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Paper

Working at the 'edges of care’? European models of support for young people and families

abstract

Introduction

Current policy documents such as Every Child Matters: Change for Children (DfES 2004) and the Care Matters Green Paper (DfES 2006) have emphasised the preventative function of family and parenting support in reducing the likelihood that a young person will enter the public care system. The Care Matters Green Paper coined the phrase 'on the edge of care' in discussing work with young people and families to prevent the need for placement, and in facilitating transitions into (or out of) care when appropriate. In this domain, there is a particular need to attend to work with older children: young people aged 10-15 years constitute the largest age group of children in public care in England, and are more likely than younger children to experience three or more placements in a year and to enter care for short periods.

 

The care population of England differs from other European countries in a number of ways (e.g. Stein and Munro 2008). For example, compared to England, a higher proportion of young people are looked after in Denmark, France and Germany, and residential care (of varying forms) is more widely used. Arguably, cross-country variations in placement statistics are underpinned by more fundamental differences in approaches to placement and understandings of its purpose as a social care (or social pedagogic) intervention (Petrie et al. 2006).

 

Aims

The overarching objective of the research was to learn from experience elsewhere in Europe. It explores models of good practice, and considers the ways in which care entry can be planned and supported, in order to identify useful information for the development of policy and practice in England. This practical intent coincides with a broader conceptual question, about the purpose and use of public care in the four countries and, relatedly, about the role of social pedagogy in policies, theory and practice.

 

Methods

This paper draws on material gathered in the course of a series of studies funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (and previously by Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health), which have investigated the professional role of the social pedagogue in work with young people in residential care and in foster care (e.g. Petrie et al. 2006), and latterly, in relation to work with young people and families when placement away from home is being planned or considered.

 

Methods used included: secondary analysis of statistical data on populations of looked after children in each of the four countries; knowledge synthesis reports commissioned from local experts in each country; and interviews with key stakeholders - such as policy makers and service managers and practitioners - in each country. Interviewees were purposively sampled to represent key stakeholder perspectives and to provide examples of good or innovative practice. Interviews were open-ended, following pre-defined topic guides and, where appropriate, included discussion of recent real-life cases and use of case vignettes. This paper focuses primarily on findings from research conducted in England, France, Denmark and Germany.

 

Key findings

National statistics on looked after children in the four countries showed a number of areas of difference in patterns of placement. The research also revealed a range of innovative practice, and several key areas of commonality between countries. In Denmark, France and Germany, work around the threshold of public care is more highly professionalised than in England, and a social pedagogic emphasis in policy and practice was reflected in diversity of provision in the three continental European countries, and in conceptions of the purpose of care. In all four countries, we heard examples of innovative, creative and child- and family-centred practice, both in preventing young people's placement in public care and in supporting transitions at the 'edges of care', as well as examples of English practice that could be described as 'social pedagogic' in approach.

 

Implications for policy and practice

The study identified a range of innovative service models with the potential to inform English policy and practice development. The pedagogic thrust of policies for children and young people in countries such as France, Germany and Denmark implies a wider remit for public care than is implicit in the current English focus on safeguarding children. That idea is consistent with the intentions of the 1989 Children Act, where guidance specifies the use of accommodation to 'safeguard or promote' child welfare, as well as with developments in English practice (see Biehal 2005) that support family functioning while, arguably, blurring the 'edge of care'. Arguably, there are potential benefits in considering placement as part of a continuum of provision within children's services, not simply a last resort, but sharing the common objective of supporting children's education in the broadest sense of that word.

 

Key references

Biehal, N. (2005) Working with Adolescents: Supporting families, preventing breakdown. London: BAAF.

 

Petrie, P., Boddy, J., Cameron, C. and Wigfall, V. (2006) Working with Children in Care: European Perspectives. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

 

Stein, M. and Munro, E.R. (2008) Young People's Transitions from Care to Adulthood. International Research and Practice. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

 

 

Contact details

Dr Janet Boddy, Senior Research Officer, Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education University of London, 27/28 Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AA, UK.

Tel: 00 44 20 7612 6248

Email: j.boddy@ioe.ac.uk 

 

Project teams:

TCRU: Janet Boddy, June Statham, Susan McQuail, Pat Petrie, Claire Cameron, Valerie Wigfall and Charlie Owen.

Overseas partners include: Inge Danielsen (Denmark); Michael Tetzer and Herbert Colla (Germany); Mihai Dinu Gheorghiu and Lucette Labache (France).

 

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