Commissioner to monitor placement moves of children in care
Adam Offord
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
An index designed to measure stability for children in care is to be launched by the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England.
Speaking at an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Children meeting this week, children's commissioner Anne Longfield said data collection has already begun for a “stability index”, which will monitor the number of placement moves experienced by children in care and changes in social worker.
The index will be published annually and highlight variations in practice across the country. ??
Giving evidence to the APPG’s inquiry on children’s social care, Longfield said: “My aim with that is to shine a light and show the variations around the country, and also inform debate about what is and what isn’t appropriate.”?
Longfield is concerned that repeated changes in placement and social worker can create additional barriers to a looked-after child recovering from trauma.
??She said that despite some improvements many children in care encounter “a revolving door of foster placements”, as well as school moves and frequently changing social workers.??
“Children in care are always telling me that the most important thing for them is stability,” she said following the meeting.
??“If foster placements frequently break down or they constantly have to change school this can have an enormous impact on their education, development and recovery.??
“Our stability index will look at those areas which have managed to achieve decent stability for children in care and aim to help authorities identify and learn from best practice.”
?Longfield also told the meeting that she is working to set up a “children’s pledge”, which is being written by children and will focus on standards of communication for all professionals working with children.??
Areas it will focus on include responding to emails promptly, how regularly to hold meetings and informing someone of a move.??
“These are things we all expect but will be asking local authorities to sign up to,” she said.??
At the APPG meeting, Melissa Green, director of operations at The Fostering Network, also reported on the organisations’ Inspiring Voices project, which for the past 12 months has been raising young people’s and foster carers’ awareness and engagement with children in care councils. ?
?“Our first recommendation is to use the expertise of young people and foster carers,” she said. “They know what happens and what works well.”
??She also said there should be more focus on consistency and quality, a push for clearer support structures for children in care councils, and more recognition for participation workers.
??The session on “children’s voices in the system” was the third oral evidence session out of six from the APPG's inquiry, with a report due to be published early next year. It is co-chaired by Tim Loughton MP and Baroness Howarth of Breckland.?
