Why is working with children and families important?

Why is working with children and families important?

The positive outcomes of engaged parents are powerful: increased support for children’s learning at home, empowered parents, and improved family well-being. Children see benefits like improved cognitive development and academic performance, better social-emotional development, and improved health.

Why is contact with birth family important?

Birth families benefit from the reassurance that their child is being well cared for. Maintaining contact helps them to continue having a relationship with their child as he or she develops and reaches adulthood when they can make their own choices.

What is important about family and friends for children Why is it important to maintain links with the child’s birth family?

For some children, contact with friends is more important than contact with family. Children often worry about their birth family and contact can help reassure them by letting them see that their parents and siblings are all right. Contact also helps to keep children informed of important changes at home.

Who is responsible for a looked after child?

Section 22(3) of the Children Act 1989 sets out the general duty of the local authority looking after a child to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child. This duty underpins all activity by the local authority in relation to looked after children. This duty has become known as ‘corporate parenting’.

Why is contact important for an adopted child?

Contact is often an important part of this process, combined with life story work and therapy. When done in a safe, careful and supported way, contact can have a positive impact on the adopted child and help them to understand their past and their identity better.

What does it mean to be a looked after child?

A child is looked after by an authority if he or she is in their care or if he or she is provided with accommodation for a continuous period of more than 24 hours by the authority in the exercise of its social services function.

Why is it important to look after children?

Contact between looked after children and their parents has long held to be important for three reasons. First, it prevents the breakdown of placements (Triseliotis 1989; Berridge and Cleaver 1987). Secondly, it facilitates children’s return to live with their families (see, for example, Aldgate 1980; Cleaver 2000).

When does a child become a looked after child?

Looked after children A child who has been in the care of their local authority for more than 24 hours is known as a looked after child. Looked after children are also often referred to as children in care, a term which many children and young people prefer.

How are looked after children and young people at risk?

„ Looked-after children and care leavers are between four and five times more likely to self-harm in adulthood. They are also at five-fold increased risk of all childhood mental, emotional and behavioural problems, and six to seven times more likely to have conduct disorders.2

Why are family links important for looked after children?

The maintenance of family links for looked after children has been a central issue in policy research and literature for several decades. Contact between looked after children and their parents has long held to be important for three reasons. First, it prevents the breakdown of placements (Triseliotis 1989; Berridge and Cleaver 1987).