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The Care System in the UK - Failings

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In England and Wales, about 60,000 to 90,000 children are placed in 'care'. Placing a child in care usually means removing them from their networks, however poor, of support because they are deemed at 'risk of significant harm'. Ironically, they are then put at even greater risk, by placing them with a succession of strangers. Some well meaning, most poorly qualified, some working in this field precisely because it gives them access to children.

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The abuse of looked after children in the care system in the UK has been well documented and is not surprising.

 

By their very nature these looked after children are vulnerable, often needing love and attention, and removed from those who know them and would notice changes in their behaviour. Most recently we have seen the abuse of  children in the UK care system in Rotherham and Oxford, but the pattern is historic although the methods change.

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From the earliest days parents fought against the migration of their children to Australia and Canada, reports noted the beating and abuse of children in care, and the lack of after care provision (see Curtis report 1946; Ingleby 1956, Utting 1997 etc). We know about the horrific sexual abuse suffered by children in Leicestershire's care homes at the hands of a social services manager, Frank Beck, the scandals of Pindown and in the children's homes of North Wales, the abuse and deaths of children in Haut de la Garenne in the Channel Islands.

 

We know how easy it is for people to prey on the most vulnerable. A CRB or DBS check checks only whether a person has been caught. It does not check if a 'carer' is competent, deviant, or indeed a paedophile who has chosen to work in this low paid field precisely because it is so easy to gain access.

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Parents are investigated with all the force of the law, and must defend themselves in civil proceedings when no criminal offence has been committed, whereas those working with their children face little investigation.

 

'Care' cannot replace the networks of family and community. It is the 21st Century. Let's say 'no' to any more commissions, reports or inquiries, 'no' to taking children into care, and 'yes' to rethinking how we support and enable children and families who are in challenging circumstances.

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Kinship/Family Friends care that is properly supported may be an option. Stranger care is not, and we should be ashamed to think that it is.

 

Scroll down for research and journal articles  on  the care system in the UK

 

Hope for transparency in Family Court reporting

Children's moves in care

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