An opinion article in the Guardian by journalist Louise Tickle discusses how the care system is failing children, with one in four young care leavers becoming homeless once they turned 18, and 14% sleeping rough. Further details are available here > […]
Couple Win ‘Race Discrimination’ Adoption Case
A couple who were rejected by their local adoption service because of their Indian heritage have won their legal discrimination battle with Judge Melissa Clarke ruling that the couple had been discriminated against on the grounds of race when Adopt Berkshire turned them away in 2016. The couple who have since adopted a child from […]
Fostering in England 2018-19: Ofsted Statistics
Ofsted has released its latest annual dataset on fostering provision in both local authority and independent fostering services in England for the year ending 31 March 2019. Key figures include: There were 88,370 approved fostering places as at 31 March 2019, an increase of 1.4% on the previous year, but filled places increased at a […]
School exclusions: free resource
Just for Kids Law has launched a School Exclusions Hub, an online resource to provide advice services and community organisations with the information and tools they need to find alternatives to school exclusion, or to challenge an exclusion. The resource includes step-by-step guides with links to relevant statutory guidance and template documents to enable organisations […]
Social Care Questionnaires 2019 – what young people told Ofsted
Ofsted uses questionnaires to capture views about social care settings, including children’s homes, boarding schools and living with foster carers and adopters. This is the fifth year that data has been published. Further details are available here > […]
Children’s services ratings for England
Ofsted has published local authority (LA) inspection data and children’s homes inspection data for England. Figures show that at the end of August 2019: 49% of LA children’s services were judged good or outstanding at their most recent inspection and 82% of children’s homes were judged good or outstanding. Further details are available here > […]
Social work practice – new model proposed
Social work charity Frontline and the Centre for Public Impact have published a blueprint outlining a new model for children’s social care based on the Buurtzorg approach to district nursing in the Netherlands. Benefits of the proposed model include: a.60% increase in the face-to-face time social workers spend with children and families due to reductions […]
Care-experienced children and young people: mental health
The National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) has published a report to support their Looked after Minds campaign to highlight the lack of mental health support for care-experienced children and young people. Recommendations include: all children and young people receiving any tier of mental health support services should have an offer of independent advocacy services, enshrined […]
Homeless young people
Centrepoint has published a report looking at homelessness and young people. Figures from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to local authorities in England were used to estimate that during October, November and December 2018 over 22,000 under-25-year-olds approached a local authority for help because they were homeless or at risk of homelessness. Findings from […]
Child and adolescent mental health
Mind has released previously unseen NHS England data showing cancellations of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) appointments in England. Figures show that the number of appointments cancelled by the NHS provider between August 2018 and July 2019 was 175,094, an increase of 34,767 cancellations (24.8%) on the previous 12 months. Further details […]