CHILDREN LEAVING CARE

Children Leaving Care



Abstract

This article presents findings from a large empirical research study which examines the ways in which the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 is being implemented. The evidence presented points to a complex picture of 'slower running' and 'faster running' leaving care services, modest achievements, ongoing problems, and mixed outcomes. The author argues that compared with previous studies, the increased number of young people leaving care entering post-16 education, employment and training is a significant development. It is suggested that the overall progress in implementing the Act is slower than might be expected three years after the Act was passed in 2000.

Children Leaving Care

Introduction

The emergence of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 (CLCA 2000) resulted from a specific government commitment (Department of Health (DoH), 1998) to implement Sir William Utting's recommendations contained in the Review of the Safeguards for Children Living Away from Home (Utting, 1997).

After the consultation document Me Survive Out There (DoH, 1999a) was published as a response and the Children (Leaving Care) Bill 2000, based on that consultation document, was enacted in October 2000 and the CLCA 2000 introduced in October 2001. Its Guidance and Regulations which carry statutory force (that is they must be followed by local authorities), were issued in September 2001 (DoH, 2001), one month prior to the introduction of the CLCA 2000. Prior to the CLCA 2000 new responsibilities had been placed on local authorities by the earlier Children Act (1989) and its regulations. Research studies in the 1990s reported young people leaving care facing continuing problems (Biehal and others, 1995; Broad, 1994, 1998, 1999; Vernon, 2000) whilst also pointing to gradual progress as a result of the Children Act (1989) and related initiatives (Stein, 1997). Many of the reported improvements after the introduction of the Children Act (1989) occurred during a growth in the number and size of leaving care teams. For example 52 per cent (or 29) of the 46 leaving care teams studied in Broad's 1998 study started between 1990 and 1995 (Broad, 1998: 76). Nevertheless according to that study's conclusion, despite pockets of good leaving care practice, and high levels of individual worker commitment:

Overall the availability and quality of services to young people leaving care remains a lottery in terms of entitlements from the state, and local authority policies and implementation, as was the case in 1994 . . . leaving care work still remains unsafe in the hands of the Children Act 1989 (Broad, 1998: 267).

Thus against a background of gradual but inconsistent progress in the provision, quality and funding of looked after and leaving care services in the 1990s, and, more pressing, the Utting Report (1997) it was seen as vital to introduce new legislation into the leaving care field.

According to the Guidance then the main purpose of the CLCA 2000 is: to improve the life chances of young people living in and leaving local authority care. Its main aims are to delay young people's discharge from care until they are prepared and ...