RDS is part of the Home Office. The Home Office's purpose is to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced and the protection and security of the public are maintained.RDS is also a part of the Government Statistical Service (GSS). One of the GSS aims is to inform Parliament and the citizen about the state of the nation and provide a window on the work and performance of government, allowing the impact of government policies and actions to he assessed. Therefore -Research Development and Statistics Directorate exists to improve policy making, decision taking and practice in support of the Home Office purpose and aims, to provide the public and Parliament with information necessary for informed debate and to publish information for future use. AcknowledgementsThis has been a complex research study and many people have provided us with valuable assistance.We are especially grateful to Include (formerly Cities in Schools) which provided us with access to a sample of young people permanently excluded from school. Martin Stephenson, Chief Executive of Include, Rachel Pope, Kath Pinnock and past and present project managers at Include co-operated with us and supported the project throughout. The police services, local authority youth justice sections and education departments who work with Include were also extremely helpful. Further support in accessing offending data was provided by the Home Office Research and Statistics Department.In Luton, we are grateful to the Luton Youth Offending Team and Luton Education Department for their input to the research study, and to Mark Radley of Social Software for his advice and help with youth offending databases. Thanks as well to colleagues at the University of Luton, Ian Toon and Dani Agbewu-Lokku who helped with fieldwork and data processing.Accessing offending data proved to be an extremely challenging task, and we are grateful to Dr Carol Hayden and Tim Martin for providing us with information regarding their work on offending careers and school exclusion. Although it has not proved possible to use this in the final report, their time and the quality of their work were extremely helpful in enabling us to develop our analysis.Throughout the study we have appreciated the support and advice forthcoming from the Home Office, and especially that provided -at different times -by John Graham, Julie Vennard, Diane Caddle, Claire Flood-Page and Vicki Harrington.Finally, we would like to thank the 28 young people and the parents we interviewed, who gave their time and shared their experiences in the hope that this research would have a positive influence on the experiences of other young people excluded from school.Any errors are, of course, the responsibility of the authors.ii achieved higher-level qualifications felt that they were having to work harder in order to compensate for their past. vii viii the young person's life, in regard to family circumstances, educational experience...
Isabelle Brodie examines the evidence concerning the exclusion from school of children ‘looked after’. She calls for a deeper understanding of the nature of exclusion in order to help professionals work more effectively with these young people. Brodie draws on an intensive study of the exclusion from school of a group of young people in residential accommodation in England. She finds that while children ‘looked after’ share many characteristics of other excluded children, being ‘looked after’ is an added complication which significantly affects the exclusion process.
There are some 40,000 children 'in care' in England and Wales, i.e. being 'looked after' by local authorities and living in foster and residential homes. These children come from highly disadvantaged social backgrounds and are likely to experience more serious health problems than the wider population. Despite this, there is evidence to suggest that their health needs are frequently neglected. This is reflected in the dearth of research information. Health professionals play a key role in combating child abuse and are particularly concerned about future mental health, self-injury and high levels of pregnancy in this group of children. Health promotion is therefore vital, but is complicated by the fact that this group of children often do not attend school. The Department of Health has introduced a major initiative which has a strong health dimension to help promote better care planning and monitoring for children who have been separated from their parents.
This paper focuses on the mechanisms through which international policy and practice relating to the safeguarding of children and young people living in alternative care is being implemented in national policy and practice. It is based on a rapid review of the evidence regarding the violence experienced by children and young people living in different forms of alternative care internationally. The evidence base indicates that children living in alternative care are especially vulnerable to violence and abuse, prior to and during their care experience and also in the longer term. The introduction of the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children has encouraged greater attention to this issue. The paper concludes that progress is variable according to a range of political, economic and social factors, and that greater attention to practice at national and community levels is required if more effective safeguarding practice is required. A more sophisticated evidence base is required to support this.
Purpose This paper aims to report on findings from action research undertaken in response to the Covid-19 pandemic by the Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme (TCESP), a Department for Education funded programme that provides support to local areas in improving their strategic approach to child exploitation and extra-familial harm. Design/methodology/approach The research included a scoping review of the literature, and focus groups with programme staff, strategic leaders and professionals from different services across England. To provide a strategic lens, findings were then considered in relation to TCE’s “Joining the dots” framework, which encourages examination of the relationships between different forms of child exploitation. Findings The action research highlighted the emerging and tentative nature of the knowledge base relating to child exploitation and extra-familial harm in the context of Covid-19. Findings revealed that there had been innovation in the use of digital methods and direct working, integration of practical support with other forms of service delivery and in partnership working, and also considerable variation in approach across different local areas. Practical implications Strategic leaders need to use the evidence emerging from lockdown as a basis for further interrogation of emerging data alongside the views of young people, families and communities and their wider workforce. This includes new information about changing patterns of exploitation. Digital delivery and innovation need to be supported by clear strategic guidance, based on review of the evidence regarding increased digital communication and its impact. New partnerships developed between services, data sharing and innovative ways of working that have taken place during lockdown need to be monitored and evaluated for quality and impact. Originality/value The action research findings offer a snapshot of practice regarding child exploitation and extra-familial harm at a mid-point in the Covid-19 lockdown in England and Wales.
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