Background to the Research

• The Children (NI) Order 1995 signalled the most comprehensive reform of child-care law in the history of NI. The Order sought to promote and safeguard the welfare of children through the use of a consistent set of principles for decision making within the legal system.
  

Research Approach

• The author sought to examine the process by which HSS Trusts were implementing their obligations to assess and provide services for children in need under Article 18 of the Order. To this end, 100 child-care managers from the HSS Trusts completed questionnaires (n=100); 4 child-care managers from each Trust were interviewed (n=44) and 2 focus groups were conducted with 10 child-care managers.
  

Main Findings

• The most important role of child-care teams in NI is one of child protection and family support. There are indications of a re-focusing of provision to take a more preventative approach.
• Over one third (40%) of child-care managers felt that the definition of a child in need contained in Article 17 of the Order was adequate for practice; the remainder did not.
• Children are referred for assessment through a variety of sources with child protection and at risk categories among the most frequent reasons for referral.
• A wide variety of approaches are used by Trusts when calculating the number of children in need. The most common difficulties cited by managers in this area were clarifying the definition of need and a lack of a systematic approach.
• Awareness of the Operational Indicators of Need is high and this was the most frequently used source for categorising need.
• Child-care managers felt that there were insufficient resources available to meet the requirements of Article 18.
• There are high levels of co-operation between HSS Trusts and other statutory agencies. However, there were low levels of formal channels of communication and agreed joint protocols for identifying children in need between Trusts and other statutory agencies.
• Whilst there was some co-operation between Trusts and voluntary agencies, communication between the sectors appears to be under-developed in regard to provision for children in need.
• There is clear evidence that parents are consulted when decisions are being made in relation to their children. Although clear procedural guidelines to inform practitioners with regard to this area do not appear to exist.
• There is clear evidence that Trusts monitor policies within their jurisdiction, although individual Trusts practice in relation to these checks is not demonstrated by the evidence.