Nina Biehal

Looking back, looking forward: Care leavers, families and change

Abstract This paper draws on the findings of a four year study of leaving care services in England carried out at the University of Leeds and funded by the Department of Health. It examines patterns of family contact for care leavers and the quality of their relationships with their families. It considers the continuing informal support that both biological and substitute families can offer to care leavers. The new families that many care leavers create through early parenthood and the continuing support needs of these young parents are also discussed. The discussion situates the needs and experiences of care leavers in a wider youth transitions framework and argues for continuing professional attention to improving family links as one strategy for assisting care leavers to negotiate the major youth transitions.

Leaving care in England: A research perspective

Abstract In England and Wales children and young people are looked after, in substitute care or accommodation, by local authority social services departments. There are a variety of reasons for this — family breakdown, neglect and abuse, pressures arising from severe social deprivation or because young people themselves are experiencing difficulties as they grow up. They may be getting into trouble, running away or be beyond parental control. Most of these children and young people return home. However, significant numbers, estimated to be in the region of 16,000 sixteen to eighteen year olds, (National Childrens Bureau, 1992) will remain estranged from their families and it will be the responsibility of social service departments to prepare and support them for adulthood. The legal duties and powers of social service departments in England and Wales in relation to young people leaving their care or accommodation have recently been strengthened by the Children Act 1989 which was implemented in October 1991. This article begins by describing the background to these changes, including what we have called “the awakening of leaving care in the professional and political consciousness”, and then briefly outlines the duties and powers, contained within the 1989 Act, to prepare young people for leaving care and help them after leaving.

Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Adolescents in English care: Randomised trial and observational cohort evaluation

BACKGROUND Children in care often have poor outcomes. There is a lack of evaluative research into intervention options. AIMS To examine the efficacy of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Adolescents (MTFC-A) compared with usual care for young people at risk in foster care in England. METHOD A two-arm single (assessor) blinded randomised controlled trial (RCT) embedded within an observational quasi-experimental case-control study involving 219 young people aged 11-16 years (trial registration: ISRCTN 68038570). The primary outcome was the Child Global Assessment Scale (CGAS). Secondary outcomes were ratings of educational attendance, achievement and rate of offending. RESULTS The MTFC-A group showed a non-significant improvement in CGAS outcome in both the randomised cohort (n = 34, adjusted mean difference 1.3, 95% CI -7.1 to 9.7, P = 0.75) and in the trimmed observational cohort (n = 185, adjusted mean difference 0.95, 95% CI -2.38 to 4.29, P = 0.57). No significant effects were seen in secondary outcomes. There was a possible differential effect of the intervention according to antisocial behaviour. CONCLUSIONS There was no evidence that the use of MTFC-A resulted in better outcomes than usual care. The intervention may be more beneficial for young people with antisocial behaviour but less beneficial than usual treatment for those without.

Taking a Chance? The Risks Associated with Going Missing from Substitute Care

This paper reports on a study of over 200 young people going missing from residential and foster care in four local authorities. The proportion of young people missing from residential care was high, ranging from 25 to 71% of all 11 – 16-year-olds in mainstream children’s homes. Two types of absence were identified: the ‘runaways’ profile (those who ran away or stayed out) and the ‘friends’ profile (those missing to be with friends). There were variations in levels of risk for different sub-groups within the sample. Risks included immediate risks of victimization, sexual exploitation (including prostitution), offending and substance misuse. A longer-term risk of detachment was identified among those going missing often, involving high levels of non-school attendance, detachment from carers and involvement in offending and in substance misuse. Difficulties in the assessment of risk are discussed and approaches to managing risk for young people who go missing from substitute care are explored. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Parent Abuse by Young People on the Edge of Care: A Child Welfare Perspective

This article reports on parent abuse by 112 young people within a sample of 209 families with adolescent children who were receiving family support services, presenting both young people and parents’ accounts of this abuse. Drawing on an analysis of quantitative data, it also reports on the characteristics, histories and circumstances of the young people and families and examines the predictors of parent abuse. Lone mothers were more likely to be victims of this abuse. Many of the young people had experienced maltreatment and those who had witnessed domestic violence were more likely to be violent to parents.

Mind-mindedness in parents of looked after children

The studies reported here aimed to test the proposal that mind-mindedness is a quality of personal relationships by assessing mind-mindedness in caregiver–child dyads in which the relationship has not spanned the child’s life or in which the relationship has been judged dysfunctional. Studies 1 and 2 investigated differences in mind-mindedness between adoptive parents (ns = 89, 36) and biological parents from the general population (ns = 54, 114). Both studies found lower mind-mindedness in adoptive compared with biological parents. The results of Study 2 showed that this group difference was independent of parental mental health and could not fully be explained in terms of children’s behavioral difficulties. Study 3 investigated differences in mind-mindedness in foster carers (n = 122), parents whose children had been the subject of a child protection plan (n = 172), and a community sample of biological parents (n = 128). The level of mind-mindedness in foster carers and parents who were involved with child protection services was identical and lower than that in the community sample; children’s behavioral difficulties could not account for the difference between the 2 groups of biological parents. In all 3 studies, nonbiological carers’ tendency to describe their children with reference to preadoption or placement experiences was negatively related to mind-mindedness. These findings are in line with mind-mindedness being a relational construct.

Intensive Fostering: An Independent Evaluation of MTFC in an English Setting

Nina Biehal, Sarah Ellison and Ian Sinclair present the results of an independent evaluation of the Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) programme for young offenders in England, where it is known as Intensive Fostering (IF). A quasi-experimental, mixed-methods study was carried out at the three pilot sites, with a total sample of 47 at follow-up. Young people sentenced to IF were compared to a similar group, matched on the eligibility criteria for IF, the majority of whom were sentenced to custody. The groups were well matched in terms of their characteristics and criminal histories. Official data on reconviction were collected at baseline and one year after entry to the IF placement or release from custody (Stage 1), and further data on programme completion and secondary outcomes were collected via interviews with young people and parents, and questionnaires to professionals at baseline and follow-up. Official data on reconviction were also collected one year after exit from the IF placements (Stage 2). At Stage 1 the IF group were less likely to be reconvicted, had committed fewer and less-serious recorded offences, on average, and took longer to commit their first recorded offence. At this point the IF group were more likely to be living with their families and less likely to be in custody than the comparison group. However, by Stage 2 no significant differences in patterns of reconviction remained. IF successfully contained a high-risk group in the community, but the effects of the intervention diminished once they left their foster placements. Environmental effects on entry to and exit from the IF placements may help to explain the results at both stages.

Balancing Prevention and Protection: Child Protection in England

This chapter presents an analysis of the child protection system in England today. It begins with a discussion of how the policies and priorities which have shaped the system have developed over time and traces the ways in which policy has sought to resolve the continuing tension at the heart of state intervention in family life, that is, the need to balance the needs and rights of children and the rights of parents. The chapter outlines the legal and institutional frameworks that underpin child protection activity today and examines the key policy principles that govern practice, including partnership with parents, the need to ensure stability and permanence for children removed from their parents and the associated need to avoid delay in decision-making. It then charts the current operation of the system through an analysis of patterns of intervention, including assessment, voluntary intervention, child protection plans and compulsory intervention in the form of court-ordered placement in out of home care. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the challenges that children, families and the English child welfare system currently face as a result of the government austerity programme.