Care Crisis Review

Today, June 13th the Family Rights Group published the Care Crisis Review report. The email sending out the press release states: The Review confirms there is a crisis in Children’s Social Care and Family Justice Sector, explores the reasons why and sets out 20 options for change. Over 2000 people and organisations contributed to the […]

The Care Review

We have oppressive system that purports to be about child protection – but parents and children are frightened of us #cpchange2016 — CPResource (@C_P_Resource) February 19, 2016 We all know the care system isn’t working. Conference after conference, review after review over the last 20 years tells us so. In 2014 I helped to set […]

Born into Care: Newborns in Care Proceedings In England

On 9th October 2018 I attended the launch of the Summary Report of ‘Born into care: Newborns in care proceedings in England’ from the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory for England and Wales. The Nuffield Family Justice Observatory aims to support the best possible decisions for children by improving the use of data and research evidence […]

Innovations in Children’s Social Care – to what extent are parents and children included?

This is a post by a parent. NESTA is an ‘innovation foundation’ backing new ideas to tackle ‘the big challenges of our time’. The What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care is a new project to foster evidence-informed practice in the sector in England. The Development Team is helping to identify what the Centre should focus […]

Autistic Children In Care – uninformed decision making leading to poor outcomes.

This is a guest post from a parent. She is concerned about the high numbers of children with autism entering the care system and considers what the explanation is for this. Are the professionals working in the CP system as well informed as they need to be? Does the failure to identify autistic children in care lead to bad decisions […]

A system in continual crisis – what happens when all you do is try to shift the blame?

The House of Lords – as they then were – discussed the inglorious history of the child protection system in 2002 in the case of S v S & Others [2002] UKHL . See para 29 of that judgment: The Children Act has now been in operation for ten years. Over the last six years there […]

Shame

Thank you for this post to a parent who wishes to remain anonymous. “I will be back on Monday, you see, I just need a loan to get a van on the road” I happened to be a spectator as a man vented his rage . I gathered that he had been ordered to attend […]

Adoption and Child Protection Trends in England

I am grateful for this information provided by Andy Bilson and Elizabeth Hunter Munro about the recent study examining two cohorts of children in a variety of local authorities which revealed the startling difference between different areas in the number of children adopted; these differences were not related to contrasts in affluence/deprivation. The number of […]

….if I have a drug/alcohol problem

  What happens if I ask for help with addiction to alcohol or drugs? This is a difficult area and no assurances can be made regarding individual cases. Your recovery from addiction may depend on disclosing your difficulties to your GP, and/or local alcohol and drug services. However, if these professionals are concerned that your […]