Working In Children S Homes

This volume examines staff groups and the work they do in terms of the rationale and purposes behind their actions, and the procedures employed. It then looks at the reality of working in a children's home and what the staff face on a day-to-day basis.

This volume examines staff groups and the work they do in terms of the rationale and purposes behind their actions, and the procedures employed. It then looks at the reality of working in a children's home and what the staff face on a day-to-day basis.

Managing Children's Homes focuses on leadership, effective management, the allocation of resources, and ensuring positive outcomes for young people in residential care. The book develops an interdisciplinary understanding of what needs to be taken into account when establishing and maintaining good practice on behalf of young people living in children's homes. The authors explain the considerable variation in quality achieved by children's homes and how this relates to management style, working environment and staff structures. The skills and qualities that make effective managers of homes are explored. These, along with factors such as the provision of resources, are investigated to demonstrate how to attain a successful children's home environment and longer-term achievement for looked-after children. Based on innovative, DfES-funded, interdisciplinary research, this book will be essential reading for staff and managers in children's care homes and will also be of interest to students, policy-makers and directors of social services.

This book was originally published in 1998, when over 6,000 children lived in residential homes in England and Wales. The fact that some children's homes are better than others is well established, but why should this be so? Past answers have tended to be tautologous - rather on the lines of 'a good home is one where children do well; children do well because they are in a good home.' This study examines various aspects of children's homes and explores the connections between them in an attempt to break down the old circular argument. Structures are discernible in the relationship between different types of goals - societal, formal and belief; the variable balance between these goals determines staff cultures, which, in turn, shape the child cultures that develop. Such relationships are important because of their close association with outcomes - whether the children do well, whether the homes prosper. The model described in the book provides a conceptual framework and a set of causal relationships that should help professionals to plan and manage residential care better and so meet the needs of vulnerable children more effectively.

Children's homes in England must follow the National Minimum Regulations and Standards for Children's Homes. This guide tells you what these Standards are, and how they apply to where your child lives. Use this guide to find out what is expected of children's homes and the staff who work in them, how you can help the people caring for your child, and the information you should receive. This guide provides the wording of each Standard, advice about good practice, and a list of questions you can use to ensure that the care of your child is 'up to standard'. Parent's Guide to Children's Homes Standards and Regulations is part of a series of guides about the National Minimum Standards for Children's Homes. Other guides are available for young people living in homes and staff who work in homes.

This document contains the regulations and national minimum standards applicable to children's homes from April 2002. They form the basis for judgements made by the National Care Standards Commission regarding registration and compliance.

This book explores the factors at the individual, institutional and systemic levels which contribute to children's home residents coming to the attention of the youth justice system, and the consequent implications for policy and practice. Perspectives are drawn from both young people and professionals in the care and youth justice systems.

This book reviews research evidence, drawing on a study of residential services in Wales and a literature review of US and UK findings, and identifies the significant elements that will lead to a successful strategy for residential child care across the UK.