![]() New Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has highlighted children’s social care and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) as key issues she plans to prioritise. Addressing staff at the Department for Education offices in London over the weekend, Phillipson – who was appointed Secretary of State for Education by Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday - said boosting education opportunities would be at the heart of the new Labour government’s strategy for the country. The MP for Houghton and Sunderland reiterated Labour's general election campaign pledges to boost breakfast club and childcare provision, expand speech and language support, reform Ofsted and improve mental health support for children. In addition, she flagged up boosting support and outcomes for children with SEND and their families, reforming children’s social care to improve opportunities for the most vulnerable children, and the state of university finances as key issues to address. Click here for full article ![]() Chair of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care Josh MacAlister has been elected as a Labour MP as the party celebrates a landslide general election victory. MacAlister, who chaired the year-long review published in 2022, took the Whitehaven and Workington seat with 53% of the votes. His new constituency is one of five seats in Cumbria lost by the Conservatives in the Labour Party’s landslide election win. In his final report to government in 2022, MacAlister made more than 80 recommendations, many of which were taken forward by ministers in the Conservative government’s report Stable Homes Built on Love. Key recommendations made by MacAlister centred on plans to keep families together when possible in a bid to reduce the numbers of children entering care and implement a shift away from crisis intervention to early help across the children’s social care system. Click here for full article ![]() The University of Roehampton has launched a new programme designed to make healthcare careers accessible to young care leavers. The I-CAN programme (Initiating and Supporting Care Leavers into Apprenticeships in Nursing), will run as a 12-month pilot scheme supporting care experienced 18- to 29-year-olds through a paid learning pathway. Funded by the South West London Integrated Care Board, those on the scheme will take part in an eight-week programme building on employability and functional training skills for nursing. Upon completing the scheme, participants will have the opportunity to go onto the University of Roehamption’s paid Nursing Associate apprenticeship programme, lasting two years and regulated by The Nursing and Midwifery Council. Financial assistance of up to £2,000 will also be provided to young people to assist with food and travel costs. Phillip Mills, I-CAN's project manager, said: “We recognise that prospective participants may have concerns regarding the financing of this course. We will support them to cover travel expenses within London to attend sessions, and for the time dedicated to the I-CAN programme. We want to remove as many barriers as possible to ensure that this training is as accessible as possible.” At the launch of the scheme on 15 May, Professor Richard Keogh, pro vice-chancellor for research and external engagement at the University of Roehampton, said: “We are on a mission to widen participation from people from all walks of life, providing opportunities for people in the community for the community.” I-CAN team leaders are also looking to meet employers in the sector to expand the number of opportunities for those who complete the eight-week scheme. Mills added that the emphasis isn’t just on nursing, but on a range of healthcare careers. For example it would be suitable for those who may want to explore the managerial side of nursing. The first training programme is set to start on 3 July. Students and employers can register their interest for I-CAN on the University of Roehampton website. Source: www.cypnow.co.uk/ ![]() A new anthology containing the voices of 100 children and adults about their experience in care is now available in bookshops. Free Loaves on Fridays contains stories, letters and poems from care-experienced people aged 13 to 68. Published today (18 April), the book, edited by Rebekah Pierre, care-experienced social worker and professional officer at the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), features both seasoned writers like Lemn Sissay, as well as those who have put pen to paper for the very first time. It aims to counteract headlines written about care-experienced people which “often entrench negative stereotypes and dominate the narrative, leaving care-experienced people with nothing but crumbs”, Pierre explained. She added: “For far too long, care-experienced people have been the subject, but rarely the author of our own words in assessments, files, and reports. “This is something I know all too well. When I penned an Open Letter to the Social Worker Who Wrote My Case Files a couple of years ago, which unexpectedly went viral, it resonated with many care-experienced people who longed to have more ownership over their own stories.”
Pierre described Free Loaves on Fridays as a “tangible way in which to invite other people with lived experience of care to set the score”. “In a radical move in the publishing industry, we had a no rejection policy, meaning anyone – regardless of their age or former writing experience – could submit a piece. The result is a rich tapestry of courageous, original and powerful voices which would ordinarily have gone under the radar,” she said. “The book holds up a mirror to the system, exposing both the wonderful potential that good, well-funded social work can have, as well as the lifelong consequences when children are let down. “Representation is crucial; I didn’t open up about my care-experience until my late twenties, such was the stigma. So it means everything that the next generation of children in care and care leavers will see themselves proudly represented in bookshops, by people who really get it.” Emma Lewell-Buck, MP for South Shields, and a former social worker, said: “So often, care-experienced people are not listened to, their exclusion from policy setting and decision making is ever apparent. Often those who have experienced care are spoken about as though they are all one homogenous group. They aren’t. Their diverse experiences are brought to life in this book. Please do read Free Loaves on Fridays, it’s an emotional journey that will make you cry and laugh. But most of all understand the reality of our care system and why it absolutely must change.” Maris Stratulis, the national director for BASW (England) added: Free Loaves is an incredibly poignant and powerful book and shines a light on the courage, bravery, creativity and individual uniqueness of each care-experienced child, young person and adult contributor. It has been a privilege and honour to read this book. “This is a must-read for every social worker, we must hear and learn from the voices of the care-experienced community, and influence and change practice and systems for the better.” Free Loaves on Fridays is available to order online and in buy in mainstream bookshops with proceeds going to Article 39 and The Together Trust: https://unbound.com/books/free-loaves-on-fridays Source: www.cypnow.co.uk/news/ ![]() The Social Worker of the Year Awards 2024 have opened for entries. Eighteen categories are up for grabs this year in the England-based scheme, alongside the overall social worker of the year prize. New this year is an award for practitioner-led research, which is open to social workers and managers who have carried out research or helped build a research culture within their organisations. Organising charity Social Work Awards Ltd has also replaced the previous digital transformation in social work category with one for technology-enabled lives and innovation in practice. This is for social workers, teams or local authorities who have sought to improve the lives of people with lived experience through the use of technology. Meanwhile, the charity has dropped the previous supporting children in education prize. Entries are open until 12pm on 3 June, after which entries will be shortlisted by the awards’ judging panel of social work experts, people with lived experience and former winners. You can enter the awards here and read the entry rules here. The full list of categories is below:
Source: www.communitycare.co.uk ![]() The number of initial enquiries from potential foster carers in England has fallen to its lowest level in five years. According to latest figures from the Department for Education, 125,195 initial applications were received by local authorities and independent foster agencies in 2022/23. This is the lowest number of applications to become mainstream foster carers – which excludes family and friends foster carers - since current recording began in 2017/18, the statistics show. A peak in initial enquiries was seen in 2020/21 when 160,635 were received. In 2022/23, local authorities received around a quarter of the number of initial enquiries received by independent foster agencies which had 99, 375 enquiries. Of applications received by independent foster agencies and local authorities in 2022/23, 3,680 were accepted. Meanwhile, in the same year more households deregistered (5,125) than were approved (4,080). There were 275 households that were both approved and deregistered within the same year. “The largest proportion of newly approved carers in 2022 to 2023 were in their 40s and 50s. “Of the carers who deregistered this year, the highest proportion were aged 50 or over, at 64%. Those aged 60 or over made up 30%. “These proportions have remained similar for the 4 years that we have collected data on carers’ ages,” the report states. At the end of March 2023, there were 43,405 fostering households in England, including family and friends foster carers. Source: www.cypnow.co.uk ![]() Cambridge City Council has become the 80th council to recognise care experience as a protected characteristic as care-experienced young people across the world were celebrated on Care Day 2024. Care Day is one of the world’s biggest celebrations of children in care, with charity Become leading the initiative in England and sharing messages from young people to challenge stereotypes. Katharine Sacks-Jones, chief executive of Become, said: “On Care Day we’re putting our hands up for care-experienced young people, to challenge common misconceptions and – especially in the year of an election – call on the public and MPs to show they care.” The work of young people across the UK has been celebrated in the week leading up to Care Day (16 February), including children working with Foster Wales who collaborated with former Children’s Laureate Wales,’ Connor Allen, to create a piece of poetry sharing their life experiences and educate the public about the reality of fostering. Elsewhere, awareness is being raised as Become, in partnership with Young Hackney’s Children in Care Council, invited MPs to a screening of its film ‘Gone Too Far’, which highlights the realities of young people in care being moved far away from their friends and family. Local authorities and professionals across the country are supporting Care Day on X, using #CareDay. Meanwhile, Cambridge City Council has become the 80th council to recognise care-experience as a protected characteristic. This makes it the first three-tier local government to do so, with the city, county and combined authority of Cambridge and Peterborough passing the motion. Councillor Bryony Goodliffe, Cambridgeshire County Council children's portfolio holder, said: “Care experienced people are often hidden and we need to make sure they are seen. I look forward to working with Cambridge City Council to ensure that in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire we value care experienced people and work together to ensure that their best possible future is achieved. “At Cambridgeshire County Council we have been working with the care leaver local offer to develop national guidance to support public sector organisations to incorporate care experience into equality impact assessments. We look forward to sharing this with all councils and organisations as we work together.” Source: www.cypnow.co.uk ![]() Funded by the Department for Education and delivered by the National Children’s Bureau, a new Children and Young People’s Advisory Board on children’s social care in England is being established. On behalf of the Department for Education, the National Children’s Bureau is establishing a new Children and Young People’s Advisory Board which will help shape the next stages of major reforms to children’s social care set out in the Government Strategy ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’. The new Advisory Board will be made up of two groups of children and young people aged 11-17 and 18-25 whose lives have been affected by children’s social care. It will bring together those with lived experience and a passion for changing things for the better at a national and local level. The Advisory Board builds on NCB’s leading expertise in giving children and young people meaningful opportunities to contribute to policy, and also provides an opportunity for those taking part to develop new skills. The Advisory Board will initially run until March 2025 and is open to a wide range of children and young people with diverse experiences of children's social care. This includes any child or young person who has had a social worker, as well as those who are looked after or care leavers. During December and January, NCB will be recruiting young people to the board, drawing on its extensive network, with the first meetings taking place early in 2024. If you are aged between 11 and 25 and children’s social care has been a part of your life, then find out more on the NCB website. Anna Feuchtwang, Chief Executive of the National Children’s Bureau, said: “We are at a turning point for children’s social care. The government’s strategy, Stable Homes, Built on Love, commits to wholescale reform, including steps to rebalance the system towards earlier help for children and families. It is absolutely essential that this work is systematically informed by the real-life experiences of children and young people themselves, and I am delighted that NCB will be supporting this new Board to do so.”I Interested in finding out more? Visit our website where you can apply to take part. Source: www.ncb.org.uk/ ![]() A former Welsh children’s laureate has partnered with Foster Wales to challenge perceptions of young people in care through a new mural in South Wales. The mural depicts a poem written by care-experienced teenagers with the help of former laureate Connor Allen, and was unveiled in Bridgend on Friday (8 December). It was painted by Cardiff based graffiti artist Bryce Davies. The poem shares the teenagers’ life experiences in the hope of educating the public around the realities of fostering: Our Voices Fostering and adoption is not the same You always think you are to blame People think your parents don’t love you But most people don’t have a clue There’s a stereotype it’s just trouble we make And that’s something that we all hate There are stories behind our scars Yet we hide our feelings in jars So listen to our stories, Respect our choices These are our lives, These are our voices The young people also hope their poem will encourage people to think about fostering a child aged 11 or older. Molly, aged 14, co-wrote the poem and is in foster care in Bridgend. She said: “As young people in care, we get judged before people even get to know us, people think we’re just troublemakers who do drugs and get pregnant underage. It’s just not true. “Having a foster carer who sees through false perceptions and recognises my past, but still continues to support and encourage me to make positive steps forward is helpful for my wellbeing.” There are nearly 5,000 children in foster care in Wales and many of them have experienced extreme hardship and adversity. However, when asked, they reveal that it is the negative perception of wider society that hurts them most, according to Foster Wales. Allen, who helped the teenagers write the poem, said: “I'm blessed to be working on such an important project with Foster Wales that allows crucial voices to be heard. I hope they’re proud of their poem which reflects their true experiences.” Foster Wales is the national network of not-for-profit fostering services, comprising the 22 local authority teams in Wales. Source: www.cypnow.co.uk/news Care News: Councils say they are ‘held to ransom’ by private providers of children’s care29/11/2023
![]() One child cost a local authority £63,000 a week and the number of placements has shot up to more than 1,500 from 120 five years ago Councils have claimed they are being “held to ransom” by private care providers, as it emerged the taxpayer has been paying as much as £63,000 a week for single children’s social care placements. The extraordinary bill – equivalent to £3.3m a year for one placement – came in new figures from local authorities in England released on Wednesday that showed the number of placements for the care of vulnerable children costing over £10,000 a week has risen to more than 1,500 – equivalent to at least £780m a year. There were only 120 such placements five years ago. The councils have provided no further details about the single £63,000-a-week outlay but the Local Government Association highlighted it as an example of how the market for children’s social care placements is “broken”. The president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) said it demonstrates “profiteering”. “Local authorities are the sole purchasers of placements, yet are often held to ransom by private providers due to lack of sufficiency meaning costs can be thousands of pounds a week for individual placements for children in their care,” said John Pearce, the ADCS’s president. “It cannot be right that the largest 20 independent providers of children’s social care homes made more than £300m of profit last year, every penny of which came directly from the public purse.” The exorbitant costs being charged by some private social care providers emerged as another major council effectively declared itself bankrupt. Nottingham city council followed Birmingham city council in issuing a formal notice that it cannot balance its budget this year. Nottingham cited the increased demand for children’s social care as a reason behind its financial peril. The latest warning came after the Guardian reported last year that one council was charged £60,000 a week to look after an autistic teenager with a mild learning disability. She had a history of violence and was looked after by six dedicated carers. The LGA is now calling for urgent funding for children’s social care in the upcoming provisional local government finance settlement. It warned the lack of investment in the chancellor’s autumn statement “risked councils’ ability to provide the critical care and support that children rely on every day”. “The astronomical costs of care placements mean there is less money available for councils to spend on earlier support for children and families,” said Cllr Louise Gittins, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board. “These findings are indicative of a broken market for children’s social care placements, but it doesn’t have to remain this way.” In March 2022, the government’s competition regulator concluded that “the UK has sleepwalked into a dysfunctional children’s social care market” and warned about the risks of private equity funding in private children’s social care. Source: www.theguardian.com |
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