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Using the ‘Looking After Children’ dimensions to collect aggregate data on well‐being
Author(s) -
Bailey Sue,
Thoburn June,
Wakeham Hilary
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2206.2002.00250.x
Subject(s) - aggregate (composite) , context (archaeology) , aggregate data , data collection , set (abstract data type) , action (physics) , psychology , computer science , data science , sociology , medicine , geography , social science , materials science , archaeology , pathology , composite material , programming language , physics , quantum mechanics
The Department of Health has funded the development of a set of schedules for collating information on and monitoring the progress of children looked after by local authorities. An additional aspiration underlying official encouragement of the use of these ‘Looking After Children’ (LAC) materials was that they would provide aggregate data to feed into national and local policy and planning. Progress on this aim has been slow, in part because instruments designed to aid practice in individual cases have not adapted easily to the hoped for dual role, and in part because completion rates have been patchy and often poor. This paper describes an action research project designed to use the children's reviewing system to collect aggregate data on the LAC dimensions of well‐being. It comments on the viability of this method of aggregate data collection as well as locating the information on a cohort of 96 children in the context of other studies, and debates about whether the state can be a ‘good parent’.