Poverty in Residential Child Care
Sunday, January 22nd, 2006
Reinforcing the Need for Poverty Aware Practice in Residential Childcare
Written By Clair Burns
The author is Claire Burns, Senior Lecturer in Social Care at Langside College of Further Education. Claire leads a team of lecturers who deliver the Higher National Certificate (HNC) course in Social Care for staff working in residential care settings. The Scottish Social Services Council has said that all basic-grade residential workers must be qualified in both the HNC in Social Care (or equivalents) and the Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) Level 3 in the care of children and young people.
As a lecturer with SIRCC, I spend much of my day in the classroom with staff from the residential childcare sector throughout Scotland. A recurring concern for me is the lack of acknowledgement or understanding about poverty and the extent to which this is a common characteristic in the ecology of young people who are ‘looked after’ and ‘accommodated’
