Why do some children need to be looked after by the state?
P1: Outline why children and young people may need to be looked after away from their families
The term ‘Looked after’ means a child has been placed into a permanent or non-permanent home by
the local authority. The state has a responsibility to provide for the basic needs of this child such as
their clothing, food and to ensure and secure their well -being.
There are a variety of reasons why children are looked after by the state. I’m now going to outline
these reasons.
Bereavement:
If a child or young children unfortunately experiences bereavement in which their parents pass
away and there may be no relatives to look after them. The local authority will then become
responsible for the child. However, the local authority will firstly always try to place the children with
familiar people, although due to circumstances such as the family members already having a large
family and not able to afford to look after another child this may not always be achievable.
Parental Illness:
If a parent/guardian becomes ill and seeks urgent medical attention either being mentally ill or
physically disabled. Social workers will need to carry out checks to see if the parent can still provide
for the child. If this is not the case, a care order will come into place. In which social workers will
need to find a temporary or if the parent doesn’t recover a more permanent home for this child. If
the parent’s illness is semi-permanent the child may be placed with extended family or temporary
care and may be placed under an interim care order. This could be for a short period of time like 8
weeks or up to 26 weeks.
Family Breakdown:
Families can break down for many reasons such as drug and alcohol addiction, domestic abuse,
learning difficulties and mental health issues. One example would be if the father and mother were
both addicts and displayed domestic abuse towards their children. The police and social workers will
need to get involved to remove the children from this unsafe environment. The authorities inform
and make the parents aware of the impact they are having on their children, and to persuade them
to give up their addictions and provide support to do so. (But in most cases, the children will be
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