Secure in the Knowledge Perspectives on Practice in Secure Accommodation

349 Pages·2005·3.93 MB·English

Secure in the Knowledge

Perspectives on Practice in
Secure Accommodation

Edited by

Mark Smith

with

Bob Forrest, Phil Garland and Lynne Hunter

Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care
Glasgow School of Social Work
Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow

May 2005
© the Authors
and the
Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care
Glasgow School of Social Work
Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow
2005

ISBN – 1-900743-23-X

Not to be reproduced without permission
of the
Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow
Acknowledgements

A reference group of stakeholders in this project met on a regular basis to consult
on its progress. This group comprised:

Graham Bell CEO, Kibble Education and Care Centre, Paisley
Stuart Bond Social Work Services Inspectorate, Scottish Executive
Debbie Clelland Scottish Executive
Bob Forrest SIRCC Associate
Paddy Hanrahan Principal, St Philip’s School Plains
Lynne Hunter SIRCC Research Assistant
Shona Kelly Acting Depute, Kerelaw School
Veronica McCall Depute Chief Executive, Rossie School
Fergus McNeill Senior Lecturer, Glasgow School of Social Work
Frank Phelan Principal, Edinburgh Secure Services
Margaret Sloan Acting Principal, Good Shepherd Centre
Mark Smith SIRCC Lecturer.

In addition to the reference group, we are grateful to those staff in residential
schools and secure units who read and commented on selections of the papers in
draft form.

We also acknowledge the contribution of those who read and commented on the
entire volume prior to publication:

Bill Duffy Principal, St Mary’s Kenmure
Andrew Kendrick Professor of Residential Child Care
Mike Laxton Phase 3 Consultancy

Thank you to Irene Stevens from SIRCC for appending training links to the various
papers, SIRCC Library staff who undertook the final proofreading and to Christine
Wilson, Senior Psychologist at Edinburgh City Council, for her comments and
contribution to Chapter 3.

We would also like to thank the young people from St Katharine’s Centre who
provided the art work for the front cover.

Secure in the Knowledge - Acknowledgements - May 2005

Contents

Contributors
Introduction Mark Smith
Chapter 1
Historical and policy context of secure accommodation Mark Smith
Bob Forrest
Fergus McNeill
& Neil McMillan
Chapter 2
Values and ethics in secure accommodation Mark Smith
Chapter 3
Theoretical perspectives Lynda Taylor
Chapter 4
Practice Papers
4.01 Introduction Mark Smith
4.02 Referral, screening and decision-making Bob Forrest
4.03: Admission Mark Smith
4.04: Assessment, care planning, programmes
and monitoring Phil Garland
4.05: Working in secure accommodation Mark Smith &
Margaret Sloan
4.06: Daily rhythms, rituals and routines Mark Smith
4.07: Prosocial modelling Chris Johnson
4.08: Activities Laura Steckley
4.09: Educational issues in secure accommodation Graham McPheat
4.10: Health issues in secure accommodation Graham McPheat

Secure in the Knowledge - Contents - May 2005 1
4.11: Mental health Ian Milligan
4.12: Working with boys and girls Mark Smith &
Laura Steckley
4.13: Sexuality Mark Smith
4.14: Self-harm Shannon A. Moore
4.15: Drugs Brian Wood
4.16: Offending Susan Batchelor &
Fergus McNeill
4.17: Sexual offending and sexual vulnerability Mark Smith
4.18: Risk assessment Mark Smith,
Fergus McNeill &
Susan Batchelor
4.19: Safe care Mark Smith
4.20: Children’s rights Richard Mitchell
4.21: Partnership with families Maura Daly
4.22: Life story work Maura Daly
4.23: Managing behaviour Laura Steckley
4.24: Learning disabilities Irene Stevens
4.25: Secure accommodation in the continuum of care Graham Bell &
Mark Smith
4.26: Exits and mobility Chris Johnson
4.27: Throughcare and aftercare Alison Caulfield-Dow
Glossary
References
Resources on secure accommodation

Secure in the Knowledge - Contents - May 2005 2
Contributors

Editor
Mark Smith – worked for almost 20 years in residential schools, close support units
and latterly in secure accommodation where he was Principal for
Secure Services in Edinburgh. In 2000 he moved to his present post
as lecturer and course director of the MSc in Advanced Residential
Child Care at The University of Strathclyde, now part of the Glasgow
School of Social Work. He has published work on a range of issues
relating to residential child care and is a regular contributor to cyc-
online, the monthly journal of the international child and youth care
network. He has particular interests around youth justice, leadership
and masculinity in care settings.

The Editorial Team
Bob Forrest – held various posts in five different secure units north and south of the
border since 1971. Since leaving Kerelaw after 14 years as Head, he
has continued his involvement in residential/secure care as
development manager for EUROARC, a European research network
on residential child care and as a consultant to organisations in the
independent sector. He was involved in drafting the legislation on
secure accommodation in the early 1980s and the Code of Practice,
1985.
Phil Garland – worked in children’s units and close support units in Edinburgh. He
was first manager of Guthrie unit, the secure wing in St Katharine’s
Centre. He moved to Ireland in the mid 1990s, where he worked as
social worker, team leader and child care manager in the Northern
Area Health Board. He is currently Director of Child Protection for the
Archdiocese of Dublin.
Lynne Hunter – works as a research assistant for the Scottish Institute for
Residential Child Care on a number of residential child care projects.
She has a BA in Psychology and an MSc in Psychological Research
Methods.

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Contributors
Susan Batchelor – is researching her PhD in the Department of Sociology,
Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences at Glasgow University.
Her research topic is young women who have committed violent
offences. She has worked as a researcher on a range of projects
relating to young people and crime, and teaches on the Open
University module D864: Youth Justice, Penality and Social Control.
Susan has also been a Befriender for Barnados and is a Children’s
Panel Member for the City of Glasgow.
Graham Bell – is CEO at Kibble Education and Care Centre, Paisley. He has
worked in different residential child care settings, including secure
accommodation. In his current post at Kibble he has led a number of
research and staff development initiatives.
Alison Caulfield-Dow – worked as a residential care worker in local authority
children’s units and at Kibble Education and Care Centre, where she
became involved in various international research and practice
development projects. For the past four years she has been National
Co-coordinator at the Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum and
has been involved in national policy and practice developments for
young people leaving care.
Maura Daly – worked in a children’s home and residential school before moving to
a children and families social work post. She is currently a Scottish
Social Services Council (SSSC) funded practice teacher at Family
Service Unit Scotland and contributes to social work teaching at
Edinburgh University. She has a particular interest in direct practice
with children and their families.
Chris Johnson – worked in a psychiatric unit before taking up a post at Aycliffe
School in Co. Durham, where he worked mostly in the secure unit. He
moved to Kerelaw in 1982 as Depute and was responsible for
opening the secure unit there.
Neil McMillan – originally qualifying as a social worker, he worked with children and
young people for ten years before becoming involved in social work
training and research. He has held research posts in Scottish
universities, published in the areas of residential child care and
conducted child care training and research throughout mainland
China, Europe and east and central Africa. He is currently employed
in a development post at Kibble Education and Care Centre.
Fergus McNeill – took up a post as Lecturer in Social Work at the University of
Glasgow in 1998. Before this, he worked as a criminal justice social
worker in the east end of Glasgow for five years. His research and
publications have addressed a variety of issues in probation and
youth justice. He is now senior lecturer at the Glasgow School of
Social Work, a joint initiative of the Universities of Glasgow and
Strathclyde.

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Graham McPheat – trained as a teacher before moving into residential child care,
where he worked in close support and children’s home settings,
latterly as unit manager. He now teaches residential child care at the
Glasgow School of Social Work.
Ian Milligan – was a practitioner and manager in residential child care settings
before moving to teach in further education. Since 2000 he has been
a SIRCC funded lecturer at the Glasgow School of Social Work,
where he has responsibility for policy and training. He has particular
interests in the mental health needs of looked after children.
Richard Mitchell – has extensive practice experience in child and youth care
settings in Canada. He recently completed a PhD at the University of
Stirling looking at the impact of the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child. He was research assistant on residential child
care projects at the University of Strathclyde. Currently, Richard is an
Assistant Professor in the Child and Youth Studies Department at
Brock University in Ontario, Canada.
Shannon Moore – worked in child and youth services across mental health,
education and justice systems for more than 15 years. After
completing her PhD in Counseling Psychology in Canada (2003) she
joined the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care as a research
assistant at the University of Strathclyde and lecturer at Langside
College. Shannon also consulted in the area of child and youth
mental health in Scotland and England before returning to Canada in
2004. She is currently a lecturer at Brock University in Ontario,
Canada.
Margaret Sloan – is Depute Principal at the Good Shepherd Centre, which is
developing a new secure unit for girls. Before that she worked in
both the open and secure wings of Kerelaw School for 11 years.
Laura Steckley – has lecturer and research assistant posts at the Glasgow School
of Social Work where she teaches on the MSc in Advanced
Residential Child Care and on undergraduate programmes. She is
completing her MSc dissertation on the therapeutic role of the football
team in a residential school. She has practice, training and
management experience from working in a residential school in
Scotland and in treatment centres in the US.
Irene Stevens – has worked in a variety of residential settings. Just prior to joining
SIRCC in 2000, she was a unit manager in a secure unit. She is
currently based at the National Office of SIRCC and has responsibility
for the delivery of a number of short courses, as well as looking at
links between all of SIRCC’s provision. She is an external moderator
for SQA and verifies the care SVQs. She has written two Higher
National Units on secure care and an open learning pack to support
one of the units.

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