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Foster care has long been an option for youngsters in need of good parenting, but until recently it has not been associated with the criminal justice system, writes Craig Kenny.

In recent years, specialist foster carers have been taking in young offenders on remand in some areas, but the line between parenting and punishment was further blurred last November when the then home secretary David Blunkett announced ‘intensive fostering’ schemes. These were hailed as an alternative to custody for persistent offenders as young as 10.

Intensive fostering is a highly structured programme where the young person in care has to earn points to gain privileges, such as a few hours unsupervised time or the right to make a phone call to their birth parents.

The idea comes from Oregon in the US where it has been running for 30 years. Research there suggests that it halves the likelihood of re-arrest in boys when compared to those in care alongside other children in institutions.

Lack of support

Barbara Russell, director of one of the three UK pilots, NCH Wessex Community Project, says that they accept referrals for children aged 10 to 17 who are not getting the support they need at home to prevent them re-offending.

Placements are for 12 months and are very limited in number – only 18 over the three-year life of the pilot. 

“We only take young people who would otherwise have a very substantial sentence,” Russell says. “We have got to be proportionate about over use of this very scarce commodity. But in the right circumstances we would take a 10-year-old.

“Really, intensive fostering should be very last resort when everything else has been tried, such as working with the family. That’s because there’s a history of new initiatives that tend to be used too much early on.

“I see us as replacing the positive parenting that some people have not got the physical or mental resources to provide,” she says.

Points

For the first three weeks the regime is very restrictive – no unsupervised time, no TV or computer games in the bedroom – but as points are earned for good behaviour, the child ‘graduates’ to the next level and gains privileges accordingly.

“It’s not easy for them - these are children who have been living without boundaries for a considerable length of time,” says Russell.

There is a huge amount of support available. Each child has a programme supervisor, a skills trainer and an individual therapist, while their birth family has a family therapist. No other professionals are involved - even if the child has drug, alcohol or mental health problems, says Russell.

In addition, all the foster carers meet as a group with the programme supervisor weekly, and the meeting is videoed and emailed to Oregon for advice and support.

One notable change from the US model is the amount of training given to the carers. In the US, state-approved foster carers have just five hours training – in the UK it is six months.

Remand fostering

The three areas chosen for the pilots are also attached to Youth Offending Teams that had experience of remand fostering.

One of the two carers to date fostering a child at the Wessex pilot is Helen Wilson, a 62-year-old widow with five grown-up children of her own who has six year’s experience of remand fostering.

“It’s all structure – times to get up, to go to bed,” she says. “Had you been just an ordinary foster carer you would find it quite difficult, but once you have done remand fostering it comes easy. It’s just the points system we find difficult and all the red tape.”

Fifteen-year-old Darren, who she is fostering, is currently under a two-year supervision order. “They do start to get bored,” says Wilson. “It’s understandable as he has no friends here, just me. It’s tiring finding them things to do. We play golf, go swimming, visit museums, walk the dog.

“A lot of these youngsters have had no childhoods. We try to show them other things in life, simple things. The idea is to help them turn themselves around, sort out their offending, give them security and safety and above all to listen.”

Drop in the ocean

Few doubt the value of such schemes, especially as an alternative to custody for young people, but with around 2,500 under-18s currently in prison and over 3,000 in some form of custody, the few dozen who will benefit under the pilots are a drop in a very large ocean.

Frances Crook

Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, says: ‘David Blunkett originally announced this as “secure fostering” and was talking about putting bars on people’s homes – it was a barmy idea.

‘His civil servants tried to retrieve it from his very muddled announcement and came up with intensive fostering, which is not dissimilar to schemes run by the voluntary sector for a number of years.

‘If a child is on streets or their home life is abusive, then intensive fostering can be a very good response for that child. I’m absolutely in support of it, but it needs resources, it needs the right families, and it needs support from social services. It can also be very expensive.’

Alternative to custody?

Crook is also concerned that courts will use intensive fostering in addition to custody instead of as an alternative to it.

Chris Stanley, head of policy at rehabilitation agency Nacro, points out that this has already happened with the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme. ‘Courts used ISSPs because they were attractive instead of as an alternative to custody, but if there’s a breach in the order the penalty might be a custodial sentence, which otherwise would not have been given,’ he says.

‘It’s important that intensive fostering is only used if they really are on the custody threshold.’

The other problem he envisages is a national rollout of the pilot schemes, given the national shorage of foster carers – particularly those with the relevant experience of remand fostering. ‘I suspect the pilots will be successful, but pilots rely on the skills of those involved. A national rollout will be more difficult.’

The other big question for the government is cost. But as Stanley points out, the cost of keeping a child in a young offender institution is around £50,000 a year, while secure training centres can run to £150,000 a year. “Intensive fostering is unlikely to cost more.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Intensive fostering will be piloted with foster care providers in Hampshire; Staffordshire and London and will target the most disaffected, disengaged and excluded young people.

"It will provide specialised, highly intensive care for serious young offenders who might otherwise face custody.  The intensive fostering pilot started in March 2005 and will last approximately 18 months. 

"At present Treatment Foster carers receive £26,000 a year, we are hoping that Intensive Foster carers will receive a similar amount. (roughly £2,000 a month)," he concluded

• Names of the foster carer and young offender have been changed.

Information sessions for professionals working in criminal justice and welfare; and foster carers
 
NCH Wessex Community Project Remand/Post Custody and 'Intensive Fostering¹ Information Sessions for professionals working in criminal justice and/or welfare:

Tuesday, May 17th, from 8.30am ­ 1pm

The Novotel Hotel, 1 West Quay Road, Southampton

8.30am ­ 10am;   10am ­ 11.30am; 11.30am ­ 1pm

To book your place on a session, please telephone: 01329 225 720 or email: wessex.community.projects@nch.org.uk

www.nch.org.uk/wessexcommunityprojects


Information Afternoon for prospective carers 2pm at the Novotel Hotel in Southampton on 17th May

(The afternoon session 2pm ­ 4pm is open to people who are interested in becoming Intensive Foster Carers and takes place at the same venue).