Babies and Young Children in Care: Life Pathways, Decision‐making and Practice

Abstract

By Harriet Ward, Emily R Munro and Chris Dearden ( eds ) London : Jessica Kingsley , 2006 ISBN 1843102722 , 158 pp, £39.99 (hb) This book summarises findings about the lives and outcomes for 42 young children who entered the care system in 1996–1997 prior to their first birthday and were looked after for at least a year. It reports on a retrospective study conducted in 2002 of their circumstances, using case notes and interviews with professionals and some parents (adoptive, foster and birth). The authors aimed to describe and understand the placement movements and decisions made for this small group of children. As a non-social worker with interest in the area, I looked forward to reading this book as an informed outsider. The authors rightly pointed out the developmental importance of environment and care in the very early years and the paucity of data on looked-after children in this age group. The strength of this book lies in the careful description of the lives of the children in the sample. Extensive use of individual case reports, supported with comment from those responsible for the care of the child, illustrates for the novice reader the complexity of the decisions made on behalf of the children and the input from different agencies at different points. The role of siblings and extended families, the particular considerations for children of dual heritage in placements and stability and suitability in foster placements are all introduced through the stories of particular children. The poignant description of the children's lives makes the contents of this book accessible and brings the complex issues surrounding best interest judgements to the fore. The nature of care for children in the UK has changed considerably since the 1980s, with an increasing focus on foster care and the avoidance of long-term care, particularly for younger children. Other authors have commented on the challenges that these changes imply for children when residential and/or short-term placements have to be used, for example, emergency placements for young children (Sinclair and Gibbs, 1998). As an introduction to the reality of social work with this group of children, Babies and Young Children in Care serves very well. It is also honest about the difficulties of making practice recommendations from the work described in view of the small number of children considered and the changes in policy, practice and legislation since these children were taken into care. The importance of considering the implications of the changing context is illustrated in the final chapter, where the authors attempt to consider whether guidance and practice development has resulted in different outcomes for young children in the same local authorities some two-and-a-half years later. However, in focusing on these 42 children only, I feel the book sometimes neglects the wider literature. It is often left to the reader to interpret the importance of some of the decisions made for these children. For example, in chapter 4, entitled ‘Attachment and loss,’ the actual role of attachment disruption for these children is not discussed, nor is the evidence regarding therapeutic possibilities in disordered attachment. Thus, the opportunity is missed to draw out implications from the story from an adoptive mother who speaks about her daughter's need to ‘test out’ their relationship five years into the adoption. In contrast, a US publication on the same topic (Berrick and others, 1998) provides a broader overview of the area but may be less accessible and appropriate to the UK audience. I feel that discussion of some elements of need that are unique to these very young children (e.g. language development and the care of preverbal children) would have broadened the appeal of this book.

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