Framework For Children Research Articles

Integrated Care Pathway to Promote the Health of Looked after Children

Background: There are currently major national drivers set out in the Children Act 2004 and the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services that require closer working between statutory agencies, the voluntary sector and young people. Integrated care pathway methodology was used to improve the coordination of health assessments for looked after children. Methods: A working group of looked after children, health, education and social-care professionals, and a care pathway facilitator was established. Meetings were held with all interested parties. National guidance, ‘Promoting the Health of Looked After Children’, was incorporated into a process map for this service in Birmingham. Results: The outcomes include the process itself and a set of operational products. The process enabled young people and different professionals to better understand each other's roles and perspectives. The operational products included a process map and detailed care pathway, new health assessment documentation, an audit tool and a variance reporting strategy. Conclusions: An integrated care pathway process is a useful tool in facilitating closer working between agencies and young people. It can establish inter-agency governance procedures fundamental to delivering a Children's Trust model of working.

Ask the Children - Auditing children’s services with PALS standards

Working together is a key element of the NHS Plan (DH 2000). The establishment of the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) presented staff at the Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust : with an opportunity to examine the experiences of children attending the outpatient department. An audit of outpatient services was undertaken using PALS national standards and the National Service Frame work for Children (DH 2003a). Parents reported receiving good information prior to and during the consultation but would like more written information to take home. The environment was rated positively but older children felt that the waiting area was lacking in appropriate activities to suit their needs. Very few respondents had heard of PALS and around half did not know who to approach with concerns.

The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services: Challenges and Opportunities

The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services: Challenges and Opportunities

Multidisciplinary post-registered education in child and adolescent mental health services

This article describes a study conducted in England as part of the preparation work for the Children's Taskforce, looking at the training needs of specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) staff, and of primary care staff who work with children and young people. A survey of existing service provision and of training opportunities was conducted, and as a result a series of recommendations for future training needs within CAMHS are made. It includes the needs of the developing role of Primary Mental Health Workers (PMHWs) within this area in their crucial link position between primary and secondary services. The study is multi-disciplinary in nature, given that all CAMHS teams are provided by multi-professional workers. Since this work was undertaken the workforce development plans for future CAMHS have progressed under the Children's Taskforce, with the National Service Framework for Children being published in October 2004.

Current issues in Midwifery: Not just another conference

It is a very exciting time for midwifery, with the publication of the National Service Framework for Children; the launch of the Royal College of Midwives’ Campaign for Normal Birth (fomerly known as the Virtual Institute for Birth); and the growing feeling among many midwives that the direction of maternity care is back on track. Midwives’ passion for normality is, at last, high on professional agendas and the many facets of midwives’ roles, e.g. high dependency, mental health, public health and community engagement, are being acknowledged.

Paediatric Fasting Times

The National Service Framework for Children [DoH, 2003] encourages the development of guidelines and the use of audit to ensure that the treatment and care offered to children is continually improving. Thus an audit was undertaken in a South London Day Surgery Unit to ascertain the fasting times of children undergoing dental treatment under general anaesthetic. A literature search identified that clear fluids can be safely ingested until two hours prior to general anaesthesia and the Trust guidelines were found to be congruent with current evidence.

NSF fails to measure up

Growth assessment is the best single measure for defining the health and nutritional status of children (de Onís et al, 1993), while it serves as an indicator of the quality of life of entire populations. Until this month's publication of the National Service Framework for Children (Department of Health (DH), 2004), the DH agreed. Its advice has always been that growth is a key indicator of normal growth and development. Its published policy on the subject, with sections in bold print, reminded the reader that failure to grow at an appropriate rate may be associated with a primary growth disorder, but is more commonly due to a failure to thrive which can be a pointer to chronic ill health, neglect or abuse. It concluded with a warning that purchasers and providers review arrangements for the monitoring of the growth of children (DH, 1996).

News

Putting their heads together: the Department of Health last month published the long awaited National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services. Health secretary John Reid said it was 'the biggest national effort there has ever been to improve health and social care services for children, young people and their parents'.

Breaking ground, hitting ground: A Sure Start rapid response service for parents and their under fours

This paper describes a project aimed at taking an under fours' counselling and parent support service into a neighbourhood characterized by particularly high levels of deprivation and ethnic diversity. Referrals to the local CAMHS showed a high level of disturbance in school aged children and adolescents in this area. However, children under 4 years were strikingly under-represented in referral statistics, suggesting the need to make our service more accessible to this group. The project took the form of a once-weekly clinic run in a community centre. Differences in ways of engaging and working with the families in order to make the service accessible and ‘user friendly’ are described. So, too, is a protocol developed in order to support the worker in thinking through the many anxiety raising situations to be responded to in dealing with severely deprived families living in extremely stressful situations. Three clinical examples illustrate that a major value of this initiative was in increasing the worker's understanding of ethnic and cultural differences and of how to work with them. The service also helped to promote good liaison between statutory and voluntary agencies. The project was established initially under the auspices of Sure Start, a government sponsored scheme for enriching developmental opportunities of under fours and their parents in deprived areas. After running for 18 months, it will be funded through mainstream resources, as an example of the kind of innovative work with hard to reach populations encouraged by the guidelines given in the new National Service Framework for Children in England.

The Quest for an Instructional Delivery Framework for Children with Gerstmann's Syndrome

Gerstmann's syndrome, a disorder of cognition, is characterized by the tetrad of finger agnosia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and right-left disorientation. A review of areas in the brain affected by the syndrome is discussed in order to determine cognitive weaknesses and strengths of affected children. Because of the tetrad of symptoms associated with Gerstmann's syndrome, providing educational assistance to children with this syndrome is a challenging task for the educator. One of the most challenging problems presented to educators is to plan an education program based on the child's information-processing strengths, taking into account his or her disabilities. No systematic cataloguing of an instructional delivery framework concerning children with Gerstmann's syndrome is available. To provide such a framework, the following two research questions were asked: How can the medical, neuropsychological and educational elements of Gerstmann's syndrome be'converged so that an instructional delivery framework for children with Gerstmann's syndrome be formulated? How can the information-processing strengths of the child with Gerstmann's syndrome be translated into an asset-based instructional approach? The goal of instruction is to move from the child's strengths to those areas with which the child is less comfortable or had less experience. Furthermore, educational implications as well as specific recommendations for children with Gerstmann's syndrome are discussed.

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester

Over the summer the maternity services suddenly began receiving the kind of attention last experienced in the early 1990s when the Health Select Committee published their report and the Government responded with Changing Childbirth (Department of Health, 1993). On 18 July, the Department of Health Children's Taskforce team held an ‘open space’ event to begin to define the scope of the National Service Framework for Children that will include maternity care, and Sheila Adam, Chair of the Maternity and Neonatal Workforce Group, addressed a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Maternity (APPG) at Westminster. The same week, the Dr Foster website was launched providing comparative birth statistics for most UK maternity units, accompanied by a Good Birth Guide supplement in the Sunday Times (15 July) and a Channel 4 television programme.

Working together to safeguard children: challenges and changes for inter-agency co-ordination in child protection

The publication of Working Together to Safeguard Children (DoH, 1999b) and the new Assessment Framework for Children in Need (DoH, 1999) pose considerable challenges for inter-agency work in the child protection field. This paper explores the core themes and objectives of these two policy frameworks. A number of critical tensions within these policy documents are identified particuarly with regards to the definition of 'children in need' and the quality of inter-agency working outside the child protection system. The paper explores the challenges for the inter-agency community of making the shift to a more needs-led approach. A key theme in managing this change is the inter-relationship of three domains of partnership: partnerships with service users, partnerships between agencies/disciplines, and partnerships within agencies/disciplines. Using an adapted version of Howe's (1992) matrix of partnership, these inter-relationships are examined. It is argued that increasing the levels of co-ordination between agencies will only reap benefits if this is based on intra-agency clarity and commitment to child welfare work. The paper concludes by identifying eight implementation issues for Working Together to Safeguard Children.

What future for the care system -is 'best practice' possible in social care? (group 5)

The recognition of need to change the framework for Children's Services if the implementation of the Children Order is to occur in its entirety

A National Framework for Children's Services: AECA's View

Council of Australian Governments (COAG) proposed, in its discussion paper released in November 1995, that it develop a national framework for children's services in Australia. This is part of its review of intergovernmental responsibilities for the delivery of children's services. The review consists of two steps, the first being intergovernmental agreement on a national framework, and the second, bilateral agreements between the Commonwealth and each State and Territory to implement the national framework. The Australian Early Childhood Association, Inc. (AECA) has prepared a submission which sets out its views on the objectives, outcomes, and features of a national framework for children's services. The Association strongly believes that the interests of children should be the paramount consideration in developing the national framework for a children's services system.

Children and death: guidelines for grief work.

Many of the emotional and relational difficulties children face in successfully resolving grief work are correlated with their conceptual framework surrounding the meaning of death. Children's abilities to survive emotional crisis are strengthened by the parent or counselor who is able to address with the child possible conflicts of meaning and to confront paradoxes and problems which put the child's framework in jeopardy.

A Framework for Children’s Participatory Practices in Virtual Worlds

In recent years, participation of children in virtual worlds has grown and children are also the largest number of users of virtual worlds (KZero, 2009a). This growth in participation in virtual worlds has brought out discussion about their effects on children’s lives. In this article, we consider opportunities of virtual worlds to engage and educate children about their civic life. The aim of this paper is to establish a framework for participation in virtual worlds and to test the framework by looking at current participatory practices in virtual worlds. In this paper we present a framework for children’s participation in virtual worlds which is based on research review. Our framework sees children in virtual worlds as social actors, learners of civic participation and as citizens. Results of a survey conducted to find the participatory practices of children in virtual worlds are also presented. The results indicate that children are highly interested in socializing with friends and engaging in avatar related activities. It was also found that traditional forms of civic participation are not very common in virtual worlds. Thus, there is a need to promote traditional forms of civic participation and at the same time look at new opportunities presented by virtual worlds for civic participation.