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Monthly Archives: November 2020

The Buzz

30 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

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Welcome to another week. These are the child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

  • Troubled Families Programme gets an additional £165 million funding for 2021-2022, and a possible change of name (please for the love of all that is sensible, change this project’s offensive and meaningless name)
  • Public Services Committee published first report on how public services performed during the Covid-19 pandemic (and its findings are the usual suspects – poor support for users, lack of cooperation between services and no effort to collect feedback from families and children)
  • Family courts look to keep courts up and running for ‘business as usual’ by making hearings Covid-safe. (Researching Reform first used the phrase Covid-safe in relation to courts, and we’re glad to see it’s catching on).

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Children in care can bypass Lockdown’s ‘rule of six’

27 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

≈ 5 Comments

The government has announced that children in care are exempt from a rule which limits the number of people that can meet up during a Covid-19 outbreak, enabling children to have contact with their parents and siblings.

The ‘rule of six’ law, which was enacted in September, prohibits social gatherings of more than six people, but the latest update from the House of Commons library’s “Coronavirus and Separated Families and Contact with Children in Care” briefing says children in care are exempt from the rule when spending time with immediate family.

The exemption allows social workers to arrange such meetings, as individuals living in separate households from children in care, their siblings and their parents. However, the ‘rule of six’ will apply where a child wishes to have contact with additional members of his or her family.

The briefing says, “Under the current provisions for social distancing, there are exemptions from the 6-person limit for the purposes of arrangements for access to, and contact between, parents and children where the children do not live in the same household as their parents or one of their parents.”

“However, the 6-person limit will apply to meetings with other relatives. Therefore, it may be necessary for children and other friends and family to make alternative arrangements.”

The government has also confirmed that contact centres are expected to remain open and appropriate measures taken to make them safe for families and children to visit.

The briefing goes on to say that Regulation 22(1) (contact and access to communications) of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 has been amended in relation to children meeting friends, parents and relatives.

The amendment states that children’s homes must ensure there are suitable facilities to allow meetings to take place. Where meetings are not possible, children need to be told why a face-to-face meeting has been cancelled and informed of their right to be represented by an independent advocate.

The briefing re-iterates that virtual contact must be the exception rather than the rule, and that any decision to implement virtual contact must be recorded. The reason face-to-face contact was stopped must also be explained.

The guidance says, “The use of virtual visits should be the exception and can be used as a result of public health advice or when it is not reasonably practicable to have a face-to-face visit otherwise for a reason relating to the incidence or transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19). This could include in the event of local restrictions, self-isolation or social distancing advice due to coronavirus (COVID-19).”

“All uses of this temporary flexibility must be recorded, for example in individual case records, and those records should include the reasons why a virtual visit was necessary. Providers may also find it helpful to keep a separate collated record in which cases the flexibility has been used.”

Additionally, the briefing covers the current rules for children of separated parents; what to do in the case of a child who is self isolating with Covid-19 symptoms; complying with contact orders; the impact of the outbreak on child maintenance and contact details of organisations offering support and advice.

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In The News

26 Thursday Nov 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

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The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

  • Examining how the care review should work
  • Upcoming review will look at UK’s record on children’s rights
  • New child safeguarding guidelines issued by Catholic Church

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Can social workers be activists? Online event

25 Wednesday Nov 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

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A new group made up of student social workers, has launched an online webinar which will look at whether social workers can and should disrupt social care.

The webinar, called ‘Can social workers be activists?’, has been organised by Students Decolonising Social Work, and will begin with a live panel followed by a Q&A session.

The five panelists are Colin Turbett, a former social worker turned activist, who will be discussing the trade unions and highlighting the main aspects of radical social work; Nina Lopez and Tracey Norton from Support Not Separation, who will be talking about their experiences assisting women in the family courts; Project 17, an organisation supporting migrant families who will outline how a failure to implement the law in social work harms families in need, and Allison Hulmes, who is the national director for Wales at the British Association of Social Workers, and the co- founding member of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Social Work Association, and will be talking about the prejudices these families face in social work practice.

The webinar is set to take place on Tuesday 8 December 2020, from 6.30pm to 8pm.

Anyone wishing to attend will need to register for a place beforehand, and can do so here.

Thank you to Support Not Separation for alerting us to this event.

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The Buzz

24 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

≈ Leave a comment

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

  • Directors of Children’s Services comment on mothers visiting babies in care
  • Funding boost for rape and domestic abuse support
  • Andrew McFarlane: View from The President’s Chambers, Nov 2020
  • Education secretary ‘unlawfully scrapped children’s rights’

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New birth certificates to feature birth and adoptive parents’ details

23 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

≈ 10 Comments

New birth certificates rolled out across Australia’s New South Wales will allow a child to decide whether they would like to include details about their birth parents and adoptive parents in the document. Information about siblings from birth families and adopted families will also be included.

The Integrated Birth Certificate (IBC) was announced on 16 November and was implemented to reflect the state’s ‘open adoption’ policy, which promotes ongoing connection to a child’s birth family and cultural heritage.

The UK also operates an ‘open adoption’ policy, which means every local authority has a duty to promote a child’s connections with their birth family.

People adopted before 16 November 2020 in New South Wales will be able to apply for an IBC, while those adopted after that date will be issued an IBC automatically, along with a post-adoptive birth certificate.

The IBC can also be used as a legal identity document for people adopted in the state. More information about the document can be found in this Fact Sheet.

Do you think England and Wales should implement its own version of the IBC?

Many thanks to TumTum for alerting us to this development.

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The Buzz

17 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

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The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

  • Multi-Factor Authentication added to family court software
  • MP launches Bill to make unregulated accommodation for children in care illegal
  • Marcus Rashford launches book club so children can experience ‘escapism’ of reading

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Question It!

16 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

≈ 3 Comments

Welcome to another week.

The Children’s Minister, Vicky Ford, announced on 3 November that a large-scale review of the care system the Conservative party promised in its election manifesto would launch “imminently”.

The comment was made by Ford at the National Children and Adult Services Conference.

The child welfare system is no stranger to reviews. Type in “care review” into our search engine on this site, and dozens of entries appear. Despite the number of reviews that have taken place in the last decade alone, some experts and child welfare professionals agree that not much has changed inside the system for children.

However the current government, and past government which have ordered these reviews, take a different view. Many politicians believe that these investigations have raised awareness of the biases and bad practice inside the child welfare sector and have led to improvements for children in care.

Our question this week then, is in the form of a poll:

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The Latest

12 Thursday Nov 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

≈ 1 Comment

The child welfare developments that should be right on your radar:

  • What about me?: Reframing Support for Families following Parental Separation – Report published 12 November
  • COVID-19 series: briefing on children’s social care, October 2020 – Research published 10 November
  • The impact of child protection mediation in public law proceedings on outcomes for children and families – Research published 5 November

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The Buzz

11 Wednesday Nov 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform

≈ 1 Comment

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

  • Child protection at heart of courts review – Review launched 9 November
  • Safety from Domestic Abuse and Special Measures in Remote and Hybrid Hearings – Report published 10 November
  • The Roman Catholic Church Investigation Report – IICSA Report published 10 November

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