The Views of Local Authorities in England on How to Prevent Children Being in Care

ABSTRACT

Purpose

The rates of children looked after by local authorities in England have been rising for more than two decades. This study was conducted to determine what approaches local authorities have adopted that they perceive to be the most effective in preventing the need for children to come into care. It also considers how they evaluate these approaches and how they assess cost-effectiveness.

Methods

An online survey was distributed to leaders of children’s social services departments in England in 2018 (n = 152).

Findings

Sixty (39.5%) local authorities completed the survey. Respondents were asked to select up to three types of services or approaches they deemed most effective in preventing the need for children to come into care. The most popular was a whole-system approach selected by 81.7%, with Signs of Safety most commonly cited. This was followed by edge-of-care services (61.7%), early help (56.7%), family group conferences (43.3%), parenting programmes (18.3%), short break services (15.0%) and “other” services (20.0%). Local authorities who had experienced increases in the numbers of children in care were more likely to discuss approaches introduced relatively recently. Whole-system approaches and parenting programmes were the approaches most likely to have had independent evaluations. Whilst most local authorities reported the use of economic analysis methods as part of their evaluation, there was insufficient detail for a full assessment of cost-effectiveness.

Originality

This paper provides a description of contemporary attitudes amongst leaders of children’s services to approaches that aim to keep children out of care. It also describes approaches taken by local authorities to evaluation and assessing cost-effectiveness.

KEYWORDS:

• Social services
• whole-systems approach
• edge of care
• early help
• family group conferences
• Signs of Safety

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the Department for Education, England, UK [grant number 41070002828; 16.10.2017]. The CASCADE partnership receives infrastructure funding from Health and Care Research Wales.

Notes on contributors

Cindy Corliss

Cindy Corliss, PhD is a Research Associate at CASCADE, the Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre at Cardiff University. Her research interests include children's social care, childhood mental health, young people and social media, and LGBTQIA+ identities.

Samia Addis

Samia Addis, PhD is a Senior Public Health Researcher at the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Support Hub, Public Health Wales. Dr Addis is an experienced academic researcher in population and public health, health services and social care.

Asmaa El-Banna

Asmaa El-Banna, PhD is a research fellow at the Centre for Health Economics at the University of Warwick. Her research focuses on economic evaluations of health and social care interventions using both trial-based and model-based methods.

Nina Maxwell

Nina Maxwell CPsychol. is a Senior Research Fellow at CASCADE, the Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre at Cardiff University. Her research interests focus on adolescence and criminality, workforce development and private family law.

Jonathan Scourfield

Jonathan Scourfield is Professor of Social Work at Cardiff University and Deputy Director of CASCADE, the Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre. His research has covered several different aspects of social work, including child and family services, working with men, social work education, and research capacity-building.

Nell Warner

Nell Warner, PhD is a Research Associate at CASCADE, the Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre at Cardiff University. Her research interests include children's social care, parenting and family support interventions, the emotional well-being of parents, outcomes for children in adverse family circumstances.

Annie Williams

Annie Williams, PhD is a Research Fellow at CASCADE, the Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre at Cardiff University. Her research interests are primarily focused on children and family service systems.