Let’s work out together how best to care for children

I ask you to pause for a moment now.

With the possible exception of long-term incarceration, it is the most serious way society can impose itself on individual lives.  But, while we could argue about exactly how much agency people who end up in prison had over their own lives or, indeed, the agency of parents whose children are removed, we can be sure of one thing – children who are in care had no control over the circumstances that led to them being in care, or the decision they should be cared for by other people. 

So if, as a society, we think it is sometimes necessary to insist that children are looked after by people other than their parents – and I agree that, sadly, sometimes it is – the responsibility we have to care for those children properly knows no bounds.  We simply have to get it right.  While you and I might debate many issues – SI445, ACE research and much else besides – surely we all agree on this?