Children in care – a turn for the worse?

The latest government statistics suggest that the relative educational performance of cared for children is in decline http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/05/05/111473/education-children-in-care-fall-further-behind-peers.html

There has also been an increase in the numbers of children taken into care http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/08/child-protection-figures-baby-p and again at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/09/baby-p-children-care-councils – unlike some, I do not welcome this trend, to be blunt, in my opinion and experience, I think a rough and ready upbringing within an existing supported family and neighbourhood is preferable to being taken into care. I certainly think that those worst served by the system are those older children who often become 'revolving door' users of care, flipping from family into care and back again on a routine and usually traumatised basis.

A recent parliamentary review of children in care, concluded that the state needed to be a more pushy parent http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8004735.stm , the guardian saw the report as a litany of failure http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/20/state-failing-children as part of a history of failure http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/20/care-system-failures

Many are now seeing the northern European system as being more successful model for care http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/21/child-care-europe but the starting point for any such approach is a highly resourced and respected social work profession. The reality of the UK was highlighted by a survey in the magazine Community care which found 1 in 9 social work posts vacant and a pervasive fear of burnout http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/04/21/111339/exclusive-survey-reveals-social-work-burnout-fears.html in this context, it is worrying that Ed Balls decided to evade a simple budgetary commitment http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/07/baby-p-child-protection-funding At this rate, I'm afraid we'll see more reports like this one http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/22/social-work-child-protection all together now "some day over the rainbow…"