Background to the Research

• The Children (NI) Order 1995 represented the most far-reaching and comprehensive reform of child-care law in NI's history.
• Under Article 18 of the Order, HSS Boards and Trusts are required to assess, and where appropriate, provide services to meet the needs of children referred to them. This report explores the process of how Article 18 is being implemented by HSS Trusts in NI.
  

Research Approach

• A questionnaire was administered to 100 child-care managers, 44 of this group were interviewed. In addition, 76 questionnaires were completed by social workers drawn from all child-care teams in 4 HSS Trusts and 24 of this group interviewed. Four focus groups were carried out with social work practitioners.
  

Main Findings

• All HSS Boards and Trusts were in a process of developing relevant policy initiatives to meet the requirements of Article 18. A shift appeared to be taking place towards a prevention-led approach and the provision of family support services to child-care policy.
• Some HSS Trusts appear to be meeting the requirements of the legislation more readily than others. This was particularly notable in the areas of publicising information about services, the use of operational indicators and the level of satisfaction with the application/definition of children in need in professional practice.
• The referral process is standardised across all HSS Trusts, however there was wide variations in the volume of information requested by individual Trusts.
• Some level of inter-agency collaboration exists between all agencies involved in the assessment and provision of services for children in need. Collaboration is more formally developed between statutory agencies than those outside the statutory sector.
• There remains some unease among the social work profession in relation to the adequacy of the definition of 'children in need'. Significant variation amongst practitioners across Trusts was noted, with social workers appearing to be more satisfied when applying this to practice than child-care managers.
• Within the assessment process child protection issues continue to take priority and the level of risk to a child remains the crucial factor when prioritising services. Resource constraints continue to be a major factor when decisions are being made in relation to the prioritisation of service provision.