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The views of local authorities in England on how to prevent children being in care
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Corliss, Cindy, Addis, Samia, El-Banna, Asmaa, Maxwell, Nina, Scourfield, Jonathan, Warner, Nell and Williams, Annie (2022) The views of local authorities in England on how to prevent children being in care. Child Care in Practice, 28 (4). pp. 576-592. doi:10.1080/13575279.2021.1975648 ISSN 1476-489X.
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WRAP-views-local-authorities-England-how-prevent-children-being-care-El-Banna-2021.pdf - Published Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0. Download (1469Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2021.1975648
Abstract
Purpose:
The rates of children looked after by local authorities in England have been rising for more than two decades. This study was conducted to determine what approaches local authorities have adopted that they perceive to be the most effective in preventing the need for children to come into care. It also considers how they evaluate these approaches and how they assess cost-effectiveness.
Methods:
An online survey was distributed to leaders of children’s social services departments in England in 2018 (n = 152).
Findings:
Sixty (39.5%) local authorities completed the survey. Respondents were asked to select up to three types of services or approaches they deemed most effective in preventing the need for children to come into care. The most popular was a whole-system approach selected by 81.7%, with Signs of Safety most commonly cited. This was followed by edge-of-care services (61.7%), early help (56.7%), family group conferences (43.3%), parenting programmes (18.3%), short break services (15.0%) and “other” services (20.0%). Local authorities who had experienced increases in the numbers of children in care were more likely to discuss approaches introduced relatively recently. Whole-system approaches and parenting programmes were the approaches most likely to have had independent evaluations. Whilst most local authorities reported the use of economic analysis methods as part of their evaluation, there was insufficient detail for a full assessment of cost-effectiveness.
Originality:
This paper provides a description of contemporary attitudes amongst leaders of children’s services to approaches that aim to keep children out of care. It also describes approaches taken by local authorities to evaluation and assessing cost-effectiveness.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare J Political Science > JS Local government Municipal government |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School | |||||||||
| SWORD Depositor: | Library Publications Router | |||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Local government -- England, Child welfare -- England, Child care services -- England, Children -- Services for -- England, Social work with children -- England , Child care services -- Economic aspects -- England, Social work with children -- England -- Cost effectiveness | |||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Child Care in Practice | |||||||||
| Publisher: | Informa UK Limited | |||||||||
| ISSN: | 1476-489X | |||||||||
| Official Date: | 2022 | |||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 28 | |||||||||
| Number: | 4 | |||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 576-592 | |||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1080/13575279.2021.1975648 | |||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | |||||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 26 October 2021 | |||||||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 26 October 2021 | |||||||||
| RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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