Children and Adult Social Services Flashcards
What is an essential plank of the modern welfare state?
Alongside the foundation of the NHS, the benefits system and old age pensions, social services are an essential plank of the modern welfare state.
Around 1.5 million people including 400,000 children rely on social services largely provided by local authorities.
Under various Acts local authorities are required to provide services by law, for example child protection.
What is statutory spending?
Spending the local authority has no option other than to provide. e.g. child protection
What is additional spending known as discretionary spending?
Is not required by law and much of this has been cut as a result of austerity measures.
What do social services include?
Child protection
Domestic and residential care for elderly and disabled people
Care for those who need mental health care
Child protection
Local authorities have a statutory obligation to provide protection for vulnerable children.
Social workers are often criticised for intervening too early and breaking up families or intervening too late and leaving children at risk of neglect or abuse.
What happened after the Victoria Climbie case?
Following the infamous Victoria Climbie 8 year old girl case who was tortured and murdered by her great aunt and her boyfriend, an enquiry under Lord Laming was set up to review child protection laws.
Laming’s recommendations were incorporated into a Green paper ‘every child matters’ and ultimately the 2004 Children’s Act.
The idea was to improve coordination between agencies such as social work, the police, education and the NHS and to encourage early intervention when children were at risk.
Under the 2004 Children’s Act
Local Authority Social Services Departments were reorganised as Children’s Services Departments, which include social care and education.
They are the responsibility of county councils, unitary authorities and London boroughs.
The Act set up council run Local Safeguarding Children’s boards (LSCB) charged with coordinating the various agencies involved in delivering services and monitoring their effectiveness.
The Act also introduced individual Child protection Plans, drawn up by professionals to assess a childs degree of risk.
The Act set up the role of the Children’s Commissioner, currently Rachel de Souza.
Ways social workers can intervene
Care orders: If a social worker believes a child is at serious risk of abuse or neglect if they remain with a parent or guardian, they can apply to a family court for a Care order.
If the court agrees the child is taken away from parents or guardian and the local authority takes the roles of the parent. Parents/guardians are allowed ‘reasonable access to the child’ unless the court prohibits this.
Interim Care Order/Emergency protection order: In urgent cases social workers can apply for these and they must satisfy the judge that there is ‘reasonable cause to believe the child will suffer considerable harm’ if left in situ. These last for eight days and renewable for a further week.
Supervision care order - child remains with parent/guardian but the local authority has a duty to advise and assist the child. These can be converted into care orders if the risk remains.
Once a child has been taken away from its family how does the local authority care for them
Children’s homes - can be run by the local authority or charities. Must be registered and are instead by Ofstead.
Fostering - can be short or long term. This allows children to be cared for in a family environment. Foster parents have to be vetted and are paid allowances. There is a national shortage of foster parents.
Adoption - difference with fostering is that adoption is permanent. The current gov has tried to speed up the adoption process.
Rotherham child abuse scandal
Described as the biggest child protection scandal in Uk history
From the early 1990s for 20 years up to 1,400 young girls some as young as 12 were gang raped, tortured and trafficked.
SY Police and Rotherham social services knew what was going on but did nothing.
The abuse was only revealed to the public by journalist Andrew Norfolk who wrote a series of articles for the Times from 2011.
Rotherham chief executive director of children’s services and the SY PCC all resigned.
Because of these failings the government appointed commissioners to take over the running of the council from councillors and officers.
Services have gradually been returned to council control
2016/17 - 19 men and two women were convicted of sex offences against children dating back to the 1980s. One ringleader was jailed for 35 years.
Adult social care
Local authorities have a responsibility to provide domestic and residential care for elderly and disabled people.
Local authorities must carry out an assessment of an individuals needs
Care in peoples own homes may include home helps (assistance with washing, dressing and housework, hot meals etc)
Other care includes day centres and luncheon clubs
Councils can charge for some services if the client has sufficient income savings.
Some services may be provided by private companies or the voluntary sector.
Elderly or infirm people taken into residential care may be required to pay for their care if they have savings of more than £23,250
Many elderly people sell their homes in order to be able to pay for care.
What is the Dilnot Enquiry?
The Dilnot Enquiry recommended there should be a cap on these charges. The last coalition gov set the cap at £72,000 from 2016 but this deadline has slipped and currently hasn’t been implemented.
Council run and private care homes are regulated and inspected by the Care Quality Commission which carries out inspections and issues reports
Corona virus and care homes deaths
Care home corona deaths weren’t originally counted for so we thought virus was improving but it wasn’t.
Patients go to care homes to free hospital beds.
