Overview
Course Aims:
Attendees will have an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills that enhance their contribution to improving outcomes (both emotional and physical) for those children that they are responsible for or in their care. It will highlight the essential partnership working required across health, education, social care, police and other partners to achieve optimum health.
Target Group: This multi-agency training opportunity is aimed at all practitioners and carers working or caring for looked after children or care leavers. This includes foster carers, residential workers, GPs, Health Visitors, School Nurses, Independent Reviewing Officers and Supervising Social Workers.
Messages from practice and research highlights that children and adults who are care experienced have higher rates of physical, emotional, social, and educational need, and are more likely to experience homelessness, teenage pregnancy, prison and problems with their mental and emotional health. They are also more likely to die younger. The majority of children who enter care have suffered significant harm, neglect and trauma, and some are children who have travelled alone from their country of origin to seek asylum in UK.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the session participants will have:
·Develop an awareness of relevant legislation, guidance and procedures.
·Improved knowledge of why looked after children have additional health vulnerabilities such as sexual exploitation, criminality, teenage pregnancy, substance misuse, exclusion from education, self -harm mental, emotional and behavioural difficulties.
·Have an understanding of the adverse life events that contribute to this.
·An increased awareness of the risk of higher mortality rate and the reasons behind this
·An awareness of roles and responsibilities for assessing and meeting the health needs of looked after children within a multi-agency framework.
·Develop an understanding of the review process and how multiagency working can contribute to improve health outcomes of looked after children.
·Identify the barriers to multi agency working and meeting statutory requirements and how these can be overcome