I shall use SOLER techniques to aid in communication. Using the SOLER theory I would use the five basic components used in communication. I would sit squarely on at the table turned towards one another. I would adopt an open posture. I would sit so that we have regular but varied eye contact and that my client could see my facial expressions and gestures to aid in communication. This would also let him know that I am involved in the situation. I would lean forward slightly to convey to him that I am interested and committed to actively listen to him. This adhered to our organizations policy on Confidentiality and the Data Protection Act of 1998 allowing my client to voice his concerns without worry and protected his privacy. I would inform him that they are not responsible for the abuse. I must let it be known to him what I will do to help him and where possible get his consent to inform my line manager. It is important that I make an immediate record of what the vulnerable adult has said, using only their own words. This should be recorded in the Incident Book, clearly, accurately and legibly, and then reported to the Line Manager who is responsible for any further action.

As we do not supply a care service, we are not required to register with the Care Commission, but we ensure all our policies and procedures meet their standards. As all clients under these standards are legally allowed an individualized care plan, we instead have an activity plan. The policy and procedures on abuse of our organisation are underpinned by the National Care Standards which were set up under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001. This Act came about to regulate the care and social work force and set out the principals of good care practice. The Care Commission was set up under this Act to register, regulate and inspect all care services listed in the Act. It also established The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). (ref1)The SSSC has aims and objectives to protect the service users, raise standards, strengthen and support workforce professionalism. An example of the code of practice on abuse, of the SSSC is `to protect the rights and promote the interests of the service users and carers. Strive to establish and maintain trust and confidence of service users and carers. Promote the independence of service users while protecting them as far as possible from danger or harm. Respect the rights of service users and ensure that their behaviour does not harm themselves or others.` The policy for protecting vulnerable people within our organisation is achieved through the careful selection, screening, training and supervision of staff and volunteers. Under The Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 a code of good practice for vulnerable adults within our organisation has been developed which expects staff or volunteers suspecting or have had abuse disclosed must immediately report the concerns to their line manager and write up an incident report. The line manager will discuss the concerns with the person reporting the abuse; she will clarify the concerns and obtain all known relevant information. This will then be forwarded to the appropriate local Social Work Department stating that it concerns vulnerable adult protection. In the absence of a line manager the concerns should be reported directly to the local Social work department and then inform the line manager as soon as possible. The social work department after investigation may have to inform the police to investigate further.(ref2)” the primary role of Registered Social Workers is the protection and promotion of the welfare of children, vulnerable adults and the promotion of the welfare of communities in accordance with the Scottish Social Services Council’s Code of Practice for Social Service Workers.” (ref3)”The social work department will work with the police to carry out joint enquires if necessary and organise case reviews and protection conferences. The police will keep safe from harm the individual who has been subjected to abuse and may call for a medical examination. They will examine and collect evidence, interview suspects, identify offenders and arrange cases for prosecution.” The GP or hospital Doctor maybe involved giving medical evidence of abuse and treating the individual.

Under our code of good practice in preventing abuse it is important that I avoid unobserved situations of one -to-one contact with a vulnerable adult. I must never invite a vulnerable adult to my home; I must never offer to take a vulnerable adult alone in my own vehicle, if it is necessary to do things of a “personal “nature e.g. toileting, I must have the consent and knowledge of the carers and my line manager, before doing any of the above. I must not engage or allow any sexually provocative games involving or observed by vulnerable adults. I must never make or allow suggestive remarks or discrimatory comments to be made to a vulnerable adult. I must not engage in or tolerate bullying, or inappropriate physical behaviour. I must respect all vulnerable adults regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability or sexual identity. I must avoid “favouritism” and singling out “troublemakers”. I must never trivialise abuse and never let allegations of abuse go unreported, including any made against myself. The policy and procedures of our organisation adhere to the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Act (Scotland) 2007 by ensuring as a way of vetting and barring every volunteer and employee has undergone a Disclosure which shows any convictions. If any convictions suggest that abuse of our clients is a possibility then they would not be allowed to volunteer or be employed.

Sources of support for workers in the field of preventing abuse can be provided by statutory, voluntary, and private or independent organisations. Statutory services have a distinct concern laid down by legislation e.g. social services and NHS. The voluntary sector is run on a non profit making basis and have arisen through a recognised need and reflect society`s feelings. E.g. Advocacy, Mencap. Private organisations make a profit but I am not aware of any private local organisation that supports vulnerable adults suffering abuse. Support can consist of Casework, by working on a one to one basis, by counselling again one to one, and by group work bring people together with shared issues to resolve problems together.

(Ref4) Cultural values play a part in defining what is considered abusive conduct .What we in the UK consider abuse may not be considered abuse in another culture. For example, domestic abuse has only recently become abhorrent in the UK. As up until the 1970s/80s, domestic abuse was considered a marital problem and to be accepted, but today we have little tolerance for domestic abuse. But, today, ethnic minority women still run the risk of long periods of abuse and find it difficult to report, families expect women to put up with it, as ethnic women are considered their husbands property. ‘Honour killings` are not unknown amongst ethnic minorities using religious text as justification. (Ref5)Female circumcision is another culturally accepted form of abuse, still practised in 28 countries in Africa. It is seen to control female sexuality and sex outside marriage. This is done to girl’s age range from 4 to 12. It usually takes place in un- hygienic conditions with potentially fatal consequences.

Sometimes, workers may have trouble accepting the motives of people who are involved in abuse. There may be the need to ask why and how can they have abused? Where they just bad or mad? Perhaps the workers values and beliefs make working with an abuser distasteful. However, a professional approach to working with an abuser must be taken. For those who work with abusers there is a need to understand why people abuse.

Abusive behaviour can sometimes be the result of mental health problems, empathy deficit, brain damage or being abused themselves. By becoming the abuser they believe they are taking control, some even believe that they are not doing anything wrong and cannot stop themselves. When working with individuals who have abused it is important to be aware that they may go on to abuse again and as well as trying to treat the underlying cause for abuse their is a need to protect the community from the abuser. So, the use of risk assessments are important to keep safe when working with an abuser. ( Ref7) It is important to be able to understand probable risks and take appropriate action to reduce them. Effective communication and personal skills are useful to understand and reduce potential conflicts. Reflection on my own values and how they may affect my practice and awareness and understanding of the abusers cultural values and background is required to ensure awareness and intervention is employed when required.

References.
SSSC. (2009). Codes of Practice. Available: http://www.arcuk.org.uk/silo/files/791.pdf. Last accessed 09/02/2010.
Stephen Smellie. (2005). Role of the Social Worker: Protection of Title. Available: http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/response/swrole2.html. Last accessed 09/02/2010
Elizabeth Bingham +. (2009). Protection including safeguarding and management of risk.. In: HNC in Social Care. Edinburgh: Heinemann. 229.
Mary Barnish. (2004). Domestic Violence: A Literature Review. Available: http://www.domestic-violence-and-abuse.co.uk/information/Cultural-Differences-in-the-UK.php. Last accessed 13/02/2010.
Frances A. Althaus . (1997). Female Circumcision: Rite of Passage or Violation of Rights? Available: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2313097.html. Last accessed 13/02/2010.
Kathryn Patricelli. (2005). Why do people abuse?. Available: http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8482. Last accessed 13/02/2010.
Elizabeth Bingham +. (2009). Issues involved in protection from abuse. In: HNC in Social Care. Edinburgh: Heinemann. 217.

In 1992 the Department of Health (DH) and the then, Social Services Inspectorate, in England, published the findings of a survey of two social services Departments in relation to abuse. This publication found there to be a lack of assessments in large numbers of ‘elder abuse’ cases and little evidence of inter-agency cooperation. The report recommended guidelines to assist social services in their work with older people (DH/SSI 1992).

During the 1990’s concerns had been raised throughout the UK regarding the abuse of vulnerable adults. The social services inspectorate published Confronting elder abuse (SSI 1992) and following this, practice guidelines No longer afraid (SSI 1993). ‘No longer afraid’ provided practice guidelines for responding to, what was acknowledged at that time, as ‘elder abuse’. It was aimed at professionals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and emphasised clear expectations that policies should be multi-agency and also include ownership and operational responsibilities (Bennett et al 1997).

This guidance was issued under section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 and gives local authority Social Service departments a co-ordinating role in the development and implementation of local vulnerable adult policies and procedures.

In 2000, the department of Health published the guidance No Secrets. The purpose of No Secrets was aimed primarily at local authority social services departments, but also gave the local authority the lead in co-ordinating other agencies i.e. police, NHS, housing providers (DOH 2000).

The guidance does not have the full force of statute, but should be complied with unless local circumstances indicate exceptional reasons which justify a variation (No Secrets, 2000)

The aim of No Secrets was to provide a coherent framework for all responsible organisations to devise a clear policy for the protection of vulnerable adults at risk of abuse and to provide appropriate responses to concerns, anxieties and complaints of abuse /neglect (DOH 2000).

Scotland Historical

In December 2001, the Scottish Executive published Vulnerable Adults: Consultation Paper (2001 consultation) (Scottish Executive, 2001). This sought views on the extension of the vulnerable adult’s provisions to groups other than persons with mental disorder and the possible introduction of provisions to exclude persons living with a vulnerable adult, where the adult’s health is at risk.

A joint inquiry was conducted by the Social Work Services Inspectorate and the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland. Both of these agencies were linked with the central government of Scotland who had responsibility for the oversight of social work services and care and treatment for persons with mental health problems.

In the report by the Scottish Executive (2004), a case of a woman who was admitted to a general hospital with multiple injuries from physical and sexual assault and who had a learning disability became the focus for change for Scotland in terms of adults who have been abused. The police investigation identified a catalogue of abuse and assaults ranging back weeks and possibly longer.

In June 2003 the Minister for Education and Young People, Peter Peacock MSP, asked the Social Work Services Inspectorate (SWSI) to carry out an inspection of the social work services provided to people with learning disabilities by Scottish Borders Council. At the same time, the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (MWC) also undertook an inquiry into the involvement of health services, though worked closely with SWSI during its inquiry. The two bodies produced separate reports, but also published a joint statement (MWC and SWSI, 2004), which summarised their findings and stated their recommendations. The findings included:

aˆ? a failure to investigate appropriately very serious allegations of abuse

aˆ? a lack of information-sharing and co-ordination within and between key agencies (social work, health, education, housing, police)

aˆ? a lack of risk assessment and failure to consider allegations of sexual abuse

a lack of understanding of the legislative framework for intervention and its capacity to provide protection

aˆ? a failure to consider statutory intervention at appropriate stages

The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 (ASPA) is a result of the events that were known as the Scottish Borders Enquiry.

Following the various police investigations, it was identified that there were historical links between the client and the offenders who were later prosecuted in terms of statements held by social services department detailing the offender’s behaviour towards the woman and that this information was held on file.

The Scottish Executive (2004) described the case as “extremely disturbing but even more shocking to many that so many concerns about this woman had been made known and not acted on”. As a consequence, 42 recommendations from the inquiry were made and there was a specific recommendation which was taken to the Scottish Executive and involved the provision of comprehensive adult protection legislation as a matter of urgency as there had been concerns raised from political groups and high profile enquiries to provide statute for the protection of adults at risk of abuse in Scotland (Mackay 2008).

The Scottish framework links with three pieces of legislation. In 2000, the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act [AWISA 2000] was passed and focused on protecting those without capacity with financial and welfare interventions for those unable to make a decisions.

Second, the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act (2003) [MHSA (2003)] modernised the way in which care and treatment could be delivered both in hospital and the community and improved patients’ rights.

Finally, the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act (2007) [ASPSA (2007)] widened the range of community care service user groups who could be subject to assessment, and mainly short-term intervention, if they were deemed to be adults at risk of harm.

Mackay (2008) argues that the Scottish arrangements both mirror and differ from those of England and Wales. She maps out the intervention powers for adults at ‘risk of harm’ into a type of hierarchical structure known as a ‘pyramid of intervention’ which aims to reflect the framework of the various pieces of Scottish legislation and goes onto say that the principle underlying all of the legislation is “minimum intervention to achieve the desired outcome”.

Critique of definitions.

In England, the No Secrets (2000) guidance defines a vulnerable adult as ‘a person aged 18 or over’ and ‘who is or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness; and who is or may be unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation’ (DOH 2000 Section 2.3)

The groups of adults targeted by ‘No Secrets’ were those “who is or may be eligible for community care services”. And within that group, those who “were unable to protect themselves from significant harm” were referred to as “vulnerable adults”. Whilst the phrase “vulnerable adults” names the high prevalence of abuse experienced by the group, there is a ‘recognition that this definition is contentious.’ ADSS (2005).

The definition of a vulnerable adult referred to in the 1997 consultation paper “Who Decides” issued by the Lord Chancellors Department is a person: “who is, or may be in need of Community Care Services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness: and who Is, or may be unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation” (Law Commission Report

231, 1995)

There are however broader definitions of vulnerability which are used in different guidance and in the more recent Crime and Disorder Act (1998) it refers to ‘vulnerable sections of the community and embraces ethnic minority communities and people rendered vulnerable by social exclusion and poverty’ rather than service led definitions.

There is concern, however, that the current England framework is more restricted than it should be, and that the problem is one of definition.

The House of Commons Health Committee, says that No secrets should not be confined to ‘people requiring community care services’, and that it should ‘also apply to old people living in their own homes without professional support and anyone who can take care of themselves’ (House of Commons Health Committee, 2007).

Even within the ADASS National Framework (2005) it has been argued that ‘vulnerability’ “seems to locate the cause of abuse with the victim, rather than placing responsibility with the acts or omissions of others” (ADASS, 2005)

The Law Commission speaks favourably of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, which, it says, understands vulnerability “purely through the situation an adult is placed [in]” (Law Commission, 2008). It is now becoming questionable whether the term ‘vulnerable’ be replaced with the term ‘at risk’.

If we were to look at the current legislation in England surrounding the investigations of abuse to adults, there are none, however there are underpinning pieces of legislation which whilst not in its entirety focus specifically on the adult abuse remit, but can be drawn upon to protect those most vulnerable. There are many duties underpinning investigations of adult abuse, but no specific legislation.

The NHS and Community Care Act 1990, section 47 assessments can be implemented in order to consider an adults need for services and can therefore consider any risk factors present at the time of the assessment. From this, assessment and commissioned services can support people who have been abused or can prevent abuse from occurring.

The National Assistance Act (1948) deals with the welfare of people with disabilities and states that the: ‘local authority shall make arrangements for promoting the welfare of person who…suffers from a mental disorder……who are substantially and permanently handicapped by illness, injury or congenital deformity or other disabilities’ and gives power to provide services arising out of an investigation out of the NHS & Community care Act 1990. (Mantell 2009).

The Fair Access to Care Services 2003 (FACS) recognises that community care services will be a vital aspect of adult protection work (Spencer- Lane, 2010). Interestingly the eligibility criteria that superseded Fair Access to Care from April 2010 (‘Prioritising Need in the context of Putting People First: A whole systems approach to eligibility for Social Care’), continues to place adults who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing abuse or neglect, in Critical and substantial needs criteria banding, as FACS did.

Another definition of a vulnerable adult is cited within The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006), (SVG Act 2006), and defines a vulnerable adult as:

A person is a vulnerable adult if he has attained the age of 18 and:

(a)he is in residential accommodation,

(b)he is in sheltered housing,

(c)he receives domiciliary care,

(d)he receives any form of health care,

(e)he is detained in lawful custody,

(f)he is by virtue of an order of a court under supervision by a person exercising functions for the purposes of Part 1 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (c. 43),

(g)he receives a welfare service of a prescribed description,

(h)he receives any service or participates in any activity provided specifically for persons who fall within subsection (9),

(i)payments are made to him (or to another on his behalf) in pursuance of arrangements under section 57 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 (c. 15), or

(j)he requires assistance in the conduct of his own affairs.

This particular act appears to take an alternative approach to the term ‘vulnerability.’ It refers to places where a person is placed and is situational. (Law Commission, 2008).

Following the consultation of No Secrets, one of the key findings of the consultation was the role that the National Health Service played in relation to Safeguarding Vulnerable adults and their systems. The Department of Health produced a document titled ‘Clinical Governance and Adult Safeguarding- An Integrated Process’ (DOH 2010). The aim of the guidance is to encourage organisations to develop processes and systems which focused on complaints, healthcare incidents and how these aspects fall within the remit of Safeguarding processes and to empower reporting of such as it identified that clinical governance systems did not formally recognise the need to ‘work in collaboration with Local Authorities when concerns arise during healthcare delivery.’ The definition of who is ‘vulnerable’ in this NHS guidance, refers to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) and states that ‘any adult receiving any form of healthcare is vulnerable’ and that there is ‘no formal definition of vulnerability within health care’ but those receiving healthcare ‘may be at greater risk from harm than others’ (DOH 2010).

In the Care Standards Act 2000 it describes a “Vulnerable adult” as:

(a) an adult to whom accommodation and nursing or personal care are provided in a care home;

(b) an adult to whom personal care is provided in their own home under arrangements made by a domiciliary care agency; or

(c) an adult to whom prescribed services are provided by an independent hospital, independent clinic, independent medical agency or National Health Service body.

Similar to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act, the Care Standards Act 2000 classifies the term ‘vulnerable adult’ as situational and circumstantial rather than specific and relevant to a person’s individual circumstance.

Spencer-Lane (2010) says that these definitions of vulnerability in England have been the subject of increasing criticism. He states that the location of the cause of the abuse rests with the ‘victim’ rather than the acts of others; that vulnerability is an inherent characteristic of the person and that no recognition is given that it might be contextual, by setting or place that makes the person vulnerable.

Interestingly Spencer -Lane (2010) prefers the concept of ‘adults at risk’. He goes on to suggest a new definition that ‘adults at risk’ are based on two approaches as the Law Commission feel that the term vulnerable adults should be replaced by adults at risk to reflect these two concerns:

To reflect the person’s social care needs rather than the receipt of services or a particular diagnosis

What the person is at risk from – whether or not the term significant harm should be used – but would include ill treatment or the impairment of health or development or unlawful conduct which would include financial abuse

Spencer-Lane (2010) also argues that with the two approaches above, concerns remain regarding the term ‘significant harm’ as he feels the threshold for this type of risk is too high and whether the term in its entirety ‘at risk of harm’ be used whilst encompassing the following examples: ill treatment; impairment of health or development; unlawful conduct.

Unlike in Scotland, there are no specific statutory provisions for adult protection; the legal framework is provided through a combination of the common law, local authority guidance and general statute law (Spencer-Lane 2010).

Whereby in England the term ‘vulnerable adult’ is used, in Scotland the term in the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 uses the term ‘adults at risk’. This term was derived by the Scottish Executive following their 2005 consultation were respondents criticised the word ‘vulnerable’ as they believed it focussed on a person disability rather than their abilities, hence the Scottish executive adopted the term ‘at risk’ (Payne, 2006).

Martin (2007) questions the definition of vulnerability and highlights how the vulnerability focus in England leaves the deficit with the adult, as opposed to their environment. She uses the parallel argument to that idea of ‘disabling environments’, rather than the disabled person, within the social model of disability. She goes on to comment that processes within society can create ‘vulnerability’. People, referred to as vulnerable adults, may well be in need of community care services to enjoy independence, but what makes people vulnerable is that way in which they are treated by society and those who support them. It could be argues that vulnerability and defining a person as vulnerable could be construed as being oppressive.

This act states that an ‘adult at risk’ is unable to safeguard their own well-being, property, rights or other interests; at risk of harm and more vulnerable because they have a disability, mental disorder, illness or physical or mental infirmity. It also details that the act applies to those over 16 years of age, where in England the term vulnerable adult is defined for those over the age of 18 and for the requirement under the statute is that all of the three elements are met for a person to be deemed ‘at risk’.

ADASS too supports the use of ‘risk’ as the basis of adult protection, although its definition differs from the one used in Scotland. It states that an adult at risk is one “who is or may be eligible for community care services” and whose independence and wellbeing are at risk due to abuse or neglect (ADASS, 2005)

The ASPSA (2007) act

The Scottish Code of Practice states that ‘no category of harm is excluded simply because it is not explicitly listed. In general terms, behaviours that constitute “harm” to others can be physical (including neglect), emotional, financial, sexual or a combination of these. Also, what constitutes serious harm will be different for different persons’. (Scottish Government, 2008a p13).

In defining what constitutes significant harm, No Secret’s (2000) uses the definition of significant harm in who decides? No Secrets defines significant harm as:-

‘harm should be taken to include not only ill treatment (including sexual abuse and forms of ill treatment which are not physical), but also the impairment of, or an unavoidable deterioration in, physical or mental health; and the impairment of physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural developments’ (No Secrets, 2000.

The ASPA (2007) act also goes onto detail that “any intervention in an individual’s affairs should provide benefit to the individual, and should be the least restrictive option of those that are available” thus providing a safety net on the principles of the act (ASPA, 2007).

The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 says:

“harm” includes all harmful conduct and, in particular, includes:

conduct which causes physical harm;

conduct which causes psychological harm (e.g. by causing fear, alarm or distress)

unlawful conduct which appropriates or adversely affects property, rights or interests (e.g. theft, fraud, embezzlement or extortion)

conduct which causes self-harm

N.B – “conduct” includes neglect and other failures to act, which includes actions which are not planned or deliberate, but have harmful consequences

Interestingly the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (section 44) introduced a new criminal offence of ill treatment and wilful neglect of a person who lacks capacity to make a relevant decision. It does not matter whether the behaviour toward the person was likely to cause or actually caused harm or damage to the victim’s health. Although the Mental Capacity Act mainly relates to adults 16 and over, Section 44 can apply to all age groups including children (Code of Practice Mental Capacity Act 2005).

The Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) published a National Framework of Standards to attempt to reduce variation across the country (ADSS 2005). In this document the ADSS 2005 updated this definition above to :-

‘every adult “who is or may be eligible for community care services, facing a risk to their independence” (ADSS 2005 para 1.14).

England and Scotland – differences with policy/legislation
Definition of vulnerability

Three part definition to definition of ‘at risk of harm’

Harm might be caused by another person or the person may be causing the harm themselves

‘no category of harm is excluded simply because it is not explicitly listed. In general terms, behaviours that constitute ‘harm’ to others can be physical (including neglect), emotional, financial, sexual, or a combination of these. Also, what constitutes serious harm will be different for different persons.’

Code of Practice, Scottish Government (2008)

Defining vulnerable: adult safeguarding in England and Wales

Greater level of contestation in defining VA in adults than children.

Doucuments in wales and England are very similar. In safe hands document is greater but both are issued under the provision of section 7.

Whilst they are guidance, there is a statutory footing behind them.

‘No Secrets (DH2000) defines vulnerable in a particular way: Is a person who ‘is or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness; and who is or may be unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation.’ No Secrets paragraph 2.3 Lord Chancellor’s Department, Who Decides (1995)

The ASP Act introduces new adult protection duties and powers, including:
Councils duty to inquire and investigate
Duty to co-operate
Duty to consider support services such as independent advocacy

Other duties and powers – visits, interviews, examinations

Protection Orders: assessment, removal, banning and temporary banning

Warrants for Entry, Powers of Arrest and Offences
Duty to establish Adult Protection Committees across Scotland
Harm includes all harmful conduct and, in particular, includes:
a) conduct which causes physical harm;
b) conduct which causes psychological harm (for example: by causing fear, alarm or distress);
c) unlawful conduct which appropriates or adversely affects property, rights or interests (for example: theft, fraud; embezzlement or extortion); and
d) conduct which causes self-harm.
An adult is at risk of harm if:
another person’s conduct is causing (or is likely to cause) the adult to be harmed, or
the adult is engaging (or is likely to engage) in conduct which causes (or is likely to cause) self-harm
N.B “conduct” includes neglect and other failures to act (Section 53)

Homelessness is a social problem that relates to the condition of people without a regular private house and shelter. People passing through social issue of homelessness are most often not capable to obtain and preserve standard, harmless, protected, and satisfactory accommodation, or lack “fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence.” There is no standard definition of homelessness and it differs from region to region, or among different entities or institutions in the same country or region. The scope of homeless is vary vast and it also comprise people whose prime night-time dwelling is in a homeless shelter, a warming center, a domestic violence shelter, cardboard boxes or other informal housing situation. In USA people also are covered under homeless record and are included in research studies who sleep in a public or private place not intended for use as an expected sleeping place for human beings. From different researches it’s predicted that almost 100 million people across globe were homeless in 2005. In western regions and areas of world the large majority of homeless are men (75-80%) (Culhane and Associates, 2012).

History of Homelessness in America:

Homelessness is not a contemporary issue it is predicted that it is found in American society in the early ages of 1640. In early history the homelessness was related to moral issue and obligation and people who were homeless visit town to town to prove their worth but in recent era it is more related to a social problem. People who are homeless are facing severe issue is contemporary world related to health and social initiatives. Homelessness can be caused from several perspectives. From different researches it is depicted that the most common caused behind homelessness are industrialization, wars, natural disasters, racial inequalities, medical problems, character flaws, etc. industrial revolution started in 1820s. This gives rise to migrations of people from rural areas to urban areas that give rise to the main causes of homelessness because of job searches and earn living standard. Violent crimes also started because of this migration and sudden rise in population. The policies at that time also lead to devastating issues relating death and mental illness because of homelessness. The major rise was faced in 1850s when most parents send their young children to remain independent because of rise in cost of living, this give rise to adults’ homelessness. The civil wars also give rise to homelessness in 1890s most people were homeless because of several causes from the civil war destructions. Another most important cause relates back to natural disasters i.e. Earthquake, fires, and Droughts caused in 1920s and 30s. The causes give rise to poverty and thus people lack support to build their houses. The income level drops because of increased population and unemployment which also moved society towards increase rate of homeless people. The financial crisis recently gives rise to more destructive situation that leads towards enhanced homelessness problem. The contemporary homelessness can be seen in surrounding that many children, youth, and old age people are homeless (Culhane, 2008).

Causes of Homelessness:

Different researches are done to find the main causes that lead to homelessness. The causes can be categorized into three areas that are personal, structural, and homeless peoples own causes.

Personal Issues:

There are several personal and social factors that lead to homelessness. The common factors are outlined below:

Individual factors: like drug abuse, character flaws, lacking qualifications, debts, no social support, poor health regarding mental and physical conditions, peer relations of bad company.

Family factors: disputes and family conflicts, physical and sexual abuse while adulthood and family background of homelessness.

Institutional factors: living in foster care, as prisoner, and employed in armed forces.

Structural Issues:

There are several social and economic problems that cause this homelessness. Some common causes are outlined below:

Unemployment

Poverty

Lack of affordability

Policies relating housing

Structure of housing benefits

Wide policy development relating hospitality and criminal issues

Homeless People Views:

The three main reasons identified through reviewing opinions of homeless people about their reasons of leaving home are family and peers pressures to leave them, relationship disputes and violence at home, loss of temporary dwelling (Dr. Lynn et al., 2006).

Problems faced by Homeless People:

There are several risks that are associated with people who are passing through state of homelessness. The problems can be categorized as basic and devastating. The problems are outlined below:

Lacking personal security, silence, and privacy, especially for sleeping

Lacking safekeeping of bedding, clothing and possessions, which may have to be carried at all times

Lacking facilities for hygiene

No place for cleaning and drying clothes

Lacking affordability to acquire, prepare, and store food

No social contacts because of no permanent location or mailing address

Antagonism and lawful authorities against metropolitan poverty.

Compact admittance to health care and dental services.

Little or no access to education.

Increased jeopardy of affliction from violence and abuse.

Common denial or intolerance from other people.

Loss of accustomed relationships and association with the mainstream

Lacking qualification for employment.

Reduced access to banking services because of lacking collateral

Reduced access to communications technology (Echenberg & Jensen, 2009).

Assistance and Resources for Homeless People:

Many researches relating homelessness and homeless people have diverted the attention of government and other institutions to support and fund the needs of the homeless people. Many countries run the assistance programs for the homeless people and provide them with food, shelter, and clothing and sometimes most augmented services. Many non-government organizations also run support programs with help of funding from volunteers. Social support is provided by homeless people to other homeless people. They run their own community and support one another in different needs. Formal assistant is also provided through government, religious organizations, charities, other ministries. Many organizations are working to provide income support through employment opportunities like street newspapers selling. Other income sources are through employing little works like playing music, performing magic and other arts. Many homeless people commit little crimes to be jailed to have food and shelter for some days (Foweler et al., 2009).

Refuges for Homeless:

There are many refuges that are used by homeless people to be used as temporary place for shelter and sleep. Some common refuges are outlined below:

Sleeping bags

Tent

Cardboard box

Abandoned buildings

Cars and trucks

Wagons and other public vehicles

Parks, pavement, and bus stations

Train tunnels etc.

Proposed Solutions for Homeless:
Housing First / Rapid Re-housing:

Many governments are taking steps to eliminate the homelessness. The USA government asked almost every state and city to enhance the standard of living of homeless people. the 10 years plans are planned and are in process to be implemented to eliminate the homelessness and one of the results of this was a “Housing first” solution, also known as “rapid re-housing”. These policies facilitate quickly to get a homeless person permanent housing of some sort and the necessary support services to maintain and hold a new home. There are many impediments of this kind of program and there must be solutions to augment these programs to make such an initiative work successfully in the middle to long term.

Supportive housing:

Supportive housing is a related to provide the basic necessities to the homeless people. It is the combination of housing and services proposed in a cost-effective way to facilitate and support needy people live more stable and productive lives. Supportive housing provides special programs for those who are in most challenging situations. The audiences for this program are individuals and families confronted with homelessness and who also have very low incomes. It also has increases coverage and scope and therefore incorporates substance abuse, addiction or alcoholism, mental illness, HIV/AIDS, or other serious challenges to a standard and productive life.

Pedestrian Villages:

Many researchers are proposed several solutions to enhance the lives of homeless people. The most common solution proposed is relating notorious national solution for homelessness that would engross building nearly carefree Pedestrian Villages. This policy and solution is termed as “the current Band-Aid approach to the problem.” Example of this policy is Tiger Bay Village that was proposed to create caring society for homeless people. This policy states that this program and support would be better-quality for indulgence the psychological as well as psychiatric needs of both temporarily and permanently homeless adults. This policy was based on the cost-effective solution thus aimed to provide opportunities and support and cost less than the current approach. This policy also enhanced the homeless people living by moving them away from criminal acts to take shelter in prisons. Work opportunities are also provided and constitute construction and maintenance of the villages. It also focuses on the creation of work force agencies that help to make the villages financially and socially feasible and practical.

Transitional housing:

Transitional Housing endows with impermanent housing for the certain audience of the homeless population. The target group constitutes of working class of homeless people who are on verge of setting up to changeover their residents into enduring and inexpensive housing. It is not a temporary shelter house for homeless but typically a room or apartment in a habitation with support services. The intermediary time can be short ranging from 1 to 2 years and in that time the person must file for and get permanent housing and usually some gainful employment or income, even if Social Security or assistance. From time to time the transitional housing habitation program incriminates a room and board fee that can be a standard percentage of an individual’s income. This fee is sometimes partially or fully refunded after the person acquires a permanent place to live in. In the USA centralized financial support for transitional housing programs was originally allocated in the McKinney act (Cohelen, 1997).

Conclusions:

The above study is based on the research work of other authors. The report started with the introduction to the homelessness relative to its broad meanings and is then proceed to the history, causes and underlying factors. The solutions are also provided to help states and countries to make remediation for the enhanced livings of homeless people and move them to productive life.

The problem of homelessness is traced back to late history and is not a contemporary issue. There are several factors and underlying causes of homelessness out of which family conflicts and disruptions are rated as high. The issues that are faced by homeless people vary in range from more basic lacking facilities to higher levels of physical and mental destructions and illness. Many organizations along with governments are working to provide facilities and support the homeless people. Many volunteers are also working to augment the lives of homeless people by proving them with food, shelter, and clothing along with health facilities. Many support programs are also planned to support and facilitate the homeless people. Some common programs processed are housing fund and re-housing, transition housing support, and pedestrian villages.

In this essay, based on a case study and ethical dilemma (see appendix); I will demonstrate the process of ethical decision making and justify a course of action. I will discuss the ethical issues from the dilemma; critically examine competing BACP ethical principles and guidelines, issues of difference, organisational issues and legal implications and evaluating the outcome. To conclude I will discuss the therapeutic relationship. To maintain confidentiality and client anonymity, all personal details have been amended within this academic essay and case study.

Impacts upon the problem and issues to consider

An impact upon the problem is, if I breach confidentiality, I will be damaging the trusting relationship formed with Raj, leaving her feeling isolated, further vulnerable and let down. This could affect not only her trust in future relationships and prevent her from seeking help in the future but also her therapeutic progress.

If I breached confidentiality it could lead to my client experiencing further threats from her husband. Raj is fearful of going to the police when this happens as in the past he manipulated the police into believing she was abusing her husband which led to him having custody of their son. Furthermore, it could cause the father to be angry with Aaron and could lead to him experiencing further abuse.

However, as a member of the BACP I have a duty of care towards my client and a statutory and common law duty to safeguard vulnerable children as recognised by the Children’s Act (2004) (Jenkins, 2004). Further impacting the situation is the organisations policies regarding confidentiality and child protection, which require me to breach confidentiality and report such concerns to my line manager and make a safeguarding alert to social services. Additionally, when contracting in our initial counselling session, I explained that in circumstances of child protection and where my client or others are at risk of harm, confidentiality would be breached, which Raj agreed too, thus she was aware of this when she disclosed child abuse to me.

Furthermore, if I was to breach confidentiality without Raj’s consent, she would not want to continue our counselling sessions due to trust being broken. It could also seem disrespectful of Raj’s choices and concerns and that I do not understand her frame of reference.

Further issues to consider include the client’s culture, my own morals and standpoint, what action needs to be taken to ensure a good quality of practice, the ethical, legal and professional implications for any decision made as well as considering will breaching confidentiality be for the greater good and whose interests will be met. While also considering Raj’s interests and rights to be free of harm, autonomous living, justice and good quality of therapy, I must also consider the consequences for myself and my own self-respect and needs (BACP, 2010).

Whose dilemma is it?

It is Raj’s dilemma as she is fearful of her ex-husband finding out that Aaron told her about the incident, fearing this will lead to Aaron being further abused. The decision affects Raj as I have been trusted with personal, confidential information, therefore Raj will feel neglected and betrayed if confidentiality is breached, leaving her isolated (Welfel, 2006, pp 67). Her vulnerability will further due to feelings of abandonment as presently I am her only support besides the collectivist family unit.

It is also my problem as I am being asked to keep confidence despite feeling wary and uncomfortable in doing so. While I have no legal obligation to report child abuse, I have an ethical obligation to report the disclosure as I have a duty of care towards protecting a child at risk and a vulnerable adult as well as acting in the best interests of the client. Furthermore it would be morally wrong of me to not report the incident and especially if something else happens causing further harm to Aaron and/or Raj, which seems likely as the ex-husband has a history of abuse and aggressive behaviour. I will need to act quickly in order to prevent possible further harm to Aaron.

Raj has specifically asked for confidentiality to be maintained, so if I breached confidentiality, this will be untrustworthy and going against my client’s wishes. However, confidentiality can be breached in cases of child protection and if someone is at risk of harm; in this case Aaron. Due to Raj’s vulnerability and fear resulting from domestic violence, her thought process may be irrational and anxiety provoked. As a counsellor I need to act in the best interests of my client and to protect her from harm.

By breaching confidence, I do not want to create further problems for my client or do anything that will cause harm to her or her son. I have an obligation to Raj, BACP and the organisation to put my own feelings aside in order to follow the best interests of my client and what causes the least harm to her whilst also having an ethical obligation to protect Aaron against harm.

In my job description, it is not stated that I will solely liable for damages; therefore, it is the organisations problem because as my employer they could face legal implications if confidentiality is breached, i.e. if Raj sued the organisation. BACP (2010) state “respecting client confidentiality is a fundamental requirement for keeping trust”. I am a member of the BACP so I would be going against their guidelines by breaching confidence without consent.

Ethical Principles and Values, Organisation Policies and Legal Issues

By law, I am required to maintain confidentiality so long as the client or anyone else is not at risk of harm and when confidentiality is assumed or requested, , I would be lying to Raj and betraying her trust and their relationship is this information was disclosed to a third party (Welfel, 2006). However, while in cases of child protection informed consent is not required due to having a statutory duty to report, I can be honest and open with Raj about what I plan on doing to ensure congruence and maintain the therapeutic relationship.

There are many possible conflicts between ethical principles and the law. The law states confidentiality must be abided so long as no one is at harm, however the BACP ethical principles of justice and self-respect ensure that not only does the professional consider the clients best interest, without causing harm to themselves. However, by adhering to confidentiality about something I am morally against I would not be appropriately applying the ethical principles as entitlements for myself. While I have a main responsibility to keep Raj from harm, I also must consider the Aarons right for safety. While Raj has a human right to choice, I have an ethical and professional obligation to ensure I provide Raj with necessary information to ensure the decision made is the best possible decision for Raj and Aaron and would cause the least harm.

By attending clinical supervision and line management supervision I will be able to receive guidance on dealing with dilemma, gain a differing perspective on the situation. Reflection will also help me understand the situation more clearly.

Fidelity

I have established an effective therapeutic relationship based on trust, congruence, safety, UPR and warmth with Raj. It would be untrustworthy of me to breach confidentiality as Raj trusts me. However as I am required by the BACP and organisation to report child protection, I will need to be honest with Raj and explain that I will need to report the incident however it would be better if she gave her consent and explaining why this matter needs to be reported.

Autonomy

Throughout the counselling process, I have valued Raj’s autonomy through choice and offering power to make decisions within therapy. I must respect her decision by keeping her material confidential and her right to be self-governing and make choices independently without hindrance (Gillon, 1985). However by helping Raj consider the situation and consequences thoroughly, through all perspectives, she will be able to make an informed decision. By gaining informed consent I will be abiding by BACP guidelines as well as respecting my client’s right to choice and accurate information and being client-centred. By explaining my ethical obligations in the contracting process and reiterating this and my requirements in safeguarding children when Raj made the disclosure, I am informing her of foreseeable conflicts as soon as possible.

Beneficence

Raj is vulnerable, confused, scared and distressed, therefore is it not sure if she is able to recognise her best interest. She may not be acting rationally due to her fear of her ex-husband and worry over her son. By explaining why it would be in her best interests and Aarons best interests to disclose child abuse, I am showing a commitment to promoting her well-being as well as being concrete and honest.

Non-maleficence

The action that would cause the least amount of harm to Raj is to make the safeguarding alert without disclosing where I gained the information. While this will limit the action social services can take against her husband and to protect her son, it will ensure that her husband will not find out that she or Aaron disclosed the abuse. If I was to not make the safeguarding alert, Raj would remain distressed and fearing for her son’s safety which would cause her further emotional harm.

Justice

Raj has human rights to freedom and choice over her decision and the support she receives and the right to respect for private and family life, however she and Aaron have a right to prohibition of torture. The fairest decision for both Raj and Aaron is to make the safeguarding alert with informed consent. By honouring her right to information I am being fair by assisting her to make an informed decision. I am also being fair to myself in abiding by BACP ethics, the law and organisational policies.

Self-Respect

I am being asked to go against my own beliefs and morals as well statutory law and BACP ethical guidelines, thus conflicting with my right to beneficence, autonomy, non-maleficence, justice and my human rights.

BACP state informed consent should be sought before breaching confidentiality, however the organisations policies state that clients do not need to be informed when breaching confidentiality for child protection matters, which would be dishonest of me and affect the therapeutic relationship. This causes conflicts within what is being asked of me, professionally, ethically, legally and morally what I feel is right. To work through these conflicts I attended clinical supervision and discussed the dilemma with my line manager.

Possible Courses of Action

As a member of the BACP I am required to maintain confidence at Raj’s request. By providing a rationale as to why confidentiality needs to be breached, I could work within the boundaries of my job and BACP ethical guidelines by helping Raj to understand that this disclosure would assist in ensuring Aarons safety in the future as procedures would be put into place to prevent further harm to Aaron and a safety plan can be formed to ensure Raj is safe from harm from her ex-husband. I could explain to her that when I make the disclosure to social services, I don’t have to disclose her personal details and she can remain anonymous thus her ex-husband will not know that she has reported the incident. I can also explain to social services that Aaron is at risk of further harm so procedures will be put into place to protect him should the incident be investigated. This will hopefully put Raj at ease. Raj would need to give written informed consent for me to share her information with a third party (Welfel, 2006), providing she is “fully informed of all the facts to make that choice” (Gerch and Dhomhnaill (2005). This would ensure I am abiding by the Data Protection Act (1998). By giving a rationale, offering a different perspective and accurate and necessary information, Raj will be able to make an informed decision. Raj is more likely to give me informed consent to make the disclosure if I show her that she can trust me to consider her best interests and ensure her safety as far as possible. I will allow Raj time to make up her mind, and ask questions to ensure she does not feel pressured (McLeod, 2010).

The other option is to breach confidentiality without Raj’s consent as a child is at risk of harm. This would mean the disclosure could be made sooner as I would not need to speak to Raj thus action to ensure Aaron’s safety could be taken sooner. However, in doing so I will damage the therapeutic relationship, breaking her trust and causing more psychological harm as she I would then be another person in her life whom she trusted but let her down, which will then make her more vulnerable and cause trust issues within future relationships. Furthermore, Raj could take legal action against me or the organisation (Jenkins, 2007). By choosing this course of action I will be going against BACP ethical guidelines, the organisations ethos and my own values and morals as an integrative practitioner as well as safeguarding legislations. To ensure Raj’s safety I still could keep Raj’s personal details confidential when making the safeguarding alert.

Course of Action

Having referred to the Children’s Act (1989, 2004) and it’s supporting guidance for safeguarding children (HM Government, 2006, 2010). I will explain to Raj that due to ethical guidelines, the organisations policies regarding child protection and statutory and common law as well as my moral duty of care towards Aaron, I need to breach confidentiality as stated in the counselling contract. I will explain to her that this safeguarding alert will assist in ensuring her son’s safety in the future as there will be a record made and that social services will do whatever they can to prevent further harm to Aaron. I will explain to Raj that when I raise this alert to social services, if she prefers, I will not disclose her personal details, I will maintain her anonymity in accordance to the data protection act (1998) (Jenkins, 2007) and I will not disclose where I got this information from thus her husband will not know that she has reported the incident. However I will also explain to Raj that should she give me permission to disclose where I got this information from it will be further help as the more evidence I can provide, the better chance there is of social services acting upon the disclosure. I will explain that this is completely her choice and I will respect whatever decision she make, but I am professionally, ethically and legally required to breach confidentiality, thus enabling her to make an informed choice. Thus Raj would feel more confident and knowledgeable about her decision and she will have a choice in her decision (BMAED, 2004, pp. 74), thus respecting her autonomy and Human Rights (Bond, 2010).

I will also explain that due to my respect for Raj I would like her permission to make this disclosure and to agree upon what information will be shared as well as abiding by BACP guidelines and the law. By explaining to Raj why this action must be taken, how I will ensure her and Aarons safety is maintained as much as possible and explaining each step I will take and the information to be shared, I am showing Raj that I value her and her opinion, I have her best interests at heart and that protecting Aaron and maintaining her safety is key within the work that I am doing. Ultimately I am exemplifying she can trust me and providing her with a safe environment, free from punishment.

By also offering alternative perspectives such as explaining the possible consequences of not making the safeguarding alert would also allow Raj to make an informed choice (BACP, 2010). It is important that I am honest with Raj and that I give her the necessary information as this would exemplify fidelity, client autonomy, respect, and equality. I will reassure Raj that I will support her, listen to her and that as an Asian counsellor I can understand her concerns regarding family honour and confidentiality thus I will maintain her anonymity it she feels that it what she wants to do.

By choosing this course of action I show that I have considered universality, publicity and justice (Bond, 2010, Gabriel and Casemore, 2010) and the ethical, legal and professional implications, whereby I am abiding by the BACP ethical framework, the organisations policies on child protection and statutory law regarding data protection, confidentiality, and child protection and safeguarding vulnerable adults. Furthermore, I have considered the consequences of this action within supervision, considering the effect on the therapeutic relationship, my own rights and legal implications if informed consent is not sought.

Evaluation of the outcome

The outcome was that after the fourth session, with informed consent I made a safeguarding alert whilst also maintaining Raj’s anonymity, which led to social services checking on Aaron and a record being made. Raj attended a further where she reflected upon her therapeutic progress, her self-esteem and shared her decision to apply for sole custody of Aaron.

I would take this action again for other clients and feel I made the right decision as I was honest, gave the necessary information, respected Raj’s autonomy, beneficence, maleficence and ensured that the decision was fair for everyone involved, prevented further harm to Raj, Aaron and abided by ethical and legal guidelines (Bond, 2010, Gabriel and Casemore, 2010). Furthermore, I considered the client’s culture and presenting issues which were relevant to ensuring her safety. Over all, I promoted the clients well-being and protected her from harm.

Therapeutic Relationship

When clients are able to see us as genuinely concerned for them, that we are not putting on a professional facade, they will feel safe with us because we are reliable (Merry, 2002). By being honest about what I was intending to do and explaining I was congruent yet mindful of the client’s frame of reference and experience I highlighted I was sincere in offering help.

Beyond the physical scars, domestic violence has profound effects on a women’s self-worth. Lewis (2003) stated an abused woman needs to regain power and control over her life by making independent choices and decisions. Carl Rogers (1951) highlighted that we all have the capacity to be fully functioning if our power is given recognition. Through a client centred approach based on respect, acceptance and choice, I helped Raj to recognise her worth and power within the therapeutic relationship and thus empowering her. Roger’s core conditions (1951) encourage women to develop power from inside them in order to attain improved self-awareness and to take control. Thus by allowing Raj to take control over what was happening in therapy, I was helping her become autonomous, and take control over the choices she wanted in life, whilst also protecting her from harm and understanding her cultural needs through empathy and UPR. The increase in self-esteem would enable further self-awareness, which would later help achieve successful therapy outcomes from changes in personality and behaviour (Rogers, 1951). These points highlight that I had provided a good quality of care and maintained a good therapeutic relationship (BACP, 2010). It must be considered, it is due to the effective relationship that Raj felt comfortable to make the disclosure and through offering her power and autonomy and being honest, she felt comfortable with giving her consent as I was able to exemplify that her and Aaron’s safety was paramount.

This essay will analyse the child benefit scheme from both a historical and political perspective in which it will examine the debates on child benefit in the 1970’s when the scheme was first introduced and compare them to the current debates and reforms the coalition government have proposed to introduce.

The child benefit scheme was fully introduced in 1977 through the Child Benefit Act 1975 proposed by the Labour government coming from a socialist perspective. Child benefit merged Family Allowances, which were paid to those with more than one child, and Child Tax Allowances into one single payment. These were both previous welfare benefits specifically for children. Child benefit is a universal, tax free benefit paid to all children in the household. It did not exclude those on higher incomes or was any different for single parent families as it was paid to every child (Greener & Cracknell, 1998). Child benefit was a recognition by government that there are extra costs when parents have children. Child benefits have been increased by the successive governments over the years in relation to inflation and the needs of children and families. It is regarded as a positive benefit, helping relieve child poverty and social exclusion. It is recognised as a fair and worthy way of spending public money and an investment for the future (Greener & Cracknell, 1998).

There were a number of positive and negative arguments for and against the introduction of child benefit. One of the main causes for an improved system of child support was the rising levels of child poverty in Britain in the 1960’s and 1970’s (Hendrick, 2008). Child Benefit was seen as a way of protecting and preventing a child against poverty (Bennett & Dornan, 2006). Poverty had increased as of the deprivation caused by the likes of inflation and the rise in food prices (McCarthy, 1983). There were a number of reports highlighting the decline in living standards of children such as those by 1960’s scholars Margaret Wynn and Della Nevitt questioning whether support for children in the 1960’s matched the needs of children (Field, 1982). Further, the social researcher Richard Titmuss expressed that child support in Britain was badly designed and had to be improved as only those with more than one child received Family allowances (Field, 1982). Additionally a report on Circumstances of Families (1966) presented to us that half a million families who have one and a quarter children live on or below the official poverty line (Field, 1982). Therefore these reports show that child poverty was an ongoing issue at the time and a valid reason as to why a new child policy such as child benefit would be a beneficial action for children’s future. It provides a form of stability as it does not depend on income (Bennett & Dornan, 2006).

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) were highly influential in the introduction of Child Benefit. They campaigned for the protection of children since their establishment in 1965. The CPAG’s main aim was to persuade Harold Wilson’s Labour government to increase Family Allowances and therefore brought child benefit into the public eye (Field, 1982). When it came to the child benefit campaign The CPAG had been claimed as the ‘main stimulus’ for its introduction (Field, 1982). They even used threats to the government to demand better welfare for children. They were a Group who represented the poor, acting as an agent of those in poverty. Their purpose was to help poor families and not only focus on changing the structures in society (Field, 1982). CPAG campaigners tried to convince poor people that it was not their fault they were in poverty but was structures within society that did not fairly redistribute resources (Field, 1982). According to Field (1982) the Group had strong support for an appropriate form of child support to be put in place as they believe it was needed to eradicate child poverty. The Group recognised raising a child costs more money and sharing the cost through the redistribution of income was thought to be the best way of improving children’s welfare (McCarthy, 1983). Therefore looking at the political issues in the history of child benefits are important to examine the evolution of child benefit. The CPAG’s influence in child benefit shows the large impact pressure groups can have on political issues and how they raise public awareness. McCarthy (1983) also claims if the CPAG had not became involved in the cause the issue may not have been discussed at all. It also shows that government are not the only protagonists in the policy process as the Group had such a peripheral role on child benefit.

Trade Unions also had a large contribution to the introduction of child benefit and supported the change from wallet to purse. The TUC/Labour party committee in the early 1970’s stated the benefit scheme must tackle the problem of poverty and provide enough to do this (McCarthy, 1983). According to the CPAG policy briefing (Bennett & Dornan. 2006) the scheme was going to cost too much money and the Labour government claimed the benefits introduction would be postponed as of administrative and legislative problems. In May 1976 suspicions grew that the Labour government was abandoning the scheme as they introduced the Child Interim Benefit to single parents which was thought to be a temporary provision until the government had enough funds to fully introduce child benefit (McCarthy, 1983). It has been claimed the shelving of child benefit could have been due to James Callaghan succeeding as Prime Minister from Harold Wilson. According to Field (1982) Callaghan did not support an increase in family allowances in the 1960’s. Callaghan believed the public were against the benefit scheme as it meant a decrease in take home pay for men (Field, 1982). The Cabinet leaks by the CPAG however seemed to have one of the largest impacts on the child benefit scheme as it revived the political debates on child benefits. It revealed that the TUC had reacted badly to the fact that child benefit implementation would reduce take home pay for men and they therefore became completely against its introduction despite the fact child benefit would bring income back up again (Field, 1982). The Labour government decided to abolish the scheme and were reluctant to go against the TUC. Therefore the lead up to the implementation of child benefit has shown the way government ministers make decisions on social policies. We can see from the literature that the government did not necessarily make a decision on the needs of the public but was the opinions of the TUC dominated their decision. The leaks led to government embarrassment and a swift change of mind to implement child benefit. This shows Labour may have introduced child benefit to keep the public happy and to avoid being voted out.

It appeared in the 1970’s that there was a wide support for reforms of the Family allowance as the Labour and Conservative governments supported change as well as the trade union movement. The proposal for the introduction of child benefit raised the subject of whether the monthly payment should be paid into the purse (mother) or wallet (father). With the previous system men received all welfare benefits for the family. The argument that the benefit should go to the purse was so that the person who primarily cared for the children could organise the family budget for the likes of food and clothes (McCarthy, 1983). This can also make sure that the money is spent on the child and on items the child needs (Bennett & Dornan, 2006). Recent evidence from CPAG (Bennett & Dornan, 2006) claimed that child benefit is regarded as highly valuable to mothers. The benefit may also be the only formal income the mother receives and is regarded as an ‘independent income’ for some mothers. It appears the shift from wallet to purse was significant argument in the introduction of child benefits and was one of the main reasons for change. The transfer was also an issue for the trade unions where the majority of members were male at this time. There were sexist attitudes towards this move as men would lose out on their tax allowances and therefore became against child benefits. However the change from wallet to purse did make sense and became implemented. Therefore this was an argument that welfare for children had to be improved and changed.

Since the introduction of child benefit in 1977 there have been a number of increases and changes depending on the government in power. The largest change however since its introduction will be the Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition reforms pledged in October 2010 and is an issue both parties seem to agree on. According to Roberts (2010) {online}, the Liberals Democrats believe this move has been long overdue. The policy proposes that if at least one person in the household is paying the higher tax rate earning more than ?43,875 per year then that household will no longer be eligible to receive the benefit. These cuts have caused public uproar. The coalitions aims are to cut public spending by an average of 25% across all departments excluding health and overseas developmental (AVECO, 2010) {online}.

An ongoing argument against the withdrawal of child benefits from higher rate taxpayers is that it is unfair, and the design of the policy is unclear. The media highlight this showing how unjust the policy proposal is and will hit the middle classes most. Ed Miliband in Labour opposition states how it is unreasonable that a person earning two salaries just under ?43,875 can keep their monthly payment but those earning over this threshold when the other parent is not working will not receive their benefit (Prince, 2010) {online}. According to the Comprehensive Spending Review by 2014-15 the cut in child benefit will be saving ?2.5 billion a year preventing those on a lower income from subsidising higher earners (Spending Review, 2010). It has been argued Child benefit is in some cases wasted as of its universalism and payment for every child. For instance even those who do not need the extra income still receive it. Further, it is argued it is ill-targeted across the board and wasted on those at the top end of the income scale rather than targeting those who are really in dire need of that extra piece of income which the Conservative government believe are good enough reasons to remove Child benefit from higher earners. Therefore the policy reform comes from a right wing background which believes that the state should not be relied on by its citizens such as those who are better off and are able to provide for themselves. Whereas in 1977 child benefit was seen as a collective investment.

The Labour party challenge the coalition cuts by informing that stay at home mothers will be the worst affected under this move. It is viewed as unfair as for example if a family has the main breadwinner on a ?45,00 wage and a female carer staying at home to look after their children, they will lose out on thousands of pounds a year for their family. Single earner families lose out the most (Prince, 2010) {online}. The media claim 15% of tax payers will be affected by this change (Prince, 2010) {online}. A further argument agreeing that women will be the most affected by this is the fact that for some females child benefit is the only form of income the mother receives. Katherine Rake of the Family and Parenting Institute states that for some handling the family budget is the only form of independence some mothers have (Collins, 2010) {online}. With these reforms it seems the Coalition government are reverting back to old ways, favouring male income which the old style family allowances did.

Undoubtedly the policy is designed to save on public expenditure and target those who need it most. The policy however could create problems within the family. It could cost families thousands as it could prevent those on a wage below the cut off from taking employment promotions which take them above the line (Prince, 2010) {online}. When single mothers enter a new relationship with a person who is on the higher tax rate wage which would remove the eligibility for child benefit. Additionally the Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda commented on the reform saying couples may claim they are separated to avoid losing the payment as they feel they should be entitled to it. Checks on this neo-liberalist reform would be difficult and expensive and therefore implementation could become difficult as of the removal of its universalism (Chapman, 2010) {online}.

It is valuable to look at the policy from a historical and political perspective as it has shown how the policy has evolved and why the policy was implemented with the rise of child poverty and a need for a satisfactory form of child support. Cost is obviously a key factor in the cuts however whether this cut is affordable for the future of children remains to be seen. The reforms have brought about controversy politically and publicly as it has raised the subject of who is deserving of child benefit as it has now decided who receives it.

In conclusion child benefit has therefore become a success in Britain and has become relied on by many. The fact that child benefit has lasted over 40 years shows this significance as well as the fact that it has angered many who will be losing out after the proposed coalition reforms.

INTRODUCTION

Social work is concerned with people and their environment and seeks to intervene to assist in dealing with complex problems and difficulties people face in their lives. It focused on assisting the individual to reach their full potential and engages in problem solving and social change (Graham, 2007, p. 8). Social work emerged in the industrialised countries during the late nineteenth century and played an important role in Victorian society. In 1869, the Charity Organisation Society (COS) in London came together to form a charitable good works to eliminate poverty by increasing co-operation with other charities and the Poor Law, to eliminate the unequal distribution of the poor relief. Women volunteered to give assist and advice to those in need. The Beveridge report which advocated for family allowances, free health and employment services, flat rate social insurance, served as a foundation and shaped social work role in the post-war Britain (Abel-Smith, 2007). In 1954, the first generic social work course was introduced at London School of Economics (Denney, 1998, p. 18).

This eassy discusses the political relevance of social work provision for adults with learning disabilities (LD) who live in the community. It will further examine the impact of discrimination and oppression on service users and need to promote anti-oppressive practice in social work for the benefit of those with (LD). Thereafter the eassy will explore the importance of service user participation and how it informs social work practice.

The White Paper, Valuing People, defines a learning disability as ‘a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information (impaired intelligence) with reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning) which started before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development’. Department of Health, (DoH, 2001, p. 14), discussed in Galpin and Bates, (2009, p. 50). Social work services concerned with the disabled people developed in the health and the voluntary sectors (Graham, 2007, p.127).

Before the 1960s, disability was often invisible and has always been discussed in the context of medical model on which it concerned on the individuals’ disability. Social work practice with disability was mainly influenced by the medical model as it encouraged paternalism and dependency on State Welfare benefits (Oliver, 1996). However, the social model of disability was influenced by disability movements such as MENCAP and MIND organisations, who campaigned to bring awareness to the able-bodied professionals and policy makers to focus on the social environment and participation in the management of services for people with learning disability (Oliver, 1990). The social model has gain influence and been adopted as the best way to work with disabled people, because of it influence on social barriers and attitudes of the society (Graham, 2007).

People with (LD) did not have the opportunity to access mainstream resources in the society as they were either shut away in hospitals and large institutions, and often isolated from the society. However in the 1960’s the poor physical conditions and the misconduct of staff brought to the attention of political and public perception of long stay in hospitals and institutions (Shardlow and Nelson, 2005). The Community Care came about when the newly created National Health Service wanted to rid itself of the old workhouses. However, people who needed nursing care, had no where to go so a smaller units in the community was recommended. For people with (LD), the publication of the White Paper Better Services for the Mentally Handicapped in 1971 was a landmark change Social Policy. One of the main recommendations of the White Paper was the replacement of 27,000 of 52,100 hospital places in England and Wales with residential homes in the community (Stevens, 2004) discussed in (Galpin and Bates, 2009). The community Care served as the cheaper option to deliver a high quality of services for people with (LD). This made a way for them to move into the community, for example some owned their own tenancies, some in houses with twenty four hour staff support. This promoted choice and inclusion and enabled people with learning disability to live in the mainstream of life (Thomas and woods, 2003,).

The National Health Services and Community Care Act, (1990) and White Paper Caring for People (DoH, 1989) reduced the interference and dependency through managerialism, and introduced care managers into local authorities social work and social services departments. Their role was to take assessment of the individual disabled needs and then purchase social care packages for them. In this way, local authorities became enabling authorities rather than direct care providers for people with disability (Graham, 2007, p.127; Oliver and Sapey, 2006, p. 1).

People with (LD) are discriminated against in terms of disability and other social divisions and their environment. Most often when the above occurs, the resulting experience is generally one of oppression (Thompson, 2006).The Disability Discrimination Act, states that ‘disabled people should have fair access to the mainstream society in relation to employment, access to goods, facilities or services and renting or buying property (Graham, 2007, p.130). A number of organisational practices, society and professionals view impairments as personal tragedy. People with (LD) face discrimination when seeking for employment, as most jobs are tailored to suit the able-bodied. numerous employers do not make available resources to recruit disabled people, most often this throws them to dependant roles of policies, and restrict people with ( LD) living in the community to meet the demands of independent living (Booth, 2002). Lack of confidence, disempowerment and social exclusion also sets in and the end result is oppressive. Although Social workers, cannot single handledly change the attitudes of the society and employment limitations towards people with (LD), however ‘social workers can act as resource to be used by disabled people, rather than providers of care’ (French, 1994) to effectively be involved in promoting and supporting their rights and aspirations. Social work provision should enable disabled people to overcome the barriers by assisting service users with (LD) to seek employment, to receive welfare benefits due to them and gain access to adaptation, equipment and personal support to participate fully in the mainstream social and economic life (Barnes,1991). This will lead them to dependence, self-determination and inclusion (Shardlow and Nelson, 2005).

Another major barrier that people with (LD) faces is stereotypes and negative attitudes from the society. I recall an incident during a four day holiday to Norfolk with adult with learning disability. It was a warm day so we decided to go swimming. We got to the pool and some of the holiday makers protested that service users should not enter because they might spit or urinate inside the water. The team explained that they have same rights as everyone to use the facilities. After much discussion the manager was informed and allowed us into the pool. It was very intimidating. This attitude often leads to social exclusion for service users with (LD) which often results in oppression. Even though presently there are a lot of special facilities that are in place for people with (LD), there is still stigma attached to them by organisations and accessibility to some buildings is still limited.

The introduction of the Community Care (Direct Payments, Acts, 1996) has been a significant step forward in assisting people with (LD) to achieve independent living. The Act requires the local authority to offer the payment to the individual who are eligible, enabling them to live a quality and have control over their own independence and have self determination. The policy also supports social living for people with learning disability (Hasler, 2004) discussed in (Graham 2007). People with (LD) may have their payment made to a trust fund or families to manage for them.

The Concept of Normalisation has been a great tool for people with (LD). Normalisation originated from Scandinavia and practiced in America and later came to Britain (Denney, 1998, p.88). Though time has moved, normalisation still provides insight in a variety of services development. The concept emphasise the importance of people with learning disability to live and have the same rights and social roles as the able-bodied to live within society and be part of it (Thomas and Wood, 2003). The work of John O’Brien (1987) set out ‘five accomplishments’ target to serve as a guideline for community services development and support in other to realise the principles of normalisation. The accomplishments are; community presence, choice, competence, (giving disabled people the opportunity to develop a range of skills), respect and community participation (Sharldow and Nelson, 2005, p.64).

The Valuing People White Paper, published in 2001, came as a major breakthrough for people with (LD) after thirty years of segregation. The Paper is to promote rights, independence, choice, inclusion and modernising day services now and the future for people with learning disability (Community Care Magazine, 2008,). Some local councils has come a long way to put services and support for people with (LD) such as short breaks, daytime opportunities, supported living services and adult placements. The young adult receives advice on education, healthy lifestyles and sexual relationships (www.kent.gov.uk).

From experience, service users participation promotes inclusion, enhances respect and empowerment. Learning disability ranges from mild to profound, some do have sensory and physical impairments, speech and communication impairments, and others do have challenging behaviours which sometimes affect service users with learning disability involvement in decision making (Parrott, 1999). Social work practioners may use other tools of communication to involve them in decision making. This will enable them to contribute towards their care needs and encourage them in choosing appropriate service provision through advocacy. This will challenge people with (LD) to become independent and take active part in the mainstream community (Sharldlow and Nelson, 2005).

Person-centred planning (PCP) is one of the ways forward in involving service users with (LD). A process of ‘continual listening and learning: focused on what is important to someone now, and for the future; and acting upon this in alliance with their family and friends’ (Sanderson, 2000, p.2) quoted from (Galpin, and Bates, 2009, p. 67). The listening aspect is a good social work practice and care management skill to understand the individual’s with learning disabilities choices and abilities. PCP assist social work practioners to work in such a way that, they see the individual with learning disability in context of family and community connections, friendships, their race, ethnicity and religion, gender and sexuality, their previous experiences and other factors that makes them who they are

(Galpin and Bates, 2009; Sharldlow and Nelson, 2005).

CONCLUSION

This essay has highlighted the significance areas of the historical and political context of social work provision, and it has spearheaded a reform in social work practice. It has evaluated the different ways in tackling social exclusion and suggested avenues that can be explored to promote inclusion for people with (LD). The eassy has also examined the impact of oppression on service users, and how oppressive practice has hindered professional relationship with service users, and in this context people living with learning disabilities. Drawing from analysis on various literatures, it appears that there is a gap for social work professionals to identify any development delays in promoting individuality, equality in areas like employment and accessibility to buildings. Therefore, social care services can make a real difference to people with learning disability lives, their development, opportunities and achievement.