The Green Paper Issues - Essay Example

24 Jan 2008 Social Policy-Social Science Introduction One of the family trends over the past decade has been an increase in theage of independence. Young adults are increasingly staying with their parents till their early-mid twenties, and it is more common for them to return to the family home in periods of difficulty. This makes the current situation where young people can leave care in their teens look increasingly awkward. They should be able to stay with foster families for longer and to have a safe place of return if early attempts at independence are unsuccessful. These changes would only be giving them what other young people take for granted. Even once young people are living 'independently', they still need emotional support. To enable a successful transition to adulthood, these proposals need to address the psychological needs of young people leaving care, i.e. their need for sustained and continuous support from key carers well beyond the age of 18. The Green paper has made proposals on the transition of childhood to adult life on many key issues. With the above mentioned points in mind, the Green paper is critically analyzed in this report This report starts with a brief description about the Green Paper, its background, the different proposals made and then it is followed by critical appraisal, evidence base, normative assumptions about care and ends with a summary of the implications 2. The Green Paper 2.1 Background What social problems is the green paper addressing The major concern of the government in introducing this green paper has been: Difficulties faced by young people in their transition to adult life Financial difficulties faced by young people when they leave out of care Lack of quality education for young people in care Employment opportunities for young people leaving care How does the government see it as a problem There has not been enough improvement in the lives of children and young people in care over the past few decades. This is the major reason for the proposal of the Green Paper. The government has given major concern for the independence of young people. It has analyzed if young people will be able to support themselves when they leave care. It has also assumed that financial help will be a major issue for young people and hence has discussed about providing accommodation, support in higher education etc. How is it a problem Children and young people in care cannot receive the same kind of affection and care that normal young people receive. This leads to several difficulties which include lack of mental, financial and educational support. Also as Janet Fink says, care has become a key concern and an expanding research area because of shifting demographic, economic and cultural factors; an ageing population, the growing numbers of women in paid work and a perceived fragmentation of family life 3. Proposals The proposals made in the Green Paper are: (Ref: Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care) Pilot giving young people a veto over any decisions about legally leaving care before they turn 18 Pilot allowing care leavers to continue to live with foster families up to the age of 21, to evaluate the support required and the impact on their longer term outcomes Provide extra money for the Child Trust Fund accounts of young people in care. An extra 100 per year for every child who spends the year in care will be provided to help them enter adult life. During the consultation period it will be decided whether this is best administered through HM Revenue and Customs or by local authorities themselves. Introduce a national bursary, requiring local authorities to provide a minimum of 2,000 for all young people in care who go on to higher education: Give young people a choice of vacation accommodation, through allowing more young people to remain with carers or in accommodation in their home authority, or to remain in university accommodation Build on existing good practice targeting young people in care, for example using the Aimhigher programme, to ensure they are encouraged to attend open days, and to take part in summer schools and other outreach work The above proposals are critically analyzed in the next section 4. Critical Appraisal Section 7.10 proposes to enable young people to stay in foster care until 21.There is a major concern that this is not mirrored for those young people in other types of placement. Will people in residential care will also get the option to stay in care until 21.The young people in residential care have as much right to stay until 21 and would benefit as much as those young people in foster care. As Janet Fink says the emphasis on the carer's role in recent policy-making has not taken into account the diverse ways in which care relationships are negotiated between the carer and the individual receiving care The policies in the Green Paper restrict the pool of foster and residential carers available to have children placed with them. The additional number of carers needed as well as additional social workers and pressures on supported living provision and securing suitable residential care for older young people have not been properly taken into account. As James (1992) points out the emotional labor demands of carers are rarely considered while paying carers The proposals given in the Green Paper will only impact on a small percentage of the care population and it has not included any opportunities for children in care to develop assets for use when they reach 18.Section 7.28 mentions about providing 100 per year which is not a large enough amount to make a difference. Section 7.34 says that 2,000 would be provided to young people to support their higher education .This seems to be a small amount which is not enough for young people to continue their higher education The proposals have not addressed the specific problems faced by unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC). Asylum seeking young people should either be aided to integrate rather than be placed with 'special' foster placements or given a specialist training so that carers can better understand the immigration and asylum process. As Beverley Skeggs (1997, p.69) argues caring should provide responsibility and respectablitiy The Green Paper has not given concern about the lack of availability of black and minority ethnic foster carers, and in particular those who are able to cater for the specific needs of children in terms of language, culture and location. There is a need to ensure that social workers and other members of the social care workforce receive support and training to develop these skills. Janet Fink discusses these issues through multi-sited analysis by taking the case of a relationship between a white nurse and a Ugandan woman suffering from AIDS in "Care: Personal lives and Social Policy" Problems have been experienced disproportionately by children in care with disabilities. The Green Paper makes no reference to disabled children and there are no recommendations for change. This is a major omission. As Lea Shamgar-Handelman (1994, p.261) observes such children should not be brought up under regular families and should be admitted in care Higher education will be inappropriate for some young people for a variety of reasons and the Green Paper has not proposed any alternative solutions for those who don't take up higher education .As seen in section 7.34 the government has made initiatives only to help in higher education and not any other alternatives 5. Evidence Base The Government has taken evidence from the following sources to analyze the different issues about care and make suitable proposals. These have been taken from the Green Paper Care Matters:Transforming the lives of children and young people in care lf Centre for Children, University of Chicago (May 2005) The Green Paper has chosen the Centre for Children, University of Chicago (May 2005) as one of its evidence base which tracked 608 young people in care and found that outcomes for young people who stayed in care up to 21 were much better than for those leaving care earlier. Lewisham The Green Paper has chosen Lewisham as another evidence base which offer traineeships within council run services for young people moving on from care, giving them the chance to build up skills and experience to help secure later employment. Tower Hamlets This is another evidence base. Tower Hamlets have an agreed policy with their Housing Directorate which has allowed them to develop supported housing specifically for care leavers where they are not ready for independence, currently offering 30 places Hampshire Hampshire has developed a formula to determine the support they will provide for young people in care who go on to higher education. The formula takes a number of factors into account, including where in the country the young person is at university, and the cost of accommodation. Awards are given so that young people can top up the support they receive. 6. Normative Assumptions How care is defined Care can be defined in two ways as 'doing care' and 'being caring'. As Joan Tronto (1993) argues care should be seen as an activity (doing care) and a disposition (being caring).Also caring can be paid (formal) and unpaid (informal).Care is normally viewed as an activity Importance of staying with family A child has to be appreciated as a person' with its own identity, sense of self, and sets of psychic, social and emotional relations as well as rights (Hendrick, 2003).Strong emotional relationship with its mother is of much significance here. But we normally don't give any such identity to a child Women carers It is a wide held assumption that caring is women's work and it should take precedence over others (Lewis and Meredith, 1988, p.5).Since Second World War women are increasingly paying more attention to their careers which has resulted in difficulties in recruiting carers who are being caring Social policy for victims and threats Separate policy should be adopted for victims and threats since the former requires care and the later requires control (Janet Fink uses these concepts of care and control).We normally consider that all children should be treated equally considering their tender age These are few of the normative assumptions we have about care 7. Summary From the previous discussions we can imply the following: The Green Paper considers the following issues: Providing support to children in care in their transition to adult life by catering to their financial needs Making young people employable and independent Extending support through foster parents for a longer time The Green Paper fails to address the following issues: The type of care provided to children in care(doing care and being care) The difficulties encountered with gender,race,age and sexuality of carers in providing care The problems faced by women carers in helping children in care for their transition to adult life The problems faced in relationships encountered with peers and adults during their transition to childhood The classification of young people in care as victims and threats How the Green Paper has considered childhood and adulthood in care The Green Paper has assumed that children just need support from their foster parents during their transition to adulthood. It does not consider the relationship between the children and their carers The Green Paper has assumed that adulthood just needs employment and management skills and fails to address the identity of individuals REFERENCES Janet Fink. Care: Personal lives and Social Policy First. United Kingdom: The Policy Press in association with The Open University, 2004 Janet Fink. Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care. United Kingdom: The Policy Press in association with The Open University, 2004 Janet Fink, Eluned Jeffries, Gail Lewis and Esther Saraga. Study Guide: Personal lives and Social Policy prepared for the Course Team. United Kingdom: The Policy Press in association with The Open University, 2004 Read More