Children's
Rights
for
Training of Children and Families Social Workers Inquiry
Submission
from the Children's Rights to the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee
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
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.[4]
5. There are several reasons why training for social workers needs to be built around an explicit children's rights approach.
5a. Human rights are widely accepted to be 'universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated'.[5] 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.
5b. 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.
5c.
Adopting a children's rights approach to social work would bring the
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
· 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.[6]
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.[7]
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.[8]
At the end of 2007, CRAE made a Freedom of Information request to all directors
of children's services in
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.[9] 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
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.[11] 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
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.[14] 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.
Contact details Children's
Rights Alliance for London N1 9PF T: 020 7278 8222 E: info@crae.org.uk
[1] Lord
Laming (2009), The
protection of children in [2] Children, Schools and Families Select Committee (2009), Looked After Children: Volume I - Report and formal minutes; and Volume II - Oral and written evidence. [3] CRAE (2008), What do they know? Investigating the human rights concerns of children and young people in living in England. [4] 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 [5] United
Nations. 2003. [6]
CRAE (2009), Beyond Article 12: The local implementation on the UNCRC in [7] 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 [8] House of Lords written answer, 19 March 2007: Hansard Column WA164 [9] DfES (2007), Care Matters: Time for change [10] DCSF
(2008), Children looked after in [11] DfES (2007), Data on penalty notices, fast track to attendance, parenting orders and parenting contracts for period 2 September 2006 to 31 December 2006 [12] Rainer (April 2007) Home Alone. Housing and support for young people leaving care. [13]A National Voice (2005) No place like home. Housing for care leavers report. [14] House of Commons written answer, 27 February 2007: Hansard Column 1251W.
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