Concern over care reviews at school
Janaki Mahadevan
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Looked-after children must be asked where they want to hold their annual reviews to avoid embarrassment and alienation, child advocates have urged.
Hugh Pelham, director of children's services at fostering provider Tact'said he was concerned about the number of looked-after children'sreviews that take place in school against the wishes of children.
Research undertaken by Tact revealed 48 of 310 school-age childrenlooked after by the organisation across the UK had their reviews held atschool. But he said children had voiced concerns about this when theywere away on activity weekends or during group discussions.
"When we take our children aside and ask them about their time in care,one of the key areas they get upset about is having their review set ina school," Pelham said. "The young people really resent that. They wantto be treated like any other child."
Pelham said some children were also unhappy to have reviews held at homeand believes their views should be taken into account when planningreviews.
Wendy Banks, senior policy adviser at Voice, also believes localauthorities should do more to include children in decisions.
"The annual review is for the young person and therefore they should beasked where they want it to be held," she said.
"From our experience, the majority of children would not choose schoolsfor their reviews. It is a key issue for young people that involveslabelling and stigmatisation."
Local authorities should not just "tick boxes", but should fulfil theirresponsibility by including children throughout the whole process ofcare planning, she said.
