FtSE Member News: Action for Children - Campaigners call for new vision for children in care10/6/2015
We have joined forces with the other leading children’s charities to call for a fundamental shift in supporting children and young people to recover from the trauma of abuse and neglect. The Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers is calling for a clearer definition of what care is aiming to achieve. The group wants a statement in law defining the principal aim of the care system for those children who spend a significant time in care, as promoting psychological healing from past harm, building resilience and achieving well being. In order to achieve this change a new framework is required to measure how all children and young people are coping in care which can be used to hold local authorities to account. ‘A new vision’ is published at a time when the care system continues to fail too many children, despite the evidence that care can be the right option and can provide the security, stability and love that children need. The Alliance is also calling for:
“Care is the right option for many children and young people. It can provide them with the love and warmth that they need to have happy and secure childhoods. “But, despite the collective efforts of national and local government, the focus on the best outcomes for children has been lost. “The impact of traumatic experiences like severe neglect and family breakdown is enduring. Yet too many young people say that the reasons they come into care are not addressed. It is time to renew our efforts for children in care and care leavers.” Enver Solomon, Director of Evidence and Impact at the National Children’s Bureau and co-director of the Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers said: “The care system is not just about removing children from harmful situations and putting a roof over their heads. Many children in care have been seriously abused or neglected, and rely on local authorities as corporate parents to help them get back on their feet. Ultimately, the care system should help children overcome their past experience and forge the lasting and positive relationships that we know are vital to their future wellbeing.” For more information contact Liz Fenwick or email liz.fenwick@actionforchildren.org.uk / 07718 114031. For urgent enquiries out of office hours call 020 3124 0661. The Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers is comprised of: A National Voice Action for Children British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) Barnardo’s British Association of Social Workers (BASW) Children England Coram Voice Family Rights Group Institute of Recovery from Childhood Trauma National Association of Independent Reviewing Officers (NAIRO) National Children’s Bureau (NCB) NSPCC National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) Children’s Commissioner for England’ TACT The Care Leavers’ Association The Children’s Society The Fostering Network The Prince’s Trust The Who Cares? Trust Together Trust Young Minds The Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers’ ‘A new vision’ is available here. A Young people’s version is also available. Souce: https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/news-and-opinion/latest-news/2015/june/children-in-care-alliance/ You may have seen our Greatest Moments in Fostering memories on our Facebook page and Twitter feed using the hashtag #FCF2015... hopefully inspiring the next generation of foster carers, and reminding those who already foster what an amazing job they do. We're sharing these memories to celebrate Foster Care Fortnight™ - the Fostering Network's annual campaign to raise the profile of fostering - showcasing the commitment, passion and dedication of foster carers across the country. Here's some of the memories our foster carers and staff have shared - enjoy! We'll be posting more this week. Look out for more Greatest Moments over the next week - and if it inspires you to become a foster carer, please get in touch! We'd love to tell you more about fostering and what's involved. Give us a call on 01227 275985, email us at mail@kasperfostering.org or apply online here.
Source: http://www.kasperfostering.org/news/our-greatest-moments-in-fostering/ Last year the documentary series Protecting Our Parents gave an anxiety-inducing insight into the enormous challenges facing the NHS and welfare services because of our ageing population. Protecting Our Foster Kids (BBC Two, Sunday) took a similarly heartfelt – and heartbreaking – look at the issues confronting vulnerable children and foster parents attempting to navigate the care system: emotional minefields, impossible choices and a paralysing shortage of foster homes. Produced and directed by Sam Emmery, the first of four films following the work of Dorset County Council’s fostering service looked at the case of 14-year-old Amy, whose placement with Steph and Chris and their three teenage children went swimmingly for the first few months. Amy slotted happily into the family, her clearly fragile sense of trust shored up by Steph’s cheerily maternal encouragement, and she was looking forward to staying long term. Then the fostering service asked if Amy’s sister Natalie could stay with the family briefly “between placements”. This is despite being advised that the sisters were better apart. It all fell to pieces so quickly. As the council failed to find a placement for Natalie, Amy’s trust in her new life disintegrated, the walls went up and she began to rebel. Meanwhile, the fostering service seemed incapable of recognising the cause of the chaos, despite endless reviews. In the end both girls had to be moved on, their self-worth further diminished, and Steph and Chris unable to consider another placement. Not knowing the whole story it is impossible to say whether this was a case of bureaucratic bungling, as it appeared. There was a sense that, perhaps, sensitive details were being held back. But regardless of where the fault lay, the vulnerability of youngsters, and of well-meaning foster carers, was captured palpably. The consequences were etched on their faces. One thing that can be said with certainty, though, is that this was documentary film-making at its most disturbing and acutely observed. Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11654671/Protecting-Our-Foster-Kids-BBC-Two-review-documentary-making-at-its-most-disturbing.html The Fostering Network, as part of The Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers, has called for a clearer definition of what care in England aims to achieve with the launch of its New Vision. The group wants a statement in law from the Government defining the principal aims of the care system for those children who spend a significant time in care, as being:
A New Vision is published at a time when the care system continues to fail too many children, despite the evidence that care can be the right option and can provide the security, stability and love that children need. The Alliance is also calling for:
Kevin Williams, chief executive of The Fostering Network, said: “We must support children and young people on their whole journey through the care system and beyond, to give them the very best chance of achieving their ambitions and personal wishes. That is why we are part of the group of charities which has come together to call for real clarity in what care is aiming to achieve for each child, so that we can work more holistically to create brighter futures for all. “Viewing each element of care in isolation is to fundamentally not understand a child. When trauma affects children we cannot simply hold our hands up after removing them from a harmful situation and say that’s a job done. We must love and nurture children and young people through their whole childhood, into adulthood, and beyond. Foster carers have a huge role to play in this process and are a vital part of the professional team around the child who will help guide them.” Download the Alliance statement and the young people’s version, and find out more about The Fostering Network’s policy and campaigns work. Source: https://www.fostering.net/news/2015/campaigners-call-new-vision-children-in-care#.VXmMqc9Vikp Fostering News: Protecting our Foster Kids: ‘Time and time again we came across unsung heroes’5/6/2015
Producers of the BBC 1 documentary airing on Sunday night share their experiences of making a follow up to 'Protecting our Children' Several years ago some of our team was involved with a BBC series called ‘Protecting Our Children’, which followed child protection social workers in Bristol. Over the course of a year we filmed intimate stories and tried to reflect everyone’s point of view in nuanced individual cases. It turned out to be far more challenging and ultimately far more rewarding than any of us could have imagined. Almost immediately after transmission the discussion started about what could we do next. It didn’t take long to identify the next stage of the care process as the one we should look at – foster care. We had filmed with several great foster carers the first time around and never had the opportunity to fully tell their stories. We looked to see what else had been made on television and quickly realised that there has not been an in depth non-judgmental longitudinal look at the day-to-day realities of foster care. “Arguably far more important ”Three and a half years later, with the full co-operation of some of Dorset’s finest foster carers, Dorset council’s workers, Cafcass Guardians, the family court system and many other associated professionals we’re now ready to broadcast Protecting our Foster Kids. It’s may be less headline grabbing than the frontline duty desk of child protection social workers, but arguably far more important overall. Home life is where most of the real work with vulnerable children in care takes place, away from the gaze of the public eye – a great starting place for another series where public perception and the reality of a social situation are at odds with one another. We learned a great deal about the vast breadth of foster carers’ experiences in the course of production. For example, the differences between a family with birth children of their own who are happy to accept teenage emergency placements in the middle of the night and a foster family that are happy to accept children with special needs over a long term period, are so vast they are hard to quantify. The range of services offered is far too extensive to ever do justice to them all in one series. Challenging Knowing what to film and what not to film was always challenging, but we utilised a system whereby we, the filmmakers, never made the ultimate choices. We asked the advice of all the professionals and family members and only if all agreed that it was in the child’s best interests did we proceed, and that decision was never final, it was constantly reassessed long into the edit. The process in this type of filmmaking becomes more important than the finished product. Over the fifteen months of filming we witnessed untold passion from foster carers and an unswerving desire from them to do right for the young people in care. Time and time again we came across unsung heroes, dedicated to their work because they know they make a difference to a young person’s life. These productions are the result of astonishing levels of co-operation between many groups of professionals, most of whom are never acknowledged or featured in the final films. This article provides a chance to thank them. Brave From the psychologist drafted in to help a struggling foster carer, to the CAMHS worker engaging with a vulnerable teenager, to the health visitor checking in on an infant, to the respite foster carer who saw us once, to the patient court clerk who appreciated our lack of knowledge in the court arena, to the council secretaries letting us into secure buildings, to the community groups and community resource workers that put up with attending meetings. Also the councillors who let us get on with our work, the IROs who would let us sit in and observe decision making, the family solicitors and council legal teams who explained processes and timescales to us, the head teachers who understood the need for extra safeguarding around broadcast, and the Horizons workers who welcomed us in to their centres at the most emotional of times to film final contacts. But more than anyone we have to pay gratitude to the foster carers and foster children themselves – both present and past – who were brave enough to talk and share their private and sometimes difficult experiences in an appropriate way. We dedicate this series to each and every one of you and we hope it rFoeflects a small part of the fostering world accurately. Source: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2015/06/05/protecting-foster-kids-time-time-came-across-unsung-heroes/ FUNDS raised for charity at the biennial Dorchester Festival have topped £45,000 – more than twice their previous record. The Dorchester Festival, a community festival run entirely by local volunteers and based around Dorchester Abbey, was held from 1st to 10th May and more than 4,000 people attended almost 50 events. Proceeds from the event were split equally between Dorchester Abbey and family support charity Parents And Children Together (PACT). The final sum donated to PACT was £23,874. Highlights of the festival included sellout events by The Tallis Scholars and John Rutter, a CGI evening with OSCAR winner Ben Morris, a Food Fair with cookery demonstrations and a wide variety of children’s entertainment including a scarecrow trail and duck race! On the second day of the festival, 10 intrepid charity supporters abseiled down the 100ft tower at Dorchester Abbey, raising over £15k in sponsorship to add to the total. Abseilers included PACT chief executive Jan Fishwick, Rector of Dorchester Abbey Sue Booys, former High Sheriff of Oxfordshire Richard Dick and South Oxfordshire District Council Leader John Cotton. PACT has been building and strengthening families since 1911 through adoption, long-term fostering, award-winning therapeutic services and community projects across London and the south. It hopes to use the funds raised from the festival to provide therapeutic support services to Oxfordshire families to help adopted and fostered children to address painful issues from their past. Jan Fishwick said: “We are overwhelmed by the final total raised and would like to thank the festival organisers for choosing PACT, and for holding such an amazing festival. “This money will help many PACT families in Oxfordshire. Children who have been adopted or fostered have usually had a traumatic start in life and our award-winning therapeutic services help the whole family come to terms with what has happened and to look forward to a bright future together.” Festival Director Steph Forman said: “We are delighted to have raised such a significant amount of money for Dorchester Abbey and PACT and have been thrilled by the huge audiences who have come along to support us this year. We’d like to thank our sponsors, advertisers and, most of all, all the volunteers who make this event possible.” Source: http://pactcharity.org/news-events/latest-news/record-breaking-funds-raised-dorchester-festival We are extremely pleased that we have once again been awarded the Customer Service Excellence Standard. We were the first fostering and adoption service to achieve the Standard in 2009, and since then we have remained focused on providing an excellent service to meet the needs of our foster carers, adopters, young people and all of our partners. The five criteria of the Customer Service Excellence Standard are:
“TACT continues to meet all 57 Elements of the Standard with 6 Elements meriting a rating of compliance plus. Certification to the Standard is fully justified and well deserved” “The assessor found that managers and front line staff are focused on putting customers at the heart of services and that TACT’s policies, procedures and practices support the right of all customers to expect excellent levels of service” We are very proud of this achievement. Providing an excellent service is at the heart of our work to find loving homes for children and young people in care. Source: http://tactcare.org.uk/news/tact-continues-to-provide-customer-service-excellence/ Teenagers bear the brunt of cuts to funding and support for foster carers as TV series puts their lives under the spotlight Sisters Amy and Natalie have been in care for four years. Their father has died and their mother is unable to look after them. They long for a stable, loving home but already they have lived with four different foster families and their trust in the adults tasked with their welfare has been badly damaged as they try to build lasting relationships at home and at school. “A foster carer is someone who looks after you and treats you like their family,” says Amy, 14, as she flicks through the lifebook of pictures and letters that she has carried with her from home to home. The sadness in her eyes tells you she has yet to meet a foster carer who fits the bill. Natalie and Amy are just two teenagers in care to feature in a candid BBC documentary about fostering. Our system of child protection relies heavily on foster carers’ goodwill: of the UK’s 80,000 looked-after children, 63,000 are placed with foster carers. Most will spend all their childhood in foster care, while others will return home or live with a family member and around 10% are adopted. But there is a shortage of families willing to take on the challenge – the Fostering Network, the charity that supports fostered children and fostering families, estimates that UK fostering services need to recruit a further 8,370 foster families this year to meet rising demand. It is understandable: for around £250 a week (more if you work with a private fostering agency) you could be faced with exhaustion, broken nights, tantrums, runaways or self-harm. I should know. My wife and I are foster carers. For the past six years we have been caring for other people’s children, from a newborn baby to obstreperous teenagers. We also have our own family, including our first grandson, and busy jobs. Fostering has come to define who we are, yet we struggle to explain our motivation to family and friends, without whose support it simply wouldn’t be possible. Part of the reason for the shortage of foster carers is the lack of funding and support, due to cuts in social services’ budgets and greater demand for foster places. The number of children taken into care is rising, and social services are struggling to help children and families with more complex needs. According to the latest Audit Commission calculations, in 2012-13 local councils spent £3.4bn on caring for looked-after children, of which foster care accounted for £1.5bn. Although the number of children in care had increased by 12% over a four-year period, council costs increased by only 4%. As each looked-after child’s care costs councils around £50,000 a year, there is growing pressure to make savings. Figures leaked to the Independent and the BBC last month show a 50% fall in the number of adoptions last year and a threefold increase in the number of babies subject to special guardianship orders, seen as a cheaper and speedier alternative to adoption. The measure sees a child placed with extended family, friends or foster parents until they reach 18 instead of being adopted. “Foster carers work with some of the most troubled children, who through no fault of their own have suffered abuse and neglect,” says Kevin Williams, chief executive of the Fostering Network. “Foster care makes a huge difference, but families deal with really complex issues and need extra support.” This could include more respite care and training, as well as help in navigating the health and social care system, including speedier access to mental health services. Edward Timpson, the children and families minister, says foster care will remain a government priority. “As someone who grew up in a large fostering family, I know that, not only do those who foster often find it a hugely rewarding experience, but also, and most importantly, the impact on the children they’ve cared for can be life changing. “Every child deserves a loving home and the chance to thrive. It’s vital that as many people as possible, from all walks of life, are encouraged to take that positive step of opening up their home to children in real need of their help.” But with the squeeze on council budgets set to continue under the Conservative government, the extra support families say they need to foster seems unlikely to be forthcoming. TV producer Sasha Mirzoeff’s series, Protecting our Foster Kids, which begins on BBC2 on 7 June – a follow-up to the controversial documentary about social workers, Protecting our Children – highlights the challenge of fostering. This is foster care in the raw: there is no embellishment, no soft focus. Here, foster carers and the children they look after tell it like it is. It is reality TV that captures painfully sensitive moments that will shape lives for many years. The tone is set from the outset: the opening episode concerns the breakdown of Amy and Natalie’s placement. It is uncomfortable to watch. The failure of a placement is a catastrophe for everyone involved. Marina, their family support manager, says: “The right placement is critical. They [Amy and Natalie] have had three disruptions in a short space of time and we cannot allow this to continue. We need someone who is going to stick with these girls.” Amy and Natalie’s experience is all too common – the Fostering Network’s figures published this week show that a quarter (25%) of fostered teenagers have had at least four placements, 17% are living with their fifth foster family and one in 20 with their 10th. This placement makes a promising start and Amy, 14, settles in well with her foster carers Steph and Chris. But it all begins to go wrong with the arrival of Natalie, 15, who can no longer live with her foster family. It is meant to be a short-term arrangement until a suitable placement is found for Natalie elsewhere. But as days become weeks, the sisters’ relationship becomes fractious, their conduct deteriorates and the whole family suffers the consequences. The sisters constantly fight, and Amy begins to associate with pupils at school suspected of taking drugs. With cameras present, and with Amy and Natalie giving candid updates on their frame of mind, the tension becomes unbearable. Amy is asked: “When you look in the mirror what do you see? She replies: “A monster”. Steph, who seems so strong and unflappable in the early days of the placement, is in despair at the point when she admits defeat because she no longer trusts Amy. She is heartbroken when she takes Natalie to her new home and is too distressed to accompany Amy to hers. Like many foster carers, she appears to accept more than her fair share of blame for the breakdown. In another episode, the theme is post-natal depression. Natasha, who already has one child, bravely admits that she is unable to care for her newborn, Jesse. The story is picked up when Jesse, now five months old, moves home. An experienced foster carer, Dawn has cared for 20 babies already and is deeply affected by loss when they leave. “You know you are going to fall in love,” she says. “You are all-encompassed by that child.” She compares it to mourning. “It is harder the longer they stay.” Jesse’s stay with Dawn and her family extends well beyond the initial plan as his mother struggles with her depression. Contact sessions with Jesse are cancelled at short notice and routines are difficult to maintain. By now he is more aware of his surroundings and has formed an unmistakable bond with Dawn, whose tender efforts to engage with Natasha on behalf of a baby boy who has stolen her heart are a thing of beauty. Natasha’s description of her love for Jesse and the turmoil she is going through is heartbreaking. For the social workers having to manage placements, it’s a hard and draining job,made more difficult by the shortage of foster carers. “I can’t just knit foster carers,” says one exasperated social worker. And of course, the children being placed in foster care are often angry and upset by what has happened to them and so are not always easy to work with. “When we try to get a child’s view, and the child blocks you out it is difficult, very challenging,” says Tricia, Amy and Natalie’s social worker. “You can’t help but feel for the child … I really want to do the best for them in the time that I have with them as their social worker.” Sara Tough, director for children’s services at Dorset county council, says that she hopes Mirzoeff’s documentary will reinforce the important role of foster carers and encourage more families to volunteer. “We should celebrate foster carers, and be proud of what they do. They are an invaluable resource.” Giving TV unprecedented access to the fostering process presented a major challenge to all those involved, she says. But she was struck by the determination of the children to have their say and to promote their own stories. “The children were at the centre of all decision-making. It was crucial for them to have a voice. ” Undoubtedly, some will find Protecting our Foster Kids voyeuristic and exploitative. I think it is remarkable, potentially award-winning television, which shines a light on the extraordinary lives of families who throw open their homes to other people’s children, and an entourage of social workers, child protection officers, family lawyers and often the relatives of the children they are asked to care for. For Steph, the breakdown of Natalie and Amy’s placement hasn’t put her off fostering. She intends to continue to provide the stable, loving home that vulnerable children deserve, with basic training and well-intended but limited support. “I went in with my head and not my heart,” Steph says. “I am just a mum trying to do my best.” Protecting our Foster Kids starts on Sunday 7 June on BBC2. Source: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/03/8000-shortage-foster-families-demand-carers-bbc-series Cardiff University School of Law and Politics has this week launched a new, freely accessible website, Children’s Social Care Law in Wales as part of the nation-wide initiative, Foster Care Fortnight. The website has been designed to assist social workers, social care practitioners, foster carers and advisers navigate their way through current law relating to services for children and young people in Wales. The site has been developed by Law lecturer Dr Julie Doughty in conjunction with the regulator of the social care profession in Wales, Care Council for Wales; The Fostering Network (Wales) which supports and advises fosterers; The British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF); and CASCADE, the Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre which is also based at Cardiff University. Dr Doughty explained: ‘Although law-making powers in social welfare have been devolved to the Welsh Assembly, we have a framework of older laws that cover both England and Wales, some that differ slightly between England and Wales and some that apply in Wales only. It can sometimes be difficult for non-lawyers who support children and young people to know where to find the right law applying to a specific situation so we have developed this website to help. People working in this area are very busy, so our aim is to make their lives easier.’ Foster Care Fortnight is the UK’s biggest foster care awareness-raising campaign, delivered by The Fostering Network. There are around 3,000 fostering households in Wales, looking after more than 4,300 children; the campaign highlights the need for more foster carers, with the highest demand for foster carers for older children, sibling groups and disabled children. Source: http://www.familylaw.co.uk/news_and_comment/law-school-lends-a-hand-with-new-social-care-website#.VXQaNs9Vikp This Foster Care Fortnight, as we celebrate the role the arts play in the lives of fostered children and young people, The Fostering Network's Ambassador and celebrated children's author Jacqueline Wilson is calling on everyone to consider their connection to fostering and whether you could be one of the more than 8,300 new foster carers who are needed in 2015. "I am proud to be supporting The Fostering Network and Foster Care Fortnight 2015. I hope that if you've ever considered fostering before, you will make this the year you make that life-changing decision. Think about it, talk about it, and apply to become a foster carer - and if you haven't considered it before this could be a wonderful new direction for your future, a remarkable and special profession. For years I looked after Tracy Beaker in her special world, and through her have met lots of wonderful children, and know of thousands of others living in Tracy's situation in real life. They all need those special foster carers to step forward - just like Cam - and help them through their childhoods and beyond. There is always a need for people ready to open their hearts and their homes. There is nothing more special or worthwhile than positively changing the life of a child." Source: https://www.fostering.net/news/2015/jacqueline-wilson-proud-support-fostering-network-and-foster-care-fortnight-2015#.VW7k5M9Vikp |
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