Legal Update: Reform of children's home rules
Awaz Raoof
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Proposals set out by the government aim to improve safeguarding measures for vulnerable children in residential care, says Awaz Raoof, international research officer, Coram Children's Legal Centre.
The Department for Education recently announced proposed reforms to the children's residential care homes rules. The proposals are open for consultation until 17 September. The consultation document states that the proposed changes are necessary to improve "collaboration and partnership" between children's homes and local services to ensure that safeguards are in place for the "vulnerable group of children relying on residential care".
The proposals are part of a package of reforms aimed at improving protection to children placed in residential children's homes. Other reform initiatives include revised statutory guidance on children who go missing from care and new inspection and intervention powers for Ofsted. These proposals involve replacing the "adequate" inspection grading with "requires improvement", and the introduction of a system that would give an "amber" rating to inadequate homes, and a "red" rating if they fail to improve within a set time frame, resulting in their closure.
The proposed changes stem from a series of recommendations made by expert groups in the aftermath of the Rochdale child sexual abuse trial in May 2012. The reports, which focused on child sexual exploitation in gangs and groups and children who go missing from care, raised concerns about the placement of children at short notice in homes far away from the local authorities initially responsible for their care. In particular, they highlighted an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude towards the wellbeing of such children, contributing to their vulnerable state.
The proposals
The proposals focus on three related areas: strengthening the measures of accountability of local authorities; improving the quality of care; and improving transparency in the placement process.
With regards to strengthening accountability, the proposals highlight the delay in the inter-authority notification procedure whenever a child is placed in a care home in another area. In an attempt to plug this gap, the government suggests requiring care home providers to notify their local authority whenever a child is admitted into or leaves their home. This measure would be coupled with a specific reference to the responsibilities of care home providers and managers to ensure that children within their care are safeguarded. Care homes would also be required to adopt a written policy for the prevention of children going missing, which would be developed in consultation with local police. In cases where a child persistently goes missing, the care home manager or provider would be required to contact the local authority to request a review of the child's care plan.
The proposals emphasise the importance of quality care. In addition to requiring staff to complete necessary qualifications within two years of beginning their employment (or, in respect of staff already employed in a children's home, by April 2017), registered managers would have to attain certain qualifications before being appointed. These measures would be complemented by a requirement for registered managers and potential providers of care homes to complete risk assessments into the areas in which they operate or plan to operate. The aim of this is to develop a collaborative approach to safeguarding children between care home officials, the police and other children's service providers, particularly in areas with high crime rates or those associated with sex work.
Several measures aim to improve the transparency of the placement process. Measures would be introduced to ensure that care home inspections are conducted by persons independent of the care home provider. Such inspectors would have to be "approved" by the local authority. In addition, Ofsted would generally be permitted to publish care home inspection reports, including the name of a home's provider. Care homes would also have to disclose more details about their services, including its approach to safeguarding children.
Legal Update is produced in association with experts at Coram Children’s Legal Centre
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