News

Case study

Sitaution: Julia Black is 23. She has an 18-month-old daughter, Shania, with her live-in partner Joe Allen, 32. She also has an eight-year-old son, Mikey, from a previous relationship. Julia had been known to social services around the birth of Mikey - her partner was violent and she was struggling to care for her son, who was placed briefly on the child protection register. Joe is well known to social services. He was physically and sexually abused by his grandfather, who was his primary carer. Taken into care at 10, Joe had 26 placement moves over the next three years - during which time his aggression towards carers saw him charged by police - before returning to the care of his father's extended family. 

Problem: Mikey's educational development has been slow and he has a support teacher at his school. His behaviour has become more challenging and has been both physically and verbally aggressive at school, mainly to adults. One day he arrived at school in a very subdued mood. His support teacher noticed what appeared to be cigarette burns. When asked he would only say "Joe-Joe hurt me". A social worker visited to find the home untidy and unclean, and Joe in an aggressive mood - he had always despised social workers from his experience in care. Julia would say nothing, and sat by while Shania cried throughout.

Panel responses

Rachel Reynolds
The first priority must be the safety of Mikey and Shania. Looking at this from a family placement perspective, I consider that the children are best placed away from home while the situation is assessed and support given.

It would appear that, as a child, Joe had a poor experience of social services. It is, perhaps, not surprising he continues to despise social workers. Was he ever given an opportunity to deal with his anger or offered counselling or support to help come to terms with his past experiences?

It is crucial that Mikey and Shania have a different experience of social services. A family and friends placement, if available, should be the first choice of placement. Failing that, Mikey and Shania must be carefully matched with foster carers who can meet their needs. They would need to:

• Manage Mikey's behaviour and work therapeutically with him - alongside support with his emotional and behavioural needs.
• Offer support, understanding and stability.
• Work closely with educational services.
• Have skills in working with children who have experienced abuse.
• Try to establish a relationship with Julia and Joe, to work closely with them and plan for the children's return home.

Although Joe despises social workers, a foster carer may be able to engage him. This could make all the difference as to whether he now accepts help and support. They may be able to encourage him to access support from voluntary services, which he may find more acceptable than support from the department. Similarly, they may be able to support Julia with her parenting, self-esteem and emotional health.

The carers should be fully supported themselves through regular supervision and family placement contact, and take part in social work training - in areas such as working with abused children - to help avoid placement breakdown. Also, they should access support groups and services such as child and adolescent mental health services.

Although services have failed Joe in the past, it is crucial to support him and his family now and to ensure that Mikey and Shania have different experiences of services for children and young people in care.

Yasmine Weatherall
Assuming that the immediate child protection issues have been addressed, it may be that Julia and her children are victims of domestic abuse by Joe. Some women will become involved in a violent relationship and then move on, while others will become involved in a series of abusive relationships.

Many of the women who become involved in these relationships will have low self-esteem and self-confidence, and little belief in themselves, and they may therefore be more likely to accept the abuse. Also, those who perpetrate violence tend to suffer from low self-esteem and self-worth, and this may lead them to wish to control those with whom they have relationships.

If Julia is a victim of domestic abuse, she may not feel able to talk freely in front of Joe because of fears of repercussion, both to herself and to her children, as there is a direct link between violence towards a partner and violence towards children. So it is important to try to talk with Julia alone in a safe, preferably neutral, place, to give her the opportunity to be more open about what is going on at home.

This should be approached sensitively, without attaching blame to Julia. Given that she may feel powerless to stop what is going on within the relationship, it is crucial to make efforts to empower her. This might be achieved by a family group conference, in which Julia could address her isolation and lack of support, and enable the family to become involved in a plan to protect the children.

It would also enable Mikey to voice his feelings and wishes around what happens at home and provide the arena to put the abuse into an open forum rather than remain hidden, as so often happens with domestic abuse. Also, the conference could be co-ordinated by an independent person, given Joe's feelings towards social workers.

Joe should be given the chance to address his violence, and be empowered to look at his behaviour, perhaps through a domestic violence perpetrators programme. Julia may benefit from individual work around her own self-esteem and self-confidence, to allow her to address the issues around domestic abuse.

User view

It's always a sad story when circumstances such as these arise in a family, writes Justin Dickson. It is such a shame that this kind of harsh reality happens every day, and that not every child is lucky enough to escape the negligence of their parents who somehow have lost the instinct to care for their children. If nothing is done to prevent further physical and mental harm to these children, the likelihood is that the same abuse that they have suffered will almost certainly pass down to the next generation - and so the story continues. 

It seems that Julia has had a hard time, having her son Mikey at the age of 15 and also being with a violent partner at the time. I wonder whether she ever had the support of her parents or someone close to her through these difficult stages in her life. My feeling is that she did not, and therefore had no one to turn to. 

Being in a relationship with yet another violent partner is not helping Julia, and is only increasing the chances of having her son and daughter being taken away from her. Now, with the identifiable abuse on Mikey, action must be taken to stop any more harm coming to him and his sister. 

Given Joe Allen's past, it is not surprising that he has grown up to be an aggressive and violent man, as many people do who suffer traumatic experiences such as his. Either Julia decides to wake up and starts looking out for her son and tending to her daughter's cries, and gets out of her relationship with Joe, or she can sit back and let her children be taken from her. 

What does Julia want for herself and her children? I feel that she must be helped in finding this out before she loses the choice altogether. It seems she has just lost interest and given up. So, what can be done? Well, Julia needs a lot of support and advice, and to regain some confidence. After being in one relationship with a violent partner at a young age and then another, her self-esteem must be shot to pieces. She needs her motivation back and time to think things over - some tender loving care would be nice, too. On the other hand, Joe needs a lot of help to deal with his problems, or the only place he will end up is prison. 

In the meantime, the children need a safe and secure environment, and that is the most important thing for them. No one wants to break up families, but in some cases you can't break further what is already broken. You can only repair it. 

Justin Dickson is a care leaver.