Scotland’s Independent Care Review has been praised for its “unprecedented” scope and vows to put looked-after children and care-experienced adults at the heart of a “radical overhaul” of the country’s children’s social care system.
It includes 80 recommendations for changes to the system and is accompanied by an implementation plan, which sets out a detailed vision for what the system will look like in 10 years’ time (see box).
At its launch, Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon vowed to make the changes “as quickly and as safely as possible”. Policymakers in Westminster will be watching progress north of the border closely as they prepare the ground for a care review in England, promised by the Conservative party ahead of the December general election.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson says a review of the English system will be independently led “with the aim of better supporting, protecting and improving the outcomes of vulnerable children”.
The Department for Education says plans for an English review are “moving forward” with more information to be released soon.
Here, six children’s services leaders outline what England should take from the Scotland review.
GUIDE TO THE SCOTLAND CARE REVIEW
The three-year review has based its conclusions on the accounts gathered from 5,500 care-experienced adults and children, paid staff and volunteers. It finds the system is “fractured, bureaucratic and unfeeling” and calculates it costs £1.6bn to support adults failed by current practices, including mental health, homelessness and addiction services and lost income tax and national insurance payments.
Children’s social care has become “monetised” with providers competing against one another for profit, rather than collaborating to support the best interests of looked-after children.
It finds that girls who have been victims of child sexual abuse are living in secure units, while poor families have been “stigmatised” and are more likely to have children taken into care.
Looked-after children are more likely to be excluded from school, separated from siblings and struggle to access mental health services.
Key recommendations include:
- Better support for care leavers to 25
- Drive to keep families together “where children feel safe”
- Limit the number of placements for looked-after children
- End exclusions for children in care
- Ban the use of secure units for 16- and 17-year-olds
- Introduce new quality-focused inspection system
Keep families together
By Rachel Dickinson, president 2019/20, Association of Directors of Children’s Services
The Scottish care review heard from 5,500 people. Some of these were care-experienced children and young adults who spoke of feeling nurtured and loved, but for too many the system was ‘fractured, bureaucratic and unfeeling’.
Among the recommendations was a clear commitment to shift away from a focus on crisis management to earlier intervention and keeping children within their families where it is safe.
The Children Act 1989 is clear: wherever possible, children are best brought up within their own families. Some children will always need to come into care, and we need to ensure a range of placement options, high-quality support services and a well-supported workforce are available when and where they’re needed for children to thrive and realise their aspirations.
Supporting children and families earlier before their needs escalate is in their best interests (and a smart fiscal policy). The upcoming Budget is our government’s opportunity to set the tone for the next five years – genuine “levelling up” can’t be achieved without sustainable investment in children, families and preventative services. This would require additional investment from our government, but it is the right thing to do.
End care marketisation
By Andy Elvin, chief executive, Tact Fostering and Adoption
Tact was generally encouraged by the Scottish care review. However, we believe a clear blueprint for a new system is missing.
Importantly, the review states Scotland must avoid the monetisation and marketisation of the care of children, and make sure that its most vulnerable children are not profited from. Tact would like to see the rest of the UK following the Scottish example.
There is no place for profiting, and we have long called for extending current legislation prohibiting private for-profit companies from running child protection services to all of children’s social care services, and that any surpluses generated should be re-invested in supporting children. Tariffs could be agreed as in the NHS and this would give local authorities more certainty of cost.
Other lessons for England to take from the Scottish care review could include the use of a very small committee including at least one care-experienced person; unlike Scotland, England should commission an actual product from the review – for example, a draft green paper; steer away from giving the current custodians of the care system too much say or power in this review; and complete the review in one year, as three years is too long.
Equality of placement
By Dr Krish Kandiah, founding director and chief executive, Home for Good
In recent years, there have been efforts to provide stability to children in care and the Staying Put initiative is a front-running example of child-centred policy.
However, even this provision is only able to provide a lucky few with stability until the age of 21 – not the love and support of a family for the entirety of adult life. The need is made clear by looking at the over-representation of care leavers in our homeless and prison populations.
As a foster carer and adopter myself, I tire of the fight in the children’s care sector that pits one form of permanence against another. The idea that children “languish” in foster care is one I take as a personal insult, but the notion that adoption is the “gold standard” is misguided too.
I’m no less committed to my foster children as I am to my adopted or birth children. Children in my family will receive my gold standard regardless of how many weeks, months or years they stay. Perhaps this review can put an end to the sectoral infighting and refocus on the children at the centre, prioritising their need for love, belonging and stability – for life.
End child imprisonment
By Carolyne Willow, director, Article 39
Scotland’s review of the care system has produced a refreshingly honest critique of policy and practice, and a framework for action powered by the rights of children.
The truth of children’s lives has prevailed: from the pernicious effects of poverty, to being separated from brothers and sisters, to officials wearing a lanyard or driving a marked car, to children feeling unwanted in “respite care”, to struggling alone and unloved in adulthood.
Bringing an end to child imprisonment, with secure care for those who genuinely cannot live safely within the community (including specialist therapeutic provision for girls who have been sexually abused) are among the review’s many important proposals. Others are a right to return to care for adults and Scotland no longer selling care placements to English and Welsh local authorities.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child will be the “bedrock” of new rules for the care system. What’s promised is a fundamental reshaping of the system with children’s feelings and experiences at the centre. A huge mirror has been held up and Scotland’s First Minister has committed to “transformational change”.
We should expect nothing less for England’s care-experienced children and adults.
Chance to ban exclusions
By Dr John Simmonds, director of policy, research and development, CoramBAAF
The recommendations that have resulted are strongly and rightly on the side of ensuring that the experience of education and school for children in care contribute as much as they can to their learning, their futures and to their wellbeing as it does for those who live with their parents.
The specific recommendations about children not being excluded from school or the means by which their behaviour is managed need to be explored as a matter of urgency and addressed in all four countries in the UK.
The challenge is that the issues for children typically develop over many years. The causes are complex, but typically an interaction stems from a combination of the characteristics of the child, their family life and their wider experiences over time. There is often then a question as to whether they are the perpetrator or the victim and who then is to be the rescuer. Excluding them reinforces the message that they are the perpetrator even if they subjectively feel they have been made a victim.
This simple-minded process cannot continue – it needs an investment of expertise, evidence, commitment and resources, and that is exactly what the Scottish review is committing to itself.
Care leaver voice essential
By David Graham, national director, the Care Leavers Association
It is only through listening to the voices of experience that we can truly begin to understand the situation and what is needed. It is essential that some of these people are care leavers over the age of 25 who can bring their experiences of care and of adulthood to the process.
The reports from the 2019 Care Experienced Conference highlight an array of insights and possible solutions proposed by those with first-hand experience growing up in care. We propose that the review must embody the values of “nothing about us, without us”.
It must be comprehensive in its scope covering all parts of the care system, including services and mechanisms from other departments that are involved in a care journey.
Previous investigations have tinkered at the edges of the system and not provided the required positive outcomes. The journey into, through and out of care is a complex one which the review must recognise.
The UK review must set out a clear plan for a care system based on equality of all children: replicating what good parents do for their children. The system needs to fit the young person and not the other way around.
