Memorandum submitted by the Children's
Rights Alliance for England (CRAE)
SUMMARY OF
KEY POINTS
— Children's rights must be an integral
part of training for social workers.— Appropriate participatory
techniques must be used to elicit children's views in care review
meetings and this must be addressed in training.— Children's
views must be taken into account when reviewing social worker
training.
— Decisions regarding placement moves must
be made in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child (UNCRC).
— Decisions regarding contact with siblings
must be consistent with children's rights.
— Social workers must have adequate knowledge
of the support available for children leaving care.
INTRODUCTION
1. The Children's Rights Alliance for England
(CRAE) is a coalition of more than 380 voluntary and statutory
organisations seeking the full implementation of the UNCRC in
England. Our vision is of a society where the human rights of
all children are recognised and realised.
2. CRAE welcomes the timely decision to review
the training of social workers following recommendations from
Lord Laming's review of the child protection system[3]
and the Select Committee's own research into looked after children.[4]
Given the recent bad press surrounding the social work profession,
it is important to state at the outset that a recent nationwide
investigation conducted by CRAE uncovered many examples of social
workers going beyond the call of duty to ensure children and young
people had access to opportunities to develop their skills and
talents.[5]
However, this same investigation uncovered significant areas for
improvement which additional or revised training for social workers
could help to address. This submission focuses on those areas.
CHILDREN'S
RIGHTS MUST
BE AN
INTEGRAL PART
OF THE
TRAINING OF
SOCIAL WORKERS
3. CRAE commends the emphasis Lord Laming
and the Select Committee have placed on putting the best interests
of the child at the centre of all decisions regarding a child's
welfare and protection in accordance with Section 1 of the Children
Act 1989 and article 3 of the UNCRC. Making decisions which serve
the best interests of the child and uphold the principle of child
protection is fundamental to understanding and respecting children's
basic human rights, and it is important that training for social
workers is developed in this context. Following its examination
of the UK Government in September 2008, the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child expressed concern about the general lack of
knowledge and understanding about the UNCRC among professionals
in the UK, identifying social workers as one group in particular
need of "adequate and systematic training".
4. The UN Committee recommended that:
the State party further strengthen its efforts,
to ensure that all provisions of the Convention are widely known
and understood by adults ... It also recommends the reinforcement
of adequate and systematic training of all professional groups
working for and with children, in particular law enforcement officials,
immigration officials, media, teachers, health personnel, social
workers and personnel of childcare institutions.[6]
5. There are several reasons why training
for social workers needs to be built around an explicit children's
rights approach.
5(a) Human rights are widely accepted to
be "universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated".[7]
This means, for example, that article 20, which gives children
who are temporarily or permanently separated from their family
the right to special protection and assistance provided by the
state, cannot be considered in isolation from other articles of
the UNCRC; there are other rights which are directly relevant
to a child's entitlement to alternative care. Of particular importance
are the UNCRC's four general principles: non-discrimination (article
2); the best interests of the child as a primary consideration
(article 3); the right to life, survival and development (article
6); and the child's right to express their views in all matters
affecting them and to have those views given due weight (article
12). In addition, article 9 (giving children the right to stay
in regular contact with both parents so long as this is the best
thing for the child) and article 19 (guaranteeing protection from
harm) are also directly relevant to a comprehensive understanding
of the rights of children in the care system. A better understanding
of these rights and how they interlink would improve the development,
commissioning and delivery of local services, as well as the outcomes
achieved by children and young people in the care system.
5(b) Social workers often have difficult
judgments to make between competing priorities such as "best
value" versus safeguarding children's "best interests".
A thorough knowledge of the UNCRC would enable social workers
to make the best informed decisions about keeping children safe.
This would include understanding not only the rights children
have but also how those rights should be balanced against the
rights of parents.
5(c) Adopting a children's rights approach
to social work would bring the UK in line with internationally
recognised children's rights standards. It would also provide
a comprehensive framework for ensuring children receive basic
human rights, and enable social workers to demonstrate to Ofsted
how they are improving the safety and well-being of children in
the local area.
6. Recent research conducted by CRAE has
shown that many key personnel in the children's workforce are
unaware of internationally recognised standards for children's
rights. In a survey sent to all directors of children's services
in England to establish levels of local awareness and implementation
of the UNCRC, we found that:
— Inadequate knowledge of the UNCRC was
identified as the second major barrier (after resources) to the
fulfilment of children's rights.
— 19% of local authorities did not have
a designated person in charge of implementing the UNCRC in the
organisation.
— 77% of local authorities did not explicitly
reference the UNCRC in their Children and Young People's Plan.
— None of the 140 local authorities who
completed the survey refer to the UNCRC in the job description
of the director of children's services.
— Out of those local authorities who had
received training on the UNCRC and who had incorporated the UNCRC
into their daily work, only 14% felt they had an "excellent"
understanding of children's rights.[8]
7. Although the aforementioned study focuses
only on the UNCRC, it is arguable that if Government truly wants
to make the UK the best place in the world for children to grow
up, social workers must be familiar with their broader statutory
responsibilities, principally under the Children Act 1989, the
Children Act 2004 and Children and Young Persons Act 2008, and
with their safeguarding responsibilities under the latest iteration
of Working Together. The UNCRC would give social workers
a framework to inform decisions relating to these statutory duties
and for this reason we strongly urge that a child rights approach
be adopted when making any revisions to current training for children
and families social workers.
APPROPRIATE PARTICIPATORY
TECHNIQUES MUST
BE USED
TO ELICIT
CHILDREN'S
VIEWS IN
CARE REVIEW
MEETINGS AND
THIS MUST
BE ADDRESSED
IN TRAINING
8. CRAE's nationwide investigation suggested
that there is wide variation across the country in the extent
to which children have a say in their care review meeting, despite
the duty laid down in the Children Act 1989 (amended in the Children
Act 2004) for social workers to ascertain a child's wishes and
feelings and give them due consideration. Not listening to the
views of children led to criticism from children that social workers
were failing to tailor care plans to their specific needs.[9]
9. Section 53 of the Children Act 2004 places
new duties on social workers to give due consideration to children's
wishes and feelings when undertaking a child protection enquiry
or a children in need assessment. Two years after it came into
force, the Government was asked in Parliament what guidance it
had issued to local authorities, and how it intended to monitor
the implementation of the new duty. The minister gave a very inadequate
response.[10]
At the end of 2007, CRAE made a Freedom of Information request
to all directors of children's services in England to determine
how they had implemented this new provision. We found nearly 10%
of respondents had been personally unaware of the new provision
until receiving the CRAE survey (13 of 139 respondents). Only
a third of local authorities that responded said action had been
taken to raise awareness of Section 53 among social workers, while
24 (18%) said they were not aware of any action, and a further
19 (15%) replied they had taken no action.
10. When discussing having a say, children
and young people raised concerns about social workers not dealing
with administrative duties (such as enabling children to travel
to visit family members, and ensuring money allowances for clothes).
The failure to consult children and young people when decisions
were being made about their care and to explain the outcomes of
decisions fully had the effect of making some feel belittled by
the care system and silenced by their lack of opportunity to take
part in real decisions affecting their lives.
... they say that they're listening to you, and
then they just don't because they say they're going to do something
for you and then they never do it, so you can't trust them.
11. Research shows that not being able to
contribute to decision-making can be a particular problem for
children with special educational needs. Government figures have
shown that more than a quarter (28%) of children in care have
special educational needs compared with only 3% of all children.[11]
It is therefore fundamentally important that methods used by social
workers to elicit the views of children in care are inclusive,
age-appropriate and participatory. This is in keeping with the
child's right to have a say in all decisions which affect their
lives as outlined in Article 12 of the UNCRC.
CHILDREN'S
VIEWS MUST
BE TAKEN
INTO ACCOUNT
WHEN REVIEWING
SOCIAL WORKER
TRAINING
12. CRAE would strongly encourage the Children,
Schools and Families Committee to actively seek the views of children
in care as part of this inquiry—the findings from CRAE's
nationwide investigation and the work of the Children's Rights
Director give strong testimony to the fact that many children
in care have informed and useful views about the training that
should be given to social workers.
13. CRAE understands that the Children's Development
Workforce Council has been commissioned to involve children, young
people and their families in the development and rollout of leadership
training to all directors of children's services. We hope that
the Children, Schools and Families Committee will recommend a
similar approach for social worker training, particularly given
the unique insights service users can provide in identifying areas
of further training.
DECISIONS REGARDING
PLACEMENT MOVES
MUST BE
MADE IN
ACCORDANCE WITH
THE UNCRC
14. CRAE is concerned at the high number
of children who continue to be moved frequently between placements;
at 31 March 2008 11.4% of children in England had been in three
or more placements during the preceding 12 months.[12]
A National Voice has cited placement moves and a lack of support
from carers as the two biggest impediments to educational achievement.
Frequent placement moves have also led to criticism from children
and young people that there are "too many people interfering"
in their lives:
I think nowadays kids in care have their heads
messed with just by everyone, everyone and anyone.
15. In light of these findings, CRAE would
recommend that the UNCRC is used as the framework for all decisions
relating to children requiring a delicate balance of competing
priorities, such as those relating to a placement move.
DECISIONS REGARDING
CONTACT WITH
SIBLINGS MUST
BE CONSISTENT
WITH CHILDREN'S
RIGHTS
16. Legislation requires that children are
placed with their siblings "so far as is reasonably practicable"
or consistent with the child's welfare. However, research by the
NSPCC examining children's experiences of care following the Children
Act 1989 found that four in every 10 children said they did not
have enough contact with their siblings.[13]
A National Voice found that 83% of children in care who do not
live with their birth siblings said they would like to see more
of their siblings. One in six children in care that took part
in CRAE's focus group interviews had not been asked their views
about staying in contact with siblings. These children suggested
that alternative methods should be made available to enable children
to stay in touch, and that sibling contact should be actively
encouraged. It is therefore crucial that the training of social
workers address the issue of sibling contact and, where appropriate,
encourages alternative forms of communication.
SOCIAL WORKERS
MUST HAVE
ADEQUATE KNOWLEDGE
OF THE
SUPPORT AVAILABLE
FOR CHILDREN
IN LEAVING
CARE
18. One of the major issues emerging from
CRAE's investigation which has direct implications for the training
of social workers concerns the support available to young people
to assist them with the transition from care to independent living.
This includes providing information about the benefits and support
young people are entitled to on leaving care. Although most young
people we spoke to seemed well informed about opportunities for
education, jobs and accommodation, the majority wanted to ensure
that effective support would be put in place to help them with
this transition.
19. One young person told us:
I think that you leave care normally when you're
16. You go on 16-plus and them getting you a flat and stuff like
that. I know some kids might not think this sounds such a good
idea and in some ways I don't either but I think you still need
help when you move out with Social Services because I know a lot
of my friends in care that have been 16 moved into a flat and
been really happy, yes, I'm out of care, I'm on my own now, but
then they mess up again because they're on their own and then
they start doing drugs because they're on their own. I'm not saying
they need to stay in care longer or anything. They just need more
support becoming independent and going into a flat on their own.
Do you know what I mean?
20. Research carried out with care leavers
living in three regions of the UK by Rainer (now Catch 22) found
that almost one in six (16%) young people were not in suitable
supported accommodation.[14]
Similar results were uncovered by A National Voice, who in surveying
more than 600 care leavers found that one in ten had no place
of their own and were "sofa surfing" because of a lack
of communication between housing and social services.[15]
This lack of joined-up working also emerged from CRAE's research,
where children and young people claimed that some social workers
gave contradictory information because they were unfamiliar with
the client's case file or system processes, or because they lacked
knowledge of appropriate and local referral services.
21. One young person told us:
... one time one social worker saying, oh, yes,
we're going to sort you out with a flat, blah blah, we'll get
you on the system, come down and see me. So, I went down. Oh,
he's not in today but I'll see you and they were saying something
totally different. Oh, we can't get you on, we'll have to do this.
They don't talk to each other. Then, when I saw my social worker,
when he came back in and spoke to me, he said totally the opposite
again. He didn't even know that someone else had spoken to me
when he came in. They just need to communicate more and explain
what's happening.
22. It is particularly important that social
workers are able to appropriately support children in need of
counselling and therapeutic support. Nearly half of children in
care have a clinically recognisable mental health disorder, and
six out of 19 have been subject to abuse or neglect, yet the Child
and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) 2005 mapping found
that only 16% of children in care were receiving mental health
services.[16]
In light of these findings CRAE would recommend that the training
for social workers specifically addresses knowledge of the range
of mental health services available to children and young people,
and ensuring that decisions regarding referral to these services
are made in conjunction with the young person.
FUTURE STEPS
23. CRAE has considerable expertise in children's
rights and would be extremely willing to engage in further dialogue
on any of the issues noted in this submission. In terms of related
work the Committee may find it useful to be aware of, CRAE is
currently considering the value of developing a children's rights
audit tool for use by local authorities to establish their level
of compliance with the UNCRC; we are also organising a seminar
between leading children's rights experts to explore what a rights-based
child protection system might look like. In addition to this,
we have been exploring with the National College of School Leadership
the possibility of including training on children's rights in
its programme for directors of children's services.
May 2009
3 Lord Laming (2009), The protection of children
in England: A progress report. Back
4
Children, Schools and Families Select Committee (2009), Looked
After Children: Volume I-Report and formal minutes; and Volume
II-Oral and written evidence. Back
5
CRAE (2008), What do they know? Investigating the human rights
concerns of children and young people in living in England. Back
6
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (2008). Concluding
observations: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
(CRC/C/GBR/CO/4), paragraph 67g. Back
7
United Nations. 2003. Vienna Declaration and Programme for
Action. A/CONF.157/23, paragraph 5. Back
8
CRAE (2009), Beyond Article 12: The local implementation on
the UNCRC in England. Back
9
Unless otherwise referenced, the following quotes from children
are taken from CRAE (2008), What do they know? Investigating
the human rights concerns of children and young people in England. Back
10
House of Lords written answer, 19 March 2007: Hansard Column
WA164. Back
11
DfES (2007), Care Matters: Time for change. Back
12
DCSF (2008), Children looked after in England (including
adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2008. Back
13
DfES (2007), Data on penalty notices, fast track to attendance,
parenting orders and parenting contracts for period 2 September
2006 to 31 December 2006. Back
14
Rainer (April 2007) Home Alone. Housing and support for
young people leaving care. Back
15
A National Voice (2005) No place like home. Housing for care
leavers report. Back
16
House of Commons written answer, 27 February 2007: Hansard
Column 1251W. Back
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