article thumbnail

Ethnic disparities in care proceedings: what the data says

Community Care

Delayed intervention can mean that the measures eventually put in place are less likely to be effective – or might not make any positive difference at all – because the child and family might have already reached crisis point. It is also important to note that mixed heritage children were significantly over-represented in adoption.

Adoption 248
article thumbnail

Government needs ‘compelling reasons’ not to remove children’s services from council

Community Care

Currently, children’s social care services are run outside of council control in 11 of the 152 English council areas, either because of voluntary decisions by councils or through government imposition. Ofsted commended the council’s improved early help services, partnerships, and fostering and adoption services.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Statutory duty to support birth parents needed to tackle repeat removals of children, says charity

Community Care

But with no statutory duty on councils to provide support for birth families of children taken into care, apart from in cases of adoption, Pause said that they faced a postcode lottery in provision. It also cited previous research that found many such young mothers had been in care themselves.

Adoption 250
article thumbnail

‘The power of social work has shaped who I am’ – ADCS’s new care experienced president

Community Care

Smith was taken into care as a baby, spending the first 11 years of his life in a foster home before those same carers adopted him. From the age of seven, up until his adoption, he had the same social worker, with whom he remained in contact into his 20s. He was one of those children whose lives were transformed by a social worker.

article thumbnail

Postcode lottery in child in need support uncovered by Children’s Commissioner

Community Care

Despite the focus of current government reforms on intervening early to help children stay with their families, they are insufficiently focused on those on child in need (CIN) plans, said the rights watchdog. And though 27.5% of children in need were on a CIN plan as of March 2022 nationally, the rate varied from 3.6%

article thumbnail

Are regional care co-operatives the answer to care placement challenge?

Community Care

And in its report on social care last year, the CMA found that councils “can struggle to collaborate successfully due to risk aversion, budgetary constraints, differences in governance, and difficulties aligning priorities and sharing costs”. It concluded this was unlikely to change without action by central government.

Adoption 201
article thumbnail

Councils face insolvency without rules curbing children’s care costs, warns ADCS head

Community Care

At the same time, the Local Government Association released research showing authorities as a whole were on course to exceed their approximately £4.7bn care placement budgets by £680m (14%), following a similar overspend last year. Inflation on supplies and salaries have been significant.