Families must play a bigger part in the lives of children in care

May 25, 2022 by

by Cristina Odone, Conservative Home:

The children’s care system delivers poor outcomes. Taxpayers and our most vulnerable children pay for this.  More than 80,000 children are in the state’s care. That’s more than all the children living in Blackpool and Swansea combined. The statistics about their future are dire: their lives will be shorter, unhealthier, and likely to include homelessness and problems with police.  All costs more than £9bn a year.

Last year the Government appointed Josh MacAlister to lead an independent national review of children’s care services in England and Wales. MacAlister founded Front Line, a charity that seeks to develop best practice in social work. For his review, published yesterday, he invited 2330 written submissions, visited 10 Local Authorities and spoke with over 1400 social workers.

MacAlister should be applauded for taking aim at a system that fails the needy while earning millions for the greedy. He recognises the importance of relationships – which, neuroscience has shown, shape a child’s brain development. He has boldly moved to break up the cartel that allows the private providers of children’s residential care homes to exploit the huge demand and inadequate supply in this “market”. However, for a proper “reset” he must tear up the social worker’s protocols that currently ignore the one element that distinguishes children in care from their peers: family.

Read here

Read also:  Drugs gang boss allowed to run children’s home by Billy Kenber, The Times (£)

 

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