childcare-50years

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4 within homes as a consequence of the rising threshold for admission to residential care. In addition to legislative and policy imperatives there were also the wider scandals within the residential sector both in Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, which shattered public confidence in group living and also inhibited providers from remaining in what was perceived as a difficult and volatile environment. The Kincora Inquiry, which has been discussed earlier, was followed by the withdrawal of voluntary residential providers, largely from the secular and Protestant church sector. The Hughes Report sought to improve the quality of care provided to children by raising the status and training of residential workers. Recommendation 6 of the Report required that residential staff were employed and qualified on terms and conditions comparable to their field social work colleagues. The funding of the Hughes 6 staffing recommendation was met by the DHSS with the aim of producing a fully qualified residential social work workforce. To achieve this goal, however, homes had to cope with large numbers of staff being released for training purposes. In addition, qualified staff had more job mobility than was previously the case and retention of them has been a major issue for the sector. The cost of providing staff with good terms and conditions has also significantly increased the costs of residential care. The contracting difficulties, which subsequently arose between voluntary providers and statutory commissioners, have been cited as a significant reason for the ongoing retraction of the voluntary sector. Table 8 below shows the scale of withdrawal of the voluntary sector during and following the "Kincora scandal" which first came to public attention in January 1980. 50 YEARS OF CHILD CARE IN NORTHERN IRELAND 98
4 Table 8 - Retraction of the voluntary sector since 1978 Year Voluntary Homes Statutory Homes % voluntary homes (No. of children) (No. of children) (% children, vol.) 1966 24 (298) 22 (316) 52% (49%) 1970 24 (407) 23 (358) 51% (53%) 1974 24 (447) 29 (335) 45% (57%) 1978 23 (457) 32 (335) 42% (58%) 1982 25 (349) 35 (350) 42% (50%) 1986 12 (144) 31 (333) 30% (30%) The "Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Children's Homes and Hostels" (Hughes Report) was published in December 1985. Following that date the main voluntary providers were the homes run by the Religious Orders of the Roman Catholic church, with the Protestant church sector only retaining minimal input through the Belfast Central Mission. The scale of provision made by Barnardos also substantially reduced during and following this period. The above table also serves to illustrate the size differential between voluntary and statutory providers. For example, during 1982 the average number of children living in a voluntary home was 14 compared with 10 in statutory homes. "Children Matter" sets out in its report the number of places available in both voluntary and statutory children's homes at Appendix 1 Table 1. The figures show a retraction between 1986 and 1997 from 31 to 15 homes in the statutory sector with the number of places falling from 480 to 176 and in the voluntary sector a reduction from 12 to 6 homes with capacity reducing from 208 places to 64 (1997). "Children Matter" projected a further retraction within the voluntary sector in the following 18 months suggesting that around 22 places would be available from these providers in 1999-2000. This forecast proved remarkably accurate, as fewer than 20 places were provided by one church based voluntary provider, namely the Belfast Central Mission, by 2000. 50 YEARS OF CHILD CARE IN NORTHERN IRELAND 99
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50 A Better Future 40 30 20 10 Depa
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PREFACE There is both an acceptance
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Finally, I am indebted to Mr Selwoo
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1 decisions, taken in the late 1940
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1 1946 which resulted in the Childr
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1 recognition of the effect of the
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Chapter FOSTER CARE 2 Background an
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2 adequacy of the supply of foster
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2 residential care to children wher
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Both these issues were addressed in
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2 "On balance and taking into accou
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2 Numbers of children fostered and
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2 Safeguarding children in foster c
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2 Prior to the adoption of the Nati
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2 • encourages partnership workin
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2 "The most important general issue
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2 The main achievements in foster c
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2 The Human Rights Act 1998, also b
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3 Adoption of Children Act (NI) 192
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The social context to 1947 3 Povert
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The management and structure of ado
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3 cent were under 2 years. Third pa
Page 50 and 51: 3 baby boy: the child's mother did
Page 52 and 53: 3 The management and structure of a
Page 54 and 55: 3 Adoption (NI) Order 1987 however
Page 56 and 57: 3 figures available show that in 19
Page 58 and 59: 3 situations, Catholic lists remain
Page 60 and 61: 3 The Adoption Allowances Regulatio
Page 62 and 63: 3 population) had been freed or wer
Page 64 and 65: 3 Table 4 - Number of children adop
Page 66 and 67: 3 could be assured within the law t
Page 68 and 69: adoption. In the near future, few p
Page 70 and 71: 3 The post placement and post adopt
Page 72 and 73: 3 professional responsibility for s
Page 74 and 75: 3 Church of Ireland Adoption Societ
Page 76 and 77: 3 • the establishment of speciali
Page 78 and 79: 4 During the 1950s the main concern
Page 80 and 81: 4 • every attempt was to be made
Page 82 and 83: 4 failed, however, to anticipate th
Page 84 and 85: 4 "Boards should seek to reduce the
Page 86 and 87: 4 taken to ensure that these childr
Page 88 and 89: 4 Practice, however, soon establish
Page 90 and 91: 4 • the need for a complaints pro
Page 92 and 93: 4 Kincora, as early as 1967, there
Page 94 and 95: 4 • there were social, economic a
Page 96 and 97: 4 Table 7 - Number of children in c
Page 98 and 99: 4 The Child Welfare Council Report
Page 102 and 103: 4 The past 50 years have, therefore
Page 104 and 105: 4 The devolved administration, the
Page 107 and 108: Chapter 5 JUVENILE OFFENDING Develo
Page 109 and 110: 5 • the view that imprisonment wa
Page 111 and 112: 5 the order did not appear as a cri
Page 113 and 114: 5 Having commenced with a small gro
Page 115 and 116: 5 The decline in numbers of young p
Page 117 and 118: 5 considerably, juvenile liaison bu
Page 119 and 120: 5 years the percentage of cases giv
Page 121 and 122: 3. Working with young offenders req
Page 123 and 124: 5 remanded or placed in a secure un
Page 125 and 126: Chapter DISABLED CHILDREN Introduct
Page 127 and 128: 6 In the absence of a full and read
Page 129 and 130: 6 in Northern Ireland designed to p
Page 131 and 132: 6 are known are receiving either ca
Page 133 and 134: 6 other conditions. This became the
Page 135 and 136: 6 cent of children who fell within
Page 137 and 138: 6 Sixteen percent of parents said t
Page 139 and 140: 6 The treatment of handicapping con
Page 141 and 142: 6 Nursing Team) and the Children's
Page 143 and 144: 6 The 1950 Children and Young Perso
Page 145 and 146: 6 them) her young siblings made a j
Page 147 and 148: 6 Legislation and the development o
Page 149 and 150: 6 based homes and hostels. Some chi
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6 The Children Order was implemente
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6 In an ever-changing social contex
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Chapter 7 CHILD PROTECTION Origins
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7 the 1908 Act did not allow such a
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7 under the supervision of a probat
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7 Boards to set up registers on chi
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7 supposed satanic abuse in the Ork
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7 can be uncomfortable to the profe
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7 Work like this is not given much
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7 Alongside these educational progr
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7 the responsibility of one agency
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Chapter SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION & TRA
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8 basic qualification in social wor
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8 proposed a two year generic socia
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8 in Residential Care for Children
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8 CCETSW's report "Care for Tomorro
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• high expectations are placed on
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8 people that are involved across a
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8 7. Since the 1990s there has been
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9 Because our society is in the pro
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9 specific commitment to improve co
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9 who wish to work in the care serv
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9 establish a contract with SCIE to
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BIBLIOGRAPHY • ‘Adoption of Chi
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• Department of Health, ‘Adopti
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• O’Halloran, K. ‘Adoption La
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• Tresiliotis, J. Shireman, J. an
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ISBN 0-946932-07-7 Published by: De
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