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Children's Services (children + services)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	80%
Medical Sciences	11%
2 Other Domains	9%

Kinds of Children's Services

integrate children services

Selected Abstracts

Advancing Patient Safety through Process Improvements

JOURNAL FOR HEALTHCARE QUALITY, Issue 5 2009
Linda Elgart
Abstract: The department of Women's and Children's Services at the Hospital of Saint Raphael (HSR) in New Haven, CT, has initiated several different and successful approaches to reducing patient risk within the department. The department purchased a computerized fetal monitoring and documentation program that has improved the ability to provide high-level antepartal care for mothers and fetuses with automatic patient data management and continuous fetal heart rate surveillance. A Risk Reduction Grant offered through the hospital malpractice insurance program provided the financial assistance for all medical providers to become certified in electronic fetal monitoring. The certification is now a required educational standard for nurses, certified nurse midwives, and for physicians who work in the labor and delivery unit. Infant and pediatric security is incorporated into policy and practice measures that include hospital-wide drills for the prevention of infant abduction. The Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) Quality Improvement Committee supports systematic reviews of identified clinical risks and works to find viable solutions to these problems. The hospital has supported specialized obstetrical care through the Maternal Fetal Medicine Unit (MFMU), Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU), the Inpatient Pediatric Unit, and the labor and delivery unit. In addition, HSR has initiated an enhanced medical informed consent that is available online for providers and a patient education tool that includes a computer room at the hospital for patient use. [source]

Approaches to Needs Assessment in Children's Services

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 1 2003
Harriet Ward
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Do Integrated Children's Services Improve Children's Outcomes?: Evidence From England's Children's Trust Pathfinders

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 5 2009
Margaret O'Brien
Thirty-five children's trust pathfinders, local cross-sector partnerships, were introduced across England in 2003 to promote greater integration in children's services. Using administrative performance data, this paper tracks yearly trends in child service outputs and child well-being outcomes from 1997 to 2004 in these local areas, including the period before their introduction. Professional perceptions of change in child outcomes are also presented. Time series regression analysis shows there was a general improvement in England in these selected performance indicators prior to the introduction of children's trusts pathfinders. Children's trust pathfinder areas initially focusing on ,all children' in their local area, rather than selected groups of children, showed the most progress. There was no consistent quantitative evidence for better outcomes in more integrated areas, however, 25 of the 35 survey respondents provided locally specific examples of children's trust pathfinder arrangements improving outcomes for children and young people. [source]

Disabled children (0,3 years) and integrated services , the impact of Early Support

HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 3 2008
Alys Young PhD MSc BA(Hons) CQSW
Abstract Early Support (ES) is the flagship government programme aimed at improving multi-agency working with, and supporting enhanced outcomes for, children with a disability 0,3 years and their families. This paper draws on results from the recently completed Department for Education and Skills commissioned national evaluation of ES involving 46 pathfinder projects throughout England. Data were collected by survey at two points in time (9 months apart), by focus groups with service providers and parents, and through secondary data analyses, including exploratory economic evaluation. This paper outlines some of the key findings pertaining to the relationship between integrated children's services and the impact of ES. As such, we address three concerns: what the evidence from ES can tell us about the relationships between universal and targeted provision within integrated children's service structures, the relationship between specific short-term initiatives and their longer-term sustainability within integrated children's services structures and the potential costs and benefits of ES looking forward to its implementation on a national basis within an integrated children's services environment. Although focused primarily on children with a disability in the early years, implications will be drawn for the implementation of Lead Professional Guidance and the Common Assessment Framework more generically. [source]

Decision-making in community-based paediatric physiotherapy: a qualitative study of children, parents and practitioners

HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 2 2006
Bridget Young BA PhD
Abstract Approaches to practice based on partnership and shared decision-making with patients are now widely recommended in health and social care settings, but less attention has been given to these recommendations in children's services, and to the decision-making experiences of non-medical practitioners and their patients or clients. This study explored children's, parents' and practitioners' accounts of shared decision-making in the context of community-based physiotherapy services for children with cerebral palsy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 children with cerebral palsy living in an inner city area of northern England, and with 12 of their parents. Two focus groups were conducted with 10 physiotherapy practitioners. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method. When asked explicitly about decision-making, parents, children and practitioners reported little or no involvement, and each party saw the other as having responsibility for decisions. However, when talking in more concrete terms about their experiences, each party did report some involvement in decision-making. Practitioners' accounts focused on their responsibility for making decisions about resource allocation, and thereby, about the usefulness and intensity of interventions. Parents indicated that these practitioner-led decisions were sometimes in conflict with their aspirations for their child. Parents and children appeared to have most involvement in decisions about the acceptability and implementation of interventions. Children's involvement was more limited than parents'. While parents could legitimately curtail unacceptable interventions, children were mostly restricted to negotiating about how interventions were implemented. In these accounts the involvement of each party varied with the type of issue being decided and decision-making appeared more unilateral than shared. In advocating shared decision-making, greater understanding of its weaknesses as well as its strengths, and greater clarity about the domains that are suitable for a shared decision-making approach and the roles of different parties, would seem a helpful step. [source]

Winning a new priority for disabled children: the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 3 2009
Steve Broach
Over the past 4 years, the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign has secured almost £780 million in new funding for disabled children's services and has laid the foundation for addressing structural disadvantages for disabled children. Critical success factors for the campaign have included clear aims, a tight core strategy group, a leading political champion, widespread parliamentary support and effective mobilisation of disabled children and their families as campaigners. The campaign caught policymakers' attention at the right point to leverage significant support for a previously marginalised social group. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Factors that contribute to high turnover among residential child care staff

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2007
Matthew Colton
ABSTRACT In this paper we draw on our own empirical research and that of others to consider the factors that contribute to high staff turnover in residential child care. First, we focus on the problem of retaining staff in children's services. Second, we turn our attention to the factors that contribute to staff turnover in residential care: namely, perceptions of the service; of children and young people; and of human resource issues. Third, we attempt to draw out the implications of high turnover for policy and practice. The negative image of residential care has persisted in the wake of a plethora of abuse scandals. The increasing emotional and behavioural problems presented by the children cared for, and the violence and verbal abuse directed at staff are key retention issues. Moreover, poor conditions of employment contribute to staff perceptions of the work as a short-term career choice only. The potential means of resolving these problems are explored, and the future research agenda highlighted. [source]

Care, control and change in child care proceedings: dilemmas for social workers, managers and lawyers

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 1 2006
Jonathan Dickens
ABSTRACT This paper draws on findings from an interview-based study of the ways that local authority social workers, social services managers and lawyers work together in child care cases in England. The study shows how stressful social workers can find care proceedings, and how much they look to the lawyers for support. It also shows how the lawyers' involvement can bring new stresses and dilemmas. The managers are especially likely to resent ,over-involvement' (as they see it) from lawyers, but lawyers are quick to defend their role and responsibilities. The paper shows how the complex, multifaceted dimensions of care, control and change interweave with professional differences in care proceedings: care for children, parents and social workers; struggles for control against the court, the other parties and sometimes the other professionals on one's own side; and responsiveness to change set against wariness about ,lawyers' deals' and undue risk to children. The paper concludes that the valuing of difference, rather than its avoidance or suppression, is at the heart of effective inter-professional work. It calls for greater recognition of this in current initiatives to promote interdisciplinary working in children's services in England. [source]

Working with managers to improve services: changes in the role of research in social care

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 1 2004
Harriet Ward
ABSTRACT The setting of specific objectives for children's services and the identification of key outcome indicators, together with the development of a core information specification for children's services with its practical application in the implementation of the Integrated Children's System, all mean that substantially more data are now available to child welfare agencies. Not so long ago in the UK it was the role of research teams to collect and analyse such data. Now that so much of it is already available to agencies, are researchers who work in this area of applied social policy research becoming redundant? Using data from the cohorts of looked after children being studied at the Centre for Child and Family Research, Loughborough University, the paper demonstrates how researchers can work in consultation with the managers of child welfare agencies to make better sense of the data at their disposal. It considers three issues: what additional variables need to be explored to help agencies better understand their performance; how groups of children could be identified who follow predictable pathways through social care; and how qualitative information is necessary to gain a true picture of what is happening. All of these examples demonstrate a fundamental role for researchers in working with social services personnel to identify how services can be improved. [source]

Refocusing children's services: evaluation of an initial assessment process

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 2 2001
Platt
This paper describes a small scale evaluation carried out in a social services department in England. It was concerned with the impact of a pilot initial assessment process used by social workers with children in need. The pilot was, in part, an attempt to adopt the ,refocusing' agenda of the late 1990s, and the analysis is presented within this context. The research involved quantitative examination of 47 cases, and qualitative interviews with the social worker and main carer/parent in a subsample of 10. The results suggested a high level of consumer satisfaction with the assessment/family support approach, and very little evidence that the use of broadly based assessments where there are low-key concerns about a child's safety would be a dangerous form of practice. A wholehearted commitment to refocusing children's services will, however, require attention to resourcing and management issues. [source]

Prevention in integrated children's services: the impact of sure start on referrals to social services and child protection registrations

CHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 1 2007
John Carpenter
Abstract Every Child Matters, the English government's plans for integrated children's services, proposed that preventative approaches such as those developed through Sure Start should be able to reduce the numbers of children requiring more intensive support from children's social services and, by implication, the numbers of children on the child protection register. This study examined the impact of Sure Start local programmes (SSLPs) on four local authorities with social services responsibilities in the northeast of England. The researchers analysed routinely collected statistical data concerning over 10,000 referrals of children under four years and over 1,600 child protection registrations (CPRs) in an eight-year period before and after the introduction of 19 SSLPs. They also analysed interviews with 36 key informants in eight case study SSLP areas. Contrary to expectations, the quantitative data revealed no discernable short-term effect on the numbers of referrals, or on CPRs. Interview data showed broad agreement on the potential impact of preventative work undertaken by SSLPs and many respondents believed that it was too early to draw conclusions. Alternatively, the universal approach to prevention within the Sure Start areas and the attempts to provide non-stigmatising and non-intrusive community-based services may be ineffective in reducing the need for intensive support for ,at risk' families. The findings are discussed in relation to ,targeted' prevention programmes and government policy intentions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

The challenge of integrating children's services

CHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 6 2006
Ruth Gardner
First page of article [source]

Integrating children's services to promote children's welfare: early findings from the implementation of children's trusts in England

CHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 6 2006
Margaret O'Brien
Abstract As part of the reform of English children's services, children's trust pathfinders were launched in 2003 by the British government to promote greater inter-agency co-operation between children's services and professionals. This paper reports on early findings from a multi-method, longitudinal national evaluation of the implementation and impact of all 35 children's trust pathfinders. Using data from a 2004 survey of 35 children's trusts managers and in-depth interviews with 107 professionals conducted in 2005, results show strong endorsement of an integrated children's service vision. However, arrangements for co-operation on governance and strategic developments were more advanced than for procedural or frontline professional practice. In this transitional period, professionals were negotiating a balance between targeted and universal service provision and, concurrently, establishing the scope of formal strategic partnership bodies (including local safeguarding children boards) with potentially overlapping remits. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Using computer-assisted self-interviewing (CASI) questionnaires to facilitate consultation and participation with vulnerable young people

CHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 6 2005
Murray Davies
Abstract This paper explores computer-assisted self-interviewing (CASI) as a methodology for consulting with vulnerable children. The authors provide a brief review of the literature in this area, indicating that computer-mediated environments for self-administered questionnaires can be particularly helpful in enabling data to be obtained about sensitive subjects. A case example is provided of Viewpoint Interactive, a CASI application in use in the UK in local authority children's services, education, and in learning disability child care practice. The paper concludes that CASI as a methodology can assist with consultation, and that it may provide a useful additional tool in the complex process of moving beyond consultation alone to the development of increased and more effective participation for vulnerable children in the provision of their care. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Toolkit for assessing the readiness of local safeguarding children boards: origins, ingredients and applications

CHILD ABUSE REVIEW, Issue 5 2005
Tony Morrison
Abstract A central plank in the transformation of children's services in England and Wales is the creation on a statutory footing of Local Safeguarding Children Boards in every local authority area. The focus of the boards will be on the promotion, multiagency coordination and scrutiny of services to safeguard and promote children's welfare. They replace Area Child Protection Committees, which were judged to be ineffective. This paper presents the origins, ingredients and applications of an audit and preparation Toolkit designed to support the establishment of the new boards. The Toolkit was developed from the findings of a survey of 204 members of 16 ACPCs by the first author, and has been tested and refined through work with a large number of ACPCs. This survey identified problematic aspects of interagency collaboration that will need remedying if the new boards are to succeed where the previous committees failed. These include: the board's strategic relationship to wider children's planning fora; operational definition of the term ,safeguarding'; collective accountability; level of membership; performance management capacity; service user consultation. The ingredients of the Toolkit are described in relation to the findings of the survey. The paper concludes with a discussion of the applications and approaches to be considered in using the Toolkit. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Multi-Agency Collaboration: The Challenges for CAMHS

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2004
Gill Salmon
The importance of multi-agency collaboration has been emphasised in virtually every piece of recently published guidance relating to the development of children's services including CAMHS. The Government Green Paper, Every child matters (DfES, 2003), which proposes the development of Children's Trusts, will further impact on this agenda. Surprisingly, there has been much less written about factors contributing to the success of multi-agency collaboration than there has about barriers to it. Research is beginning to emerge informing on key criteria required for the development of multi-agency collaborations for children with mental health problems. Much work remains to be undertaken on the use of language and definitions between agencies before a common understanding about children's needs and the services they require can evolve. [source]

Do Integrated Children's Services Improve Children's Outcomes?: Evidence From England's Children's Trust Pathfinders

Desired Outcomes for Children and Adolescents with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 1 2007
Bryony Beresford
Within children's services, frameworks for assessing outcomes have been developed in the absence of consultation with children with autistic spectrum disorders and their parents. The research reported here worked with parents, other key adults and children with autistic spectrum disorders to identify desired outcomes. It found similarities with non-autistic children in terms of the broad types of outcomes desired. However, the presence of autism meant either new or different sorts of outcomes were reported. Implications in terms of the ways outcomes for autistic children are defined and measured, and the role of services in achieving outcomes is discussed. © 2006 The Author(s). [source]

The Area and Community Components of Children's Well-being

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 5 2006
Gordon Jack
Until recently, mainstream services for children in the UK have largely relied upon individual and reactive approaches to safeguarding children's welfare. However, recent legislative and policy reforms require the development of a more preventive orientation, capable of promoting the well-being of all children. This will require that agencies responsible for the integrated delivery of children's services develop strategies that, for the first time, take full account of the area and community components of children's well-being. The challenges presented by these reforms, to existing organisational and professional cultures and ways of working, are examined in the light of recent research evidence. Copyright © 2006 The Author(s). [source]

An independent person in action under the Children Act 1989 complaints procedure

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 4 2001
Gillian Bridge
Under Section 26 (4) of the Children Act 1989, local authorities are obliged to appoint independent people to participate in investigations at stage two of the complaints procedure. The nature of their role and tasks were ill defined by the Department of Health Guidance (1991), and hitherto there has been little research in this area. Using the author's experiences, this discussion paper examines some of the dilemmas of undertaking this role, and raises questions about how independent people are meeting legal requirements. From the material discussed here, it appears that the system of including independent people in complaints' investigations is not meeting the intended objectives of ensuring that complaints by young people themselves benefit from impartial scrutiny. Instead, independent people are mainly engaged with investigating officers in unravelling complex situations, many with long histories of serious breakdowns in communication between parents, carers and local authority children's services. In the light of these findings, the Department of Health's recent consultation paper, Listening to People is welcome, although rather disappointing in restricting its attention largely to procedural issues. In this paper the author promotes greater attention to the growing expertise of independent people currently investigating complaints. Additionally it is recommended that a more accessible means for young people to complain should be devised. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Picking up the pieces: local government reorganisation and voluntary sector children's services

CHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 2 2000
Gary Craig
Between 1995 and 1998, most of British local government was reorganised, leading to the creation of more, generally smaller, local authorities. Although social services were then the direct responsibility of local government, the potential impact of reorganisation on social work departments and partner organisations was barely considered prior to reorganisation. This article explores the consequences of reorganisation for children's services provided by voluntary sector organisations in Scotland, England and Wales. Drawing on two separate but complementary studies, the paper reviews the impact on funding, boundary problems, changing structures and the fragmentation of local authorities. It concludes that although some advances may be stimulated in the medium term by reorganisation, the overall short-term impact for projects and their users is likely to have been damaging. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]