1. © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002 Should you wish to reproduce or adapt or exhibit in public this material, please get in touch with the Communications Department, BAAF, Skyline House, 200 Union Street, London SE1 0LX. Email mail@baaf.org.uk Charity registration 275689 A presentation fromJeffrey Coleman Other © British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering 2001 Alternatives to custody Exploring the scope for specialist fostering in four countries – UK, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy: Quality fostering standards for children in conflict with the law

2. United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 10: Children's Rights in Juvenile Justice (2007). Jurisdictional systems must seek to safeguard the child's dignity at every point of the Justice process Judicial proceedings (and especially custodial detention) should only ever be operationalised as measures of last resort The primary aims of human rights-compliant juvenile/youth justice are to meet the child's needs and to protect their best interests. B. Goldson and U. Kilkelly / International Journal of Children's Rights 21 (2013) 345-371 interests. © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

3. ‘Guidelines for Child Friendly Justice’ 2010 [to] guarantee the respect and the effective implementation of all children's rights at the highest attainable level... giving due consideration to the child's level of maturity and understanding and the circumstances of the case... [Child friendly] justice is accessible, age appropriate, speedy, diligent, adapted to and focused on the needs and rights of the child, respecting the rights of the child.' © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

4. A prerequisite of effective practice If young people are to comply with youth justice intervention, and its aims, they must regard the intervention as ‘legitimate’ (Tyler, 1990) ‘ … for both moral reasons, and practical purposes, it transpires that the system must also be about remedying injustice and doing right by those whom society has so often failed’ (McNeill, 2009)

5. What are Quality Standards? Quality standards for children’s social care focus on the services and interventions to support the social care needs of service users. The challenge for us– to bring together frameworks from youth justice and social care, that make sense in all jurisdictions © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

6. Why have Quality Standards? To monitor our performance against high standards for sustainable development For users of social care services and their families and carers to find information about the quality of services and care they should expect © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

7. Tools for assessing and improving services As tools for social care providers, and those that commission them, to assess the performance and make improvements based on evidence. To show providers how they can continually improve the quality of care above and beyond minimum levels © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

8. How are Standards enforced? Example from England – Ofsted website http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/about-us http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/about-us ‘Who we are and what we do Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. We report directly to Parliament and we are independent and impartial. We inspect and regulate services which care for children and young people, and those providing education and skills for learners of all ages. Every week, we carry out hundreds of inspections and regulatory visits throughout England, and publish the results on our website’ © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

9. Quality fostering standards for children in conflict with the law Firstly, child focused standards, which relate the nature and qualities of the interventions that children in conflict with the law can expect to receive, while placed with a foster carer Secondly, agency focused standards which set out the arrangements that fostering agencies need to have in place, if they place and support children who are in conflict with the law. © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

10. CHILD FOCUSED STANDARDS – wishes - communicating – understanding self The child’s wishes and feelings Communicating with children Supporting children’s communication with others Developing a positive understanding of their background © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

11. resilience- youth justice-positive behaviour-safety Helping children to develop resilience Supporting children in their interaction with the youth justice system Supporting positive behaviour Safeguarding children © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

12. running away-health-skills-education Children who go missing from their placement Understanding health issues and promoting a healthy lifestyle Developing children’s social and physical skills Facilitating educational development © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

13. Contact-home-moves-transitions Promoting and monitoring contact Providing a safe and comfortable home Consulting and preparing children moving to a placement Successfully managing transitions © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

14. STANDARDS FOR FOSTERING AGENCIES: recruiting/assessing-representations-decisions-matching Recruiting, assessing and supporting foster carers Providing opportunities for foster carers to make representations Requirements for good decision making by fostering agencies Matching children with foster carers who meet their assessed needs © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

15. information-training-ongoing review Statement of purpose and Childrens’ Guide Equipping foster carers with the skills they require Specialist training for foster carers re children in conflict with the law Procedures for ongoing review and scrutiny of the work of foster carers © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

16. Welfare concerns-data storage-life story-payments Dealing with concerns about the quality of foster care and the welfare of children Agencies having written policies on information they keep on foster carers and children Supporting life story work Payments to foster carers © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

17. Should you wish to reproduce or adapt or exhibit in public this material, please get in touch with the Communications Department, BAAF, Skyline House, 200 Union Street, London SE1 0LX. Email mail@baaf.org.uk Charity registration 275689 A presentation fromJeffrey Coleman Other © British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering 2001 Alternatives to custody Exploring the scope for specialist Fostering in four countries – UK, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy: Guidance on setting up a quality standards based fostering service for children in conflict with the law - areas to address

18. Understanding Needs How many children, what gender, ethnicity, age groups, behavioural needs, offending profile? What are the variables involved – willingness to refer, child / family agreement, matching considerations, local variations? How can these be influenced to maximise use and match needs with capacity? © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

19. Implementation Approach Is the service national, regional or local? What are the legal, operational benefits or constraints? Should it be through small scale targeting by profile - offending type, age etc., and expand, or initial pilot to test and learn or to meet specific local needs Who are the key partners, statutory, NGO or other sector? How can they contribute, how can they be engaged, how does the scheme fit with their agenda? © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

20. Building Capacity Is this through existing carers or new recruitment? Are there established recruitment methods / channels; do they need to be revised for this group, with awareness-raising of needs and rewards? What is the assessment and approval process? Who is involved? How does it take account of the quality standards? What is the remuneration for carers – existing schemes or additional, different? © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

21. Operational Requirements What is the service resource and structure for recruitment, supervision and support of carers? Do staff have the right skills mix, supervision, training and performance management for the tasks? Which organisation is best placed to provide this? Is the service integral to, or separate from, other fostering or child justice services? © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

22. Governance and Quality Assurance What are the optimum governance and quality assurance arrangements and processes – is there sufficient separation between them? How do these bridge fostering and child justice services and personnel? How are young people and their families involved? What are the specific training requirements – required or advised, and standards for supervision and review? © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

23. Understanding Costs What are the overall service costs, the balance between fixed and variable, and how are they affected by use / capacity. How might these in turn affect demand and capacity needs? Where is the budget held and where else might this be offset by savings, immediate and future? How will the service demonstrate cost- effectiveness? © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002

24. Raising Awareness Who are the key stakeholders and how are they best involved, informed, influenced? What evidence is there of outcomes, coherence with stated child justice or family care values or agreements? How clear is the service information about its remit and working arrangements? How does it promote success, keep key stakeholders involved, extend its reach and inform further service development? © British Association for Adoption and Fostering 2002