Foster carers need more protection

Bewry raised concerns when he blew the whistle on Norfolk County Council for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in unsupervised private rented accommodation, which he argued was tantamount to child neglect and abuse. Months later, Norfolk removed Bewry's own teenage foster children from his care without consulting him. The High Court last month ruled this to be unlawful.

Leaving aside the allegations about the treatment of asylum-seeking children — despicable, if true — Bewry's case highlights a serious weakness in systems to safeguard looked-after children. Local authority foster carers are classified as "self-employed" and are not protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act. Unlike council employees, foster carers do not have the right to be represented at any hearing that can affect them and their work. It is a loophole that promotes a culture of mistrust in which people cannot be confident about exposing malpractice without fear of reprisal, which thoroughly undermines safeguarding efforts.

There is a shortfall of more than 10,000 foster carers across the UK. A foster care charter is currently under development but that will have no legal force. If the shortfall is to be plugged, then foster carers, who care for some of society's most vulnerable children, are going to have to be given more protection under law.

National scandal that must be outed

Our investigation last month shed some rare light on safeguarding incidents of young offenders in the community, identifying scores of deaths, suicides and attempted suicides among 10- to 17-year-olds via a Freedom of Information request. Now the Youth Justice Board has cast doubt on its own figures, detailed in a separate leaked report.

This latest twist underlines just how little is known and understood about the issue. Until incidents are broken down in terms of suicides, accidental deaths or young people under supervision who are murdered — and by region — little can be done to address the problem. These incidents do not make headlines, unlike cases of child abuse or deaths in youth custody. The resultant complacency is a national scandal.

The Ministry of Justice and the Department for Education need to get a grip on this issue and forge a co-ordinated response.

Ravi Chandiramani, editor, Children & Young People Now