childcare-50years

Recommendations

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3 cent were under 2 years. Third party and direct placements accounted for 39 per cent of the children placed. The Council made a number of recommendations including the need for: • more control over third party and direct placement of children for adoption; • the retention of interim orders but that normal practice should be for an adoption order to be made at a single hearing after 3 months continuous care and possession of the child by the adoption applicants (subject to more supervisory powers being introduced to protect the child's interests); • more flexibility for applicants domiciled in Great Britain and resident in Northern Ireland and vice versa; • the retention of existing arrangements vis a vis the right of an adopted child to see his or her birth certificate. The Council proposed that because Northern Ireland was such a small community, easy access to birth details could lead to all sorts of personal tragedies. The Registrar General was to continue, therefore, only to provide information about an original birth certificate in exceptional circumstances and only by order of the court; • closer links should be established between adoption societies (there were only 4 active at this time) and voluntary children's homes; and • the appointment of a guardian ad litem independent of the placing agency in all cases. The Adoption (NI) Act 1967 in effect enshrined all of the above in legislation, with the exception of the appointment of the independent guardian ad litem. In England, guardians tended to be appointed from neighbouring authorities. In Northern Ireland it was not until the 1980s that the practice of appointing a guardian from a team, other than that of the investigating officer, was established. The guardian did not become independent of the placing agency 50 YEARS OF CHILD CARE IN NORTHERN IRELAND 46
3 until 1996 when, as a result of the Children (NI) Order 1995, the Northern Ireland Guardian ad Litem Agency was established. An important feature of the 1967 Act related to cases where an application had been made to dispense with parental consent. Section 5(1) of the Act stipulated that in such cases the welfare of the child must be the 'paramount' consideration. The child's welfare therefore took precedence over all other considerations in this situation. In 1967 the United Kingdom ratified the European Convention on the Adoption of Children, which required that the consent of a parent to adoption might be dispensed with "only on exceptional grounds determined by law." The principle of 'paramountcy' of the welfare of the child was therefore to become the focus of much deliberation prior to the 1987 adoption legislation and continues to be the subject of some considerable debate. The social context 1948-1967 In the period following World War II, adoption was beginning to be seen as a solution to the problem of infertility and was gaining popularity among the middle classes. Tresiliotis et al (1997) commented: "Although this was a period when nurture was supposed to rule over nature, this optimism was not reflected in the practice of adoption agencies in the way they selected children for placement. This came to be known as the era of the 'perfect baby' for the 'perfect couple'. Great effort was put into matching infant and parents in an attempt to create a family as 'like' a biological one as possible. An 'adoptable' infant was, generally speaking, white, healthy, with an acceptable background and developing normally". Bowlby's (1951) theories of maternal deprivation and bonding had a significant influence on adoption practice. The suggestion that children separated from their parents from a very young age would not be able to attach to adoptive parents served to focus adoption practice on infants rather than older children. Many children over the age of 2 or infants who had even a slight 'defect' in appearance were rejected as unsuitable for adoption. To take but one example noted in a Northern Ireland case record completed in 1955 on a healthy 50 YEARS OF CHILD CARE IN NORTHERN IRELAND 47
Page 1: 50 A Better Future 40 30 20 10 Depa
Page 5 and 6: PREFACE There is both an acceptance
Page 7: Finally, I am indebted to Mr Selwoo
Page 10 and 11: 1 decisions, taken in the late 1940
Page 12 and 13: 1 1946 which resulted in the Childr
Page 14 and 15: 1 recognition of the effect of the
Page 17 and 18: Chapter FOSTER CARE 2 Background an
Page 19 and 20: 2 adequacy of the supply of foster
Page 21 and 22: 2 residential care to children wher
Page 23 and 24: Both these issues were addressed in
Page 25 and 26: 2 "On balance and taking into accou
Page 27 and 28: 2 Numbers of children fostered and
Page 29 and 30: 2 Safeguarding children in foster c
Page 31 and 32: 2 Prior to the adoption of the Nati
Page 33 and 34: 2 • encourages partnership workin
Page 35 and 36: 2 "The most important general issue
Page 37 and 38: 2 The main achievements in foster c
Page 39: 2 The Human Rights Act 1998, also b
Page 42 and 43: 3 Adoption of Children Act (NI) 192
Page 44 and 45: The social context to 1947 3 Povert
Page 46 and 47: The management and structure of ado
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 100 and 101:
4 within homes as a consequence of
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
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5 The decline in numbers of young p
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5 considerably, juvenile liaison bu
Page 119 and 120:
5 years the percentage of cases giv
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3. Working with young offenders req
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5 remanded or placed in a secure un
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Chapter DISABLED CHILDREN Introduct
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6 In the absence of a full and read
Page 129 and 130:
6 in Northern Ireland designed to p
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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
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6 The treatment of handicapping con
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6 Nursing Team) and the Children's
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6 The 1950 Children and Young Perso
Page 145 and 146:
6 them) her young siblings made a j
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6 Legislation and the development o
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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
Page 196 and 197:
9 establish a contract with SCIE to
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BIBLIOGRAPHY • ‘Adoption of Chi
Page 201 and 202:
• Department of Health, ‘Adopti
Page 203 and 204:
• O’Halloran, K. ‘Adoption La
Page 205 and 206:
• Tresiliotis, J. Shireman, J. an
Page 208:
ISBN 0-946932-07-7 Published by: De
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