The Way We Care

Across the country, we are seeing more children in care (and spending more time in care) and much greater reliance on residential care as foster care numbers plateau. The end result is that many care placements are costly, not tailored to children’s needs and all too often a long distance from home.

These were some of the findings of ‘The Way We Care’, a report by specialist consultants IMPOWER and commissioned by the County Councils Network (CCN). It was launched yesterday morning at the CCN Annual Conference. I chaired the launch as CCN spokesperson on children’s services; in that role, I was involved in the development of the report, including chairing an advisory group that helped shape it. 

The report identifies the need to reduce the number of children, interim care, lead to increase those safely, leaving it. This builds on the work of Josh McAlister’s Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which has been official government policy for sometime, but which needs to be funded adequately to be delivered. 

However, the report also highlights the need to address the severe challenges of commissioning and provisioning of placements, including the impact of registration and regulation, the pricing regime, and the need for a more long-term, strategic approach to commissioning. 

This is an important piece of work; the government has indicated its openness to reform in its statements attached to the recent budget, and this now needs to be given substance. I found it particularly valuable to cheer the advisory group, whose members had enormous experience and expertise, and two of its members – Nick Barnett of the Caldicot foundation, and Brenda Farrell of Barnardos - took part in the launch yesterday morning. 

Children’s placements are one of the areas that threaten the financial stability of local government; the issue needs to be addressed for that reason, but above all to ensure much better service and better outcomes for the children who come into our care. 

You can find CCN’s media release, and a link to the report here.