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Kathryn Hynes; Emilie Smith; Daniel Perkins
2009 Journal of Children's Services
doi: 10.1108/17466660200900014pmid: 26609315
Policy‐makers are looking to after‐school programmes to improve family and child wellbeing and are searching for evidence‐based ways to improve the quality of after‐school programmes. This study examines whether the Good Behaviour Game, a behaviour management curriculum designed for school classrooms, can be easily migrated to academically focused after‐school programmes. Our results are based on programme observations, qualitative interviews and ratings of implementation fidelity. We describe the structure and activities in these after‐school programmes and then identify challenges to implementing and evaluating classroom‐based interventions in the after‐school setting.
Hynes, Kathryn ; Smith, Emilie Phillips; Perkins, Daniel Phillips
2009 Journal of Children's Services
Policy-makers are looking to after-school programmes to improve family and child wellbeing and are searching for evidence-based ways to improve the quality of after-school programmes. This study examines whether the Good Behaviour Game, a behaviour management curriculum designed for school classrooms, can be easily migrated to academically focused after-school programmes. Our results are based on programme observations, qualitative interviews and ratings of implementation fidelity. We describe the structure and activities in these after-school programmes and then identify challenges to implementing and evaluating classroom-based interventions in the after-school setting.
2009 Journal of Children's Services
doi: 10.1108/17466660200900015
The aim of the study described here was to assess the types of additional specialist service available to adoptive parents participating in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of post‐adoption support whose ex‐care children were showing substantial psychosocial problems. Parents from 37 families who volunteered for the RCT were asked about access to professional help with problems arising from the placement, additional to the tested support: questions focused on which services they had received, how long they waited and whether the services were, in their terms, satisfactory. The study found that 23 families had used or applied for 37 separate specialised services to support the child or family. Although 56% of families were positive about services, 12 families had waited more than a year for a first contact with specialists and 44% of parents said the services had not met their needs. The experiences of these parents show that more timely and targeted services are needed for adoptive families with a child with psychosocial problems.
Monck, Elizabeth ; Rushton, Alan
2009 Journal of Children's Services
The aim of the study described here was to assess the types of additional specialist service available to adoptive parents participating in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of post-adoption support whose ex-care children were showing substantial psychosocial problems. Parents from 37 families who volunteered for the RCT were asked about access to professional help with problems arising from the placement, additional to the tested support: questions focused on which services they had received, how long they waited and whether the services were, in their terms, satisfactory. The study found that 23 families had used or applied for 37 separate specialised services to support the child or family. Although 56% of families were positive about services, 12 families had waited more than a year for a first contact with specialists and 44% of parents said the services had not met their needs. The experiences of these parents show that more timely and targeted services are needed for adoptive families with a child with psychosocial problems.
2009 Journal of Children's Services
doi: 10.1108/17466660200900016
In the desire to improve outcomes for children in care, the issue of those individuals placed by local authorities in residential establishments run by external agencies has become especially salient. In addition to questions of quality and value for money, there are concerns about children becoming detached from local services, especially as many of the placements selected are outside the local authorities' geographical boundaries. This study looks at 262 children so placed in eight English local authorities. It was found that although there were common presenting problems, such as a need for specialist therapy or to reduce difficult behaviour, the children's circumstances varied and four distinct groups of children with common needs were identified. The use of such placements also varied across the authorities and did not mirror their numbers of children in care. The factors associated with the use of externally purchased residential placements and differences between those placed internally and externally are explored. A framework for developing new approaches for difficult adolescents and suggestions about fruitful service development are offered.
2009 Journal of Children's Services
In the desire to improve outcomes for children in care, the issue of those individuals placed by local authorities in residential establishments run by external agencies has become especially salient. In addition to questions of quality and value for money, there are concerns about children becoming detached from local services, especially as many of the placements selected are outside the local authorities' geographical boundaries. This study looks at 262 children so placed in eight English local authorities. It was found that although there were common presenting problems, such as a need for specialist therapy or to reduce difficult behaviour, the children's circumstances varied and four distinct groups of children with common needs were identified. The use of such placements also varied across the authorities and did not mirror their numbers of children in care. The factors associated with the use of externally purchased residential placements and differences between those placed internally and externally are explored. A framework for developing new approaches for difficult adolescents and suggestions about fruitful service development are offered.
2009 Journal of Children's Services
This article explores some of the contemporary challenges facing leaders of children's services. Using the theoretical framework of the ‘incomplete leader’ developed by Ancona and colleagues (2007), the article reflects on the many challenges facing children's service leaders. It argues that a distributed and connected model of leadership is the best available in the current climate of change and challenge. This model contradicts the current one of embodied, individualised leadership contained in the England and Wales Children Act 2004. The article argues that the key leadership skills are about making sense of change, relating to people, creating a vision and developing new ways of working. The article utilises Government policy documents such as the Children's Plan and Care Matters, workforce issues and strategic planning to illustrate the nature of the leadership challenge. It concludes by suggesting a way forward for children's services leadership in integrated settings, in the current climate of audit and managerialism.
2009 Journal of Children's Services
doi: 10.1108/17466660200900017
This article explores some of the contemporary challenges facing leaders of children's services. Using the theoretical framework of the ‘incomplete leader’ developed by Ancona and colleagues (2007), the article reflects on the many challenges facing children's service leaders. It argues that a distributed and connected model of leadership is the best available in the current climate of change and challenge. This model contradicts the current one of embodied, individualised leadership contained in the England and Wales Children Act 2004. The article argues that the key leadership skills are about making sense of change, relating to people, creating a vision and developing new ways of working. The article utilises Government policy documents such as the Children's Plan and Care Matters, workforce issues and strategic planning to illustrate the nature of the leadership challenge. It concludes by suggesting a way forward for children's services leadership in integrated settings, in the current climate of audit and managerialism.