Helen Jones Moscow December

2007

Prevention of Child Abuse in Foster Care

and Adoption

Key issues in child abuse prevention for children in care and

adoption• Prevention of paedophiles and other

abusers using institutions, foster care or adoption to gain access to vulnerable children

• Ensuring that carers are suitable and prepared for the impact that caring for some of these children may have on them

• What happens when there are difficulties in placement- clarity about supervision

Every Child MattersA national outcomes framework

for children

• Being healthy

• Staying Safe

• Enjoying and achieving

• Making a positive contribution

• Achieving economic wellbeing

Responding to children who have been harmed

Protecting vulnerablechildren and young people

Helping all young people to stay safe

Safeguarding childrenat all levels

Helping all young people to stay safe

• Encouraging safer environments in the community

• Promoting safer recruitment practices where work with children is involving

• Information and communication with parents about keeping children safe

• Listening to children

Protecting vulnerable young people

• Addressing parental problems which impact on children and young people’s welfare

• Widening bullying policies to range of settings for children such as institutions and youth groups

• Communicating to parents in high risk households about accident prevention

• Listening to children

Responding when children have been harmed

• Funding for helplines

• Public education campaign

• Ensuring the safety of children living away from home

• Ensuring appropriate services

• Listening to children

Essential safeguards

• Children are valued and self esteem promoted

• Openness to the outside world by home and institution and external scrutiny

• Children have access to a trusted adult outside the home or institution

• Clear procedures for referring safeguarding concerns to outside authority

Key issues for carers in safeguarding for children living

away from home

• Recruitment

• Assessment

• Approval

• Training

• Management and supervision

• Support

Why ?

Stressors

► Abuse, neglect and less than optimal care giving in the form of parental rejection, inconsistent discipline, attachment disruptions, early traumatic experiences, genetic factors, birth complications, unwanted pregnancy, parental mental illness and poverty increase the vulnerability of the child to social, cognitive, emotional and behavioural impairments

neglect/inadequate parenting chaos

in utero exposure to drugs and alcohol

physical/sexual abusechronic victimization

rejection by peers/school failure

antisocial behavior/ delinquency

termination of parental rights

rejection by parents

no idea what are typical family expectations history of failure

lack of trust

Why love is not enough:

Meeting the Attachment Needs of Foster and Adoptive Children

• Foster children’s experiences of abuse, neglect, and maternal separation lead to high rates of insecure and disorganized attachment

• A responsive, warm, predictable environment can help to reverse this

• Carers need to maintain a focus on praise and rewards for children at ratio of at least 5:1

Children need:

• Praise and encouragement

• Firm and fair limits

• Reasonable and appropriate rules

• Clear, courteous and assertive commands

• Consistent consequences

Positive discipline

• All children test adult rules and limits

• On average children do not do as they are told one-third of the time

• As adults we have different ways of relating

• Research shows that nagging, hitting, shouting, criticising and lecturing children are ineffective forms of discipline

Issues for recruiting carers 1

• Extensive checks:

- life chronology

- criminal records if possible

- gaps in employment history

- ask for referees and visit them

- see applicants alone

- look round the house and use your eyes

Recruiting carers 2

• Ensure they understand issues about children’s safety

• Use current carers to describe what fostering/ adoption/orphanage work is really like

• Ensure they understand that they will be managed and supervised and visits to the children are a key part of the service

Management issues

• Structures for the effective management and support of the service, including quality assurance and audit systems

• Effective policies to deliver quality care• Support systems for carers to include

information and advice• Approvals processes which include the views of

a number of people e.g a panel• Clear procedures for dealing with allegations

and concerns

…and when children are placed..

• encourage carers to be open and honest about what is happening with the child

• Acknowledge that some children can generate very difficult feelings for carers

• Share concerns with wider professionals-visit schools and other settings where the child is

Fostering positive relationships

• Being available- responding to the child

• Talking- sharing ideas and information, showing interest

• Showing warmth and affection

• Providing safe and engaging activities

Positive approaches to carer training

• Senior people to organise training

• Explicit contractual arrangements about attendance

• Incentives to complete training

• Provide follow-up to training

• Joint training with other professionals

Webster-Stratton Programmes

• The Incredible Years:

- 3 comprehensive and developmentally based curricula for parents, teachers and children

- 3 elements can be used together or separately

- promotes education and social competence

- reduces and treats behavioural and emotional problems in children

Treatment Foster Care• Children who have received inadequate care or who

have been exposed to high levels of prenatal and early life stress do not respond typically to the efforts of caregivers to nurture and support them

• Important to acknowledge current behaviors of these children were often adaptive to the early environment

• Nevertheless, without support, difficult for foster parents to override interactional processes (rejection, betrayal) that lead to relationship failure,etc. (Dozier)

• Conversely, with appropriate support, the therapeutic potential of relationships can be activated

Wider lessons of MTFC

• More than 5 stressful behaviours per day is a strong predictor of placement breakdown

• Successful programme in US for regular foster care provides weekly foster carer meeting and weekly Parent Report

• Extended hours support to foster carers

Conclusion

• There is no magic bullet to preventing abuse• Safeguarding children is everyone’s business• Caring for children in institutions, residential

care, foster care and adoption requires teamwork, support and supervision

• We must legitimise the difficult feelings which caring for damaged children brings to ensure that they can be spoken about and addressed and the relationship maintained where possible

Contact

Helen1.jones@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

www.everychildmatters.gov.uk