DfE to establish National Stability Forum for Children's Social Care
Neil Puffett
Friday, July 20, 2018
A national body to oversee the entire children's social care system will be set up in a bid to create a more holistic approach to improving outcomes for vulnerable children, the government has said.
Responding to the recommendations of the fostering stocktake and the education select committee inquiry on foster care, the government said it agreed that foster care needs to be considered as part of the wider care system.
The government has already created an Adoption Leadership Board, announced in 2014, and a Residential Care Leadership Board, announced last year, to oversee those specific areas of practice.
It will now establish a new National Stability Forum for Children's Social Care which will be chaired by the director general at the Department for Education - currently Indra Morris - the most senior civil servant with responsibility for children's social care.
"Over time, we hope that the forum will provide the department and government with crucial advice and leadership at national and local level to promote stability, better life chances and outcomes for children in the care of the state," the response states.
The government said that both the fostering stocktake and the education select committee reports were explicit in their desire for clearer and more determined sector leadership across children's social care.
Click links below for related CYP Now content:
Children in care: Policy and practice
Fostering stocktake: six major recommendations for change
The fostering stocktake called for a permanence board, while the education select committee recommended a national review of children in care.
"Considering the component parts [of the care system] in isolation creates an unhelpful divide in the way we approach a child's experience in the system and his or her routes to permanence," the government response states.
"The Adoption Leadership Board, whose remit we have recently expanded to cover special guardianship orders, provides a model for sector leadership to drive change in the system. We have recently established the Residential Care Leadership Board to do the same in relation to children's homes.
"Each of these boards has a current and important role to play in driving improvements. To bring together the cross-system reform programme, and to ensure alignment and consistency of approach, we will establish the National Stability Forum for Children's Social Care.
"The forum will provide leadership across the sector, bringing together leaders to galvanise opinion and action by commissioners, providers and experts to drive forward the government's vision for children's social care, to join up and promote effective practice and delivery, and to take a national policy approach to improving looked-after children's outcomes."
The government is set to make a number of other changes to the system, including giving foster families clearer advice on physical affection so they can feel more confident to hug and comfort the children.
A new training package will also be created for social workers to help more children have long-term foster placements, and the DfE will work with a group of councils and agencies to develop best practice for foster care.
