I've worked in 2 different Local Authorities in the last 12 months. Imagine a case, say a 15 year old girl, who "does her own thing" eg goes drinking in parks and won't come home at night, Mother and relatives say they can't cope. In one local authority area the response to a case like this was to go down the Child Protection route as the child was putting herself at risk and the parents were unable to prevent this. In the other,the family is basically told to get on with it...it is too soon to say Child Protection procedures would never be considered in a case like this, but there is quite a different attitude....and the resources for teenagers seem very thin on the ground. I'm not sure which if one approach really is better than the other, but I'd be interested in other people's experience of this sort of thing.
Lose lose situation. Toss a coin.
Teenagers, where to begin? First off, it ought to be noted that in the most recent round-up of serious case reviews, the second biggest group after babies were teenagers - in some ways it can be significantly harder to keep teenagers safe because of the risk they can pose to themselves added on to whatever it is their parent(s) are doing or not doing to add to the situation. That's what also makes going down the child protection route so problematic where teenagers are concerned, the fact that their cooperation (or otherwise!) can make or break any plan that agencies and families come up with.
The question for me, around going the CP route is 'what does this option give us (i.e. those involved with the child in question, whether family members or professionals) that we don't already have?' - whether it's in relation to teenagers or any child, there can be a tendency from other agencies to see children on CP plans as somehow magically safer than those without. Nonsense, of course, as any plan is only as good as the agencies and individuals involved in it and still there's a lot of room for things to go awry...
Agree wholeheartedly that there are significantly less resources for teenagers - we have a hard enough time getting people to be foster carers and, oddly enough, very few of them are chomping at the bit to care for teenagers! I can understand the temptation to say 'let the family get on with it' as often we get requests to 'sort out' or 'take away' someone's teenager and there's not even the possibility of getting them adopted and ending social care's involvement that way! There's a definite need for resources around intensive work with families who are struggling with teenagers but again it's not as attractive a proposition as working with toddlers, or so it would seem!
Hi there RubyTrue
I'm no expert but working with teenagers is an interest of mine (particularly more challenging teenagers).
I think in a situation like the one you are describing it's important to unpick exactly what the issues are. From my experience (limited) it would be more unusual to come across a teenager who isn't 'doing their own thing'... by that I mean, is it not common for teenagers to test boundaries?... after all, and I think I've said it before on here, that is simply a method of establishing ones identity and the beginning of understanding themselves and their position within society... we all have different boundaries for various stuff, and often a way of establishing those is to challenge the 'rules' others are imposing. Also teenagers are easily influenced, they are at a transition period in life where they are maturing and with that comes a whole host of changes and brings confusion to the individual. So the fact she goes drinking in parks and doesnt come home is no surprise... I imagine quite a few of us did this, but only when older can we see the risks in this kind of behaviour. But when we think about risks, what are the actual risks? I a not suggesting this behaviour is risk free, in fact far from it, but I assume she is not drinking and staying out on her own. Which then leads me back to teenagers being easily influenced... it's a time in life where experimenting is crucial. I mean, why not drink and stay out? What does she gain from it? Can she see the risks? Does she feel safe within her friendship group? Can SHE tell YOU the dangers of drinking and staying out? We can all read a text book and tell people how bad it can be for you but teenagers are largely sick of hearing that. It's sociable, offers a buzz, is exciting, tastes good, beats being bored at home... we know why we may enjoy partying... what makes it different for a teenager?
*The above is simply questions and thoughts and doesnt mean I think the behaviour should be ignored*
In terms of child protection... well, I could probably drive through town now and see at least 10 teenagers hanging around and not at home. I imagine their parents think they are at a friends house and not roaming the streets. Should this warrant intervention like CP? Who would you be protecting her from? Herself? What measures can you put in place? Tell her not to go out? Well, what happens if she tells you to 'f' off and walks out? Where would we draw the line in terms of statutory intervention? What about other areas of her life? Doing well (or at least does she think she's doing well)?
In terms of the parents not coping I think it's important to understand what they are not coping with. I think parents of teenagers, who can see the risks that are potential (not definite risks) will say they cannot cope, but what is it they can't cope with. Do they understand her as a person? As a soon-to-be adult who is finding her own place in this big World. Or do they still look at her as a child who needs protecting from all of lifes potential risks? Teenagers, in my opinion are quite complex characters. They are at a cross roads in their life where they are trying to be adult like but doing it in a pretty childish way. Should parents be condemned for not being able to control a teenager? I think that is a dangerous method of working because naturally in your teens you are moving on from being controlled and attempting to learn some self-control... impose more rules and waaahey there's more rules to break.
I think the youth services are best placed to work with young people like the girl you are mentioning. In order to engage a young person into some kind of dialogue about their life is not always easy. In my experience teenagers find authority a pain in the backside... at this age life is full of contradictions and you need to learn things for yourself.
- You can be anything you want to be in life..... but struggling at school and being constantly told what grades you need for college
- Drinking is bad for you... but we all have a right laugh when drinking
- You dont need to dress or appear the way you do.... but everything a young person looks at dictates how they should look
- Your friends are a bad influence... but friendships are important and I feel safe with my friends
- You need to focus on education.... but Alan Sugar (I think) didn't get a great education and look where he is
I'm just trying to highlight some of the contradictions because actually to successfully engage with teenagers it's so important to understand them and where they are coming from. We have all been there and lets face it, at that time in our lives our heads are pretty much all over the place. Sometimes we simply need to learn things for ourselves. Is it because she is 15, female and drinking out late that people see it as risky? Would it be different if it was a 15 year old male? There's no right or wrong answer in my opinion but I do think questioning in this way may challenge the way we make decisions. Is she actually drinking a lot? Is there any clue there are any immediate risks?
That doesn't mean to say support networks shouldn't be in palce because they absolutely should, but it is more about targetting it in the right way the first time. Building trust and respect with teenagers takes time, as with anyone, but get it wrong and come across as authoritative and you may lose any hook in that you had. I'm not suggesting this behaviour is risk free, or that CP processes shouldnt be put in place... just think when it comes to this client group, we need to think more carefully about how we intervene so that we get a message across without being the boring adult who has nothing better to do than winge at someone for doing exactly what most of us may have done.
Anyway, don't think there is a right or wrong way forward after all that. Just throwing some stuff out there, I appreciate there is probably much more to it than you can say on here :)
Its all about values isn't it?
If we agree as a society that we were wrong about the age of consent, the age for drinking, the age limit after which children are no longer children and responsible for themselves...if you agree that the idea of prohibiting mating and living together at the age of puberty is wrong....if you agree that it is not harmful to a person to be exploited and controlled by strangers ......then you will take one line.
If you don't you will take another.
There is no absolute set of societal values that society has consensus on.
Most of us....wherever we stand....are pretty likely to think that we personally are near enough the right template or benchmark/yardstick for an ideal human race. Whether we are Ghenghis Khan, Mother Theresa, Sadam Hussain, or Ian Paisley (oops controversial!)
So when it comes to statutory social work, we have a statutory obligation, but no statutory/mandatory value base on which to calibrate it.
I'm not arguing for one......I'm just perhaps coming to the conclusion that the logical destination of either path is bad.
Either the decline and fall of society into a dog-eat dog free for all, or the imposition of a set of values and standards, which inevitably needs incremental strengthening and enforcement to repress "liberal" resistance, until you are in a totalitarian repressive prison-state.
The hardest position to retain is the middle ground where there needs to be a fierce arguement and debate and struggle over each practical/operational dilemma in society, such as the subject of this thread, which holds society in a delicate balance somewhere in the tolerable mid point between the two extremes. The energy and motivation to indefinitely sustain that fierce debate in order to indefinitely sustain a relatively free but safe community is what is hard.
Keep at it guys ( non-gender-specific guys that is!!)
The authority I work in is of the "get on with it" type. However...with a bit of rather persistent advocacy with management it is possible to get foster placements. the trouble is, once the funding has been allocated, there are very few foster carers who want to take on a difficult teenager, although it does give the family the sense that we are on their side, even though we're useless.
The cp route is wrong, in my opinion, as if the family is compliant what is the point? Although there may be a pattern in the family that indicates an underlying problem.
It is very worrying as a worker, as the risks these young people expose themselves to are so completely beyond our control, far more so than with small children.
My authority have a parenting programme for difficult teenagers - positive feedback from all involved as far as I know.
Like the others say its about the specifics of the case - if it is the case they are worried and anxious about what may well be just typical teenage things - is there no local parents coffee morning/ meet ups that they could go to? I used to run one and the primary benefit seemed to be not only parents sharing their successful strategies but the realisation that things that were happening were not specific to them
Failing that you could point them in the direction of the internet - lots of virtual coffee mornings on here such as mums net etc