Health and Social Care Essay

We acknowledge with sincere thanks the many people who gave munificently of their time to help us with this operation. We particularly appreciate the expertise and advice o? ered by Arnon Bentovim, Richard Velleman, Lorna Templeton, Carolyn Davies and Sheena Prentice. The work has been funded by the Department for Education and we thank sta? in the department, particularly Jenny Gray who supported us throughout the work with her interest and valuable comments.The work was assisted by an advisory sort out whose membership was Isabella Craig and Jenny Gray (Department for Education) Christine Humphrey (Department of Health) and Sian Rees (NICE) Arnon Bentovim ( get wordsultant pip-squeak and adolescent psychiatrist at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for elel electroshock therapyroconvulsive therapyric razorren and the Tavistock Clinic) Marian Brandon (reader in mixer work, University of easternmost Anglia) Carolyn Davies( interrogation advisor, Institute of Education, Universit y of London) Jo Fox ( fond work consultant, Child-Centred Practice) David Jones (consultant peasant and family psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry University of Oxford) action McGaw (specialist in learning disabilities, Cornwall Partnership Trust) Sheena Prentice (specialist midwife in snapper ruin, Nottingham City PCT) Wendy Rose (The Open University) Lorna Templeton (manager of the Alcohol, Drugs and the Family Research Programme, University of Bath) and Richard Velleman (University of Bath and director of teaching and research, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust). Introduction This second edition of Childrens Needs P arnting Capacity provides an update on the impact of maternal(p) businesss, such(prenominal) as substance misuse, home(prenominal) violence, learning disability and moral illness, on childrens welf are.Research, and in particular the biennial overview reports of serious case reviews (Brandon et al 2008 2009 2010), have continued to emp hasise the importance of understanding and acting on cin one caserns about childrens safety and welfare when living in households where these types of parental problems are present. Almost three quarters of the children in both this and the 2003-05 line of business had been living with past or current domestic violence and or parental mental ill wellness and or substance misuse often in combination. (Brandon et al 2010, p. 112) These concerns were very similar to those that prompted the ? rst edition of this book, which was equip following the emergence of these themes from the Department of Healths programme of child breastplate research studies (Department of Health 1995a).These studies had demonstrated that a high take aim of parental mental illness, problem alcohol and medicine abuse and domestic violence were present in families of children who become involved in the child protection system. Research context The 2010 Government statistics for England demonstrate that, as in the 1990s, only a very small proportion of children referred to childrens social disquiet become the subject of a child protection painting (Department for Education 2010b). However, the types of parental problems outlined above are not con? ned to families where a child is the subject of a child protection visualize (Brandon et al. 2008, 2009, 2010 Rose and Barnes 2008).In many families childrens health and development are being a? ected by the di? culties their parents are experiencing. The ? ndings from research, however, suggest that go are not always forthcoming. Practically a quarter of referrals to childrens social care resulted in no action being taken (Cleaver and pushchair with Meadows 2004). Lord Lamings progress report (2009) also expressed concerns that referrals to childrens operate from other professionals did not always lead to an initial judging and that much to a greater extent privations to be done to ensure that the services are as e? ective as possib le at workings together to achieve positive outcomes for children (Lord Laming 2009, p. 9, paragraph 1. 1).Practitioners fear of failing to let on a child in need of protection is also a factor driving up the numbers of referrals to childrens social care services which result in no provision of help. This is creating a skewed system that is paying so much attention to identifying cases of abuse 2 Childrens Needs Parenting Capacity and neglect that it is draining time and choice away from families (Munro 2010, p. 6). Munros Interim Report (2011) draws attention once again to the highly traumatic experience for children and families who are drawn into the Child Protection system where maltreatment is not found, which leaves them with a fear of request for help in the future. A ? nding which was identi? ed by earlier research on child protection (Cleaver and Freeman 1995).Evidence from the 1995 child protection research (Department of Health 1995a) indicated that when parents have problems of their own, these may adversely a? ect their capacity to respond to the needs of their children. For example, Cleaver and Freeman (1995) found in their study of suspected child abuse that in more than half(a) of the cases, families were experiencing a number of problems including mental illness or learning disability, problem drinking and drug use, or domestic violence. A similar draw of the di? culties facing families who have been referred to childrens social care services emerges from more recent research (Cleaver and Walker with Meadows 2004).It is estimated that there are 120,000 families experiencing multiple problems, including low mental health, alcohol and drug misuse, and domestic violence. Over a one-third of these families have children subject to child protection procedures (Munro 2011, p. 30, paragraph 2. 30). Childrens services have the task of identifying children who may need additional services in order to improve their well-being as relating to th eir (a) physical and mental health and emotional well-being (b) protection from harm and neglect (c) education, training and deflection (d) the contribution made by them to society and (e) social and economic well-being.(Section 10(2) of the Children suffice 2004) The Common perspicacity Framework (Childrens Workforce Development Council 2010) and the Assessment Framework (Department of Health et al. 2000) enable frontline professionals working with children to gain an holistic picture of the childs world and identify more easily the di? culties children and families may be experiencing. Although research suggests that social workers (Cleaver et al. 2007) and health professionals are equipped to understand and respond to indications that a child is being, or is likely to be, abused or neglected, there is little evidence in relation to teachers and the police (Daniel et al. 2009).The identi? cation of childrens needs may have improved, but understanding how parental mental illnes s, learning disabilities, substance misuse and domestic violence a? ect children and families still requires more attention. For example, a small in-depth study found less than half (46%) of the managers in childrens social care, health and the police rated as good their understanding of the impact on children of parental substance misuse, although this go to 61% in relation to the impact of domestic violence (Cleaver et al. 2007). The need for more training on assessing the likelihood of harm to children of parental drug and alcohol misuse.