The children were then given a set of ‘helping people’ cards, showing pictures of professionals who work with children e.g. a teacher, social worker, doctor and police officer. They added dentists, opticians, ministers, specialist school based counselling services, and school care takers to the set of 26 cards that were provided.
Using the cards, the children identified an average of 14 adults in their lives whose job it was to help them. The number of adults identified ranged from 10 to 18. The children were then asked to classify the ‘helping people’ they had in their lives into those that ‘help a lot’, ‘help a little’ and ‘could help more’. Twenty-four of the 26 children were able to use the cards in this way. If possible, the children then described ways in which the
professionals in their lives had been supportive. Some children made judgements according to the quality of their contact with the professionals, others judged them according to the quantity.
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Social workers, foster carers and others who work for children’s services
Figure 3: The children’s selection of helping people cards for social workers, foster carers and others who work for children’s social care
About a third of the children within the sample were aware of children’s social care involvement in their lives. These children generally described social care interventions positively and, in some instances, suggested that the services had significantly improved their lives.
Nine children noted that they had at the time of the interview or previously had social workers. For example, one child described phoning a social worker to report that she had been hurt by her mother’s violent and aggressive partner, and that the partner had
subsequently and helpfully been removed from her home. She explained:
... I told them to get the social worker. So the police was on our door – knock, knock, knock. Where’s M? He was hiding behind me – proper hiding. So I said
“Get in front of me ... There. Have him”. Because Mum couldn’t cope, really couldn’t cope... And the next day all was calm.
(Interview with study child: Girl, living with birth parents; unsustained parental change, age eight)
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The same child also described help she had received from a family resource worker saying:
... She helped me very, very a lot ... She looked after me. She bought toys. She helped my Mum ... She looked after me if I was a bit poorly or a bit upset, or if I was angry and wanted to get the anger out of me.
Two of the children who were interviewed had become looked after since the previous phase of the study. They were also both complimentary about their social workers and valued the contact arrangements with their birth family that had been put in place. One of them described how he appreciated the support he received from the worker who
organised his contact. It was particularly important to him that the worker offered him a choice of activities for his contact sessions and respected the choices he made.
These two children seemed settled and happy, and were bonding with their new carers and their carers’ extended families. The carers’ grandchildren had become part of their friendship groups. The children excitedly described enjoying holidaying, riding scooters, and having regular healthy meals with their foster carers.
One additional child powerfully communicated the significance of his relationship with his previous foster carer. This child had been very close to her and found the separation, extremely difficult. He indicated that it was simply too painful to discuss her during the interview. When asked by the interviewer whether he had had a foster carer he replied,
‘No, no, no, no!’ His current carer then said, ‘But what about [name of previous carer]?’
The child then replied emphatically, ‘No!’
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Figure 4: The children’s selection of helping people cards for teaching and school staff
Teachers were extremely important sources of help in the lives of the children who were interviewed. All the 24 children who were interviewed selected their teachers as people who helped them and the majority (70%) put them in the most helpful category (i.e.
teachers helped them ‘a lot’). One child however explained that his teacher was unhelpful when other children were mean to him and would not let him play with a particular toy.
Similarly high numbers of children selected cards for classroom helpers and head teachers. However, about a third of the children regarded them as being ‘a little’ helpful or needing to ‘help more’ rather than helping them ‘a lot’ (the remainder were
unclassified). This in part reflected, however, more limited levels of contact that some of the children had with these school staff compared with their teachers rather than
dissatisfaction with the help they had provided. However, at least three of these children were in receipt of substantial support at school, either in relation to a disability, or
because of their behavioural needs.
The children expressed a wide range of views about their experiences of school from not wanting to go to school to ‘loving’ it. Those who said they enjoyed school valued the help they received with the academic work they found challenging, particularly literacy and mathematics. They talked positively about extra support they received at school for
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emotional and behavioural issues, appreciating the discipline and clear behavioural boundaries that were set in school.
One child, who has until recently been living with an abusive step parent was especially enthusiastic about the support he had received at school the previous year from his teacher, classroom assistant and SENCO, particularly in relation to controlling his anger.
He was aware that his mother and various school staff had worked together to help him.
He said he found it reassuring that if he told his mother about a problem she would discuss it with his teacher and ‘they would sort it out’. His special relationship with his classroom helper had made a difference to how he felt about attending. He described her as his ‘best friend’ and that he had been very upset when she had been on sick leave. He also linked his improved ability to regulate his emotions with his recent academic
progress. He said he no longer needed to talk to the SENCO very often because he was
‘doing well by myself and I’m doing great writing, great writing’.
Other children were less positive about school. Some expressed dislike and fear of particular school staff and/or subjects. For instance, one child said her classroom helper made her ‘shiver’, while another described his as having a ‘right temper when she’s angry’, often giving children detentions.
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School staff who work outside of the classroom
Figure 5: The children’s selection of helping people cards for school staff who work outside of the classroom
Other school staff who work outside the classroom, particularly the dinner ladies,
playground helpers and sports coaches, were also important sources of help in the lives of the children who were interviewed. These people were especially helpful if the children were physically hurt, being bullied and/or enjoyed sport. Only very small numbers of the children suggested that there was scope for these particular staff to be more helpful.
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Health workers and the emergency services
Figure 6: The children’s selection of helping people cards for health workers and emergency services
Over three-quarters of the children identified doctors, nurses and dentists as being helpful in their lives. The one child who made a suggestion as to how his dentist could help more was clear that he simply wanted his treatments to be ‘less painful’. The
children who had received hospital or regular GP treatment for acute or chronic illnesses were generally positive about the support they had received. One child was particularly complimentary about her specialist nurse, who she felt had treated her as an individual, and arranged celebratory parties when children were well enough to leave the ward.
Another child also mentioned a nurse who had helped him ‘a lot’ by dressing the wounds on his toes after surgery.
About half the children identified police and ambulance people as having helped them, or being available to help them, at some point in their lives. Six of the children had
witnessed or been aware of a range of incidents involving the emergency services. For instance, one child knew that his mother had contacted the police after his brother reported that he had been sexually abused by another child. Another child mentioned the local use of police surveillance related to incidents of young men riding motorbikes without crash helmets and the fire brigade attending frequent fires on the estate where he
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lived with his carers. The police had also visited another child’s home very recently to investigate her mother’s stolen purse.
One child spoke particularly positively about the police’s responses to incidents of domestic abuse between his father and his father’s partner:
I had to go home in the police car because T gets really drunk and then me and Dad have to go home ‘cos she causes arguments. So, we have to ring the police and then we have a ride in a police car and the police have a word with T
...They’re nice... They help sort your problems out.
(Interview with study child: Boy, living with birth parents; sustained parental change, age eight)