EU experts to work with Blackburn and Darwen childrens home
A pioneering pilot scheme to boost the long-term outcomes of children in care is being launched in September. The scheme, which will run in Blackburn and Darwen, will see two experts from Germany come to work with the boroughs youngsters in care. The experts are trained specialists who work with and support the children and their all-round development.
It comes just three weeks after research by the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) revealed youngsters in care are more likely to suffer drug or alcohol problems and under-achieve at school.
Gladys Rhodes, deputy director of childrens services, said: There has never been a full government-supported scheme on this scale into the work done by social pedagogues before and we are hoping that this approach will help us even further in improving outcomes for children in residential care in Blackburn with Darwen. We are really pleased that Blackburn with Darwen has been chosen to pilot this extremely successful way of delivering residential care which is established in other parts of Europe and has proved very beneficial for children.
The two social pedagogues will start with one of the boroughs childrens homes in September and are currently being recruited from Germany to start their roles.
The title social pedagogue, which roughly translates as a teacher or instructor, describes the work done by youth and residential workers. They use creative and practical skills with groups and on an individual basis to support children. Social pedagogues are well known in Europe and are often trained to graduate level but it is relatively new in the UK.
This is the first full-scale research on this issue by the government and is part of a pilot by the DCSF for eight childrens homes in the country as part of the Care Matters agenda, which aims to improve the lives of children in care.
The childrens home, which cannot be named, was selected from a huge number of interested local authorities to take part in the pilot. In January it was judged to be out-standing in every area by Ofsted.
Nafeesa Shan
26 May 2009
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