The care 'market' is in critical condition - we must find a cure

Many have been asking how a "system" for looking after children could have in fact become so lacking in system, so unclear about its fundamental purpose and how to achieve it, so confused about true costs, real needs and actual outcomes. Select committee inquiries, damning National Audit Office investigations, the Department for Education's own published data and the Local Government Association's What's Care For? report have all uncovered major concerns.

Local authorities have a legal duty to all children in need of care, regardless of how many there are or the costs of providing it. The number of children in need of that care nationwide has increased sharply. Councils' budgets have been slashed, and face further reductions. Not even Carol Vorderman could make these numbers add up. Whatever the needs and circumstances of each unique child, "the market" for care provision has been consumed with managing increasing demand at the cheapest price that can be negotiated, since long before the credit crunch.