Kinship Care: Help for Looked After Children in the Education System

This essay will explore how principles for working with children in kinship care and their carers influence professionals practice towards improving their educational outcomes. Legislations will be explored with an insight to the history and development of raising educational attainment of kinship children. The term Kin child/children is a child being raised by a member of their family because they can no longer live with their parents (Family and Friends Carers, 2011).Kinship care is defined in many ways such as private and informal, registered private and Local Authority foster care. However throughout this essay it will refer to ‘a child who is in care of a Local Authority and is deemed under section 22 of the Children Act 1989’ and is raised by a member of their family (Looked After Children, 2004). According to the United Nations Conventions on the rights of the child (UNCRC) ‘all children have a right to education’ (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989), this notion will be explored to examine how much this applies to children being raised by a family member. Children in kinship care can be viewed as having more additional behavioural issues than the general population of children which can have a negative effect on the child’s education (Padbury & Frost, 2002), however research what research? from children in care suggests it should be more about a paper exercise and not about being listened to suggesting the emphasis is on school attendance as opposed to the education received. Experience from the carer, the practitioner and the child will be explored linking theory to practice. In the last two decades a number of important pieces of legislation have been directly and indirectly aimed at improving the educational... ...inclusive environment, when there is a risk in producing poor results. Legislation has provided a framework to meet all children’s needs; politically there is some catching up to do, in the way of providing equitable resources. If this is not achieved, it will be difficult for society to embrace the concept of ‘inclusion’, which is so greatly needed. The PEP system continues to be worked and could be a useful tool in attaining good educational outcomes. The government's investment in the PEP has ensured education stays high on the agenda for all involved however it may be more than a paper system. Children with educational gaps can be missed and their behaviour and attitude is assumed it’s about their upbringing. However this is not always the case, the transition from school to school brings along its own social issues.