It was Jackie Carvell's 15-year-old son who got her interested infostering. His best friend faced going into care at the age of 13 and hesuggested the boy move in with them for a few weeks.
But these few weeks turned into nine months before the boy returned tohis mother. It was then that single mum Jackie decided she wanted tobecome a permanent foster career.
Jackie, who lives in Hampshire and has been separated from her husbandfor five years, became a specialist remand foster carer, looking afterchildren on remand from the youth court. She found remand fostering sosatisfying that she signed up for an even more challenging role earlierthis year by agreeing to become an intensive foster carer, taking herfirst child in March.
Intensive fostering is a Government initiative that is intended to actas an alternative to locking up young offenders, by combining the inputof several disciplines including mental health, education, and socialservices. Piloted in three areas of the country, Newham in East London,Hampshire, and Staffordshire, the scheme gives courts the power tosentence a young person to a placement for up to 12 months as part of asupervision order.
Working with parents and children
As a result, contact is maintained between the child and their parents,who also undergo a full parenting programme. This looks at issues suchas how to deal with wayward children, avoiding peer pressure, andcreating boundaries, so that when children return home, it's not to thesame parenting background that may well have spawned behaviouralproblems in the first place.
For Jackie, the intensive fostering programme seemed a naturalprogression as it is linked to the court system, like remand fostering."The trouble with remand fostering, though, is that you only get thechildren for a short time, three to four months at the most," sheexplains. "You bond with them, and it is hard letting them go. When youget them for a longer period, you can have much more input."
But how will she combine this intensive programme with bringing up herown son? She acknowledges the potential problems, but reasons: "My sonhas got on really well with all the boys we've had in the past, whorange in age from 10 to 17. He does get a bit jealous over things likebedtime, especially when he has to go to bed before them, but he copesreally well, and enjoys the company."
Jackie believes that this works because her son has a say in who theylook after. "I always sit him down and discuss who we're taking next andwhether he agrees with the placement," she says. "If he didn't, then wewouldn't take that person. But I think by explaining everything to him,and involving him in the decision-making, it has removed any problems wemight have had."
This is important as, in the future, Jackie will look after children forup to a year. "There is a points system and the children start with 100points a day," continues Jackie. "They're awarded points for getting upon time, tidying their room and good behaviour, but points are takenaway for things like using bad language. You also give them their pocketmoney, which they earn, along with extra leisure time, through thepoints system."
High demands
While the demands on intensive foster carers are high because of theneeds of the children being looked after, Jackie found the training forthe programme useful, and rewarding. "Each week, we had a group trainingsession, which I found really good," she says. "We looked at a range ofissues, such as intensive fostering and child protection. So I thinkthat it will work."
While the philosophy behind intensive fostering is only beginning totake hold in England, the programme is based on an idea that waslaunched in the US state of Oregon in 1983 (see panel).
The scheme was officially launched here last November by the YouthJustice Board, after the former Home Secretary David Blunkett visitedOregon and was impressed with the effect the scheme had had on youngpeople who would otherwise be detained.
He said: "Professional fostering will provide specialised, highlyintensive care for a serious young offender who might otherwise facecustody. For some young offenders, a difficult home life can directlycontribute to their offending behaviour. Fostering will provide theseyoung people with the safety and stability they need to turn their livesaround."
Since Blunkett's visit to America last autumn, several of the Oregonteam have crossed the Atlantic to give lectures on the subject.
One of these is Gerry Bouwman, president of Oregon-based TFCConsultants, which has been hired by the Home Office to oversee thefirst year of the scheme in England. "Intensive fostering started inOregon as a programme for juvenile offenders, and that part of it isstill in existence," explains Bouwman. "However, it has now tripled insize, and we cover children placed out of their homes because of abuseand neglect, as well as children with mental health problems. We treat100 youngsters a year, and they all show extreme behaviouralproblems."
Transferring ideas
Barbara Russell, the NCH project director for remand fostering, isinvolved in the Hampshire pilot.
Together with Ena Fry, a development worker at the Fostering Network,Russell undertook a feasibility study on how intensive fostering couldwork here, after the then Home Secretary's visit to Oregon.
"Prison is no place for children," states Russell firmly. "It is almostimpossible to meet the continuing, ordinary needs of children in prison,and young people deserve another chance to break free of the downwardspiral. It is vital that we help reform and reintegrate these youngpeople back into the community."
Usually, Russell works on remand fostering issues, which is how herinterest in intensive fostering came about, and she is confident of thescheme's success. "Most of these carers will have done our training,then they'll do specialist training, so will have the skills to cope,"she adds.
This is not to say, however, that she does not have some concerns aboutthe initiative, such as the short amount of time taken to implement theprogramme, and the fact that the US model seems to have beentransplanted wholesale to English soil.
"America is America, and there's a big difference between us," shesays.
"But I hope it works."
The right kind of carer
Stephen Vaudrey, manager of Clarion, an independent fostering agencythat is running the pilot scheme in London, emphasises the need to getthe right type of foster carer.
"It requires a lot of dedication and training," admits Vaudrey. "Thecarers we've recruited so far have done two days' residential trainingin a hotel in Warwickshire, while our staff completed three days oftraining. And there will be more in the future."
In fact, Clarion asks both carers and staff to study for an NVQ Level 3in Caring for Children and Young People, which is a mix of practical andacademic work. "Not all our carers have it in them to complete thisadvanced work," adds Vaudrey. "So we're targeting a very specific groupof people. They won't foster any other children, as a golden rule for usis not to put two children in the same house, they're older people - 45to 50 years old - and their children will have grown up.
"We see young people with complex family problems, who then commit aspate of offences and are heading for the cells," continues Vaudrey."But it is down to family background. So we will put the child in a safeand decent home, where they will get decent guidance, while at the sametime a social worker will work with the parents to help them becomebetter parents."
It is this philosophy that appeals to Jackie Carvell, back inHampshire.
"Most of the children I've worked with have been on the street, so whatyou have to do first of all is to introduce a system for them," shereveals.
"I've always taken the boys swimming with my son, for example. He alsogoes to a boxing club, and they can go too.
"It's about giving them things that families normally do that they mightnot have done in their own upbringing," she concludes. "Just things likefootball, going to the library, riding, and visiting historicalplaces."
AN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
While intensive fostering has begun to be rolled out in England, it isactually based on an idea that was launched in 1983 in Oregon, which ison the west coast of the United States.
However, the research that led to the original launch can be traced backto the mid-1960s, and was conducted by two Oregon university professors,Gerald Patterson and John Reid, who went on to found the Oregon SocialLearning Centre with the backing of the national government. Furtherresearch by Patricia Chamberlain, who was to become the founder of theUS programme, was taken up by the Oregon Youth Authority, the USequivalent of England's Youth Justice Board. The idea was to work withyoung offenders who needed to be placed out of their homes and who,until then, were sent to detention centres.
The programme concentrates on helping youngsters develop a positiverelationship with an adult, while avoiding association with peers withsimilar problems. It is argued that this is the reason why group homesnever worked. Added to these two endeavours are a consistentreinforcement of positive behaviour and the development of socialskills.
But can a US scheme be successfully transplanted to UK soil? MichaelSteward, a programme supervisor for Clarion, which carries out thesupervision orders that are made in the London youth courts, has stillto be convinced.
He spent a week in Oregon and speaks to a member of TFC Consultants'staff every Monday evening on the telephone. "Oregon is a rural areaand, although the scheme has been effective, there are big differencesbetween them and the inner city here. One boy absconded on the firstnight, although he did come back. TFC says it doesn't get this in Oregonbecause it would be 10 miles to the nearest bus stop."
However, according to Gerry Bouwman, president of TFC Consultants: "Thesuccesses we've seen so far outweigh any negatives, and we've no doubtthe scheme will succeed in Britain."
