1. Promoting Contact Course (‘Relationships are motivated and shaped by our past experiences’)
Supporting children’s relationship with family and friends
Course designed by: Astell Evans (2008)

2. Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012) www.emptlondon.com
Aims
To look at the implications of legislation and national standards for foster carers in promoting and facilitating contact for children and young people in care
To identify the issues of contact between children/ young people in care and their birth families
To examine the impact contact can have on: foster carers
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

3. Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012) www.emptlondon.com
Objectives  
Be introduced issues related to supporting children and young people to identify their own contact and relationship needs
Have been given the opportunity to take part in group discussions about ways to work with children and young people to maintain appropriate contact and relationships with people that are significant to them
Explore strategies to support children and young people to develop appropriate and supportive relationships
Discussed appropriate issues linked with: National Fostering Standards & Regulations and TSD Standards (2.3 a + b)
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

4. Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012) www.emptlondon.com
The course makes leadership and management links with issues around managing a provision of care services that supports parents, families, carers and significant events.
It also makes links with managers’ abilities to manage provisions that promotes development through engagement relationship-based, child-centred practice
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

5. Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012) www.emptlondon.com
Scope
This workshop will not cover every aspect of contact and the resulting issues. However it will help you to understand what is involved in contact as well as the roles and responsibilities of foster carers and or Residential care staff.
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

6. Schedule 8, Contact Orders
Children Act (1989) - Sections: sch2, paragraph 15(1) Duty to promote contact
A clear duty to seek out, create and maintain (for all children looked after) relationships with:
parents
(includes non-married fathers without parental responsibility who may be living elsewhere)
 other people with parental responsibility
Friends
others connected with the child
Schedule 8, Contact Orders
Available to any child not in compulsory Care
Could be used in relation to a child in accommodation
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

7. Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012) www.emptlondon.com
TSD Standards
2.3: Relationship with parents and others 2.3a: Understand the importance of families and friends for children and young people 2.3b: Demonstrate how you involve families and others in the lives of children and young people and the important role of foster carers in helping a child maintain contact
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

8. What is the purpose of contact?
How does it fit into the child’s care plan?
Form contact takes – indirect versus direct
Quality versus Quantity
Developmental considerations (including managing behaviour issues)
What needs to be done to make contact work for the child?
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

9. Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012) www.emptlondon.com
Purpose of Contact (1)
Assess the parent or carer and child relationship
Assess the parents’ or carers’ ability to care for and relate to the child adequately and appropriately
Help the parents or carers develop appropriate parenting behaviours
Help the child interact with the parent/carer
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

10. Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012) www.emptlondon.com
Purpose of contact (2)
Identify and resolve problems before the child returns home
Evaluate the family’s progress towards targeted changes
Assess the feasibility and timing of return home
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

11. Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012) www.emptlondon.com
Benefits of contact  
Contact enhances the possibility of a clearer sense of identity (Aldgate 1990, Thoburn et al 1989) higher self esteem in the child as she/he grows up (Fanshel and Shinn, 1978, Aldgate 1980)
Higher educational attainment is possible where contact with birth families is maintained (Aldgate 1990)
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

12. Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012) www.emptlondon.com
Benefits of contact (2)
Stable foster placements are more likely where contact with birth families is maintained (Berridge and Cleaver 1987, Fanshel and Shinn, 1978, Aldgate 1990)
Black children in foster families were much more likely to have frequent contact with their families than white children except when they were placed trans-racially when they had far less contact with their families than those placed with black families. (Barn 1993)
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

13. Regular positive Child contact
There is evidence that children who have regular and positive contact are more likely to be reunited with their birth parents. However, while such children are likely to remain in care for shorter periods, this is not a result of the contact per se. Rather it relates to a range of positive factors such as stronger parent-child attachment and good social work support with parents (Biehal, 2006).
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

14. Contact for Looked After Children
% of looked after children have contact with a family member on a weekly basis.
Benefits of contact can help a child to maintain their identity and come to terms with what has happened to them.
serves to reassure children to see that their parents/siblings are alright.
helps keep children abreast of changes at home
helps in assessment of whether return home will be safe: contact is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for reunification.
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

15. Challenges of Contact(1)
For some children contact associated with placement breakdown and further abuse when contact poor quality or problematic (Moyers et al, 2006; Selwyn, 2004)
Types of contact difficulties:
Unreliable contact when a parent does not turn up or is consistently late
Inappropriate amounts of contact
Safety, particularly where contact is unsupervised
Replay of negative relationships
Diminishing the influence of the foster carer (Moyers et al,2006)
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

16. Challenges of Contact(2)
High frequency contact for infants can produce high levels of stress through discontinuity of care/insensitive care
Disruption to infants’ daily routine, making it difficult for infants to experience settled caregiving
Infants who have experienced unreliable or chaotic
care in the past far worst: distress from frequent and often unsatisfactory contact can add to difficulties in aiding their recovery
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

17. Foster Carers and Contact
Foster carers crucial to supporting contact and helping children make sense of their history
They accept its importance but can find it stressful
Difficulties include:
birth parents' aggressive or violent behaviour
negative impact of birth parents behaviour on child
perception that social workers put birth parents' needs first (Austerberry et al, 2013)
Foster carers need practical and emotional support to meet the difficulties that often emerge during and after contact
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

18. Facilitating Contact for Children in Care (DFE 2014)
To ameliorate difficulties associated with contact social workers need to:
consider the purpose of contact arrangements for each child
influence the frequency, quality and safety of contact
ascertain the wishes and feelings of the child, parents and significant others
provide appropriate support for the child, birth family and carers
regularly discuss the effects of contact with the foster carer review contact arrangements on a regular basis
facilitate contact with other relatives (e.g. grandparents) as they can be a source of stability and continuity and counteract troubled relationships with parents (Moyers et al, 2006; Sen and Broadhurst, 2011)
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)

19. Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012) www.emptlondon.com
reflection exercise (‘Relationships are motivated and shaped by our past experiences’)
Following today’s discussions, what is different about family and friends for children in your family, compared with children who are looked after by the Local Authority?
How would you support a child or young person where there was no parental contact or contact had a negative impact on the child?
What do you do (or what would you do) – to access records to understand any limitations that have been placed upon relationships and contact with children and young people?
What further actions do you need to take to continuously promote your knowledge about contact?
Slides designed by: Astell Evans (2012)