Changing Children’s Services – promoting and supporting informal care Prof. Robbie Gilligan,

1. Getting it Right for Every Child Conference, Glasgow, September 2008 Changing Children’s Services – promoting and supporting informal care Prof. Robbie Gilligan, School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin

2. ‘Fragments’ by Raymond Carver And did you get what You wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself Beloved on the earth

3. Harsh reality • But many vulnerable young people may not feel ‘beloved’. There is a real risk that their future may represent • ‘an endless tundra of aloneness and loneliness’ (Brian Friel, Irish playwright)

4. Isolation of young person who grew up in care (1) • Living in bed-sit with girlfriend and child • Bitter about the after-effects of life in care • Tells researcher he would get married • ‘But I have no-one to invite to the wedding’ (Maunders et al)

5. Relationships and Vulnerability • Young people may be vulnerable because (or in large part because ) of lacking a network of safe, trusting, supportive enduring relationships with others • Such a profile is a striking feature of many of the most vulnerable

6. Isolation of young person who grew up in care (2) • Young woman who had left care and was part of study of how such young people who were doing • Researcher got a phone call in middle of night from this woman who felt endangered by a man at that moment because researcher was the only person she felt able to call on (she knew researcher only very slightly) (Judy Cashmore)

7. The importance of relationships • Relationships (and not just formal interventions or services) are a key element in helping young people to escape the risk of social exclusion.

8. Services and Relationships • Services do not deliver or guarantee relationships • Relationships and enduring connections more likely to arise in the natural and informal networks of the person • Challenge for services is to work in ways which nurture and sustain the emergence of relationships

9. Relatedness and Relationships for Children • Attachment relationships (enduring, comforting , empowering) • Primary attachments • parents, • replacement carers • Secondary attachments • Significant adults • Teachers • Relatives • ‘Organic’ Mentors • Peers

10. The Power of Relationships (1) • ‘Although education and other societal services may have a preventive effect (e.g. Jahnukainen, 2004) it seems , interestingly, that much more power lies in totally non-institutionalised and non-formal factors such as close human relationships (emphasis added) (Jahnukainen and Jarvinen, 2005, p. 680)’

11. The Power of Relationships (2) • ‘it was those individuals [adult survivors of childhood maltreatment] with good relationship experiences across different domains and across childhood, adolescence and adulthood who were particularly likely to demonstrate resilience’ (Collishaw et al , 2007)

12. Key Message • Importance of a ‘strong relationship with an adult’ for vulnerable young people generally (Luthar, Sawyer and Brown, 2006) • Need to focus on building relationships, rather than services, for young people

13. Strong Relationship with Adult • Emotional support • Practical support • Positive role model • From relationships with women and men

14. Raimon Gaita in Romulus, My Father ‘On many occasions in my life I have had the need to say, and thankfully have been able to say: I know what a good workman is; I know what an honest man is: I know what friendship is; I know because I remember these things in the person of my father, in the person of his friend Hora, and in the example of their friendship’ p. 74

16. Importance of recognising complex and positive motivation in give and take of support • Russian Jewish man taught Ian Smith (Tameside Social Services) as a boy to play chess. It emerged later that the man had lost five sons in the second world war. Ian was then a boy of their age

17. Social Support

18. Sources of Informal Social Support

19. Importance of Siblings • Older siblings may play a ‘quasi-parental role, providing advice, guidance and practical support’ (Wade, 2006) as for this care leaver: • ‘I think (his sister) helps him feel like he’s got a home, even though he doesn’t live there. He can go and get his washing done there and she’s very caring and accepting of him’ (Leaving care worker quoted in Wade, 2006)

20. Informal support for young people under stress – the importance of siblings? • ‘[Findings]suggest that sibling affection is protective (against stressful life events) regardless of the age gap found between siblings and the gender composition of the dyad…..and of the quality of the parent-child relationship…………… the provision of security and comfort once ascribed mainly to parental figures may [emphasis in original] also be a role that siblings can fulfil when children experience stress caused by life events’ (Gass, Jenkins and Dunn, 2006).

21. Importance of peers and informal support • At the end of the day you only have each other. The staff are lovely but they’re paid to be here and there’s no getting out of that. They can’t be with us every minute so it’s up to us to make the place home….make sure it’s the way we want it………..no one is allowed to get too big for their boots here….it just spoils it for everyone. The staff cannae stop that happening, that’s for us to do. (Bryony, quoted in Emond 2002)

22. The power of teachers (1) • Story 1: ‘Whatever you do, girls, keep reading books’ (Primary Teacher to young class, whose words reverberate down the generations)

23. The Power of Teachers (2) • Story 2: ‘You work hard, and you’ll do alright’ Young teacher of English, whose words prove turning point in life of 16 year old

24. Value of Social Roles • ‘for women and men of varied educational status, an increased number of roles was associated with better quality relations with others, a greater sense of effectively managing one’s life and surroundings, greater purpose in life and greater positive affect’ • From Ahrens and Ryff (2006) based on data from the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS)

25. Socially Valued Roles • Performing valued social roles offers social inclusion and relationships: (examples) • student • worker • neighbour • relative • volunteer • faith community member • community citizen

26. Key Domains in a Person’s Life as a Source of Valued Social Roles

27. Multiple players in supporting Education and Spare Time Activities • Parents • Siblings • Carers • Teachers • Sports Coaches • Other Relatives • Others

28. Examples of Adults Supporting Progress in Education and Spare Time Activities • Supporting involvement in • Rugby club • Mascot of ice hockey club • Synchronised swimming • Dance • Learning to play flute • Tennis • Collecting Tropical Fish • Care of Neighbours’ Horses

29. Turning Points - Example • ‘[One] man emphasised that being good at sports in adolescence changed his life. After being successful in boxing he was offered an opportunity to join an army special group for athletics. This was good for his self esteem. In his own words, being good at boxing was “kind of like the first time I felt proud of something. I felt proud of myself”’. (an example from Finland, from Ronka, Oravala and Pulkinnen, 2002)

30. Mentors, Turning Points and Serendipity • [Man sent as boy to reform school, and assigned to electrical workshop] ‘ ……he loved amateur radio. And he got me interested in radio and electrical stuff and things of that nature………….He saw the potentials in me. He saw I enjoyed electricity. I enjoyed radio and stuff like that. He took me under his wing. And I thought an awful lot of this guy in a short ten months I worked with him. He was a prince…….I prepared my whole life in ten months to do something.

31. Mentors, Turning Points and Serendipity (continued) ..Think about it. Those ten months were crucial in my life. Because they turned me around. [Name of prison] turned me around. Jack turned me around. Jack was a humanitarian and cared for me as an individual. Let’s get down to brass tacks. What if Jack wasn’t there? What if I wasn’t offered the opportunity?......He treated me right. As a matter of fact, after I left [name of prison] year after year on a yearly basis I would take my wife and kids, we’d drive all the way to [name of prison] to see Jack’ (‘Gilbert’ in Laub and Sampson, 2003, p. 141

32. Turning Points • ‘A major turning point has the potential to open a system the way a key has the potential to open a lock……………action is necessary to complete the turning.’ (Abbott, 1997, 96-97 quoted in Laub and Sampson, 2003, 282)

33. Turning Points • Two sources to assist in ‘completing the turning’: • The agency of the young person • The support of adults • From social network • From professional systems

34. Examples of positive influences in the stories of delinquent men aged 70 (Laub and Sampson) • Marriage • Parenthood • Stability in employment • Positive experiences in institutions (reform school , prison)

35. Examples of positive influences in the stories of delinquent men aged 70 (Laub and Sampson)(2) • Conversion to new value systems (Laub and Sampson, 2003, p. 130-134) (e.g. through • religious faith, • Alcoholics Anonymous, • discipline and meaning acquired in the military • Relationship with mentors • Being or becoming an ‘active player’ in shaping their own future (Laub and Sampson, 2003, p. 141)

36. Australian Care Leavers Judy Cashmore and Marina Paxman (2006) found three factors to be predictors of good outcomes for the young people (n=47) in their four wave study: • the young person having a sense of ‘felt security’ (which itself was associated with fewer moves); • the young person enjoying social support after leaving care (most valuable it seems if coming from family and carers); • and continuing to live in the same accommodation after the legal age limit for leaving care.

37. US Care Leavers • Courtney et al., (2005) have explored what is associated with ‘connectedness’ (defined in their study as being at work or in full time education) for young care -leavers? • the young person being still in care at age 19[1] (which more than doubled the chances for a young person of being ‘connected’ in this sense when compared to those not still in care ); • the young person aspiring to graduate from college; • the young person being close to a family member (which doubled their chance of being ‘connected’); • and the young person being satisfied with their care experience when they looked back on it. • [1]Importantly, Courtney and his colleagues considered whether the ‘stayers at 19’ might have been systematically different from the ‘leavers’. Following their analysis of the data, they are confident that this is not the case especially since one of the three states (Illinois) on which the data is based actually has a care leaving age for all its care leavers of 19 years.

38. Points to consider • Vulnerability may be associated particularly with: • Being a boy (boys/men poorer at accessing informal support; and having a baby where relevant may help pull in support for a girl – not a recommendation!) • Leaving residential care • Having entered care in teenage years • Doing better may be associated with: • Continuing to live with foster carers • Staying on in education • The importance of the passage of time • Things may get a bit better as the young person gets older

39. Vulnerable Youngsters may need more time and more tolerance • Real parents would try to help, even if you were older, and young people who have been in care might need more time than others to work things out and get themselves settled down. They need to kick back a bit – they shouldn’t be punished for it forever (‘Carrie’ quoted in Happer, McCreadie and Aldgate, 2006, p. 52)

40. Essential Mindset (1) • Multiple Forms of Desired Outcomes (stronger, safer children) • Multiple Pathways to Desired Outcomes • Multiple Players supporting Progress on these Multiple Pathways • Value ‘life’s ordinary plenty’ (Patrick Kavanagh)

41. Essential Mindset (2) • Services play only one (key) part • Need to respect and value what other players bring • Need to cultivate valued social roles for vulnerable young people

42. Implications for Practice and Policy- some examples • Seek to strengthen social networks – and connections to siblings, other relatives, friends, neighbourhood etc • Value family group conferencing and such approaches • Value relative / kinship care (which gets favourable ratings in many studies)

43. A final thought • What do we want / hope for as the legacy of our intervention when the child / young person is • 16? • 22? • 30? • A parent?

44. References • Abbott, A. (1997) ‘On the Concept of Turning Point’ Comparative Social Research 16, 85-105 • Ahrens, C. and Ryff, C. (2006) ‘Multiple Roles and Well-being: Socio-demographic and Psychological Moderators’ Sex Roles 55: 801 - 815 • Arber, S. (2004) ‘Gender, marital status and ageing: Linking material, health, and social resources’ Journal of Aging Studies 18, 91- 108 • Brennan, E. (2007) Experience: I was raised by the nuns Weekend Guardian, February 17 http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,2013086,00.html • Cashmore, J. and Paxman, M.(2006) ‘Predicting after-care outcomes: the importance of ‘felt’ security’ Child and Family Social Work 11, 3, 232 – 241. • Laub, J. and Sampson, R. (2003) Shared Beginnings, Divergent Lives – Delinquent Boys to Age 70 Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press • Laursen, E. and Birmingham, (2003) ‘Caring Relationships as a Protective Factor for At-Risk Youth: An Ethnographic Study’ Families in Society 84, 2, 240-246 • Lewontin, R. (2000) The Triple Helix: Gene, Organism, and Environment Mass.: Harvard University Press • Ronka, A., Oravala, S and Pulkinnen, L. (2002) ‘ “ I met this wife of mine and things got onto a better track” Turning points in risk development’ Journal of Adolescence 25, 47-63 • Thoits, P. (1995) ‘Stress, Coping and Social Support Processes: Where Are We? What Next? Journal of Health and Social Behaviour (extra issue) 53-79 • Ungar, M. (2004) Nurturing Hidden Resilience in Troubled Youth Toronto: University of Toronto Press • Velleman, R. and Orford, J., (1999) Risk and Resilience – Adults Who Were the Children of Problem Drinkers Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers