National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care (NCERCC)

1
(No Transcript)
2
National Centre for Excellence in Residential
Child Care (NCERCC)

• Developing supportive liaison for Police and
  Residential Child Care
• There is no one thing we can now call Residential
  Child Care in the singular only Residential Child
  Care in the plural.
• There are as many different types of Residential
  Child Care as there are needs of young people.

3
Developing supportive liaison for Police and
Residential Child Care (contd)

• Between 11-13 of Children in Care live in the
  1865 childrens homes. 65 is private, 30 is LA
  and 5 is voluntary. The range of provision is
  diverse aiming to provide highly specialised
  provision for meeting highly specialised needs.
• The young people in need of RCC have more complex
  needs and so are likely to need to stay for a few
  years at least. A combination of factors that are
  largely outside of the young persons
  responsibility coalesce over time will lead to
  these situations abuse, neglect, disability,
  parental illness, family stress, low income,
  absent parent.  
• What Works in Residential Child Care. A review of
  research evidence and the practical
  considerations Clough, Bullock, Ward 2006 NCB
  http//www.ncb.org.uk/ncercc/ncercc20practice20d
  ocuments/whatworksinrccsummary_ncbhighlight.pdf

4
Children of families with deep rooted, complex
or chronic needs with a long history of
disability, difficulty or disruption, including
abuse or neglect.

• These children require more than simply a
  substitute family care. They need individualised
  care in a safe and containing environment,
  provided by grown ups who are consistently
  thoughtful about each childs care. There will be
  clear boundaries and limits with some negotiated
  flexibility. This is the group that may come to a
  local school.

5
Children with extensive, complex and enduring
needs compounded by very difficult behaviour who
require more specialised and intensive
resources.

• These children with high cost low incidence
  needs require particular care and specialist
  settings. The children have serious psychological
  needs and behavioural problems that can
  overshadow other goals. There maybe about 1,000
  of them. They will need intensive support and
  treatment with care, education and health all on
  one site and directed to creating a change in the
  childs and families circumstances. These young
  people should not be coming to a local school.

6
What this means in everyday life is that they
are operating at developmentally delayed stages

• Infant - Age - Birth to one year.
• Stage - Trust versus Mistrust
• Child needs maximum comfort and minimum
  uncertainty if they are to develop a sense of
  security. Without this a child may later display
  signs of anxiety and insecurity.
• Toddler Age - 1 to 3 years
• Stage - Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt
• Children need to develop a sense of personal
  control over physical skills. Allowing a child to
  make decisions helps them build confidence, and
  self-esteem. Too much criticism can leave a child
  with feelings of doubt and shame which will
  affect development.

7
What this means in everyday life is that they
are operating at developmentally delayed stages
(contd)

• Pre-school - Age 3 to 6 years. Stage -
  Initiative versus Guilt
• Children begin to problem solve. If this is
  rewarded they feel a sense of purpose, if they
  are made to feel foolish they will feel guilt and
  will become followers rather than leaders.
• School-Age Child - Age 6 to 11 years
• Stage - Industry versus Inferiority At this stage
  a child is trying to develop a sense of
  competence and self-worth. Positive feedback can
  help children to feel confident and capable,
  vital for happiness and future success. If they
  do not get encouraged they may feel inferior,
  doubt their capabilities and fail to reach their
  full potential.

8
What this means in everyday life is that they
are operating at developmentally delayed stages
(contd)

• Adolescent - Age 12 - 18
• Stage - Identity versus Role Confusion
• Not children nor independent adults, this most
  important transition requires that teenagers
  begin to look at their futures and explore their
  possibilities. An inability to figure out who it
  is they are and who they want to be may render
  them confused and directionless.

9
Residential Child Care (RCC)

• RCC is no longer institutional care in the sense
  of large buildings and groups. Most childrens
  homes now have less than 5 children living there.
  Many now have registered small schools on site
  responding to the need for a young person to be
  in school before 25 days, ability to provide
  holistically, difficulties that have existed in
  admissions. This is a response to an
  understanding that it is care and education
  success together than have the priority not one
  or the other
• The most recent Childrens Rights Director
  carries the same message of many that have
  preceded it. Many young people like RCC homes and
  that they felt cared for and looked after. Some
  children feel that the childrens home that they
  live in is exactly where they want to be. It is
  fair to say that some children do not like living
  in residential care. But it can be seen as a
  positive choice when

10
Residential Child Care (RCC) (contd.)

• Providing stability and a stimulating environment
• Widening cultural and educational horizons
• Creating a framework for emotionally secure
  relationships with adults - may benefit from
  having a number of carers
• Providing a setting for intensive therapeutic
  work
• When a young person feels threatened by prospect
  of living in a family or does not want to be part
  of substitute family as still very much part of
  their own family
• When the emotional load of caring for a very
  disturbed or chaotic young person is best
  distributed amongst a number of carers

11
National Minimum Standards (NMS)

• Childrens homes must adhere to National Minimum
  Standards. These are the standards that they are
  inspected against by OfSTED.
• Average of NMS met by Childrens Homes
  satisfactory or better

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
58 68 76 80 83 92
12
NACRO (2003) Reducing offending by LAC- a good
practice guide

• Young people looked after away from home are 3
  times more likely to be charged with offences
  that the general population

13
Gentleman (2009) Police Involvement in
Residential Child Care SIRCC Journal

• Interagency group work to develop a greater
  understanding of realities, roles and agendas
  recorded over 6 month period in one childrens
  home in Scotland.
• Most behaviour is managed by RCCWs. Thresholds
  for Police involvement when 3 or more of the
  behaviours are involved and often the same staff
  involved.

14
Gentleman (2009) Police Involvement in
Residential Child Care SIRCC Journal (contd)

Concern regarding behaviour day records 100 of 250 records on behaviour
Behaviour recorded as an incident 20
Police involvement 9
Charges 4 breaches of peace x 1 (abuse, damage, restraint) Breach of peace and assault x 3 Abuse, damage, threats, assault, plus other anti-social behaviour restraint)
15
Gentleman (2009) Police Involvement in
Residential Child Care SIRCC Journal (contd)

• RCCWs called the Police when they felt unsafe.
• Police were reported to be uncomfortable with
  charges which they saw as stressed behaviours,
  inappropriate reactions to minor actions,
  especially when part of restraint.

16
What works in Residential child Care a
statement not a question

• The NCERCC summary of decades of research What
  works in Residential Child Care tells us of the
  importance of relationships between young people
  and staff, and other young people, and with
  family. Young people tell us that these were an
  important aspect offered by Residential Child
  Care in overcoming their previous experiences.
  They report getting back self- esteem with the
  help of an adult who was understanding,
  sympathetic, comforting and gave individual
  attention.

17
The foundations of good Residential Child Care
practice

• Culture perform best with concordant societal,
  formal and belief goals, strong positive staff
  cultures and strong positive childrens cultures
  or at least that did not undermine the work of
  the home. Homes which meet the personal, social,
  health and educational needs were much more
  likely to be safe places for children
• Theories for practice a clear theory or
  philosophy is essential
• Clarity of purpose - this should be found in the
  Statement of Purpose and define the primary task
  What are we here for? What are we doing?

18
The foundations of good Residential Child Care
practice (contd)

• Leadership clear and coherent leadership is
  fundamental
• Relationships between staff and children the
  hallmark is feeling cared for with understanding,
  sympathetic, comforting, consistent and
  individual attention
• Relationships between children peer
  relationships are a core component needing
  positive, successful skill and understanding of
  formal and informal group work from adults
• Relationships with family members working with
  the family in mind not necessarily direct
  work but always aiming to strengthening
  connections

19
The foundations of good Residential Child Care
practice (contd)

• Countering institutionalisation daily life is
  built from an active attempt to produce systems
  that best match childrens wants and needs
• Therapeutic support the therapeutic in daily
  life and by access to specialist services
  Therapy.
• Staff involvement where staff feel empowered

20
5 activities to bring the work of RCC and Police
together?

• Joining the differing perspectives,
  expectations, roles and tasks in a common project
  of parenting and child care. A focus solely on
  offending will always be too late so we need to
  be proactive rather than reactive knowing that
  this work will provide an actual and also Social
  Return on Investment.
• RCC and Police need to be able to communicate
  clearly with each other, using the same concepts
  and descriptions of young people and their
  behavior.

21

• Activity 1. A discussion about parenting
• No such thing as a baby only a baby and
• someone (Winnicott)
• The foundation for positive care and
  education must be good authoritative parenting
  a young person needs grown-ups to parent them
• The list of the 8 Pillars of Parenting is a
  good checklist (Cameron and Maginn 2007 and 2009
  forthcoming) follows with a basic summary of each
  one.
• Primary care and protection - Sensitivity to a
  childs basic needs shows the child that we
  care and that they are important. Education is
  paramount because in our complex world knowledge
  and skills are essential to survival.

22

• Activity 1. (contd)
• Secure attachments, making close relationships -
  Secure attachments act as a buffer against risk
  and operate as a protective mechanism.
• Positive self-perception - To allow the child to
  develop a positive self image. Positive and
  negative statements have a powerful impact on
  self-perception and esteem.
• Emotional compliance - This ability underpins the
  successful development of relationships outside
  of the family and can moderate susceptibility to
  the propensity for later mental health problems.
• Self management skills - Self-image is the
  insulation, which prevents inappropriate
  behaviour when enticing or compelling outside
  factors try to intrude.

23

• Activity 1 (contd)
• Resilience - Resilient individuals are able to
• understand what has happened to them in life
  (insight) develop understanding of others
  (empathy) and experience a quality of life that
  is often denied to others who have suffered
  negative life experiences (achievement).
• A sense of belonging - Research and theory on
  relationships have highlighted the need to
  belong.
• Personal and social responsibilities -
  Essentially personal and social responsibility
  means being able to coordinate ones own
  perspective with the help of others and
  developing personal views of fairness and
  reciprocity.

24

• Activity 2. A discussion about Quality RCC using
  evidenced criteria. Quality of care index
• (Berridge various)
• There is a clear link between a young persons
  association with the quality of care and their
  general happiness. The Quality of Care Index
  allows insight
• See also Parent Guide to NMS from NCERCC
  http//partner.ncb.org.uk/ncercc/ncercc20practice
  20documents/ncercc_nmsguides_parentversion.pdf

25

• Activity 2 (contd)
• Care and control
• Addressing childrens needs, child oriented
• Warm and caring, responsive
• Quality of physical environment
• Praise and responsibility, positive expectations
• Opportunities for success, improvement of self
  image
• Clear boundaries, behavioural management
• Opportunities for inclusion
• Stability and continuity
• Placement changes
• Pressure to move prematurely, opportunity to
  remain
• Changes in caregivers, predictability in daily
  care

26

• Activity 2 (contd)
• Safety
• Child protection
• Management of risk
• Peer violence
• Allegations
• Inter-professional working
• Support for identifiable problems, liaison
• Help with behavioural, emotional and social
  problems
• Coherent approach across settings one plan for
  one child

27

• Activity 2 (contd)
• Family links
• Encourage contact
• Consider young peoples views - family-in-mind
• Support from parents/ carers
• Transport
• Close relationship with at least one adult
• Champion, advocate, standing up for Children in
  Care
• Support and time, formal and informal
• Reliability
• Effectiveness of social work/educational
  psychology role
• Encouragement of key adults from past

28

• Activity 2 (contd)
• Ethnicity and culture
• Culture, language and religion
• Context or location
• Consideration matching, mix, role models
• Daily care
• Friendships
• Encouragement of pro-social friendships
• Planning and aftercare
• High quality assessment and planning
• Desired placements, choice, matching
• Young persons involvement, listen to young
  person

29

• Activity 3. Checklist for Assessing Your
  Organizations Readiness for Reducing Seclusion
  and Restraint - David Colton
• http//www.ccca.dmhmrsas.virginia.gov/content/SR2
  0Checklist.pdf

30

• Activity 4. Setting boundaries, behaviour
• management and physical interventions
• http//partner.ncb.org.uk/ncercc/ncercc20practice
  20documents/ncerccsettingofboundariesdec04.pdf
• Effective behaviour management is based on
• Cooperation
• Communication (Shared information concerning
  assessments, planning and processes decreases the
  incidence of PI.)
• Relationships
• Effective interventions will link behaviour
  management, risk assessment and management and
  physical interventions

31

• Activity 4 (contd)
• It is important that behaviour is understood
  as communication. This leads us to reframe
  challenging
• to challenged. The child has been presented
  an environment that they are finding challenging.
  The response needed needs to demonstrate
  understanding and empathy.
• A child needs to know what is expected of
  them, that limits are agreed, what will happen if
  they go over these limits, that there will be
  phased set of interventions, the thresholds for
  and how any PI may occur.

32

• Activity 4 (contd)
• The components of an overall approach to
  behaviour management and physical intervention
  would need to include
• An understanding of normal child development and
  the origins of problem behaviours.
• Having written policies so that everyone knows
  what they can expect
• A? plan linking an assessment identifying the
  strengths of the child to daily living, planning
  the adaptations that are necessary in the
  continuity of care, caring relationships and
  environment that support the child as well as
  identifying situations that lead to problems in
  the near future so that avoiding action can be
  taken.

33

• Activity 4 (contd)
• Using Personal Communication Passports to raise
  awareness and the ability in the child and adults
  to recognise trigger points/weaknesses and to
  curb or change what is happening at that time to
  recover equilibrium
• Understanding what happens when this child is
  part of a group identifying how they can be
  supported to manage themselves, or be managed, so
  that any triggers can be addressed and removed
• Graduated? de-escalation and diversion strategies
  used to pre-empt or limit the behaviour and
  ensure that the that may follow physical
  intervention right for that moment
• Teaching? conflict resolution skills

34

• Activity 4 (contd)
• Stated? thresholds for when physical intervention
  is necessary with scenarios as examples of what
  will happen in certain situations
• A? hierarchy of techniques for Physical
  intervention so that the level of force is
  appropriate to the age / size of the child and
  the seriousness of the situation and can be
  phased up and down as the crisis nears and
  diminishes
• A? method to record interventions that allows
  discussion, learning and changed practice as a
  result of the monitoring of incidents in respect
  of the individual child, adults and good practice
  in general
• A method of debriefing for all involved that
  especially allows children to express their views
  about incidents and to learn from them

35

• Activity 4 (contd)
• Allowing? the child to complain if they feel they
  have been unfairly or roughly treated, and to
  have access to independent advocates
• Keeping? parents, carers and relevant
  professionals involved and informed at all stages
  from policy development and assessment to
  monitoring of incidents
• Taking complaints seriously and being open to
  independent scrutiny, including child protection
  enquiries
• Regular? management review of both individual
  incidents and patterns within/across settings

36

• Activity 5. Restorative Approaches
• http//partner.ncb.org.uk/ncercc/ncercc20practice
  
• 20documents/ncercc_rj_in_rcc_review.pdf
• Police call outs both to and by the home had
  decreased by 39 per cent
• 66 per cent decrease in the number of offences
  reported
• 54 per cent reduction in police call outs to the
  home.
• 67 per cent decrease in missing from care
  episodes.
• Restorative justice approaches were viewed to be
  a useful tool for residential staff in their
  everyday practice with young people, and contacts
  provided a number of examples of how restorative
  approaches were used more informally in their
  settings.

37

• Activity 5 (contd)
• Restorative justice approaches had changed the
  way in which most staff dealt with both criminal
  behaviour and conflict in the unit (such as
  arguments between residents and issues around
  bullying). Staff generally felt that restorative
  justice training had provided them with a better
  way of dealing with such conflicts. Fifty per
  cent of staff thought that both young people and
  staff were increasingly using restorative justice
  techniques in dealing with everyday living
  tensions and difficulties.

38

• Reasons for adopting a restorative justice
  approach
• The review identified a number of reasons
  residential settings
• and other organisations introduced
  restorative approaches in their work with young
  people. Analysis of information provided by
  contacts and the literature available found that,
  for the most part, restorative approaches are
  used to resolve issues such as
• Criminal damage against residential units (for
  example breaking windows or kicking in doors)
• Assaults? on staff
• Assaults? on other residents
• Disagreements? or disputes between residents
• Disagreements? between residents and staff
• Bullying?
• Problematic? or disruptive behaviour (for example
  play fighting)
• See also http//partner.ncb.org.uk/ncercc/ncercc
  20practice20documents/restorative_approaches_high
  light.pdf

39

• Conclusion - towards local protocols for RCC and
  Police?
• Can we do it? Yes we ..have!. e.g. Missing
  protocols
• Gentleman sees 2 questions that must be answered
• Understanding behaviour - what was that about it?
• Understanding actions what are we going to do
  about it?
• Children can be cared by various people in
  various places. All involved need to be working
  from consistent planning with principles,
  policies and practice that are compatible and
  offer the child continuity of experience and
  relationships, a key factor in stability.
• Services need to ensure that they hold full
  information on all children who may require PI
  and cover the range of children who may injure
  themselves or others on a regular basis. This
  information should be shared with management and
  a strategy agreed. In such a way all settings
  must be able to minimise risk in an effective,
  safe and consistent way.

40

• No more the scatter of interested parties -
• (amended by NCERCC from Quality Matters in
  Childrens Services messages from research
• Stein 2009)
• Questions for childrens homes
• What counts as an incident that you think needs
  Police achievement? Are some more concerning than
  others?
• What do you see the role of the Police being? How
  does their work link to everyday life and how is
  their work described in policies?
• How is a childs life assessed, planned for,
  supported, recorded, and evaluated?
• What is the link between feeling satisfied and
  happy and settled behaviour?

41

• No more the scatter of interested parties -
• (amended by NCERCC from Quality Matters in
  Childrens Services messages from research
• Stein 2009)
• Questions for childrens homes (contd)
• What is the relationship of inclusion and
  exclusion, integration, participation,
  identification of needs and abilities?
• Is planning at an individual level and a group
  level?
• What might be the effects of raising Police
  involvement informally in the life of the home?
• What changes can we make together to raise the
  safeguarding of all young people placed?

42

• Strategic questions
• a common set of values, childcentred and
  committed to stability
• commitment to an evidence-based approach which
  continuously evaluates services with a view to
  achieving measurably better outcomes for young
  people
• an understanding of the needs of young people
• a comprehensive mapping of existing settings and
  needs of young people
• bringing together all relevant data on finance,
  activity and outcomes
• a vision of how local needs may be better met
  with improved alignment the recognition of the
  need for a multi-agency approach in the life of
  the child

43

• Strategic questions (contd)
• A workforce development strategy that supports
  all involved in the life of children to promote
  common approaches? Are carers/Police being
  supported to to provide sufficient support and
  encouragement?
• a strategic framework for how Police support
  might be used more proactively and where
  reactively with relevance to agreed guidelines
• agreed measures, in addition to National
  indicators, to be used to monitor improvement in
  outcomes?
• an ongoing dialogue between Police, providers and
  young people
• effective systems for implementing service
  changes,
• Do you have Corporate Parents championing
  reduction in incidents?

44

• Operational
• In what ways do your organisational structures
  and processes promote of impede liaison that
  supports placement stability and continuity of
  all those involved in the life of a child?
• Whilst plans, procedures and joint protocols
  will not themselves bring about the required
  changes in practice there are 7 enablers of
  interagency collaboration
• understanding and respect for roles and
  responsibilities of other services
• good communication
• regular contact and meetings
• common priorities and trust
• joint training

45

• Operational (contd)
• knowing what services are available and who to
  contact
• clear guidelines and procedures for working
  together
• low staff turnover
• Are the assessments as rigorous as necessary for
  all parties? Do they allow all parties to be
  committed to the welfare?
• On admission is there an introduction to
  neighbourhood officers to establish communication
  and preparatory planning, roles and
  responsibilities, understandings and explanations
  and plans

46

• Practice
• Could you use the Pillars of Parenting and
  Quality of Care as a tool across care and Police?
• How do you support each other?
• Do you support the development of case work and
  direct work with young people?

47
(No Transcript)
48
Contact details

• National Centre for Excellence in Residential
  Child Care (NCERCC)
• National Childrens Bureau
• 8 Wakley Street
• London EC1V 7QE
• E-mail jstanley_at_ ncb.org.uk
• www.ncb.org.uk/ncercc
• Tel [phone] Fax [phone]