What's in a name?

Language is so important, it affects the way we see people and situations and great examples are seen in the language used in the care system. Children and young people in our care often say they don't want to be referred to as ‘LAC' or they want the time they spend with their family to be called ‘family time' rather than ‘contact', for example. The impact of language was brought home to me this week in reading the new APPG report No Place at Home which raised some profound and important concerns but also used some sensational language that left me feeling overwhelmed by the challenges. Similarly, the terminology we use to describe where some of our young people live can be unhelpful and misleading. ‘Unregulated settings' (the topic of a blog by Ofsted's national director of social care, Yvette Stanley, earlier in the summer) feels particularly helpful here.