This week, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill had its second reading in Parliament giving MPs a chance to debate its content for the first time. While we would have liked the Bill to go further in some areas - specifically in strengthening adoption support and eliminating profit-making - we are pleased that it includes a focus on early support for children, more help for teenagers, and it lays foundations for a renewed effort in recruiting foster carers.

The Bill includes several key measures: it offers more support to kinship carers with the aim of keeping more children within their extended families wherever possible. It also improves collaboration between social workers, police, and health professionals. For teenagers leaving care, councils will have to provide support up to the age of 25 (‘Staying Close’), helping with housing, employment, and health. The Bill also introduces tougher rules on the largest profit-making care providers.

In our work advocating for the strengthening of supported lodgings - a provision for young people aged 16+ hosted within a family home and given the support they need to grow in confidence and live independently - we were keen to highlight to Government how supported lodgings intersects with their plans to legislate Staying Close. The Staying Close initiative provides support for young people leaving care by helping them maintain relationships with trusted adults and offering practical assistance, such as housing and employment support, to ease their transition to independent living.

We were thrilled to back Rebecca Smith MP and Darren Paffey MP, who spoke during the debate about the importance of supported lodgings and the need to ensure this vital provision is more readily available across the country.

This Bill is a real opportunity to implement positive changes to our nation's care system. We will continue to influence the Bill as it progresses through parliament, advocating for stronger, fairer, and more compassionate services for children and young people.