One year since the care review was published.
Some very positive changes are starting to be made but new analysis shows that delaying the national roll out of reforms is going to be very expensive.
The financially prudent thing to do would be to invest big, now.
An extra 10,500 children could go into care in England, costing £1bn more over ten years. That's the conclusion of research exclusively shared with
@Channel4News
by five leading children's charities:
@C4Ciaran
has been looking at the numbers.
Delighted to share that I will be leading the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England. It’s a once in a generation opportunity to transform a system that is needed to give the most vulnerable children safety, stability and love
Married my best friend. Ceremony halfway up a mountain, surrounded by our best friends & family. Sunshine and a party under a Tipi. Brilliant speeches. Celeidh dancing and an amazing show from
@BrendaLaBeau
. Best day of my life and it started with a 4 hour hike! 🏳️🌈 👬
#LoveWins
An honour and a real surprise to be included in this New Years list! These awards go to individuals, but the work has always been a team effort. We’ve got our work cut out to make sure that the most vulnerable children get a fair chance. Looking forward keeping at it in 2024!
Great to hear from so many about the Independent Review. Here are some ways you can get involved:
🎙Share your advice
⌨️ Join or promote our experts by experience group
📮 Register for updates
I’ve written to the
@CMAgovUK
asking them to open an investigation into aspects of the children’s social care ‘market’. It would provide important evidence for the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
Today
@reviewCSC
publishes its final report & recommendations.
We need a fundamental reset in children’s social care. The review offers a plan to break the cycle of escalating need & crisis intervention, rebalancing ch’s social care to back those who care for & love children.
Campaigners with lived experience of children’s social care shared their stories and hopes for change with
@10DowningStreet
and
@Keir_Starmer
this afternoon. Thank you to everyone for listening. Resetting the system for children and families will take a cross party effort.
Government have published the first ever Kinship Strategy today- in response to the care review. The big decision is to start rolling out a financial allowance for kinship special guardians, paid at the same rate as the foster care allowance. A positive step forward.
This can be a pivotal moment for children’s social care.
We hope the
#carereview
inspires thousands of adults across the country to
#stepupforchildren
and offer love & support to children and families.
Take the time to watch Teens in Care by
@realjoeswash
. Exposes many of the amazing children and foster carers as well as the problems that need fixing.
Incredible to have had over 1,000 applications to join the Experts by Experience group! I’ve been inspired reading about the amazing work that these experts do to bring about positive change for children & families. Thank you to all who applied.
10 yrs ago I left teaching to set up
@FrontlineSW
to get thousands more children access to a great social worker and to build a network of leaders for change. Special to see so many staff, supporters, alumni and care leavers at the 10 yr anniversary who’ve made it a reality!
Very excited for Monday when we'll be welcoming our 7th and biggest cohort yet, onto the
@FrontlineSW
programme. Over 460 people joining a fantastic community of social workers making social change happen. It won't be in person this year but it will still be magic 🚀
🇮🇹 Italian residential care for children:
✅ Keeps children closer to home
✅ Offer the range of homes children need
✅ Run on a not-for-profit basis
✅ Staff have degree level qualifications
✅ Delivered by 20 regional bodies, not 153 services
✅ 1/4 of the cost of English homes
After 8 years I've now had my final board meeting and final week at
@FrontlineSW
. What an incredible journey it's been working with some of the most fantastic people. I've clocked up a few grey hairs, some valuable lessons and lifelong friends along the way.
Final day of a hugely successful summer institute that marks only the end of the beginning for the 2020 cohort. In September they'll start working with children and families. Enjoy the well earned rest and thanks to the team at
@FrontlineSW
for pulling it together🎉
Families have been telling me throughout the review that a small bit of help and access to support could have prevented them reaching a crisis stage and avoided much more intrusive involvement from children's social care.
The government's strategy for reforming children's social care takes us in the right direction. Now let's go further and faster to transform children's social care
Today we’re publishing the
@reviewCSC
Case for Change report. It sets out what we’ve made of the evidence submissions and conversations we’ve had since we started the
#CareReview
in March. The main themes we’ve identified are…
Good luck to
@FrontlineSW
participants this morning. To the 2020 cohort of over 460 participants starting in their local authorities or children's trusts this morning. And to the 2019 cohort who are starting to become newly qualified social workers!
Welcomed our 5th cohort onto the Frontline programme last night. 340 people starting their journey in social work and social change! Our biggest and most diverse cohort yet.
First day chairing the review. Spent this morning meeting children and staff (and a few chickens!) at two children's homes. You can now follow the review at
@reviewCSC
and find out more on the newly launched website:
Like most people I've found the details of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’ death hard to read and the misery and cruelty he was subjected to hard to comprehend. Arthur’s story is a tragic reminder of how important child protection is.
Earlier this week I gave evidence to
@LordsPublicSCom
on the government's response to the Care Review to alongside
@annelongfield
. Session covered the need for more intensive help for families, through to kinship care and the need for more foster carers
You bump into
@FrontlineSW
fellows everywhere! Katie was in our first cohort. She's now managing a programme reintegrating ex-child soldier and training 20 para social workers who are supporting over 1,000 children in Nigeria! Inspiring to catch her whilst on holiday 👏
At the
#ItsOurCare
event in parliament, a teenager from Hull handed me a keyring with a QR code link to this amazing video, 'Dream On'. Warms the heart, says it straight and reminds us what needs to change. Nice work
@hull_voice
and
@MyPocketsArts
We’ll be bringing 900 more great people into social work across 2020 and ‘21. 6 years after starting
@FrontlineSW
I’m delighted that our work to transform lives of the most vulnerable children and their families will continue into the next decade.
“Children’s social care is only as good as the people who deliver it, which is why we want to recruit the best into social work,” – says
@DamianHinds
as he announces £45 million funding for
@FrontlineSW
to recruit more
#socialworkers
"Don't we feel we owe it to them - and society as whole - to sort this out?"
New documentary from
@michaelsheen
lifting the lid on the care system. Focussed on Wales, but many of the same problems exist in England.
Met this amazing group of young people with various experiences of children’s social care yesterday. With the support of
@childrensociety
, they want to see big changes to support for families, young carers and those with care experience.
Looking forward to getting started with
@jocasebourne
! Bringing together the talent and work of
@TheEIFoundation
and
@whatworksCSC
into a new What Works Centre is a chance to go further and faster in building, promoting and embedding evidence in services for children and families
Finally, a plea from me that we be a bit more generous with one another on social media. It’s a notoriously bad forum for discussion but we can disagree without being disagreeable
Day spent with children & families, foster carers, social workers & children’s home staff in Warrington. Honest, hard and hopeful conversations. Joined a looked after child review meeting and came out covered in dog hair thanks to lovely Sadie! Thanks
@AmandaAmesbury
& team 👍
Moving to be sat at the back of the new Cumberland Council meeting listening to
@TerryGalloway
make a statement about the importance of making the care experience a protected characteristic. The new Cumberland authority has agreed to lead the way.
2) Recruitment to an Expert by Experience Group- I want the voices and experiences of children, young people and families who have or have had social workers to be at the centre of the review. Again, I’ll share the link about applying to join the group later today
1) A Call for Advice- I want your guidance on what I should be reading, who I should speak to and the questions that the review should be asking. It’s quick and easy to complete and I’ll read every response myself. I’ll share the link when it’s live.
Expression of interest to join the Experts by Experience Group for the Independent Review of Children's Social Care closes tomorrow. Details here and we've clarified that people won't be asked about their personal experience at any point in the process:
Radical reform of children's social care needs to be at the top of the new PM's in-tray. Ambitions to level up, spread opportunity, tackle inequality and balance public spending will be unachievable without big action to improve these services for children and families.
We’re calling on
@trussliz
@RishiSunak
to commit to the radical reforms needed to fix the children's social care system and transform the lives of thousands of young people.
Click to read more 👇 (2/2)
Started the day with brilliant fostering families, in person and on screen. This group of families support each through the Mockingbird model which involves creating an extended family network around children. As they all told me: “Fostering Takes a Village”
Leading the review means I’ll be leaving
@FrontlineSW
. I’ve spent 10 years developing Frontline, 8 as CEO, and it's been a highlight of my life. I’ll bid a proper farewell before I leave at the end of February but I know FL under
@meeryp
& team will go from strength to strength!
Over 750,000 children have a social worker, 30,000 dedicated professionals run the system and it costs nearly £10bn. No one person has the answer for how to improve this system but getting this review right is crucial for thousands of children & families
There are 3 big ‘dilemmas’ we’re grappling with at
@reviewCSC
and they don’t have easy answers. We’re sharing these to bring people into the conversation and we’ll be holding events in the coming months to explore these more
Lucky to meet young care experienced people from Plymouth in parliament today. They were sharing their stories of care through their “Walk A Day In My Shoes” exhibition. Ministers may change but commitments to these children and young people need to be kept.
Thank you to all of the organisations putting a spotlight on child and family services at Labour conference this week! Lots of demand for high quality evidence and putting it into practice which is what
@FoundationsWW
has to offer.
Day spent with brilliant young people, staff and
@stuartcarlton
&
@martinkelly_2
in
@northyorkscc
seeing their No Wrong Door approach. Celebrated a birthday, met the dog and heard powerful stories of keeping children connected, no matter what.
Peter, my step dad, played a huge part in raising me and my brother. He died two weeks ago and the local
@PoppyLegion
did a moving guard of honour at his funeral on Friday. He would have been at the Moffat parade today. Lots to reflect on this
#RemembranceSunday
The
@reviewCSC
has heard from lots of children & care experienced adults about the impact of being separated from their brothers and sisters when in care. It's an example of when our care system breaks important relationships. Thank you
@AshleyJBaptiste
for spotlighting this.
Having called in Jan for the
@CMAgovUK
to investigate the cost and availability of homes for children in care, it's v good news that they've decided to start a market study.
My thoughts:
CMA Details:
I’ve written to the
@CMAgovUK
asking them to open an investigation into aspects of the children’s social care ‘market’. It would provide important evidence for the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
I’ve been asked questions about the Experts by Experience group. I want to share the thinking behind the decisions I’ve taken so far. Many reviews start with a pre-set panel that has been directly appointed. When I was asked to lead this review, I wanted to do things differently
Good news. A rent guarantor scheme for care experienced young people is something that every local authority could put in place now. If you want to make progress on this as a council then get in touch with
@maryhodd
who can give you advice on how to implement it.
An exciting morning, sending my Guarantor Scheme documents to Buckinghamshire as they look to implement the Scheme. Brilliant news for their care experienced young people.
.
@JoshMacAlister
says he is still expecting the Government to respond to his independent report on children’s social care by the end of the year. The risky decision is to ‘do nothing’, he believes.
@annatthemj
reports.
⬇️
- free to read
#NCASC22
Busy but brilliant end to the week. Started the day talking all things children, kinship and risk with the fantastic team in Leeds City Council. Lots for the
@reviewCSC
to learn from their hard thinking, commitment and expertise.
Spent the morning dashing around London welcoming 200+ soon to be
@FrontlineSW
participants onto the programme! Huge energy from graduates and career changers wanting to make social change happen!
The headteacher of a
#Birmingham
school at the centre of a row over
#LGBT
inclusive classes says the damage protesters are doing to the school, and its pupils and teachers, is 'almost immeasurable'.
To read the full story, click here:
There'll be a few tired eyes and whirring minds after week 1 of the
@FrontlineSW
summer institute! 2020 cohort- have a well earned break this weekend. Too many to thank but shout out to special guests
@lemnsissay
&
@HackneyChild
and
@Albrownrigg
for leading the team this week🎉
Buying books for my nephews a few weeks ago and stumbled across this. Social workers featuring as an aspirational career for children. And who knew Senator Barbara Mikulski had a supernova name after her?! ✨
A morning of powerful conversations with children at Aycliffe Secure Children’s Home as part of
@reviewCSC
. Thank you to the children for sharing and to staff for organising.
Ahead of the Case for Change being published, I’ve started to set out some of the issues we’re identifying. I was interviewed by
@EmilyDugan
as Sunday Times have been doing a series on growing investigations of parents. This is an issue the
@ReviewCSC
will highlight. Thread…
Proud of this one. It's been amazing to see my husband build the Institute for Teaching and now contribute to
@Ambition_Inst
. There will be bigger things to come but what a legacy!
5 years ago I wrote an article about the need for us to think harder about educator expertise. Things got a bit out of hand and my superb team are now working with ~6000 teachers & leaders each year! Bittersweet but leaving
@Ambition_Inst
in safe hands
A story by
@Sanchia7
that show just how much needs to change in the care system. Homes for children built where houses are cheap rather than where children live. Gaps in oversight. A system driven by profit.
New results from the largest randomised controlled trial of Family Group Conferences in the world.
If FGCs were used across England, 2,000 fewer children would go into care each year. That would mean more families staying safely together and more money for earlier intervention.
Today we publish findings that show that providing family group conferencing at pre-proceedings can keep children with their families and out of care.
Find out more:
with
@Coram
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this and to the
@OurCareOurSay2
team for pulling it together. I've read and heard these clear messages from care experienced people about what they want from this review.
One week on from the announcement of the Care Review in England, the ’Our Care, Our Say’ report sets out what care experienced people think should be done. The report is dedicated to our dear friend Yusuf Paul McCormack ❤️Download via the
#OCOS
website:
Last week
@TeacherTapp
asked teachers whether they would temporarily foster a child from their class. Stunningly, about half said that they would. Why does this matter?
Earlier this week we shared the
@reviewCSC
's big question: How do we ensure children grow up in loving, stable and safe families and,
where that is not possible, care provides the same foundations? Read more here:
Today is the start of
#KinshipCareWeek2022
. In leading the independent review of children's social care earlier this year I was incredibly lucky to hear from hundreds of grandparents, aunts and uncles and other relatives who care for their kin.
I've now watched this
@kinshipcharity
video twice. The experiences of the kinship carers and the children they care for are incredibly moving. This is an are that the
@reviewCSC
will look at.
You can watch five special guardians describing their experiences and what needs to change in the film The First Day of Forever: becoming a special guardians
You’d expect me to say it but this really is an amazing achievement in such a short space of time. The
@OakNational
lessons look great and will help so many teachers and pupils in the coming weeks and months.
#proudhusband
So it’s been quite the fortnight. A text message here led to a whatsapp group there. Followed by a call to this person and then another to that person. Fast forward 10 days and we’re launching
@OakNational
at [thread 👇]
Great discussion about children missing from school and what we can do differently to support families, for
@Terri_White
’s ‘Finding Britain’s Ghost Children’ series on
@bbc5live
Thanks to the
@actnforchildren
team and
@NewcastleCC
for a great visit to the Galafield Family Hub today. Rich conversations with families and practitioners and messages that chime with what the
@reviewCSC
has been hearing since we started.
This
#APPGforChildren
was packed full of people who’ve lived the system, professionals and campaigners who are all hungry for change. A pleasure to deliver the keynote on the need to reset children’s social care to back families earlier on. Thanks to
@ncbtweets
for organising.
Final day of
@FrontlineSW
trip to Buurtzorg. Met with
@BuurtzorgJong
team applying the model into youth & family services. Self managing social workers can lead to happier teams, fewer referrals to other services & more families staying together. Who’s up for making it happen?🙋♂️
Great to attend this event and hear directly from care experienced people and social workers. Looking forward to receiving the full outcome of the
#SpotlightInquiry
when it's completed.
Thank you to all who attended the APPG for Looked After Children and Care Leavers session today.
It was great to hear so many perspectives, especially from the
#CareExperienced
young people who shared their views.
Learn more about the
#SpotlightInquiry
:
Powerful day in parliament with well over 100 care experienced people taking their call for change to politicians. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and keep pushing for progress
#ItsOurCare
A great day welcoming our 2020 Frontline Cohort! The next five weeks is going to be a powerful learning experience for everyone involved, and as day one comes to end we want you to remember that we'll be with you every step of the way as you start your social work journey.
Excited that today we’ve launched
@FoundationsWW
, the new what works centre for children and families follow. Putting a new focus on the foundational relationships that all children need to thrive. Some big new projects in the works!
Our strategy sets out our first steps towards achieving our vision that vulnerable children should have the foundational family or other close relationships they need to thrive in life. Click through the carousel for an overview of its key elements 👇
Imagine if we'd been obsessed with this issue for the last 3 years. We could have created a dedicated government department, ploughed £bns into education and made educational inequality the top issue. Instead we're going backwards.
I’d like to share my condolences with everyone who knew and loved Star. This is another very upsetting case to come to public attention within less than a fortnight.
The latest in a long line of reports on the state of young offender institutions. The state of child detention in England is abysmal.
If you're a journalist, please cover this. We need public outrage and government action. These are children.
Our deeply depressing report published today on Cookham Wood YOI-Behaviour was not being managed, staff demoralised and children held in conditions that amounted to solitary confinement - including two who had been locked away for more than 100 days.
We're launching the
@reviewCSC
'Call for Ideas' 💡
From big systemic solutions that might take years, to recommendations that could deliver immediate results, this is your opportunity to share ideas for change.
Find out more here:
There’s been too much churn in children’s ministers in recent years (7 in 7 years). It's essential that new DfE ministers make implementation of reforms for children, families and care experienced people a top priority in the months ahead. We cannot afford drift or delay.
Add to your 2024 reading list!
@AshleyJBaptiste
has long been an advocate for care experienced children and this book will no doubt shine an even brighter spotlight on the change that is needed.
Hi everyone. I am delighted to share that my debut book, Looked After: A Childhood in Care, will be published by
@HodderBooks
in June ‘24. About my time care, I hope it shines a light on the system. Amazed & humbled to have a book on the way. ❤️ Pre-order now. Link in bio💫👌🏽
Warm, funny and thought-provoking. Give
@lemnsissay
’s final episode of ‘The One and Only’ a listen. Captures beautifully everyone’s need for a tribe, the impact of care and prejudice.
And a bonus appearance from the formidable
@TerryGalloway
!
Unacceptable and yet another story underscoring the urgent need for children's social care reform to be a top priority. All children in care should be given care and we need foster and residential homes that meet children's needs, where children need them
Today we are publishing our first thematic report: “Out of Harm's Way: A new care system to protect vulnerable teenagers at risk of exploitation and crime”.
You can read it here 👇