Children And Adult Social Services Flashcards
How many people rely on social services largely provided by local authorities?
Around 1.5m people, including 400,000 children
What is statutory spending?
Spending that the local authority has no option other than to provide
Like child protection services etc
What is discretionary spending?
Additional spending
Not required by law and much of this has been cut due to a result of austerity measures.
What does Social Services include?
Child protection
Domestic and residential care for elderly and disabled
Care for those who need mental health care
What do local authorities have to provide protection for children
A statutory obligation
What are social workers criticised of?
Intervening too early and breaking up families
Or intervening too late and leaving children at risk of abuse or neglect
What infamous case made it into the 2004 Children’s Act
Victoria Climbie (8) tortured by great aunt and her boyfriend m, enquiry under Lord Laming set up to review child protection laws
Lamings recommendations incorporated unto green paper ‘every child matters’ and ultimately the 2004 Children’s Act
What was the idea of Every child matters?
Improve coordination between social work, police, education, and NHS to encourage early intervention when children are at risk
Under the act what were Local Authority Social Services departments reorganised as?
Children’s services departments
Which include social care and education
They are the responsibility of the county councils, unitary authorities and London boroughs
What else did the act set up?
Council run Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (LSCB)
They were charged with coordinating the various agencies involved in delivering services and monitoring their effectiveness
What are child protection plans?
Drawn up by professionals to access a child’s degree of risk
The act set up a role of the Children’s Commissioner, currently Maggie Atkinson
How can social workers intervene to protect a child?
Care orders - if social workers believe child is at serious risk if they remain were they are - they can apply to family court for Care order (if court agrees, child taken and local authorities takes role as parent)
Interim Care Order - Urgent cases social workers can apply for these and they must satisfy the judge taht there is “reasonable cause to believe child will suffer considerable harm” these last 8 days - renewable for further week
Supervison order - Child remains with parents/guardian but local authorities has duty to advise and assist child - can be converted into Care orders if risk remains
How can children be taken care of once removed for their homes
Children’s home - run by local authority or charities - inspected by ofstead
Fostering - can be short or long term - allows children to be cared for in a family environment - foster parents have to be vetted and paid allowances - national shortage of foster parents
Adoption - difference with fostering is adoption is permanent - current government has tried to speed up adoption process
What was Rotherham Child Abuse Scandal
From early 1990s 20 years up to 1.4k young girls, some as young as 12, gang raped, torture and trafficked
SY police and Rotherham social services knew what was going on - did nothing
How was abuse of Sex scandal revealed?
Andrew Norfolk Public Journo
Wrote series of articles for Times from 2011
