Brendan McNutt, the founder of the Bryn Melyn Group of children's homes, has attacked over-zealous inspections.
McNutt pioneered new ways of working with damaged and abused youngpeople.
He told Children Now's conference on residential care last week:"Regulation is there to protect children. But we also need to protectchildren from the way we protect them."
He criticised the requirement for homes to have green fire-exit signsinstalled. "We have worked hard to deinstitutionalise the experiences oflooked-after children. Our children's homes look like your homes," hesaid. "But then we find that regulation works against that notion."
