The Child's Journey Through Care

This book focuses on children's journeys through the care system,
from voluntary admission into care, through complicated and often
long court proceedings, in pursuit of Care or Freeing Orders.
Problems that arise from taking cases through the courts are
examined, together with tensions that may arise between judicial
and social work decision-making.

The Child's Journey Through Care discusses in
full:

• the emotional and behavioural problems of looked-after children
  and elaborates on care-planning and helping strategies;

• children's rights whilst in State care and their participation
  in decision-making about their future, including preparation for
  appearances in court;

• the importance and ways of building new attachments and
  relationships with substitute carers, with emphases on resilience
  and children's strengths;

• pitfalls and successes when seeking permanency of care and
  emotional stability.

The book also includes considerations of the European Convention
of Human Rights (1998) and describes many of the dilemmas arising
in meeting the rights of children and parents, without jeopardising
the welfare of either. The importance of openness, consideration,
and straightforward dealings with parents is given due emphasis,
especially where preparations for taking cases to court are
involved.

The Child's Journey Through Care will be a valuable
source of information for field and residential workers, social
work supervisors, resource managers, policy makers, and those
working in the legal profession.

Autorentext
Professor Dorota Iwaniec is Director of the Institute of Childcare Research at Queen's University, Belfast. She is a world-renowned expert on childcare and emotional abuse and is the author of several books, including three published by Wiley.

Klappentext
This book focuses on children's journeys through the care system, from voluntary admission into care, through complicated and often long court proceedings, in pursuit of Care or Freeing Orders. Problems that arise from taking cases through the courts are examined, together with tensions that may arise between judicial and social work decision-making. The Child's Journey Through Care discusses in full:

• the emotional and behavioural problems of looked-after children and elaborates on care-planning and helping strategies;
• children's rights whilst in State care and their participation in decision-making about their future, including preparation for appearances in court;
• the importance and ways of building new attachments and relationships with substitute carers, with emphases on resilience and children's strengths;
• pitfalls and successes when seeking permanency of care and emotional stability.
  The book also includes considerations of the European Convention of Human Rights (1998) and describes many of the dilemmas arising in meeting the rights of children and parents, without jeopardising the welfare of either. The importance of openness, consideration, and straightforward dealings with parents is given due emphasis, especially where preparations for taking cases to court are involved.

The Child's Journey Through Care will be a valuable source of information for field and residential workers, social work supervisors, resource managers, policy makers, and those working in the legal profession.

Inhalt

List of Illustrations xi

About the Contributors xiii

Preface xvii

Editor's Acknowledgements xix

Part I The Need for a Good Start in Life: Attachment, Bonding, and Children's Rights 1

1 Introduction: An Overview of Children in Public Care 3
Dorota Iwaniec

Introduction 3

Problems and Dilemmas with Fostering and Residential Care 5

Looked-after Children in the United Kingdom 8

Abuse of Children in Care 10

The Purpose and Organisation of the Book 11

References 14

2 Ordinary Children in Extraordinary Circumstances 17
Jane Aldgate

Introduction 17

Children in Need 17

Recent Child-development Thinking 18

The Ecological Perspective 19

Recognising the Uniqueness of Individual Children 20

The Well-ness Approach 21

Resilience and Strengths 21

An Optimistic View of Child Development 22

Children as Actors in their Own Development 23

Aspects of Children's Development of Special Relevance to

Looked-after Children 24

Children's Attachments 24

What Is Attachment? 25

Children and Multiple Attachments 26

Continuities and Discontinuities of Working Models 27

The Impact of Loss on Children's Development 28

Counteracting the Impact of Loss and Separation with Contact and Connectedness 30

Attachments and Socio-genealogical Connectedness 31

Counteracting the Impact of Separation with Stability 32

A Permanency Planning Approach 33

What Can Help Promote Children's Development in Practice? 33

References 35

3 The Importance of Developing Emotional Bonds between Parents and Children 41
Emma Larkin

Introduction 41

What Is Bonding? 41

Bonding and Attachment 43

What Influences the Bonding Process? 44

The Bonding Process and Care Careers 48

Facilitating the Bonding Process for Alternative Care-providers 53

Summary 54

References 55

4 Children in Alternative Care: Are their Rights Being Met? 61
Rosemary Kilpatrick

Introduction 61

Children's Rights 62

Articles Associated with Alternative Care 63

Processes Leading to Care Orders 65

Care Orders 66

Foster Care 67

Residential Care 69

Secure Accommodation 71

Conclusion 73

Acknowledgements 75

Notes 75

References 75

Part II Pathways to Permanency 79

5 Outcomes of Long-term Foster Care: Young People's Views 81
Colette McAuley

Introduction 81

Improving Outcomes for Looked-after Children 82

Outcomes of Long-term Foster Care 83

Children's Rights and Researching Children's Views 84

The Pathways and Outcomes Study 85

Interviews with the Young People: Key Messages 86

Implications for Policy and Practice 92

Conclusion 93

References 94

6 Kinship Care as a Route to Permanent Placement 99
Una Lernihan and Greg Kelly

Introduction 99

Children Cared For by the Kinship and Traditional Foster Parents 100

The Placement of Children in Kinship Foster Care 102

The Motivation of Kinship Carers 102

Contact between the Children and their Birth-families 104

Contact with Birth-fathers 105

Kinship Foster Carers and Contact 105

Relationship between Birth-mother and Fostering Household 106

Care Plans 108

Adoption 109

Residence Orders 109

Conclusion 110

References 112 7 Exploring Regional Trends in Pathways to Permanency 113
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