The government have embarked on major reform to end year’s of neglect of the children’s social care support system – breaking the cycle of late intervention and helping keep families together wherever possible so that every child has the opportunity to thrive.
At the age of 18, many care leaver’s are expected to instantly ‘Become adult’s’ when they leave the care system. The lack of support makes this quick transition to adulthood an isolated, scary and lonely place.
Callum, 20 years old who had been in residential care was moved into a council house at 18 said: “You can tell the difference in finance and management from my friends who aren’t care leavers to myself.”
Joe Petty, Working for ‘Become’ the UK’s leading charity for cared for children and care leaver’s, has launched a campaign named ‘End the Care Cliff’. In hope to encourage the government to improve the outcomes of cared for children across the UK. In a new report, Joe explained “New reports show that young people leaving care are 9 times more likely to face homelessness than other young people, so because of this we have our campaign where we want to see young people leaving care have suitable housing options and avoid homelessness”.
The government aim to empower social workers, and all those that work with children, to take action against children’s placement providers that deliver care at sky-high costs to councils and focus on the system on early intervention. Local spending on looked after children has rocketed up to £7 billion in 2022/23. With social workers often being handed heavy caseloads, it makes it almost impossible to deliver the help that children and families need before issues escalate.
Bridget Phillipson, Education Secretary said: “We want to break down the barriers to opportunity and end the cycle of crisis through ambitious reforms to give vulnerable children the best life chances – because none of us thrive until all of us do.”
“Our care system has suffered from years of drift and neglect. It’s bankrupting councils, letting families down, and above all, leaving too many children feeling forgotten, powerless and invisible.”
The key elements to highlight in this reform are:
- Those that provide homes for children are to share their finances with the government to allow profiteering to be challenged. Increasing Financial transparency will ensure providers that have the biggest impact on the market don’t unexpectedly go under and leave children without a home.
- ‘Backstop’ law to put a limit on the profit providers can make.
- Not-for-profit providers and those backed by social investment are being called on to come forward to set up homes to strengthen the system
- Ofsted will be given new powers to issue civil fines to providers as a deterrent
- Early intervention, giving families the legal right to be involved in decisions made about children entering the care system
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said “children are paying the price of a broken social care system that allows profits over protection.”