The Need for Information on How the Attachment Difficulties of Adopted and Looked after Children Affect their Schooling

Phillips, Rena

doi:10.1177/030857590703100305

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Many of these emotions echo feelings reported in other studies of looked after children moving school; they too described feeling scared and lonely, sometimes causing anxiety and depression, magnifying and exacerbating any feelings of insecurity and uncertainty which they already have (Children’s Commissioner for England, 2019). While recognising that not all moves for looked after children lead to poor outcomes, the impact of multiple changes is amplified for many by virtue of their previous experiences, and these can impact negatively on their schooling and affect their relationships with peers and staff (Pecora, 2012; Phillips, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are you listening? Echoing the voices of looked after children about their transition to secondary school

Francis

Rowland

Humrich

et al. 2021

Adoption & Fostering

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Transition to secondary school is a significant childhood event, especially for the most vulnerable children. Many looked after children experience multiple episodes of instability, loss and change which can affect this move. Research shows that school belonging promotes acceptance, inclusion and respect, and impacts positively on school transfer and participation. Asking children for their views on matters that affect them can ease the process and increase their belonging and well-being. This article seeks to echo the voices of 36 children aged 10 to 12 who participated in a therapeutic primary to secondary transition initiative for looked after children. Informed by a participatory action research approach, its focus was to facilitate the child’s voice. Child-friendly, multi-method techniques and activities were used to elicit their views about the transition. Social connections, relationships, feeling safe and belonging within the school environment emerged as key themes. Children specifically highlighted the importance of friendships as a mechanism for supporting their belonging during this time. They also voiced the need for their social connections and belonging to be promoted. This unique intervention provides a framework for facilitating the voices of looked after children and underlines the need for practitioners to listen and understand moves from primary to secondary schools from the child’s perspective.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are you listening? Echoing the voices of looked after children about their transition to secondary school

Francis

Rowland

Humrich

et al. 2021

Adoption & Fostering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Attachment disorder is now acknowledged in the Department for Education's advice on mental health and behaviour in school (DfE 2015). However, interest in human attachments and their significance in the school environment is broader that the topic of health (see for example, Clements 2013;Geddes 2006;Marshall 2014;Phillips 2007;Ubha and Cahill 2014;and Webber 2017). As with social work, as indicated above, the practice literature relating to education is often eclectic in approach.…”

Section: Promoting Family Membershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attachment theory: developments, debates and recent applications in social work, social care and education

Harlow

2019

Journal of Social Work Practice

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Attachment theory may be considered controversial given that some of its foundational principles are contested. Not only this, it is currently being developed by insights from neuroscience, another perspective that academics have subjected to critique. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the twenty-first century in England and the United Kingdom in general, there has been a renewed interest in its explanation of child development, as well as its application in schools, social care settings and the practice of professionals such as social workers and teachers. This paper outlines the core principles of attachment theory, acknowledges some of the criticisms, then traces the ways in which the theory has been developed over time. The theory is then illustrated with a description of the ways in which it is being applied in the training of foster carers, the provision of support to adoptive parents and in the school environment.

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“…A further study of 102 looked-after children found that 32 of them reported actual or potential self-harm, and that across all the participants, lower academic self-esteem was an issue, being more prevalent among the group that reported self-harm [15]. The long-term impact of early disadvantage, abuse and neglect upon attention and memory functioning was the focus of a paper by Phillips [16]. She argues that this effect can occur in two different ways.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Children aren’t Standardized, they are Unique’: Using Bourdieu to Expose the Complexity behind Educational Outcomes of Looked-After Children

Walker¹

2017

IJTIE

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Formal educational outcomes of looked-after children in England are lower compared to their peers not in care. The dominant research and policy discourse positions looked-after children as failing, and links this with the attitudes and behaviour of staff who support these children. Alternative approaches suggest the need to consider more complex factors such as the long-term impact of precare experiences and the inherent limitations of substitute care. The Bourdieusian concepts of capital, field and habitus, together with the neo-Bourdieusian notion of institutional habitus, provide a relevant theoretical framework for deepening understanding of mechanisms behind social reproduction. This paper therefore explores the extent to which the role of the care system might be better understood using these theoretical lenses, particularly that of institutional habitus. For the research reported on, twenty-eight education and social care professionals working within two local authorities, and two care leavers, took part in individual and group interviews. The findings indicate that a complex set of factors help explain educational outcomes of looked-after children. Staff were keenly aware of the individual needs of the children with whom they worked, and made efforts to balance the socio-emotional needs of the children with their educational needs, within a context in which structural forces resulted in barriers and standardized expectations that impinged upon the work of the staff.

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The Need for Information on How the Attachment Difficulties of Adopted and Looked after Children Affect their Schooling

Cited by 14 publications

References 10 publications

Are you listening? Echoing the voices of looked after children about their transition to secondary school

Are you listening? Echoing the voices of looked after children about their transition to secondary school

Attachment theory: developments, debates and recent applications in social work, social care and education

‘Children aren’t Standardized, they are Unique’: Using Bourdieu to Expose the Complexity behind Educational Outcomes of Looked-After Children

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