Children with a Social Worker & Kinship Care
Children with a Social Worker & Kinship
The Extended Role of the Virtual School
From September 2021, the Virtual School Head’s role has been extended to include the strategic leadership of promoting the education outcomes of all children and young people with a social worker. It covers all children who were assessed as needing a social worker at any time due to safeguarding and/or welfare reasons, which includes all those subject to a Child in Need plan or a Child Protection plan. This includes children aged from 0 up to 18 in all education settings.
Why is this new role needed?
The Government’s Children in Need review (2019) identified that:
1.6 million children needed a social worker between 2012 and 2018, equivalent to 1 in 10 children or 3 in every classroom.
In 2018, 50% of children who had a social worker in the last six years were able to achieve a good level of development in the early years, compared to 72% of children who never had a social worker.
These children are around 3 times more likely to be persistently absent from school and between 2 to 4 times more likely to be permanently excluded than their peers. This group are also over ten times more likely to attend state-funded alternative provision settings than all other pupils.
These children are present in 98% of state schools and face barriers to education due to experience of adversity and trauma.
On average children with a social worker do worse than their peers at every stage of their education. Pupils who had a social worker in the year of their GCSEs were around half as likely to achieve a strong pass in English and Maths than their peers, and at the end of Key Stage 4 were around 3 times less likely to go on to study A levels at age 16, and almost 5 times less likely to enter higher education at age 18.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected all children and for many of the most vulnerable has increased barriers to education. It is essential that the cohort of children with a social worker are supported to recover from the pandemic.
Why are Virtual School taking on this role?
The Children in Need review (2019) recognised the crucial role that Virtual School Heads have in raising aspirations and promoting the educational achievement of our children placed in care and previously looked after.
The cohort of children and young people with a social worker have not had the benefit of a strategic leader that is able to champion their educational needs. The Virtual School is experienced in helping education settings and local authorities work together and can offer advice and support to teachers and social workers, with the aim of narrowing the attainment gap.
What are the aims of this role?
The key aims are to:
make visible the disadvantages that children with a social worker can experience, enhancing partnerships between education settings and local authorities to help all agencies hold high aspirations for these children.
promote practice that supports children’s engagement in education, recognising that attending an education setting can be an important factor in helping to keep children safe from harm.
level up children’s outcomes and narrow the attainment gap so every child can reach their potential.
We can support you with advice, guidance and signposting to evidence based interventions to support the academic progress of your young people with a social worker. We do not work directly with your young people and there is no additional funding available for individuals like there is with Children in Care.
It is the Virtual School’s role to:
champion the educational attendance, attainment, and progress of children with a social worker.
It is not the Virtual School’s role to:
work with individual children and their families;
respond to requests from parents or carers for intervention.
take responsibility for all children with SEND unless they have or have had a social worker.
The Virtual School offers advice and guidance for social workers, early help workers, education settings, parents/carers and other agencies.
Children with social workers have been identified as a group of children who face significant barriers to education as a result of experiences of adversity, most commonly abuse and neglect. These are known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES). This has been recognised by the government and measures have been put in place to provide support children with a social worker.
Regularly attending school, education or college is vital for children’s educational progress, their wellbeing, and their wider development. Children and young people become more vulnerable when they are not in education every day. Children of statutory school age should be in education for 25 hours a week.
Disruptive behaviour or sudden changes in behaviour can be an indication of unmet needs or a change in another aspect of a young person’s life. Relationship-based and restorative approaches are most effective for supporting children’s emotional regulation.
Children with a social worker are more likely to experience social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) issues than their peers.
Some children with a social worker may have a Special Education Need or Disability (SEND). Education settings also have a duty to use their best endeavours to meet the educational needs of children with SEND and should have make contact with the relevant SEND team, if appropriate.
Kinship
In December 2023, the government published the first National Kinship Care Strategy in England, titled ‘Championing Kinship Care’, building on the document ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’.
This new strategy details the Government’s plans and investments for kinship care for 2024-2025. One of these commitments is for an expansion to the role of the Virtual School from September 2024. This role will include championing the educational progress of all children in kinship care, and will allow kinship carers to access advice from the Virtual School on request, regardless of whether the child was previously in care.
Other governments commitments detailed in the strategy include:
- A trial of financial allowance for carers in 8 local authorities.
- A new definition of kinship care, including replacement of the term ‘family and friends care’, to ‘kinship care’.
- New government guidance for employers on supporting kinship carers in the workplace.
- Renaming the ‘Adoption Support Fund’ to ‘Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund’ to increase awareness of eligibility to access this support.
- A new national training programme and support groups for kinship carers, in partnership with ‘Kinship’.
- Appointing a new National Kinship Care Ambassador and establishing an National Kinship Care Advisory Board.
- Updated local authority guidance to provide earlier support for family networks
The full government strategy can be read here: Championing-Kinship-Care-National-Kinship-Care-Strategy | Gov.uk
Please see the below Kinship webinars available academic year 2024-25: Term 1