Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Pam Hibbert, Assistant Director—Policy, Barnardo's
Following the oral evidence session on 19 March,
I am writing as promised to provide further information to the
Committee in response to Mr Chaytor's question (Q55) and to provide
further detail on a number of other points raised in the evidence.
At Question 55 Mr Chaytor asked what
proportion of local authorities have a children's rights service,
a children's rights officer, a children's participation worker
or similar service, that give a voice to children in care. The
organisation CROA (Children's Rights Officers and Advocates)[12]
provides listings for independent children's rights officers/advocates
across the UK covering approximately two-thirds of local authorities
in England and Wales. However, it does not provide information
as to whether local authorities have commissioned an independent
advocacy service. We recommend Building a Culture of Participation:
Involving children and young people in policy, service planning,
delivery and evaluation[13]
produced by the National Children's Bureau and PKRC as the best
practice guide for giving a voice to young people.
We also noted in our oral evidence about the
legal duty to take into account children's views. Under s.53 Children
Act 2004, there is a duty to ascertain children's wishes and feelings
and give due consideration to them. During debates on the Bill
the issue of whether there should also be a requirement to record
this was briefly discussed.[14]
Barnardo's believe that s.53 should be amended to include a requirement
to record the child's views and whether or not any action was
taken.
At Question 8, I provided information
from a piece of research undertaken in France, Germany and England.[15]
Further comparisons can be made using that research, between children
in residential care in England and Germany in relation to outcomes
for children and staffing issues. In Germany, 59% of children
in care live in residential establishments of up to 150 children,
compared to 14% in England. In England 11.6% of children under
16 who are in residential care were not attending school compared
to 2.2% of children in Germany; and less than 50% were in post
16 education or training compared to 70% in Germany. English residential
units have considerable difficulty in retaining staff, 46% of
managers reported this as a major problem compared to just 8%
of managers in Germany.
In England, Government standards from 2005 specify
that at least 80% of residential staff should have a Level 3 NVQ
in caring for children and young people. But despite investment
in training, this target is not being met; with 36% of staff still
have no qualification at all. By contrast in Germany the most
basic level of training required is a three year vocational college
qualification and the preferred qualification is that of a four
year degree in social pedagogy. Over half of residential staff
have the higher level qualification and there has been a sustained
and deliberate policy to professionalize the residential care
task through taking a pedagogic approach, resulting in a confident
and well respected workforce.
Adoption and fostering are often considered
preferable, particularly for younger children; but for some children,
group living is the most appropriate placement. Children who may
have had a number of foster carers, older children and young people
and those who have very strong family ties can be better served
and frequently express a preference for residential rather than
foster care.
At Question 15, to clarify the figures
from our research with young people to get their views about Care
Matters. We spoke to 136 children and young people and 34
foster carers; 74% of the children and 21 of the foster carers
told us that they would like someone to talk to or seek advice
from outside of normal office hours. Barnardo's Marlborough Road
Partnership[16]
provides supported housing and a range of other services for vulnerable
and disadvantaged children and young people aged 16 to 21 in Cardiff
and Newport. As part of this 24-hour on-call support is offered
at a cost of approximately £11,000 pa.
In response to Question 22 we mentioned
our research involving care experienced young people in inspections
of children's services.[17]
Together with a consortium of voluntary sector partners, we recruited
and trained a group of young people who had experience of being
in care to take part in 19 inspections and get the views of children
and young people currently in care for the Social Services Inspectorate
(SSI). The purpose was to develop a process for gathering better
information directly from children, young people and their carers
which enables them to give their views and opinions on how well
local authorities listen and respond to them. A copy of this report
is attached for your information.[18]
I would also like to take this opportunity to
reinforce our optimism about the changes that are taking place
through the implementation of Care Matters; however, as
I noted in my evidence at Q3 we believe that there are three continuing
areas of concern:
— The need for independent advocacy
for children in care.
— Better support for transitions for
children leaving care.
— Children in care who go into custody.
Barnardo's is also a member of the Refugee Children's
Consortium, and we urge the Committee to take the needs of unaccompanied
children seeking asylum into account during the course of the
inquiry.
April 2008
12 www.croa.org.uk. Back
13
Kirby, P, Lanyon, C., Cronin, K, Sinclair, R (2003) Building a
Culture of Participation: Involving children and young people
in policy, service planning, delivery and evaluation. London:
DfES. Back
14
House of Lords Hansard, 15 July 2004, Col 1476 onwards. The issue
was not discussed further in the Commons, as at Committee Stage
the Minister said that she would return with amendments at Report,
and at Report Stage the amendments were passed without debate
but did not include a requirement to record. Back
15
Petrie, P; Boddy J; Cameron C et al Working with children in care
Open University Press 2006. Back
16
http://www.barnardos.org.uk/marlboroughroad.htm Back
17
Hibbert, P (2002) Voices and Choices: young people participating
in inspections. Learning from the Listening and Responding component
of Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) inspections of local authority
children's services. Ilford: Barnardo's. Back
18
Not printed Back
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