Only systemic change can solve failing care ‘market’

We have been presented with a damning picture of callous profiteering in a sector that is “caring” for our most vulnerable children. It is not just journalists behind the spotlight: judges are becoming increasingly frustrated and vocal about the parlous lack of choice when asked to authorise locking children up; the chair of the government’s Independent Review of Children’s Social Care referred the sector to the Competition and Markets Authority; and the national Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has announced a review into safeguarding children with disabilities and complex health needs in residential settings.

It is not difficult to make the case that profiting from the lives of vulnerable children should be banned; and the regulatory activity of Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission frequently fails to protect children, but none of this is news to children’s services. In part, this is because there is no real ownership of the problem, or indeed of the quest for a solution: central and local government have both publicly wrung their hands and kicked the can down the road. There is little to be gained from poring over the policy imperatives of the last two decades or marvelling at the capacity of venture capital to spot opportunities for profit to better understand how we got here: our children need a systemic response, and they need it now.