Background to the Research

• The Department of Health & Social Services (NI) commissioned the National Children's Bureau to undertake a research project to explore practice in planning for children in care and children in the training schools in Northern Ireland. The aim of the research was to examine the process, practices and outcomes in the making of care plans and reviewing the progress of children and young people in care before the implementation of the Children Order.
  

Research Approach

• Across various trusts the files of 131 children were examined; 43 review meetings were observed; 18 children and young people and a number of parents and foster carers were interviewed about their experiences of the planning process. A survey of social workers' views of the arrangements and standard of practice in child care planning was carried out and, in each area, social work managers were interviewed.
• In relation to Training Schools, the files of 35 young people were examined, 16 review meetings were observed and 22 interviews with senior social work staff and 8 young people from the schools were carried out.
  

Main Findings

Policies and procedures

• Across the region there was a great deal of variation in the quality of policies and procedures in relation to care planning and reviews by Boards and Trusts.

Care planning

• Over 90% of children had a long-term aim recorded as their plan, three out of four of these were reviewed within 6 months of the previous review. Children who had been in their current placement for 5 years or more and children home on trial were less likely to have their review within the statutory framework.

The quality of the evidence

• Over half of the 166 files (including those on young people in training schools) contained limited information about the child and family history. Fewer than half had all the basic information about the child recorded in an accessible way. There was a severe lack of information concerning children's health and immunisation history.
• In half of all cases there was evidence that an assessment of parenting skills had been carried out and 30% of children had had a formal assessment. However, it was rare for a formal written report of assessment to be available on file.
• There was a shortage of administrative support across the whole region.

Encouraging pro-active and explicit planning

• Of the 90% of children with a recorded long-term aim, there was little evidence of clear, explicit, time-limited and task orientated plans, which might avoid drift, encourage partnership with parents and involve children and young people.
• Of 566 decisions taken at the previous review only 4% specified the person responsible and the timescale, 37% specified the person responsible - but not the timescale, 47% of the decisions specified neither the person responsible nor the timescale and only two out of three were fully implemented
• The study identified a 'wait and see' approach to planning, resulting in nearly a third of children in the sample having no clear plan. Of these children, all but 3 had a long-term aim recorded, however, the decisions taken about short/medium-term work were contrary to the long-term aim in 30% of cases. A 'wait and see' strategy can increase the possibility of seriously damaging a child's chance of a secure future.

Working in partnership with parents

• The study found some very good practice in relation to maintaining contact between children in the sample and their birth parents. There was evidence of a failure to translate the concept of working in partnership into meaningful actions.
• In 40% of the cases where a parent did not attend their review, the child and a parent are in regular contact. Half of those children have a parent who is very involved in their lives and yet did not attend the review. Many of these parents had attended review meetings in the past and still do so occasionally. However, there is evidence that birth parents are alienated from the review process across the region.
• In the study there were no examples of written agreements between parents and social services as a way of structuring and formalising partnership arrangements.

Involving children/young people in plans

• Sixty-one per cent of children and young people in the study did not attend their last review, 17.5% attended the whole meeting, a further 20% attended part of the meeting.
• Whilst just over one-in-four under-ten year olds attended all or part of the meeting, almost half of ten-to 15 year olds, half of all 16 year olds and two-thirds of those aged 17 and over attended.
• Regardless of the attendance rates, actual participation by young people at the meetings was very poor and their influence very limited. Young people reported a lack of information and discussion about the agenda for the meeting, who attends and where and when, as being obstacles to their participation.

Recommendations

• In order for the planning and review elements of the Children Order and its Regulations to be fully implemented the study concludes that:
• Boards develop a detailed service specification focusing on care planning for looked-after children. Boards ensure that their provider trusts establish policies on how the Regulations concerned with care planning and review are implemented.
• Policies should include clear guidance on facilitating the participation of children and their parents in all aspects of the review process.
• Boards and trusts give a higher priority to arrangements under the Review of Children's Care regulations No.9 for monitoring the care planning system and ensure that all the assessed needs of children looked after are addressed so children do not drift.
• Trusts develop and/or promote recording systems and assessment tools to help improve the evidential base for decisions about looked-after children.
• The Department of Health & Social Services and the Boards review the strategy in relation to residential care, to ensure that children are not inappropriately placed in environments unlikely to satisfy their assessment needs.
• Specialist services for young people with challenging behaviour are urgently reviewed. The option of cross-trust or Board-wide provision of specialist services or placements is explored.
• Boards and trusts ensure that staff receive training in improving the quality/promptness of recording; enhancing skills in evidence-based assessment of need; finding out the wishes and feelings of children and encourage their participation in decisions about the plans, and ensuring that children and parents receive a written copy of their care plan and understand its implications.