Improving practice in respect of children who return home from care in England

Objectives The National Children’s Bureau and the Centre for Child and Family Research at Loughborough University have undertaken a study exploring how, and to what extent, English local authorities implement, embed and... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives
The National Children’s Bureau and the Centre for Child and Family Research at Loughborough University have undertaken a study exploring how, and to what extent, English local authorities implement, embed and monitor effective practice in respect of children who return home from care. The study also considered the facilitators and barriers to achieving successful reunification.

Method
The study began with a rapid review of the existing literature followed by case studies across eight English local authorities. The case studies involved the following phases of data collection:
• In-depth telephone interviews with eleven senior managers (based on a possible two interviews in each local authority);
• A total of eighteen focus groups held across six local authorities. In each authority this comprised of one focus group with commissioners, senior and middle tier managers; one with frontline social care workers including case workers and team managers, and one with representatives from other agencies that support return home;
• Face to face interviews with 22 parents or carers, and nine children aged six to eighteen years.

Results
Analysis of the data revealed a number of key findings in respect of the approach taken to the process of reunification. For example, when considering the possibility of reunification, participants emphasised the importance of considering it in the early part of a child’s care journey. Social workers also needed to use their professional judgement to plan for multiple reunification scenarios and to be ready to adapt their approach. During the assessment and decision-making process, the practice of evidencing change in the level of risk to a child described by professionals contrasted with research evidence that this does not always occur. There was recognition of the importance of careful planning for reunification, and the need for it to be flexible and responsive to changing circumstances. Participants also highlighted the difference between parents being involved in planning and feeling meaningfully involved in the process. When providing services to support families before and after reunification, multi-agency working needed to be properly co-ordinated and embedded. The lack of a clearly defined and embedded policy and protocol relating to reunification presented a potential weakness in the provision of support. Post reunification, it was acknowledged that support, monitoring and review was less rigid and structured in cases where children had been accommodated or had ceased to be looked after. Finally, although the majority of local authorities were undertaking some monitoring of re-referrals and/ or re-entry to care or accommodation, practice varied. There also appeared to be no monitoring or analysis of the costs of reunification.

Conclusions
Overall, local authorities in England were found to be in the early stages of focusing specifically on their reunification policy and practice. The findings suggest that the existing research evidence base had been used to a limited extent by local authorities to inform policy and practice and senior managers expressed an intention to focus more closely on this. The findings also suggest there are a number of barriers and enablers to implementing effective practice based on the research evidence, and from these, it is possible to identify factors which need to be in place to implement effective practice. For example, both senior managers and frontline workers need to understand key messages from research. There needs to be an emphasis on communicating with families, for instance, involving an independent person who has had no involvement in a child entering care or accommodation. Local authorities also need to understand their local data on reunification including costs to enable them to assess the effectiveness of their approach.