“Adolescence”: How online life can affect children and young people in care
The recent Netflix drama Adolescence has prompted much discussion about children and young people being influenced by what they see online. Adding to the long-running national debate about the additional challenges of growing up in today’s society. In some ways, our world may now be a more complex one for children and young people, with additional pressures and influences that can have unforeseen effects. For a number of reasons children and young people growing up away from their immediate families, in kinship care, foster care or who are adopted, are especially vulnerable to online influences.
The CoramBAAF Advice Line regularly receives questions on this subject from social workers. Online safety is often a topic, combined with some of the particular extra issues for adopted children and children living away from their families, such as unsupported contact and taking online risks. CoramBAAF has a range of resources that can help social workers, foster carers, kinship carers and adopters to address some of these issues for and with children and young people and help build digital resilience.
NSPCC, Internet Matters, SWGfL, and the UK Safer Internet Centre all have valuable resources, many of which are geared to carers, parents and professionals supporting them. These are all available through our navigating online life page together with recordings of podcasts and learning from expertise. Mental health is a key concern, and our guides for social workers and parents/carers explore how children may be affected and how carers can help meet their needs.
The negative mental health impacts of social media and online content are worthy of discussion and considered thought. This moves beyond ideas of cyberbullying, trolling and abusive interactions to misinformation and disinformation which can lead to increased vulnerability for health, relationships, radicalisation and isolation.
Resources for carers
Our popular Parenting Matters series includes titles on self-harm and child to parent violence. Additionally, our range of pamphlets for carers explores internet safety, sexuality, gangs, and radicalisation, with simple, explanatory material and suggestions for further reading if carers might need to explore in greater depth. The Foster carer’s handbook for parenting teenagers covers a range of contemporary issues in one handy guide.
Resources for professionals
For social workers, Devising and updating risk assessment and management plans in fostering - as part of its exploration of all manner of risks - helps identify how certain influences on young people may pose a threat to their care and outlines ways to support them in managing these risks.
Resources for children
Our children’s picture books can also provide ways to introduces some of these issues in an age-appropriate way. Morris and the Bundle of Worries, A Safe Place for Rufus, and Spark Learns to Fly can help explore some of the worries children may have for themselves or for others and encourage them to seek help. Age categorised resources for talking to children about accessing the internet and safety online are available through SWGfL.
CoramBAAF’s books explore how these issues specifically affect children in foster care or living away from their birth families. This is particularly important for those working with, supporting and looking after these children, as we know that additional vulnerability in real life greatly increases vulnerability online. The experience of being separated from family members, early life trauma, and having a more complex family identity can all affect young people’s needs and behaviours in ways that are not covered by more generalised information.
Jo Francis, Publications Manager, CoramBAAF.