Comment: The Future of Children’s Social Care report

Commenting on the new report Charlotte Ramsden, ADCS President, said:

“This report is a helpful contribution to the current conversations about the changes that are needed to achieve the best outcomes for children and families. It reiterates several important issues which ADCS has been raising with government for some time, such as increasing levels of demand set against a decade of reductions to local authority budgets. We agree with the need for a sustainable, long term funding settlement for children’s services, a greater focus on early help and prevention and a national focus on recruiting and retaining foster carers.

“Analysis in the report shows that if we continue as we are the number of children in care will significantly increase, as will the financial, and human, costs associated with this. Although care can be the right thing for some children, we should be doing all we can to support families to stay together safely, in line with the Children Act 1989. Government should support us in this by ensuring we have appropriate resources to keep children safe from harm and to provide targeted early help at the earliest opportunity. The report describes a blueprint for change, the role of local authorities, central government, and others in enabling this, and the benefits it could offer if adopted across the country which I’m sure will be of interest to the sector as debates around the future of the children’s social care system continue. We now need to see the government and the national review of children’s social care provide meaningful solutions so that we can build a care system that works for all children.”

ENDS

---

---