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Bullying and Looked after & Accommodated Children and Young People |
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Children and young people who are looked after and accommodated (LA&A) by the local authority are vulnerable to bullying behaviour for a number of reasons. It may be due to regular changes in schools or where they are placed which can make forming friendships difficult, poor relationships skills stemming from attachment difficulties, inappropriate reactions to situations as a result of learned behaviours, a reluctance to make friends, low self-esteem, lack of role models and a heightened sense of privacy.
Many pieces of research highlight how vulnerable looked after and accommodated children and young people are to bullying. Bristol City Council commissioned research to look into the educational experiences of their looked after and accommodated children and young people (Love, 2000). The evidence showed that almost half of them had been bullied.
- 46% of all looked after children had been bullied: 71 out of 154
- 31% of these children said that although they had told someone the bullying hadn't stopped. The research does not tell us which percentage of those bullied children had told someone with a positive effect
Looked after and accommodated children and young people may have very similar experiences of bullying to other young people, but often the bullying will focus directly on the fact that they are looked after. This can take a more serious turn if the child or young person lives in the same house or unit as the person responsible for the bullying. Being with the person(s) who is bullying you 24 hours a day would be extremely stressful and very difficult to manage.
Barriers to telling that bullying is taking place:
- Lack of a trusting relationship with an adult or a distrust of authority
- A concern that they will not be believed or that any action will be taken
- A concern that they will be seen as the perpetrator
- Children and young people may be exhibiting behaviour which they feel is indicating that they are being bullied but the adults around them may not pick up on this. Changes in behaviour may be put down to stress about reviews or other events in the life of a looked after and accommodated child or young person
- A desire not to highlight their looked after situation
- A heightened sense of self-reliance and independence
- A desire not to ‘rock the boat' especially at the start of a new placement or during a successful placement
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