UNIT 10 CARING FOR CHILDREN
AND YOUNG PEOPLE
The Voices of Children and Young People
P1
LESSON OBJECTIVES
To recap prior learning.
 To explain the key principles of the Children Act
1989.
 To describe a Court Order and the circumstances
when a court order might be made.
 To consider Race and Culture in cases of
safeguarding.
 To discuss different types of care order.
 To describe a range of reasons why children may
be looked after by the state.
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SO WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED SO FAR?
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We know what a looked after child is.
We have considered the following pieces of law and
guidance:
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(UNCRC) 1989, Every Child Matters (ECM) 2003, The
Children Act 1989, 2004, The Human Rights Act
1998, The Data Protection Act 1998, Framework for
the Assessment of Children in Need and their Parents
2000, Common Assessment Framework (England);
We have thought about what a good parent is, what
the needs of a child might be at different stages and
what might happen if these needs are not met.
THE CHILDREN ACT 1989 AND OVERVIEW
The Children Act 1989 places a duty on local
authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare
of children within their area and to provide a
range and level of services appropriate to those
children’s needs.
 Local authorities must also make child protection
enquiries if they have reasonable cause to
suspect a child in their area is suffering, or likely
to suffer, significant harm
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KEY CONCEPTS
Parental Responsibility
 Welfare of the Child
 Partnership and co-operation
 Powers and duties of Local Authority Services
 Children in need
 Accommodated children
 Case reviews and complaints procedures
 Protection of children including orders to provide
immediate protection for children and the
concept of significant harm.
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WHAT IS A COURT ORDER?
The Working Together to Safeguard Children
(2006) guidance made clear that the persistent
failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or
psychological needs is likely to result in the
serious impairment of the child’s health and
development
(HM Government 2006a, para.1.33)
This is further supported by the ECM framework
and the Children Act 2004.
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THE MAKING OF A COURT ORDER
Is compulsory intervention
 It is there to try to protect children further
 Are there as part of the Children Act 1989
 Courts orders should only be made if they are
better for the child than no order
 Any delay in making an order or decision is likely
to be detrimental to the child
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TO MAKE A COURT ORDER ON THE
WELFARE OF A CHILD:
Child must be likely to suffer significant harm.
 There must be evidence that leaving the child in
their current situation will be a greater risk than
removing the child.
 The harm suffered must be “significant”
 The child’s health and development will be
severely impaired by leaving them in their
current situation.
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DOES RACE OR CULTURE PLAY A PART?
Question ……………………
Some cultures or races actively use physical
punishment with their children.
Do you think this view alters the services or
intervention that the local authority might enact?
IMMEDIATE DANGER
Where a child is at immediate risk of acute harm,
the first steps are to reduce that risk.
 This can involve removal of a child or removal of
a person from a family who is causing the
extreme risk to the child.
 Sometimes it is possible to secure agreements
with family members to change their behaviour.
 Sometimes children are removed with the
agreement of family
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EMERGENCY ACTION
Any person can make an application for an
Emergency Protection Order (EPO – Children
Act 1989 s.44)
 This might be made without notice and without
other parties being present to a single
magistrate.
 These applications might be made by any of the
safeguarding children agencies.
 Usually lasts for 8 days – no more than 15 days
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POLICE PROTECTION ORDER (PPO)
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The police can take a child into police protection
if they think that the child is in immediate
danger. This will usually last for up to 72 hours
and they must inform the family and a Social
Worker of the whereabouts of the child or
children
CARE ORDERS
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The court might make a Care Order if it thinks it
is not safe for a child to live at home. It will give
the Local Authority the same responsibilities as a
parent and decisions can be taken as to where
the child may live.
SUPERVISION ORDERS
This order means that a child can still stay at
home, but a social worker would be in regular
contact with the parent and the child.
 There may be directions attached to the order
that ask the parent to do something specific, for
example, make sure the child attends a Family
Centre or keeps medical appointments.
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SECTION 8 ORDERS
A Contact Order
 A Prohibited Steps Order
 A Residence Order
 A Specific Issue Order
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A CHILD ASSESSMENT ORDER
May be made as part of a child protection
investigation,
 It means the court thinks that there may be
medical evidence that your child may have hurt
or abused.
 Medical evidence shows that a child has been
hurt on purpose or in ways that wouldn't usually
happen to them.
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CASE STUDIES
John is 10. His Uncle Ralph is a paedophile and
John is at risk of sexual Abuse if he has any
contact with him.
 Helen is 18 months old. Her father Dave has
assaulted her so severely as to cause serious
injury, not just once but on several occasions. It
is likely to happen again if she is ever left in his
care.
 Judy has been left on her own by her mother Lisa
for long periods of time on a number of occasions.
She is only five years old and on one occasion
nearly started a fire by playing with matches.
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POTENTIAL REASONS WHY CHILDREN
MIGHT BE TAKEN IN TO CARE
family related, eg following a bereavement/loss of
a parent, parental illness or incapacity
 hospitalisation,
 mental ill health,
 substance misuse;
 suspected or actual maltreatment;
 Child’s health problems,
 behavioural problems,
 learning difficulties, disability,
 as a result of committing an offence
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ANSWERS:
John:
Prevent the uncle from having unsupervised contact
with his will reduce the risk. Simply making his
parents aware of the risk might be enough to reduce
this risk but if there is reason to believe that his
parents cannot stand up to Ralph and/or do not take
the risk he poses seriously then additional steps
might need to be taken. Support network for the
parents could be strengthened or steps could be
taken to deter Ralph from attempting to have contact
with John. If you had reason to believe that the
parents were actively colluding with Ralph and
making John available to them then you would want
to consider removing John from their care.
Helen:
Real risk of fatal injury if she is not protected from
Daves violence. Can her mother or another carer
ensure that Helen doesnt ever have unsupervised
contact with her father. If there is reason to
believe that he is able to intimidate Helen’s
carers then additional support might be needed.
In some circumstances it might be necessary for
Helen to be removed into care if no member of
her family is able to keep her safe.
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P1 OUTLINE WHY CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
MAY NEED TO BE LOOKED AFTER AWAY FROM THEIR
FAMILIES.
For this task:
Using Secondary research information you should work in pairs
to research why children and young people are looked after. You
should use information which reflects the “voices” and
experiences of children who are looked after and document the
reasons that you have discovered for these children and young
people are looked after by the state.
 This information will help you to contribute to a whole class
discussion and collaboration of information. You will be asked to
provide examples to support the reasons that you have found.
 Individually you will then be asked to write a reflective piece
which details what you have learned about the experiences of the
children you have studied and the reasons why children and
young people are looked after, giving examples.
Judy
Immediate danger is that she will be left alone
again. You might be able to get an undertaking
that her mother will never do this again but this
would need to be checked and you would need to
have confidence that her mother takes this
seriously enough to deter her from leaving Judy
alone again. Check might involve spot checking
including check out of office hours. Extended
family might play a role in this
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