Placements for children in care

Alison Michalska, ADCS President, said:

“The rising number of children in care is placing the child protection and care systems under increasing pressure. Due to record levels of demand local authorities can struggle to find suitable placements in local residential care homes resulting in children being placed further from home. This may not be in their best interests but there are few, if any, alternatives. Regulation is also a factor in this complex set of issues as is austerity.

“Whilst we are pleased that the government has recognised the pressures in adult social care we urge them to recognise the growing pressures in children’s social care as well.

“The Residential Care Leadership Board will be critical in solving this pressing issue, for too long we have lacked a strategic overview of the residential care market as a whole as well as the needs of the children living in this provision and the outcomes they achieve. We urgently need this insight in order to build a new way of working. It is vital that the Leadership Board has the right levers to influence the market and is properly resourced to bring about change. The DfE’s National Fostering Stocktake should help highlight the challenges currently facing the foster care system too, including the urgent need to build placement capacity linked to the profile of children in care, and drive much needed, sustained, improvement in this area.”

ENDS

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