Care of Children in Jersey Review Panel - Barnardo's - Submission - 14 December 2017

14th December 2017

Tanners Lane Barkingside, Ilford Essex, IG6 1QG

Web www.barnardos.org.uk

Barnardo's response to: Care of Children in Jersey' panel response to the Care Inquiry

Barnardo's have been operational in Barnardo's since July 2015 when we launched our first service.

We currently operate three services:

• Thomas House - a residential service for young people aged 16-21-years- old who are leaving care.
• PLAN B – a service for young people aged 16-25-years-old, supporting them to develop their emotional and practical life skills.
• Your Voice – an advocacy and participation service for Looked After Children aged 5 – 18-years-old. The advocacy element of the service is also extended to those children and young people going through child protection procedures.

Our Thomas House service is collaboration between Barnardo's resource and a commission from the States of Jersey. Your Voice is a commission from the States of Jersey and PLAN B is funded solely through Barnardo's voluntary funds.

We are broadly very welcoming of the proposals put forward by the Council of Ministers and we have gathered specific feedback under the headings of the eight key recommendations.

As  the  UK's  largest  children's  charity  we  would  actively  encourage  the continued partnership between the States of Jersey and the voluntary and community sector to fully achieve and embed each of the recommendations.

Patron: Her Majesty The Queen

President: HRH The Duchess of Cornwall

Barnardo's (a company limited by guarantee). Registered Office: Tanners Lane, Barkingside, Ilford, Essex, IG6 1QG. Registered No. 61625 England Registered Charity Nos. 216250 and SC037605

Barnardo's adheres to the Fundraising Promise and Fundraising Standard Board guidelines.

This, along with ensuring children, young people and their families are fully involved in the development, will ensure we are best placed to meet the needs of children and young people in Jersey.

Recommendation 1 – Appoint a Children's Commissioner

• We are pleased that children and young people continue to be involved in the process to appoint and induct a Children's Commissioner.  
• We are interested to see that Jersey is considering incorporating UNCRC into legislation – this would mean going further than the rest of the UK.  

Recommendation 2 – giving children and young people a voice

• We are pleased that the States of Jersey extended our contract to continue delivering a participation service for Looked After Children aged 5 – 18-years-old. The extension is initially for six months until 30th June 2018. We will continue to actively support the creation of a wider system to enable children and young people to have a meaningful voice and influence.
• We are working with Health and Social Services to develop further our advocacy service for Looked After Children and those going through Child Protection procedures.
• We note that the Children's Rights officer will be in-house. In our experience, this is much less robust and should be independent.
• There is a lot of mention of work within schools to provide children and young people with a meaningful voice. We would strongly urge consideration to be given to those in alternative provision and/or those no longer in any form of education. Particular attention should be given to children electively home educated as we learn from SCR's where this was used to isolate children who became hidden' to the system.
• We are very encouraged by the indication that roles will be created specifically for young people who have been in care; this is something Barnardo's in Jersey has historically offered.

Recommendation 3 – inspection of services

• We are very pleased that a new inspection framework and standards are being developed.
• On 22nd November staff from Barnardo's and care leavers from our Your Voice service met with the Chair of the Jersey Care Commission to discuss the meaningful involvement of children and young people in the inspection of services; specifically children's homes.
• Young people have been invited to further comment on the draft standards that are currently being drafted. We will continue to support this process through our Your Voice service.

Recommendation 4 – Building a sustainable workforce

• We are aware that Social Worker retention is currently very low in Jersey. Children and young people have shared their views on this through one- to-one and group work; they are frustrated about the constant changes and the impact of this on good relational practice and support.

• We are very supportive of the actions to develop and deliver specialist safeguarding training and an accredited training programme on systemic practice. Where required Barnardo's could offer input from experience in supplementing expert knowledge to safeguarding training for example our knowledge hub in child sexual exploitation.
• Barnardo's would encourage the SOJ to consult widely across the sector about what works'. Key elements like proper and supportive management structures, appropriate caseloads, career development, proactive and proportionate Policies and a positive culture that commits to restorative practice coupled with the correct pay and reward system encourages staff retention which is experienced by the service user as stable and committed.

Recommendation 5 – legislation

• On 11th December 2017 the Director of Children's Policy from the Chief Minister's officer approached Barnardo's along with a number of other key stakeholders to help shape a children's plan for Jersey.
• Barnardo's would welcome the opportunity with other NGO's to offer constructive help wherever useful for example in helping to establish a policy  framework,  ensuring  the  voice  of  CYP  are  heard  within  an Inspection framework.

Recommendation 6 – corporate parenting

• This is an area that Barnardo's has extensive experience in and we are pleased to see there are a number of actions to implement a Corporate Parenting strategy.
• We would encourage the engagement of children and young people in the development of this area, particularly in the drafting of a dedicated strategy and specific pledges that can be upheld for children in care.

Recommendation 7 – the Jersey Way'

• We have no comment to make on this recommendation at this stage.

Recommendation 8 – legacy issues

• 14.10 makes reference to care for witnesses and the further development of accessible services that meet the needs of survivors. One of the most emotive and important issues for survivors of abuse is being able to access their file material in a therapeutic environment with on-going support. This should be a key component to any service provision now and in the future. There is currently no mention of an access to records provision within the recommendations.

Yours Sincerely,

Oliver Mackie

Assistant Director Children's Services Barnardo's