Caring for children and
young people
Unit 10
Outline why children and young people may need to be looked
after away from their families (P1)
Children and young people need to be taken cared for, this means that the
adult they live with is classifed as their carer and so they are responsible for
the life of this individual up until16, or 18 in some circumstances. However,
due to difficulties, some children and young people are unable to live with
their parents, and so are placed into care. There are many reasons a child
might be put into care in relation to their parents, these include; neglect,
abuse, bereavement of parent(s), or the absence of a responsible adult look
after them for a long time.
Neglect and abuse:
Neglect means “the state of being uncared for” (Google Dictionary, 2017)
this means the average standard of living is not provided by their parent, an
example of neglect would be not allowing your child to consume the required
amount of meals a day, or not letting them go to school. This is because it is
important that the child encounters these aspects in order to grow as an
individual. Additionally, abuse would link to neglect. Abuse can be expressed
in a range of ways; emotional, physical and sexual. Physical abuse would
involve “hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning
or sufocating” the child as these are things that could cause harm to the
child whereas emotional abuse is making a child feel worthless, unloved,
scared etc. Finally, sexual abuse would be encountering in any type of sexual
activity; whether touching, raping, forcing the child to look at images/watch
porn… All these aspects are a form of sexual abuse. In conclusion physical
and sexual abuse can have a major efect on the child’s mental health and
emotional wellbeing, this could cause problems for the child later on in life,
and being abused as a child can link to PTSD or depression in the near future.
The reason neglect and abuse would mean the child would need to be looked
after away for his/her family would be as their living environment is unstable
for someone of their age.
Death and irresponsibility:
Furthermore, the bereavement of a child’s parent may be a reason a child
would have to move into care. Death is a very serious thing and sometimes a
child might be unable to live with other family members such as aunties,
uncles or cousins. Due to their circumstances the child would need to engage
in counselling as the death of one’s parent at such a young age can really
impact the child’s mental welfare. Moreover, the absence of a responsible
adult to look after the child for a long period of time can also be a reason for