Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Kim S. Golding, BSC (Hons), MSc (Clinical Psychology), DClinPsy
Kim is a chartered clinical psychologist, employed by Wyre Forest Primary Care Trust inWorcestershire, providing clinical leadership for the Integrated Service for Looked After Children (ISL). She was part of a small group who developed the Primary Care and Support Team (now part of ISL). The team provides support and training for foster, adoptive and residential carers. Kim has a longstanding interest in parenting, and collaborating with parents or carers to develop their parenting skills tailored to the particular needs of the children they are caring for. Within ISL she has developed a group for foster carers based on attachment theory, and has carried out research exploring the use of the consultation service.Kimcoordinated a national network for clinical psychologists working with looked after and adopted children for a number of years. Additional to her clinical work Kim was, for 15 years, an associate lecturer for the Open University teaching Introduction to Psychology and Child Development.
Contact details: Integrated Service for Looked After Children, The Pines, Bilford Road, Worcester, WR3 8PU.
Email: kim.golding@tiscali.co.uk

Helen R. Dent, BA (Hons), MPhil, PhD
Helen is a chartered clinical and forensic psychologist, currently employed as Programme Director of the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Universities of Staffordshire and Keele. Her previous post was Consultant Clinical Psychologist in an Inter-Agency team with children looked after by the local authority. She is continuing her work in this area, and has a contract with North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS trust as Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist. She is particularly interested in strategic and systemic interventions,andin neuropsychological development. Prior to training as a clinical psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry, Helen gained a PhD from the University of Nottingham, for which she carried out pioneering research into children as witnesses. She has held various academic and clinical appointments and has edited three previous books, including Children asWitnesses (1992) with Rhona Flin, published by JohnWiley & Sons.
Contact details: Shropshire and Staffordshire Clinical Psychology Training Programme, Faculty of Health and Sciences, Staffordshire University, Mellor Building, College Road, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DE.
Email: helen.dent@staffs.ac.uk

Ruth Nissim, BA (Hons,) MEd, PhD
Ruth is a consultant clinical psychologist and UKCP registered family therapist who has been in practice since qualifying in 1977. Since the early 1980s she has specialized in children living away from home in substitute families and in residential care. She has worked in all three agencies: Education, Social Services and the NHS, as well as for a private adoption agency. Since taking early retirement Ruth has worked on a freelance basis with a particular focus on supporting adoptive families. In 1999 she completed a research doctorate looking at the outcomes for children placed in adoptive or foster families longer-term.
Contact details: Dores Cottage, 17, High St, Finstock, Oxon OX7 3DA.

Liz Stott, MSc (Hons), MSc (Clinical Psychology)
Liz is a chartered clinical psychologist who has been working with children for the past 16 years. She has worked in both residential adolescent units and outpatient CAMHS before taking up specific posts to work with looked after children and their carers. She is interested in systemic and psychodynamic approaches to consultation and uses these ideas to inform practice when working with larger organizations such as Social Services, smaller organizations such as children’s homes and also in consultation with carers. She is currently employed by Partnership Trust in Gloucestershire.
Contact details: The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Delancey Hospital, Charlton Lane, Cheltenham, Glos GL53 9DU.
Email: liz@patnliz.eclipse.co.uk

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Assessment, intervention and living with children who are looked after or adopted all require an understanding of psychology and its application.

This innovative collection makes thinking psychologically about looked after and adopted children accessible and, in doing so, provides an insight into the world of these children. Informed by research, practice and psychological theory, this volume provides an overview of the area and considers the context for helping children change and develop. It goes on to describe in detail the techniques and approaches used by clinicians, and explains how interventions can be developed and adapted for children and young people living in residential, foster and adoptive care. Careful consideration is also given to carers and families living with these children.

With its multi-disciplinary approach, Thinking Psychologically About Children Who Are Looked After and Adopted will appeal to all professionals involved in the care and education of placed children. It will also be of interest to policy makers and lecturers and students of social work.

Aus dem Klappentext

Assessment, intervention and living with children who are looked after or adopted all require an understanding of psychology and its application.

This innovative collection makes thinking psychologically about looked after and adopted children accessible and, in doing so, provides an insight into the world of these children. Informed by research, practice and psychological theory, this volume provides an overview of the area and considers the context for helping children change and develop. It goes on to describe in detail the techniques and approaches used by clinicians, and explains how interventions can be developed and adapted for children and young people living in residential, foster and adoptive care. Careful consideration is also given to carers and families living with these children.

With its multi-disciplinary approach, Thinking Psychologically About Children Who Are Looked After and Adopted will appeal to all professionals involved in the care and education of placed children. It will also be of interest to policy makers and lecturers and students of social work.

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Thinking Psychologically about Children Who Are Looked After and Adopted

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

Kim S. Golding, Helen R. Dent, Ruth Nissim and Liz Stott

Upon rereading my old diaries I realized how hard foster care was and what a detrimental effect it had on me at that time. Before my first foster placement broke down I thought foster care was a relatively positive experience, apart from the usual problem of occasionally feeling a bit awkward around the family, but when my foster care placement did break down literally overnight I realized why some young people in care do have the problems they do. I became very defensive and was determined to never let anyone ever hurt me ever again. I developed a very hard exterior to protect me at that time. (Caroline Cuckston, 2004, p. 24)

Historically the voice of the person receiving services has been overlooked. The welfare tradition in the UK has its roots in the Victorian moral imperative to help the disadvantaged and those less fortunate. This moral stance did not expect or actively elicit a voice from the 'grateful poor'. This was further reinforced by the strong role the Christian Church took in rescuing lost souls and guiding the sinners back onto paths of righteousness. The guidance of a wise God who knew best did not leave a lot of room for alternative perspectives.

It is only very recently that procedural or legal frameworks have been set up to ensure that there is user involvement in the development and delivery of services. This has extended into the provision of services for children. Within child protection services, for example, there is now considerable focus on involving the child and parent. This policy development has in turn become enshrined in law. Thus the Children Act 1989 (DOH, 1989) identified the need for collective responsibility in the care and protection of children. This act, for the first time, placed emphasis on a partnership between local authorities and families. It placed the wishes of parents and children as central within decision making, only to be over-ridden in exceptional circumstances through a court process (Hill, 1999). This same focus is present within a number of acts, for example, in proceedings for adoption via the Adoption Act (DOH, 1976) and in divorce involving children via the Family Law Act (DOH, 1996). More recently Every Child Matters, Change for Children (DFES, 2004a) clearly sets out the need to ensure that children and young people are listened to and that they are involved in the design and delivery of services. This is followed through in the Children Act 2004 (DFES, 2004b), which sets out the establishment of a children's commissioner, part of whose duty is to involve children in the provision of services and to promote the awareness of the views of children. In particular, the children's commissioner is tasked with involving children who do not otherwise have adequate means by which they can make their needs known. Guidance to support the programme of change outlined in Every Child Matters includes advice about commissioning placements and services for looked after children. This sets out as a key principle that 'mechanisms should be in place to enable the views of children in placements and using services to be taken into account' (DFES, 2005, p. 9).

Within the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child, Article 12 states the right of capable children to express their views freely in all matters affecting them (United Nations, 1989). Foster children have not been overlooked in this process. The 10th article of the Bill of Rights of Foster Children 1973 states that the foster child should receive high-quality child welfare services, including involvement in major decisions that affect his or her life. This article also highlights the need to involve the natural parents in decision making (see Martin, 2000), while the UK joint working party on foster care (NFCA, 1999) set out as a central principle a partnership approach to foster care - embracing parents, carers, social work services and the children themselves. Similarly, Promoting the Health of Looked After Children (DOH, 2002) emphasizes consultation and involvement with children and young people and the front-line staff delivering services to them.

The National Service Framework for children, young people and maternity services (DOH, 2004) has been developed to improve health and social care services, organized around the needs of the children and their families. These standards require services to involve children, young people and their parents in planning. Again there is particular emphasis on listening to the views of users both in relation to individual care that is being provided and in the development of local services. Particular attention is given to hearing from those who are often excluded.

Thus it is clear that there is increasing awareness of the principle of hearing the voice of the recipient of services. Having a principle, even one that is enshrined in law, however does not ensure good practice. A study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation concludes that, at an individual level, children and young people are still not being properly consulted about decisions that affect their lives (Stuart & Baines, 2004). Thomas (2005) has compared the responses of local authority childcare managers to a postal survey carried out during 1997/8 and repeated in 2004. He concludes that there have been significant changes in the engagement of children and young people in the provision of services. This, however, only represents a changed culture in some areas. There is still some way to go in the development of a process for taking a child's view into account.

Moving from principle to practice, especially in the complex area of looked after and adopted children, is not likely to be straightforward. For example, what is the relative importance of the child's and the parent's views when these are not in accord? How do you best listen to the voice of the child without compromising the needs of the carer? There are also tensions between the child's right to participate in decisions and the right to have his or her welfare protected (Schofield, 2005). At what point do you over-ride the requests of the child because it is deemed unsafe or clearly against his or her interests, when a child's wish is to return to what is considered an unsafe home, for example. What is the process whereby the child is listened to, heard and also protected? The fact that these questions are being asked and actively considered indicates the progress that has been made in this area. However, there is some considerable way to go if services are truly to be developed around the expressed wishes of child, carer and parent.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE VIEWS OF CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR CARERS?

There is a growing literature on user views within adult services (e.g. Campbell, 1999; Pilgrim & Hitchman, 1999; Chambers et al., 2003). This, in turn, has led to attention being focused on child services. Thus children have been asked for their perceptions of services provided by child guidance clinics (Ross &...