Take 30 Minutes: Listen to this Podcast Before Implementing The Care Review and Children Wellbeing Bill
Finding that sometimes the very strategies meant to help children have the opposite effect the American Enterprise Institute look behind the headlines at the public policies and cultural agendas driving child welfare and education in a series of podcasts.
What can we learn from the recent USA experience as we seem to be being led to the same unsatisfactory conclusion by the Care Review and the Children Well Being Bill?
Click here for the podcast.
What is covered in the podcast? And a brief summary of each section
- 00:54 | What motivated your interest in this research topic?
Got involved in trustee board of a children’s home. Looked deeper at the potential and actual impact of US Family First legislation.
02:32 | What is the Family First Prevention Services Act?
Like the Care Review and Children Wellbeing Bill this promotes family first prevention and placement, and away from Residential Child Care use.
A study of 48 research studies found none supported Family First thinking.
Further study of hundreds of research papers led to the book “Challenging the conventional wisdom that RCC is bad in all circumstances and all kinds is bad for children”.
- 05:44 | Why does residential care carry so much stigma?
Evidence shows can be positive so, why? Ideal of an ideal family. Biological focus.
- 07:09 | What did you find when you looked at residential care facilities in other countries?
Need to look at social and services contexts that are positive like Germany Denmark Scandinavia. An Australian experiment of having no RCC was unsuccessful and had to reopen BUT experts had left the field, and it was not easy to rebuild (this is starting to happen here in England already)
- 09:06 | Is there a version of Family First that you would have supported?
‘Children First’ is a better way of approaching Welfare decisions. Think psychological.
- 10:51 | What are the circumstances that make it possible for residential care to have a positive impact on a child’s life?
Broadly, protection and treatment + siblings. Safety. Intensive 24-hour care and treatment to ‘get better’. When there have been multiple placements already, with no stability. Providing a home keeping siblings together.
- 13:17 | Do attitudes around race play a role in the policy conversation around residential care?
Over representation
- 13:51 | How do you make appropriate comparisons when you look at this research and what studies have you found helpful when evaluating the effects of residential care on foster youth?
No control groups, so be careful on all research. Recent Florida study overwhelmingly positive about RCC. It is not cause and effect that RCC always does worse. In fact, overwhelmingly coming into RCC children do better.
- 17:14 | Does research show if the type of organization plays a role in the success of the residential home?
No. The US anti RCC view led to loss of funding and closures of all ownership types.
- 18:21 | Do you envision a situation where we start to rethink whether we can really do without residential care? Can we go back?
Insurance and labour costs affecting US RCC existence. Loss of expertise and reluctance to spend money. How to counter bias? Holding on to what we have got will be hard. ‘It’s not an option not to look at options’. We need lots of options to fit to a child. Campus model can offer a lot of options.
- 21:06 | Where does the financing come from for these facilities and programs?
Used to come from govt now private fund raising. Now generous donations and Historical Endowments
!!! Think creatively and embed RCC in other options for children – potential of campus model.
- 24:10 | How to Help The Black Mountain Home for Children and Families
Further resources
- Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Residential Care for Children and Youth | Bruce B. Henderson
- A Critical Dialogue on Residential Care for Children and Youth: What We Really Know and Questions of Quality | Bruce B. Henderson and James P. Anglin
