Whats the use of Residential Child Care

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Whats the use of Residential Child Care?

• Graham McPheat graham.mcpheat_at_strath.ac.uk
• Ian Milligan
• ian.milligan_at_strath.ac.uk

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National Research funded by the Scottish
Executive

• Aim to get data that would provide more detailed
  information -than is available in annual LAC
  stats- about trends in the use of residential
  care
• LAs selected representing small, medium and
  large authorities 8 have 6 units, 8 have 3-5
  units, 14 have 1-2 units). Also representative
  geographically
• Data was gathered by means of questionnaires to
  be completed for all admissions in a 6-month
  period April- October 2005

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National Research

• This research project gathered data on
• admissions to 22 units ( most units 3-9 beds, one
  14-bed reception unit) in 6 authorities
• admissions data on 215 children
• 129 in residence at start of research
• 80 admissions recorded
• 6 forms did not have a date entered
• This presentation will not report on all the
  findings. The full report is available on the
  SIRCC web-site.

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Local Research

• Data gathered about the population of children
  and young people placed in childrens homes in a
  single local authority over a six month period,
  August 2004 February 2005
• Age, sex, reason for admission, referral route,
  statute, social work history, previous
  accommodation, education provision
• Assessment as to appropriateness of placement
• Assessment of benefit of placement
• Assessment of outcomes in relation to the seven
  dimensions of child development

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Local Research

• The local authority had six residential units
• Core and cluster model 2 units with 8
  residents, 1 unit with five, 2 units with 4 and 1
  unit with a single resident
• In total the research dealt with 72 placements
• At the beginning of the research they contained
  30 residents
• During the research there were 42 admissions and
  39 discharges, leaving an end population of 33
• Only the unit with the single resident
  experienced no admissions or discharges during
  the research period

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Emerging Themes

• Age
• Statute
• Siblings
• Substance Misuse by Parent (s)
• Placement Planning
• Placement Length

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Age National Research

• Average age at admission 12.5 years (52
  admissions boys, 48 girls)
• 24 of all admissions aged under 12,
• 10 were under 10 years old
• (possible that many of these are very short-term
  admissions)
• Twice as many boys as girls in 5-11 age band
• In interview a majority of unit managers said
  that they were receiving children a bit younger
  than previously.

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Age Local Research

• During the research period the youngest resident
  was aged 6 and the oldest 17
• At the start of the research only one resident
  was younger than twelve from a population of 30
• During the research 12 admissions aged 11 or
  younger were recorded, more than 25 of the total
  admissions
• Of these 12 admissions, 5 were discharged within
  a week and a further 3 within 3 months
• These younger residents were accommodated across
  three different units, including both the larger
  core units

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Age Analysis

• Residential care is not just used for teenagers
• If siblings are to be kept together this will
  necessarily include some younger children,
  including under 5s one successful example in
  the national research
• Some very troubled under 10s need medium-term
  (1-2 years) residential care in some places
  this is available in others it isnt. These
  children usually need therapeutic care
• In the local research many of the placements of
  younger children were very short

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Statute National Research

• At the point of admission
• 55 Section 25
• 28 Supervision requirement
• 8 CPO
• 48 admitted from home, plus 7 from kin
• 18 of admissions were from foster-care
• 18 were from other residential

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Statute Local Research

• 39 of all residents accommodated under section
  25
• 18 accommodated whilst on home supervision
  orders
• 12 accommodated whilst on supervision order
  naming foster placement
• less than 6 accommodated in planned fashion with
  supervision order naming residential unit
• 50 of residents aged 12 and under accommodated
  under section 25

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Statute Analysis

• A sizeable proportion of children, more than half
  in the case of the national research, are being
  accommodated on a voluntary basis
• Substantially less than a quarter are being
  admitted in a planned fashion with a supervision
  order in place at the point of accommodation
• Is it acceptable or inevitable that so many
  children be accommodated in such an unplanned
  manner?

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Siblings National Research

• Complex data to gather
• 58 children (out of 215) had at least one other
  sibling admitted at the same time
• (Some may have had siblings admitted previously
  into other units)
• Of these, just over half (52) admitted to same
  unit

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Siblings Local Research

• At the beginning of the research no sibling
  groups were accommodated in the residential units
• During the research period four sibling groups
  were admitted three groups of two children and
  one group of three children
• All siblings were accommodated as groups and kept
  together

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Siblings Analysis

• Many siblings are being split up on admission
  48 in national research
• All sibling groups accommodated during the local
  research remained together
• The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 requires
  siblings to be kept together
• One authority said they had always managed to
  keep siblings together because we have had an
  external manager who is very keen on this

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Substance Misuse by Parents (s)

• National Research
• This was a factor in the admission of 26
  children, 12.2 of the total
• Local Research
• Of the 72 placements in only 7 cases (10) was
  substance misuse by parent(s) highlighted as a
  contributing factor to the reason behind
  accommodation 4 in the start population and 3
  in the subsequent admissions

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Substance Misuse by Parents (s) Analysis

• Figures lower than expected in both pieces of
  research
• In the national research, during interview,
  external managers were very surprised, with
  several claiming the actual figure was definitely
  higher
• Reason for possible under-reporting lack of
  clarity in records, some link drug and alcohol
  abuse in same category

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Placement Planning National Research

• 55 of admissions emergency/unplanned
• (planned implies some process such as
  meetings/discussions several days in advance, not
  simply 24 or 48 hours notice)
• 68 of all unplanned admissions were from family
  home and out-of-hours
• In interview respondents said that shortage of
  placements meant that planned placements,
  especially into residential care, were difficult

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Placement Planning Local Research

• Of the 72 placements only 18 were assessed by
  unit managers to have been planned prior to
  commencing 10 within the start population and 8
  amongst admissions
• 65 of the 72 placements involved children and
  young people with a history of involvement with
  the social work department
• Despite this 31 placements were also assessed as
  having appropriate long-term plans established at
  the outset of the placements
• Only 35 were assessed to be first-choice
  placements

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Placement Planning Analysis

• Social workers (and seniors) reluctant to use
  residential in a planned way, except for children
  who are already in the system
• Imagine what would happen if social workers
  worked seven days a week (in shifts!) that is,
  if there were few Friday afternoon/out-of-hours
  admissions?
• Old attitudes die hard, and a last resort
  stance is alive and well.. There are parents, and
  even some children, who value accommodation much
  more highly than social services departments do,
  and are frustrated by their gate-keeping
  policies. Last-resortism can also prove
  self-defeating social services resistance can
  lead to family disaffection, more emergency
  admissions, hurried placements and belated
  planning (Packman and Hall 1998)

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Placement Length National Research

• Based on information from 88 young people
  discharged during the 6-month period
• 21 placed for 1 day or less!
• Further 11 placed between 1 day and 1 week
• 28 resident for 1 year or more
• 13 discharged after 2 years or more

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Placement Length Local Research

• Of the 39 placements that ended during the
  research 12 lasted less than a week whilst 27
  lasted less than 3 months
• All placement of Under 10s lasted less than a
  month
• Children and young people aged 13 and over
  accounted for all placements lasting a year or
  longer
• Short and long-term placements were not limited
  to specific units, most experienced both types,
  particularly the larger core units

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Placement Length Analysis

• Residential care is being used for very
  short-term placements, especially for younger
  children (under 10)
• It is also being used for long-term care for some
  teenagers
• Some units, particularly the core units within
  the local research, regularly experience both
  types of placement. What impact do these frequent
  admissions and discharges have on long term
  residents?
• Some authorities try to establish
  short-term/reception units but these often fail
  because of a lack of places for children who need
  medium or longer-term care

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Summary

• Significant number of primary aged children being
  accommodated in mainstream units often moving
  between foster and residential care
• High use of Section 25 of the Children (Scotland)
  Act 1995 to facilitate accommodation
• Lower use of CPOs compared to PoS before 1995 Act
  
• Evidence of some good practice in maintaining
  sibling relationships, but not consistently
• Lower than expected reporting of parental drug
  use as a factor in accommodation
• Little evidence of placements being planned,
  caused in part by a shortage of placements
• Evidence of a high number of very short
  placements, particularly for younger children.
  Consequently some units experience a mix of
  short-and long-term placements as well as a wide
  age range of residents