Seven thoughts as the Government sets out its next steps for Children’s Social Care in England

This week the Government has made its long-awaited response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England. While some of the changes we longed to see included haven’t been, there is much to be celebrated.

As you may remember, during the 2019 General Election, the Conservative Party manifesto pledged to commission an independent review of children’s social care in England. In 2020, the Government appointed Josh MacAlister to Chair the Review and tasked the review team with a “once in a generation” opportunity to rethink the children’s social care system in England. In May 2022, the Review team published its final report. Since May, the Government has been considering the Review’s recommendations and this week have announced their next steps in an implementation strategy titled, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’.

Here are four things we are pleased to see included in the Government’s implementation strategy:

1. Building life-long relationships is at the heart of planned reform.

The importance and transformative strength of loving relationships was the foundation upon which much of the Independent Review was laid. We are delighted to see this echoed in the Government’s response, with Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Claire Coutinho stating, ‘our wide-ranging reforms will put strong relationships at are the heart of the care system.’ The Government’s strategy includes a commitment to support children in care and care leavers to find and maintain loving relationships. We believe the Church has a key role to play in establishing and maintaining loving relationships for children in care and are thrilled to see this at the heart of the Government’s strategy.

2. Plans to increase the provision and take-up of supported lodgings.

Caring for teenagers has become a defining feature of children’s social care in England with one in four children aged 16 years and over. We were delighted that the Independent Review recognised the value of supported lodgings, a family-based care provision for 16+ year olds, and referenced our report, Brimming with potential. We are therefore thrilled to see the Government’s strategy includes a commitment to increase provision and take-up of supported lodgings, which in time, will enable more young people to launch into adulthood through the support of this family-based care provision. You can find out more about supported lodgings by watching our explainer video.

3. Recognising the value of foster carers and the desperate need for more.

We are pleased the Government has recognised the immense value of foster carers. Alongside an increase to the foster carer allowance, the Government has committed to increase the recruitment and retention of foster carers. We especially welcome the ambition of Government to recruit carers who will care for sibling groups, teenagers, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), those that have suffered complex trauma or parent and child foster homes. It is children with these characteristics who typically wait the longest to find stability and are too often placed in unsuitable accommodation.

4. A focus on early intervention.

Too often we hear stories of tragedy where adverse circumstances have led to children entering the care system having experienced significant trauma. We welcome the Government’s strategy to increase support for families, as well as steps taken to increase the use of effective early intervention. Early intervention is key to improving the lives of children at risk of experiencing poor outcomes. We believe the Church is well placed to support families in crisis, something we explored alongside Safe Families in our report More Than Sundays.

While there is much to celebrate, there are also areas we believe the Government’s response hasn’t gone far enough:

1. A missed opportunity for major reform.

While we welcome much of the Government’s new strategy, we are disappointed by the scale of the reform. When compared to the proposals set out in the Independent Review, which cast a vision of entirely transforming the children’s social care system in England, we are disappointed Government action does not come close to this. Had the scale of reform been as seismic as that which was proposed by the Independent Review, the impact could have been transformational and would have led to a significant reduction in the number of children entering the care system, as well as an increase in stability for children who do enter children’s social care.

2. A commitment to investigate the barriers facing prospective foster carers.

We know from Ofsted statistics that as few as 1% of prospective carers who enquire about fostering go on to be approved as carers. Without a change to this drastically low conversion rate, no marketing campaign will successfully recruit the number of new foster carers that are urgently needed. We would have liked to see Government commit to exploring the barriers present within the system that are stopping prospective carers from progressing to assessment and approval. At Home for Good we are undertaking our own research exploring this issue with the hope we may positively influence the sector. Removing these barriers is key to recruiting more foster carers who will welcome children into their home.

3. An increase in data collection to monitor patterns of racial disparity.

Back in November 2020, an incredible 24,000 Home for Good supporters and friends responded to our Change His Future campaign and in an Open Letter we called on the Government to ensure the Review had a focus on racial disparity in the care system. Although we welcome the Government’s renewed commitment to addressing racial disparities, we would have liked to see more tangible steps taken to address the issue, including an increase in data collection to monitor patterns of racial disparity. Black children are overrepresented in the care system; are then less likely to go on to be adopted and wait longer to find their adoptive family; this is an issue of justice.

Conclusion

Since the Review’s inception, we at Home for Good have sought to influence its progress and findings. Over the past two years, we have worked alongside our Care Experienced Advisory Group (a brilliant group of adults who had experience of care during their childhood) to advise and speak into the Review. We are pleased to see the Government respond to the Independent Review and remain just as committed as ever to seeing change from the top down. Influencing systemic improvements to the care system is just one of the ways we will achieve our mission to find a home for every child who needs one.