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yourRights! your say

A Children’s Views Report

Dr Roger Morgan OBEChildren’s Rights Director for England

March 2007

Looked after in EnglandHow children living away fromhome rate England’s care

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Contents

Page

About the Children’s Rights Director 3

About this report 4

About the conference 6

About the children and young people 7

What’s good or bad about being a child living in your part of England? 8

What changes would you like to see where you live? 10

How is England doing on Convention Rights for children living away from home? 11

How are we doing with helping children? 14

What is happening about bullying? 17

Are children really getting their say about their lives? 21

How well are children living away from home being kept safe? 25

What do children and young people living away from home think of their education? 28

How well do children living away from home say they are being looked after? 30

Last words 32

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Dr Roger Morgan OBE, Children’s Rights DirectorDr Mike Lindsay, Head of AdviceJayne Noble, Head of ConsultationLilian Clay, Web and Information Systems OfficerAlison Roscoe, Consultation OfficerDomonique Ellis, Project Support OfficerEleni Georgiou, PA to Director

St Nicholas BuildingSt Nicholas StreetNewcastle upon Tyne NE1 1NB0191 233 3502

All Children’s Views Reports can be found on our website:www.rights4me.org

The Office of the Children’s Rights Director

About the Children’sRights DirectorMy legal duties as Children’s RightsDirector for England are set out in theCommission for Social Care Inspection(Children’s Rights Director) Regulations2004. One of my main jobs, with my teamin the Office of the Children’s RightsDirector, is to ask children and youngpeople for their views about how they arelooked after when they are living awayfrom home, or being helped by localcouncils’ social care services.

I then tell the Government, as well as theCommission for Social Care Inspection(which does inspections to check on howchildren and young people are being looked after and supported) what thosechildren and young people think, and about any concerns they have about the careor support they are getting. “Children’s Views” reports of what children and youngpeople have told me are published for everyone to read. You can find copies of all myChildren’s Views reports on our children’s rights website www.rights4me.org.

The children and young people I ask for their views are those living away from homein England (in children’s homes, boarding schools, residential special schools,residential further education colleges, foster care, adoption placements, orresidential family centres), those who are getting help of any sort from the children’ssocial care services of their local council, and care leavers.

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There are two reasons for us writing this report just now. One is that I and my teamat the Office of the Children’s Rights Director have been hearing the same messagesfrom children and young people about how they want things to be when they areliving away from home or getting help from children’s social care. Children andyoung people are now sometimes telling us that they keep getting asked the samequestions, and they keep giving the same answers, but nothing much changes. As someone said to us the other day – “you ask us – but so what?”

So we decided that we would hold a children’s conference (at the National SpaceCentre) to find out whether children and young people think things are getting anybetter, or are getting worse, or are simply staying just the same. We asked themthese questions about some of those top messages that children and young peoplehave given us over the last five years. This report says what they said.

The other reason for writing this report is that the Government wants to know whatchildren and young people living away from home or getting help from children’ssocial care services think about some of the things that are in the United NationsConvention on the Rights of the Child. This Convention is a treaty which was signedby the Government many years ago, and which sets out the rights of all children.The United Nations are soon going to check how well this country is doing in keepingto what the Convention says about the rights children should have. The Governmentwants to know what children and young people tell me about this. So we decided toask children and young people at our conference about how well they were beinggiven each of sixteen different children’s rights that are in the Convention. Weagreed with the Government which sixteen rights they wanted to find out about, so they could tell the United Nations.

It is important to say two things to anyone reading this report. The first is thatalthough the United Nations is interested in how the whole of the United Kingdom is doing with children’s rights, my job is only to find out what children and youngpeople in England think, so this report is about England, not other parts of the United Kingdom. The second is that this report is to say what children and youngpeople living away from home, or getting help from children’s social care, think. It isabout these special groups of children and young people, not about the opinions ofall the other children in the country.

As with all my children’s views reports, this report says purely what the children andyoung people told me and my team. We have not left out any important views orideas that came to us, we have not left out things we might disagree with, and wehave not added our own adult comments or ideas to what the children said.

About this report

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We have added together the views given to us by the children and young people, but we have not identified who said what. Where someone wrote something wethought summed up well what many others said, we have put those words in thereport as a “quote”.

We are sending this report to the United Nations. We are sending it to theGovernment officials who are looking at how children should be looked after in thefuture. We are sending it to the Government officials who are going to be talking tothe United Nations about how this country is keeping to children’s rights. We aresending the report to Government Ministers, to other key people in Parliament, to the Commission for Social Care Inspection, to Ofsted, to each of the UK Children’sCommissioners, and to all children’s social care authorities in England. We are alsosending copies for the children who took part to read for themselves. This report isexactly the same report we have sent to the Government and to the United Nations.

Thank you to all the children and young people who came to our conference, andwho filled in question cards to tell us what they thought, or who voted during theconference on how well the country is doing on children’s rights. Thank you also toall the staff and carers who brought them to the conference and made it possible forthem to take part. Thank you too to the Government officials from the both theDepartment for Education and Skills and from the Department of ConstitutionalAffairs who joined us on the day, to help and to hear what children had to say. (There were officials working on the Government's proposals for how children shouldbe looked after in future, some working on how the country is doing in meeting theUnited Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and some working on howcourts can best listen to children). Finally, thanks to my own team at the Office ofthe Children’s Rights Director, and for the staff of the National Space Centre, who allworked hard to make sure we heard the children’s views, and that the children andyoung people had an enjoyable conference day.

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Each year we hold a children’s rights conference for children and young people livingaway from home or getting help from children’s social care services. At our conferences,two main things happen. We find out children’s and young people’s views on the subjectsthe conference is about. The children and young people in return have a good time at oneof the special places we hold our conferences.

Our latest conference was held at the National Space Centre in Leicester. We took overthe Space Centre for the day (with its staff!), and 303 children and young people joinedus for the day. Most came with their staff or carers.

Each child and young person was given a set of question cards to fill in and hand in to us.The first one they brought with them when they arrived at the Space Centre. They filled inanother six for us while they were at the Centre. Each card asked them two sorts ofquestions – ones with choices to tick, and ones with boxes to fill in with the person’s ownviews without us suggesting anything to them first. All the questions were about howwell or badly they have experienced the things children and young people in the pasthave told us are important to them.

Members of the children’s rights team set up a number of “bases” around the SpaceCentre where children and young people could hand in their cards, once they had filledthem in. In return for each card a person handed in, they got a prize to thank them forgiving us their views. They also got a stamp on a prize draw card, and anyone whohanded in all their question cards got a full set of stamps and could enter the prize drawat the end of the day, for one of a number of larger prizes.

We also used the Space Cinema at the Space Centre for children and young people to voteon how well they thought they were being given each of our list of sixteen children’srights. Each right was put up on the big screen and children and young people usedvoting buttons on their cinema seats to record their votes. After the voting, a specialeffects film about training as an astronaut was shown as a thank you.

For the rest of the time, everyone was free to walk around the Space Centre, enjoying thedisplays and trying out the various educational activities there.

All the children’s views in this report come from what children and young people told usat the Space Centre that day.

One point to note, though, is that we have not used the votes from the very first runthrough of our questions about the United Nations Convention in the Space Cinema,because we did not think that everyone had got the instructions right about what to do.We therefore counted that first session as a practice session, and only counted the votesfrom the sessions after that, when we were sure everyone had got the instructions right.

About the conference

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We had question cards filled in by 303 children and young people(though not everyone filled in every question card). The youngestwas age six, and the oldest was nineteen. The average age was13. About two thirds (68%) were boys, and a third (32%) girls.

Nearly half the children (46%) were living in children’s homes, andnearly a quarter (24%) in foster homes. Nearly one in five (18%)were living in residential schools – either special schools orboarding schools.

Children and young people came to the conference from all the regions ofEngland. Around a quarter (26%) came from the West Midlands, one in five(20%) from Yorkshire and Humberside. Fifteen percent came from the South East,and twelve percent from the East Midlands. Smaller numbers came from the NorthEast, South West, North West, and London.

About the children andyoung people

“the care home I live

in has given me lots

of opportunities”

Other answers included getting helpful services, living near to your family eventhough you were living away from home, and being near somewhere pleasant like abeach or open countryside.

Some children wrote about how being looked after well in care was the best thingabout where they were living, rather than about the part of the country they were in:

“just like it, really good. Like being in care and like all myfoster brothers”, “the care home I live in has given me lots ofopportunities”. Some though told us about special thingsthey liked in the part of the country they lived in, and whythese were important to them: “I’ve got the beach down theroad to calm down”.

What’s good or bad about being a child living in yourpart of England?We wanted to know what children thought were the good things and the bad thingsabout being a young person living in their part of England. We were trying to get an overall view for England by asking children from many different parts of thecountry. We were not trying to compare one part of the country with another. Weasked children to write on one of their question cards what they thought the goodthings were. We didn’t suggest any answers, so everything came straight fromchildren themselves.

Here are the good things we were most often told about. Each of these came from at least one in ten people (the percentage giving each answer is in brackets aftereach one):

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“I’ve got the beach

down the road to

calm down”

Good things about being a young person living in yourpart of England

Lots of activities to do (33%)

Living near friends (15%)

A nice environment (15%)

Getting a good education (10%)

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Other bad things included not being allowed to do what youwanted to do, transport being unreliable, feeling different as aperson living away from home (for example, having a differentaccent to the other people living in the area).

Most people wrote about what the area was like, rather thanabout not liking it because they were living away from home,though some did write about that (“being in care”, “having tobe in a children’s home – to have all the fights and police”).

Examples of what people wrote about gangs, vandals andbullies where they lived were: “where the youths hangaround”, “the boys that give me grief”, “the area is rough”,“rough people and areas”, “being picked on”.

There were many quotes about lack of things to do. Some examples were: “there’s not many good things to do. Its quite boring”, “the secluded environment,the middle of nowhere”, “not enough young peoples ‘hanging out’ places, clubs and youth centres”. One told us how activities for young people had been closeddown where they lived: “we have a very ‘strategic’ government who get rid of youth services”.

Most of the answers we got at the conference about bad things were concernsabout the people and lack of activities in an area, rather than not liking the areaitself. The person who wrote “pollution, carbon dioxide” was not typical.

A last point needs to be made about what people said was good, and what was bad,about where they lived. We checked how many people had written that there wasnothing bad about it, and how many had written that there was nothing good aboutit. Many more people (27%) wrote that there was nothing bad about their area,than the number (13%) who wrote that there was nothing good about it.

Bad things about being a young person living in yourpart of England

Gangs, vandals, bullies (20%)

Lack of activities to do (18%)

Living away from your family and friends (15%)

Here are the bad things we were most often told about. Again, each of these camefrom at least one in ten people:

“not enough young

people’s “hanging

out” places”

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The message is clear. Over a quarter of children and young people, when askedwithout any prompting, said that what would make a place better for children andyoung people to live in is more things for them to do.

The second proposal on this list is also an important one. The children at ourconference were people living away from their first family home, and exactly aquarter said that what would make where they live better for them would be to liveat home and not away from home. This is not an answer that would come fromchildren and young people generally, and it was not what most of the children livingaway from home told us, either. But it is important to know that as many as aquarter of those living away from home are more concerned about wanting toreturn home than they are about improving the place they are living in now.

Some people wrote about changes to the city, town orcountryside where they live: “theme parks, moreleisure centres”, “make streets safer”, “more shelteredand warm areas”, “more open spaces”. Far morewrote about other sorts of changes, rather thanchanges to places.

Many wrote about the most important changes beingto do with being someone in care or living away fromyour family, rather than about places themselves: “I would like to live with my mum and my dad as agreat big family”, “to be out of care”. One person

“to be out of care”

What changes would you like to see where you live?As well as asking about the good and bad things about where they lived, we askedwhat changes the children and young people would like to see to make the part ofthe country they lived in a better place for children and young people to live in.

Here are the top three changes children said were needed. Each of these wassuggested by more than one in ten of the children at our conference.

Changes that would make the part of the country wherethey live a better place for children and young people

More things to do (28%)

Being able to go back to live at home (25%)

Having more money (16%)

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wrote what change for the better they wanted where they lived,as a young person in care: “acceptance”. Some told us that thechanges they would like would be changes to themselvesrather than changes in the place they live: “I’d turn back thehands of time and change my ways”, “I would send myselfback a couple of years and not commit crime!”.

How is England doing on Convention Rightsfor children living away from home?In the Space Cinema, we invited children and young people who came to ourconference to vote on how well or badly they thought they were being given each of the sixteen children’s rights we had listed with the Government from the UnitedNations Convention on the Rights of the Child. For each right, there were fivepossible votes: “very well”, “well”, “just about OK”, “badly” or “very badly”.

Altogether, 275 children and young people voted (not counting the votes from thepractice session we started with).

To work out how each right scored, we gave it two points each time someone votedthat they were getting that right “very well”, and one point every time someonevoted they were getting that right “well”. We gave no points when people voted “just about OK”. We took one point away each time someone voted that they weregetting that right “badly”, and took away two points each time someone voted “very badly”. We then multiplied the points up into a score out of a hundred, to make them easier to understand.

“I’d turn back the hands of

time and change my ways”

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Here are the scores out of a hundred that children and young people gave each ofthe sixteen children’s rights, with the best kept right at the top.

Rights that children and young people voted that theyare getting between “well” and “very well”:

1st Children should be able to have their own thoughts about things (scored 60)

2nd Children should be able to follow their own religion(scored 56)

3rd Children should be safe in the building where they areliving now (scored 55)

4th Children should be able to speak in their own language(scored 55)

5th All families should have good quality homes (scored 54)

6th Children should be able to see a doctor or dentistwhenever they need to (scored 54)

7th Children should be able to have healthy food and drink(scored 53)

8th Children should not be discriminated against (scored 52)

Rights that children and young people voted that theyare getting “just about OK” but not “well”:

9th Children should get help from adults when they needtheir help (scored 49)

10th Children should feel safe while they are at school(scored 48)

11th Children should be able to enjoy themselves (scored 47)

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12th What children say about things that matter to themshould be taken seriously (scored 47)

13th Children should feel safe when they are out in thecountryside (scored 46)

14th Children should be able to have their say about thingsthat matter to them (scored 40)

15th Children should get education that helps them do thebest they can (scored 40)

16th Children should be safe when they are out in town(scored 34)

None of the rights were scored as close to being given “very well” to children.Even the best given right was scored as much closer to “well” given than to “verywell” given. But it is important that none of the rights were scored as low as “justabout OK” or “badly” given, either.

From the votes cast at our conference, it is clear that these children living away fromhome believe that the rights they are most often given are those to do with havingfreedom about what to think, what to believe and what faith to follow. It isimportant that very many told us that the right of families to have a good home isgiven well, because having a good home to live in is one of the things many otherchildren and young people have told us is very important to children.

We know that being safe is something else that is veryimportant for children. The votes at our conference tell usthat the right to be safe is not something children feel theyare getting equally wherever they are. The children told usthat their right to be safe is kept best in the building theyare living in – a family house, or a residential or boardingschool. They told us that their right to be safe is not quiteso well kept at school, and that it is even less well keptwhen they are outside in the countryside or town.

“I feel as if I'm

being listened to

well and I am going

to school daily”

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One vital message to give in this report is that childrensay their worst kept right of all is the right to be safewhen outside in a town. The children feel safest at home,reasonably safe at school or out in the countryside, butleast safe out in town.

Another vital message is that these children said theirnext worst kept right is the right to have an educationthat helps them do the best they can. Children livingaway from home voted that their right to that educationwas not being given to them well. This is an important

message when children and young people have told us before that they want aneducation that is relevant to what they need and are going to do in the future, andthe Government has said that achieving well in education is an important goal for all children.

One of the things children have told us many times before is important to them is to be able to have a say in important decisions that affect them, and for theirviews and concerns to be taken seriously. Their votes told us that they do notbelieve these rights are being given to them well.

How are we doing with helping children?We asked children what was changing for the better, and what was changing for theworse, about the help they are getting from adults and from the services that arethere to help them (like local councils).

Far more children (51%) told us nothing is getting worse about the help they get,than the ones (10%) who told us that nothing is getting better.

There were two main ways that children thought they are now being helped betterthan before. One was that they get more things to do in their spare time, and theother was that the place they are living is better now than it was before. About onein ten children told us about each of these changes for the better.

Other examples of things getting better were better care, better equipment, beingwith new friends or family, and education getting better.

Some children told us about personal changes that they had been helped to makebecause of the help they had got: “I don’t destroy things on purpose any more”, “Ifeel as if I’m being listened to well and I am going to school daily”, “my attitude andthe way I look at things”.

“my life is no longer

in the hands of a

hopeless bureaucracy”

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One young person wrote to us about how they had been treated badly in the past,but had been able to sort things out recently with the help they were now getting: “I am now (at long last) in control of my life. My life is not longer in the hands of a hopeless bureaucracy. Over time I am slowly picking up the fragments of my life that were shattered by those who had a duty to look after me (parents and care system).”

There were no particular ways that help is getting worse that came to us from as many as one in ten children. The two things that we heard about most were not being helped to get back to your family or to have the right contact with yourfamily, and things getting worse because of other children and young people,whose behaviour or bullying made life worse for the person writing to us.

Some children gave us examples of how they thought the way they were beinglooked after by local councils was making things worse for them. Some of thesewere: “being moved about – not liking the new foster carer. Not enough resources –being place in somewhere horrible”, “not letting us know when we are moving on tomy new home”, “the time its taken setting up a family for me (2 and a half years)and I’m only 9 years”.

We asked children to tell us the best thing that had ever been done to help them.Here are the most common examples we got. Each one came from more than oneperson in ten:

Other examples of good sorts of help were help with education (which for somepeople meant help getting back into a school or college after having to leave), being bought special things like pets, and being helped to keep in touch with familyand friends.

Many young people looked back over how they had been looked after, and wrote tous about how they had been helped over their childhood. We can’t do any betterthan quoting in their own words what they thought had helped them. Here are thethings some people wrote:

“they helped me back to school after a long absence”

The best thing ever done to help the young person

Just being looked after well and kept safe (21%)

Being given support they needed (21%)

Being given holidays and activities (14%)

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“helped me to stay out of trouble and encouraged me to stick to education”

“generally to learn life skills – cooking, hoovering, washing up”

“I have been made safe, given attention and thoroughly loved and spoilt”

“I was given the chance to change my ways for the best”

“my carers have done several things in order to help me. One thing that has reallyhelped me is that I don’t have many household chores as I used to have while I was living with mum, which has given me more time to study and feel like ateenager not a mum”

“my keyworker asks me lots of questions about what I like and what I don’t like. Ican make lots of choices”

“the best thing for me and other young people living in my area is learning notabout the past but the future and what it holds”

“they have helped me through the rough times I have experienced”

“they have sorted my life out and they have supported me since I have been in care”

“they have supported me through my education. They have helped me with myemotional problems. They have made me part of a family”

“they used rewards to control my behaviour and they really cared about me and myfeelings. We talked about things, which really helped me”

“they’re always there and don’t leave me. They always listen you need someone totalk to and they don’t get cross when I’m hyperactive”.

As well as asking about the help people had found most helpful, wealso asked what one change they thought would help them better inthe future. There was no one change that as many as one in tenchildren told us they wanted. The things that we heard about mostincluded having more activities to do, having different people toshare the house or children’s home with, and having more contactwith their own family. Many people wrote about how the mostimportant change would be in how people get on with each other:“not having different people with me from one day to the next”, “sitdown together for dinner”, “to like my new carer and bond with her”,“to be able to communicate with my family and carers”.

Almost one in five (19%) told us there was no change they thought was needed toimprove the help they get. This was the answer we got most often of all. Oneperson who didn’t think things needed to change wrote: “I am very happy the waythings are. Life has never felt as good. I can now see all my open opportunities andI know that there are people who care about me”.

“they have supportedme through myeducation. They havehelped me with myemotional problems.They have made mepart of a family”

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What is happening about bullying?Over the years we have been asking children and young peoplefor their views and concerns, one of the messages we haveheard most often is that bullying is a problem and needs to bekept down. One of our conference question cards thereforeasked questions about bullying.

The first thing we asked was whether children were beingbullied by anyone. We did not tell them our idea of whatbullying is – we asked them whether they believed they werebeing bullied, and then asked them exactly what happens.

Just under half the children (46%) told us they never get bullied. One inten told us they are being bullied “often” or “most of the time”. The pie chartshows how much people told us they were being bullied:

To find out what happens, we asked those who said they were being bullied to tell usabout what sort of person usually bullies them, and what actually happens to them.

We were told that most bullying comes from people about the same age as theperson being bullied. About half (48%) of all those who said they were being bulliedtold us this. The next most usual person to bully children was a young personolder than they are. Four out of ten children (40%) who said they were being bulliedtold us this.

Never

Sometimes

Hardly ever

Often

Most of the time

Do you get Bullied?

“people take the mick out

of my mum and dad and

the fact I’m in care”

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The next pie chart shows all the answers to this question:

We checked whether people who got bullied a lot got bullied by different sorts ofpeople than those who didn’t very often get bullied. Overall, the more oftensomeone said they got bullied, the more likely it was that they were being bulliedby someone older than themselves, rather than by people their own age. 29% ofthe people who were hardly ever bullied were being bullied by someone older thanthey were, but well over half (57%) of the people who were being bullied most of thetime were being bullied by young people older than they were.

We asked two questions about what actually happens whenpeople get bullied, and what sorts of things they thoughtmeant they were being bullied. There were two main thingsthat people said was being bullied. One was verbal, whichmeant being teased, being called unpleasant names, andfor some, being teased for being in care. Nearly two thirds(64%) told us this was what happened when they were beingbullied. Just under a quarter (23%) said that when they werebeing bullied, they were being hit or hurt in some way,including being punched or having their hair pulled. Therewere no other sorts of bullying that were happening to asmany as one in ten of the people who were being bullied.

Our second question on this was to find out where exactly bullying happens. Therewere three main places. The most usual place was at school or college, whichincluded places like school or college sports grounds. Seven out of ten people (70%)said this is where bullying happened to them. Bullying happened especially whereand when there were no staff around: “when no staff can see”. The second mostusual place to get bullied was at home, particularly if you lived in a children’shome. A quarter (25%) of the children being bullied told us this is where it happened

Someone about your own age

A young person older than you

People you don’t already know

Someone younger than you

An adult

If you are Bullied, who Bullies you?

“when no staff

can see”

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most. The third most usual place to be bullied was outdoors, in the town or a park.One person just said “my street”. Again, there were no other places that werementioned by as many as one in ten children at the conference.

We were interested to find out about a particular sort of bullying. We asked whetheranyone was being bullied by mobile phone, on chatrooms, or through the internet.22 children and young people at the conference told us they were, but this was only8% of the 265 children at the conference who answered this question for us. Ofthose, most (15 of the 22) said they were being bullied on their mobile phones.

Some children wrote to us about why they thought they got bullied. Examples ofwhat they said are: “because I have a disability”, “because I’m small”, “it’s becausemy choice to be gay”, “my brother hurts me and others at college tease me andleave me out all the time. Some adults who should help me ignore anything I askthem”, “people take the mick out of my mum and dad and the fact I’m in care”. Oneperson in a children’s home said the sort of thing that was said was “oy, you’re thatkid who lives in that children’s home. Ha ha ha!”.

We wanted to know, and be able to tell people reading this report, how worriedchildren are about getting bullied. Putting all the answers together (and 235children answered this question), over four out of ten children (44%) said theydon’t worry about being bullied at all. Nearly another quarter (24%) said they onlyworried about it “a little”. One in eight (12%) said they worried “quite a bit” aboutbeing bullied. Around one in seven children told us they worried “a lot” or “most of the time” about getting bullied. The pie chart shows all the answers we got tothis question:

Don’t worry at all

Only a little

Quite a bit

A lot

Most of the time

How much do you worry about being Bullied?

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Of course, we expected people who are actually being bullied toworry about it more than people who are not being bullied much, orwho aren’t being bullied at all. So we checked this out. As weexpected, the more someone is getting bullied, the more theyworry about bullying. Over four out of ten children (44%) who saidthey were being bullied “often” or “most of the time” told us that theyworried about bullying “a lot” or “most of the time”. Only one intwelve people (8%) who said they were “never” or “hardly ever”bullied told us they worried this much about bullying.

Our last question about bullying was about what children think really helps to stopbullying. We did not make any suggestions of our own, so can say here what thechildren themselves said.

By far the best thing to help stop being bullied was to tell someone who could dosomething about it – like a teacher or carer. Over half (51%) of the children told usthis. “I go and tell my teacher”, “information and telling an adult”.

The next best thing to stop getting bullied did not come from anything like thismany children, but nearly one in seven children (15%) said that standing up foryourself, and fighting back, was the best way to stop yourself from getting bullied.One in ten children (10%) said that good staff support and supervision for childrenwas the best way to keep bullying down. “Stick up for yourself and don’t let peoplepush you around”.

One person put these two top things together and told us that the best way ofdealing with being bullied was “standing up to the person who is bullying you. Tell someone who you think can help”.

No other ideas came from as many as one in ten children, but some examples ofthose other ideas were keeping away from bullies and ignoring them, and trying tomake friends with the bullies to protect yourself.

We wondered whether people who were being bullied a lot would think differentthings might help, compared with people who weren’t being bullied much. Wechecked this out, but found that children suggested much the same things to dealwith bullying, whether or not they were being bullied much themselves.

One person summed up their worries about bullying, but also how they coped with itthemselves, by saying “I don’t believe bullying will ever stop, there will always besomeone who is insecure about themselves that they have to take it out onsomeone else. You just learn to get stronger”. Someone else told us that ourquestion about how people could stop themselves being bullied was an odd one:“don’t know or I would do it and not get bullied”!

“standing up to

the person who

is bullying you.

Tell someone who

you think can help”

21

Are children really getting their say about their lives?One of the most common things children say to us when we consult them is thatthey should get a say in important decisions about their lives. They tell us that threethings should happen. Firstly, they should be asked about things that matter forthem. Secondly, their opinions should be properly thought about and should make adifference. Thirdly, what children say should be taken as seriously as things thatadults say. (This is not the same as always agreeing with what children say, orthinking that children rather than adults are more likely to be right, but it meanslistening and thinking seriously about what children have to say about their ownlives). We have also heard from children that in order to have a proper say aboutimportant things, you have to be told about changes that are going to happen to you.

These things are rights that children have in English law, and they are in the UnitedNations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We thought it was important to findout from children themselves how well they are being given these rights. We knowfrom the votes in the Space cinema at our conference that having a say and beingtaken seriously were rights that children told us they were not getting so well assome of their other rights.

We used our question cards to find out how well children living away from home arebeing given their say in England. Our first question on this at the conference washow often do children and young people get asked about things that matter tothem. Four out of ten (40%) told us that they are in fact asked “a lot”, andanother quarter (25%) said they were “usually” asked. Nearly a quarter more,though, said they only got asked “sometimes” about important things that matterto them, and just over one in ten (11%) told us they are “not often” or “never”asked. The pie chart shows these answers:

A lot

Usually

Sometimes

Not often

Never

How often do you get askedabout things that matter?

22

Nearly two thirds of the children (63%) told us that what they said is taken asseriously as what adults say. But one in five children (21%) said that what they saidis “not usually” or “never” taken as seriously as things adults say. The next pie chartshows the answers to our question about how seriously what children say is takenwhen important things are being decided:

When we asked whether children’s and young people’s opinions actually make adifference to things that matter to their lives, six out of ten said that their opinionsmade “quite a bit” or “a lot” of difference. But one in five children (19%) told usthat their opinions made “not much” difference or no difference at all. This piechart shows the answers to whether children’s opinions make a difference:

Always

Usually

Quite often

Not usually

Never

Is what you say taken as seriouslyas what an adult says?

A lot

Quite a bit

Some

Not much

None

Do your opinions makea difference?

23

When we asked if children are kept informed about what is going on when changesare happening in their lives, we found that nearly eight out of ten (77%) were“usually” or “always” told what was going on. Just under one in eight (13%) saidthey were “not usually” or “never” told what was happening to them. The next piechart shows how children answered this question:

We asked children and young people to give us examples of when what they had saidmade a real difference. Here are the top three examples we were given, with thepercentage of children and young people who gave us each answer in brackets:

Always

Usually

Quite often

Not usually

Never

Do people make sure you know what’s going on when changes happen?

Examples of when what children or young people saidmade a difference

In getting more contact with their own families (24%)

About where they were going to be placed to live next (17%)

Getting things they asked for (like money for something,activities to do, a phone, and their own bedroom) (15%)

None of the other examples we were given came from as many as one in tenchildren, but some of the other examples were getting help when they said theyneeded help with school or college problems, getting help when they said they werebeing bullied, and taking part in planning meetings and reviews making decisionsabout their lives.

24

Some of the quotes that children wrote for us give us more details about theexamples: “I asked for more contact with my mum and it changed”, “I said I didn’tlike my foster dad so they moved me”, “I wanted to spend more time during theholidays with my brother. At first it took a long time, but finally I was able to”, “Iwanted to stay with my carer and now I have a permanent home”.

Of course, we also asked the question the other way around, and asked if there wereany examples of where what the children and young people at our conference hadsaid made no difference. Importantly, over one in five people (22%) told us thatthey could give us no examples at all of where their opinions hadn’t made anydifference. One of these people spoke for many when they wrote “everything makes a difference”.

Here are the top three examples we were given of where what children or youngpeople said made no difference:

It is very clear that there are some things that children often have opinions about,but some children find that their opinions are heard and make a difference, whileother children find that their opinions on the same things don’t. These areespecially things like how much contact they have with their own families, wherethey are going to live next, and getting things they ask for.

Here are some of the personal examples of not being able to make adifference to your life: “I asked for a hamster but got knocked back”,“not being allowed to stay at my mates or go to her house”, “ I wasbeing abused. I was still left to suffer for a year”, “teacher believedover me”. One person wrote about how what they had said made adifference for them, but they didn’t think what they said had beentaken seriously enough: “my old foster carer hit me and my sister lastyear. We rang the police and social services. We got moved, but theydidn’t get stopped foster caring.”

Examples of when what children or young people saidmade NO difference

Not getting more contact with their own families (22%)

Not getting things they asked for (like computers, money forsomething, having a pet) (12%)

About where they were going to be placed to live next (7%)

“teacher believed

over me”

25

How well are children living away fromhome being kept safe?Keeping children safe is another important right in the law, andit is also something that children themselves have told us a lotabout. Again, we used the question cards at the conference tofind out what children think about being kept safe.

Our first question was to ask what children thought are themain dangers for children and young people. We made nosuggestions ourselves, so this is another question where the ideas all came from the children themselves. Here are the answers we got from at least one in ten children at the conference (as usual, we have put thepercentage of children who gave us each answer in brackets):

We got examples like these of these dangers in what children and young peoplewrote to us:

“staying out late, wandering the streets early in the morning”

“risk of drink and drugs, paedophiles, not being listened to, not being believed”

“abuse! Either sexual or physical. Maybe peer pressure with drugs, smoking or alcohol”

“I do not have any danger awareness and need constant supervision”

“being born to bad parents in addition to being looked after by the state”.

What are the main dangers for children and youngpeople living away from home these days?

Strangers (some adults, paedophiles) (30%)

Drugs (including alcohol) (27%)

Roads, vehicles and accidents (24%)

Street crime and fights (16%)

Bullying (10%)

“risk of drink and

drugs, paedophiles,

not being listened to,

not being believed”

26

We also asked what would help keep children safe from these dangers. Here are thetop three ways suggested by children and young people for keeping them safer:

Here are some examples from what children wrote to us about how to keep themsafer from danger:

“to be around good people, to focus and think aboutwhat’s right for me”

“not talking to strangers, always say no to strangers”

“caution. Don’t go where you don’t feel safe”

“better education about all these issues at school”

“a good ‘parent’ model who keeps you on the straightand narrow”.

We also asked whether the children at our conference thoughtlife these days is getting safer, or more dangerous, for youngpeople living away from home in England.

The children had very different views on whether life is getting safer in England forchildren and young people like themselves. 45% thought life is getting “a bit safer”or “a lot safer”, but 37% thought life is getting “a bit more dangerous” or “a lotmore dangerous” for children and young people. 17% thought it is staying muchthe same. Overall, the view of our conference was that life is getting safer ratherthan more dangerous for children and young people – but once you count in thepeople who think it is staying much the same, just over half of the children did nottell us life is getting safer at all.

What do children think would keep them safer from danger?

Being with safe people, like carers, parents and peers (31%)

Keeping yourself away from danger (24%)

More education and information about the dangers (13%)

“caution. Don’t go

where you don't

feel safe”

27

To help understand this rather complicated message from our conference, here iswhat the answers look like on a pie chart:

Some of those who thought life is getting generally more dangerous wrote: “there areloads of stabbings, shootings, wars and fighting”, “I think this is because of the moreamount of thefts, thugs and bullies on the street”, “because kids are on the streetswith knives”, “because cars are faster, so stop making faster cars”, “times arechanging more and more, people are realising they can get away with anything”.

Some told us that getting older brings more dangers but also means that you cantake care of yourself better: “because I’m getting older and doing more things”,“because I’m out by myself a lot. While dark and late”, “as I get older I can do moreand take care of myself”.

People who thought life is getting safer wrotethings like: “because the police are getting betterand new laws are getting introduced”, “becausethe government, police and health and safety arereally working hard to save us”, “I stay safe, I havemy phone on me and people ring me if anyemergencies”. One person told us that inspectorshad made children safer: “I have been in care nowfor nearly 12 years. When I first joined there wasno inspections for foster homes or children’shomes that I could see and there was a lot ofabuse going on, in my case violence”.

A lot safer

A bit safer

Staying much the same

A bit more dangerous

A lot more dangerous

Is life getting safer ormore dangerous foryoung people?

28

What do children and young people living away fromhome think of their education?Children have very often told us how important they think a good education is, butthey have also often told us that they are not happy with the education they aregetting for themselves. Earlier in this report we saw that the votes from children inthe Space cinema rated the right to a good education as one of the children’s rightsthat is not very well given to children living away from home.

We asked children who are still at school whether they thought they were getting agood education. We asked them to give their own education a score out of ten. Outof the 221 children who gave us their scores, 45% gave their education the topscore of 10. The average score out of ten was eight, and exactly three quarters(75%) of all the children gave their education a score of eight or more out of ten.This is a good rating.

One of the things children have often told us can spoil their education, andsometimes make them do badly, is having to change schools a lot. This can happenwhen they have to move to live in a different placement. We asked the children atour conference who were still at school to tell us how many different schools theyhad been to so far. The average was four different schools. Over a quarter though(26%) told us they had been to five or more different schools. Over a third of thechildren (36%) had been to only one or two different schools so far.

On our question cards we asked whether children still at school thought they weredoing as well at school as they could. We got answers from 251 children. Nearlyhalf (47%) said they were definitely doing as well as they could at school, andonly 5 children (which is about 2%) said they were definitely not doing as well asthey could. The pie chart shows how the answers look:

Definitely yes

Mostly

Not Really

Definitely not

Are you doing as well atschool as you could?

29

Clearly, although children are not sure they are getting their right to a goodeducation quite as well as other rights, most think they are still getting a goodeducation, and many think they are doing as well at school as they can. We heardof course that doing well at school is something that needs both good teachers, andlots of effort from the child themselves. One person told us they were doing wellbecause of “a few dedicated teachers and myself”.

When we asked what had helped children most with their education, we heard thatthere were two things above all that have helped. One is the teachers at school,which we were told had helped almost half the children at the conference (48%).Many told us that getting one to one help from a teacher had been a great help. Theother is the help that carers have given children with their school work. We heardthis from almost one in five children (19%). One person just wrote that the mosthelpful thing with their education had been “my foster mum”.

We asked whether the children themselves thought there is anything that isstopping children doing as well as they could at school. Over half (55%) said thatthere was not anything particular that stopped them doing well at school. Theywere not doing well, but couldn’t put this down to any particular cause or problem.The two most usual things that children told us were getting in the way of themdoing well at school were both to do with behaviour at school. 16% of the childrensaid that other people’s bad behaviour got in the way of doing well, for exampledistracting them. Nearly one in ten though (9%) told us that it was their own badbehaviour at school that got in the way of them doing well at school. There werelots of other reasons that came from one or two children each. Two examples were“being a looked after child eg lack of urgency / demoralisation when I asked socialservices about applying to Oxbridge”, and “everything is on my mind”.

Well over a third of the children (38%) still at school told us there was nothingmore that could be done to help them do well at school. The two most usual sortsof help that children suggested might help them do well were more support frompeople like teachers and family at home (15% said this), and things changing tomake school better for them, like changes in the work they were doing, or theclasses they were in. Another 15% of the children told us this.

Finally on education, we wanted to find out what children thought would happenonce they left school. Eight out of ten (80%) children still at school told us theywanted to go on to college when they left school. There were two main reasons forwanting to go on to college. One was that it would help to get a job. 43% of thechildren who wanted to go to college told us this reason. The other main reason wassimply to carry on learning and get more qualifications. About a third (34%) ofthose who wanted to go to college said this. “Education gives you a greater chanceof success in an ever competitive job market”.

30

Whatever they had told us about their schooling, the vast majority of the schoolchildren at the conference were confident about getting a good job in the future.Over eight out of ten (82%) told us they thought they would get a good job. Only7% thought they wouldn’t. Some were very honest in what they wrote about this:“depends on my behaviour”. One person wrote that they were confident aboutgetting a good job “because I know I can be good at what I want to do”.

One in five (21%) thought they would get a good job because of the sort of personthey are (things like being special, smart, confident, or trustworthy). “Because I amworth trusting”. Much the same number (20%) thought they would get a good job

because they are studying hard to get there, and 18% said that theywere confident of getting a good job because they were alreadydoing well at school. “I have demonstrated consistent perseverancein education despite often being in the face of adversity”. Just overone in ten (11%) said that the support they were getting made themconfident of getting a good job one day.

Those who weren’t sure about ever getting a good job told us that theyhad missed out on education or didn’t think they were going to getthe qualifications they needed. “Because you need qualifications fora good job”, “I haven’t done a lot of school”.

How well do children away from home say they arebeing looked after?We have written many reports about different things to do with being looked afteraway from home. (You can find these on our website, www.rights4me.org). Wewanted to use our conference to check out how well children think they are beinglooked after, and how well they think the “system” is doing with the things (like careplans) that they have told us are so important for them.

We asked all the children to give a score out of ten for how well they were beinglooked after. The average score was nine out of ten, which is very good indeed.Over three quarters (77%) gave a score of nine or ten.

We asked a number of questions on our question cards about how particular thingsare working for children to do with how well they are being looked after.

Over eight out of ten (81%) told us that they have a social worker. Nearly nine out often (86%) told us that they have a care plan. Not so many though actually had theirown copy of their care plan. Only just over half (53%) said they had their own copy.

Seven out of ten (71%) told us that they had a say about what went in their careplan. But nearly a quarter (24%) told us that they didn’t have any say in what wentinto their own care plan.

“a few dedicated

teachers and myself”

31

Nearly seven out of ten (69%) told us they agreed with what was in their care plan.But one in five (20%) told us they didn’t agree with what was in their care plan.

Over three quarters of the children and young people (77%) told us that their careplans are being kept to. But 15% told us that what their care plan says is notbeing kept to in how they are being looked after.

A last thing we wanted to find out was whether children and young people thoughtthey are being treated the same, or differently, from other children and young people. This is an important issue that has come to us from many children inthe past.

When we asked this, about three quarters (76%) said they were being treated thesame by adults as other children and young people are being treated. Around aquarter (24%) though said that they were being treated differently by adults.

We wanted to find out more about how so many children are treated differently toother children and young people, so we looked at the reasons given on our questioncards about how children are being treated. Those who said they were being treatedthe same said things like “my carers have children of their own and I have beenthere for nearly seven years and feel that I have been treated equally”, “my socialworker didn’t know who was in care and who was family”.

The three main reasons for children telling us they were being treated differently areperhaps a surprise. The one we were given most often (by nearly a quarter, 23%, ofthose who had said they are treated differently) was that the children living awayfrom home are treated better, not worse, than other children and young people.“Because they help me more. Staff are nice to me”. 14% of those who told us theywere treated differently said they were told off more and shouted at more, thanother children. But another 14% said they were being treated differently to otherchildren and young people because they are different individuals with differentneeds. “Everyone is treated as an individual”; “although we are all treated the same,we have different needs”.

A few young people gave us other reasons for being treateddifferently. One told us how this was their own fault: “I feel I can beleft out of things because of my behaviour ie when my behaviour hasbeen difficult or disruptive”.

One young person wrote to us angrily about how they felt that somepeople weren’t really interested in helping a child or young personliving away from home: “in the case of foster carers I have often beenseen as ‘£££s’ as opposed to a young person. Teachers have seenme as someone to label when things go wrong as opposed to ahardworking student. My solicitor saw me as some easy cash asopposed to a young person.”

“everyone is treated

as an individual”

32

The last words about children getting their rights, and about having a good place tolive, go to the children who gave us the following quotes at the conference:

One person wrote about the rights children should have and how they should use them:

“that we have rights that work in an effective way, eg being protected from child abuse (not being put with non-CRB foster carers) as opposed to young people using children’s rights to get teachers sacked for givingthem detention”.

The second person added up lots of ideas about the ideal place to live when they wrote:

“more sunshine, more beaches, less winters, more flowers, less school”.

Last words

If you have any comments regarding this reportplease send them to:

Dr Roger Morgan OBEChildren’s Rights Director for England

Office of the Children’s Rights DirectorCommission for Social Care InspectionSt Nicholas BuildingSt Nicholas StreetNewcastle upon Tyne NE1 1NB

Children’s Website www.rights4me.org

March 2007

Further copies are available free of charge fromcsci@accessplus.co.uk Order line 0870 240 7535

From 1 April 2007 the Office of the Children'sRights Director (OCRD) transfers to Ofsted. Afterthis date OCRD reports will only be available fromOfsted or the OCRD website at www.rights4me.org

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