PARENTS

Young girl

CHILD CARE, FOSTERING, RIGHTS AND ABUSE

At any one time, there are around 78,000 children and young people looked after 'in care' in the UK. This means that they are living in either foster care or a children's home because their parent (s), for different reasons, are unable to look after them. This could be for short or long periods of time.

Care Orders
If a child is subject to a Care Order, this means that the Social Services and the Courts have made a decision that they should be looked after by the local authority and not by their parent (s). There are a number of ways in which the local authority can recommend to the Court that a child is taken into care. A teacher, a relative or someone else may be concerned that a child is at risk of harm. A child or a young person can also ask to be taken into care. When a child is taken into care, the local authority will arrange for them to live in a children's home or with foster carers until they are able to return to live with their birth family. Staying in care can last for a number of weeks to a number of years, depending on the child's circumstances.

Reasons for care
The reasons why children come into care are varied. They include family problems, low income, abuse and neglect. There are also numbers of children who are seeking asylum in the UK and are living in care. Less than 3% of children in care are there because of their socially unacceptable behavior.

Who does the caring?
Most children in care (68%) live with foster carers, 6% live in children's homes, and approximately 6% are placed for adoption, where they are permanently and legally looked after by the person who adopts them. The rest of the children are likely to be placed in boarding schools or may be living at home with their parents, but are supervised by the local authority. Most children say that they are scared and unhappy about being taken into care. Sometimes they say they don't understand the reasons. This means that the social worker and the carers who are responsible for the child need to explain the reasons carefully and to support the child as they come to terms with their new situation and their rights.

Teenager with sisters Why are people fostered?
All families have their ups and downs. Sometimes, for many different reasons, a family may not be able to cope. When a family breaks down it is often the children who suffer - they may feel confused or upset, or may be neglected or abused in some way. If your parents are struggling to cope with their problems, you might be looked after by the local authority for a while. This means that other people (a foster carer or family) will look after you while social workers try to help your family deal with their problems. You may only be separated from your family for a short time, during which you may be placed in a children's home or live with a foster carer.

Mother and child

You will only be placed here for a short time, until you are either able to go back to your own (birth) family or move on to a more long-term foster home. While you're placed here social workers will work with you, your family, and your foster carers to work out what is best for you and to make short or long-term plan for your future. The majority of children who are fostered do go back to live with their family. However, if after help from social services your family still isn't able to cope, social workers will try to find a new home for you where you can belong to a family. Sometimes this will be with an adoptive family, but more usually it will be with a more permanent foster family. The first and most important thing you must realize is that everyone has what's best for you in mind, even if it doesn't always feel that way. Whatever you're feeling the best thing you can do to improve the situation is to talk about it. Tell your carers what's bothering you and ask them to explain what is happening. They're fully trained to understand what you're going through, and should be there to talk to you about how you feel, so speak up.

ABUSE: YOUR RIGHTS

However old you are, you're as important as everyone else. You have rights. No one should be able to stop you from:

saying what you think, be listened to and be taken seriously in all matters that affect you
having an education
growing up healthy
having a good enough standard of living, including a place to live, food and clothing
being equal - not being discriminated against
having your best interests put first when decisions are made about you
being protected from harm, abuse and violence.

If someone does something that stops you from experiencing any of these things, or if someone harms you in any way there's people who want to know about it so they can help you out. There are laws to protect you: the Children Act (England and Wales) and the Children Order (Northern Ireland) both make sure that professionals, like social services, the police and teachers, have a responsibility for your safety and are able to provide info and support.