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goodenoughcaring.com  is an arena for the discussion of  issues of interest to parents, foster parents, residential child care workers, counsellors, youth support workers, social workers, teachers, mentors, social pedagogues,  educateurs  and to young people who are, and adults who have been, in care. If you are interested in, or involved in the care,upbringing and education of  children and young people or in the nurturing of children and young people who are unable to live with their own families  goodenoughcaring.com  is a site for you. The website welcomes  thoughtful views - personal, practical or theoretical -  about the care of children and young people.  If you want to comment about  child care or about goodenoughcaring.com  then  e mail   charlessharpe@dsl.pipex.com

The goodenoughcaring.com site is archived at the British Library.

The goodenoughcaring journal is an online publication which invites anyone wishing to publish papers and articles about  parenting, nurture, child care work and related fields or those wishing to write about their child care experiences to submit as e mail attachments  papers or articles for publication to the editors at charlessharpe@dsl.pipex.com.  The members of the editorial group are Evelyn Daniel, Siobain Degregorio, Jane Kenny, Mark Smith, Ariola Vishnja and Charles Sharpe. The current edition was published online on 15th June, 2010. The next edition will be published on December 15th, 2010.

News

"Research into practice: Using the evidence to achieve excellence"  a SIRCC research seminar on December 3rd, 2010

Jeremy Millar of the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care has informed us that SIRCC is running a seminar on December 3rd, 2010. The venue has yet to be agreed. The aim of the seminar is to disseminate research into practice and to ensure that information is passed on to the field and to all those who have the opportunity to influence policy and/or implement practice. The focus of the seminar will be research carried out about residential child care, looked after children, and policy and partnership working in areas such as health, mental health and education.

Specific sub-themes of the conference will include

· Trauma and Behaviour
· Specialist and Therapeutic Interventions
· Improving Outcomes
· Social Pedagogy
· Disability

The seminar will be of interest to managers, practitioners, academics, students and policy makers involved with children who are looked after away from home.

Call for papers

If you have ideas for a presentation and you've undertaken a piece of research that you think would be of interest to the audience or if you are a practitioner who has been making significant changes on the basis of research findings, SIRCC invites you to tell the seminar about it. SIRCC is looking for a number of short (15 minute) presentations which will be followed by questions and discussion. It is not envisaged that there will be group presentations.

If you are interested, describe the content of the presentation in your own words (200,maximum) and include details of why you think it will be relevant to the audience. In addition you are asked to include a short paragraph about yourself, and your full contact details including address, e-mail and telephone number(s). No additional attachments are needed. Speakers’ places at the event will be subsidised. If you are unavailable to respond to e-mails during the week beginning 30th August 2010, please let SIRCC know. Telephone: 0141 950 3572.

Send details to: sirccevents@strath.ac.uk by 23rd August 2010

From NCERCC to NCBRCC

Jonathan Stanley informs us that the National Children's Bureau has announce that it will be continuing its long-standing work supporting the residential child care sector to improve the expedriences and outcomes for children in their care, with a new service called NCB Residential Child Care (NCBRCC). Jonathan will kead the new service.
The former title ‘National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care’ may return in the future but to signal the difference in the service the title NCBRCC has been chosen.
The new service is in development and we are saddened to learn that the reduced funding has led to a loss of staffing and so NCBRCC it cannot yet do all that NCERCC was able to do. NCB has made the commitment to support development. However the range of NCBRCC services is directly linked to the funding it can attract. It is being funded entirely by the work it undertakes. NCBRCC is now able to undertake training, commissions, contracts, consultancies and project work. This work will be undertaken by Jonathan Stanley along with the comprehensive list of Associates developed during the time of NCERCC. We hope that the new service will develop, and eventually build upon, the outstanding work of its predecessor. For more information go to :

 http://www.ncb.org.uk/default.aspx?page=3715 

A Residential Child Care Workers Association for Scotland

The inaugural meeting of the Scottish Residential Child Care (Workers) Association was held in Perth on Monday 24th May 2010. The event attracted almost 50 people from across Scotland with an interest in taking forward debate about residential child care. The impetus for such an association has grown over recent years, particularly among students on the MSc in Advanced Residential Child Care at the University of Strathclyde/Glasgow School of Social Work. SIRCC provided financial support to stage the meeting but the intention is that the proposed Association should be free to represent the views of members on the range of issues that affect residential child care in Scotland.

The need for a new Association 

Residential child care is a complex and demanding field of practice. Yet residential child care workers lack a discrete ‘voice’. Policy decisions fail to reflect their experiences. The absence of a strong voice for residential child care and those who work in it has a negative effect on the status of the discipline. This makes it difficult for residential child care workers to be the strong advocates that they need to be for the children and youth in their care.  Membership of the Association will be open to all those with an investment in supporting the development of residential child care in Scotland but particularly those in direct practice.

What a new association might do

The exact shape and role of the new Association is still to be determined. Those who attended the inaugural meeting identified a number of possibilities such as:
· Raising the profile of residential child care in Scotland and advocating on its behalf;
· Networking with other like minded associations;
· Campaigning;
· Influencing policy;
· Developing a community of practice, where practitioners can share and develop practice that is grounded in direct   experience;
· Providing local forums for discussing particular issues/themes;
· Running national conferences and events;
· Taking forward an agenda that recognises that workers can only care for children if they themselves feel cared for and supported.

If you want to be part of the developing conversation on Scottish residential child care or to be added to the e-mail list which will keep you informed of any developments or events in your area
 contact : Laura Steckley , SIRCC Funded Lecturer, Glasgow School of Social Work,  Course Director, MSc Advanced RCC.  Laura.L.Steckley@strath.ac.uk  0141 950 3122 or Mark Smith , Lecturer in Social Work, Edinburgh University,Founder,  MSc Advanced RCC. Mark.Smith@ed.ac.uk   0131 650 4637

Issue 7 of the goodenoughcaring Journal is now online.

In the current issue of the Journal which was published on June 15th, 2010,

John Burton  writes aboutthe running and working of children’s homes. Tiffany Dawkins tells a short story about a girl, her boyfriend and her Harley Davidson.  Thom Garfat explores emotional containment as he remembers an afternoon spent with “Jason”. David Lane catalogues  the hisory of our changing concepts of child care and childhood. John Molloy makes a personal survey of the state of social care for children in Ireland. Jane Kenny describes her experience of keyworking in a residential setting, John Stein  examines the meanings of “consequences” in the parenting and care of children. Kay Cook  has written and illustrated her story "The Little Girl who was lost inside Her Armour."  Jillian Viens counsels caution on the use of the phrase “I love you” when caring for other people’s children. Ted Woolvett writes about his childhood in the 1930s and 1940s and how his  identity changed at the age of 63. In an interview with Charles Sharpe,  Leon Fulcher and Thom Garfat  talk about CYC-NET, training for child and youth care workers, foster carers and  residential child care, reflective practice and supervision.
The next edition will be published on December 15th, 2010.

Readers will be aware of the writing of Simon Hammond from his articles for the goodenoughcaring Journal about residential child care workers who were themselves in care as children and also about the use of new technology in residential child care and in particular its potential it offers for  life story work. You can keep up to date with Simon’s University of East Anglia doctoral research on his website at
http://www.uea.ac.uk/swp/people/shammond

Now available on this site in Writings at http://www.goodenoughcaring.com/WritingsArticle.aspx?cpid=123  is the full text of Charles Sharpe’s presentation Where did we go right ?  Positive aspects of residential child care  to the Joint National Conference of  the Irish Association of Care Workers, the Registered Managers Association and the Irish Association of Social Care Educators ASCW, RMA and IASCE  at the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone on February 24th and 25th, 2010