Children: Parenting for Success in School

Baroness Butler-Sloss Excerpts

Thursday 3rd February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Butler-Sloss]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, on securing this important and timely debate and I look forward to hearing the right reverend Prelate who follows me. I declare an interest as a governor of Coram. Perhaps I ought also to say that I was a guest of Barnardo’s last night at an extremely good dinner hosted by the noble Baroness, Lady Massey of Darwen. I will speak about both those admirable organisations.

I will refer in particular to a very seriously disadvantaged group of children: those taken into care either at birth or as very young babies. There is widespread recognition of the good practice in social work of arranging the permanent placement of babies within six months. However, the problem is that by and large this does not happen. First, the baby is taken away and placed with short-term foster parents. The average number of moves before a baby is finally placed is four. There is a wonderful arrangement of concurrent planning, whereby the child is placed with foster parents who are also assessed as potential adopters. The baby may go home to their parents or may be adopted. This has been pioneered by Coram, supported by Barnardo’s, with several local authorities over the past 10 years. Sadly, there are not sufficient numbers of referrals from local authorities for it to be viable for Coram, which is having seriously to consider stopping doing it. This is due in part to the 2008 legislation on children, which has placed far greater emphasis on the rights of parents, and in part to the increasing length of time that one has to wait for a full hearing in the care court. I am told that the average is now 70 weeks; when I was president of the Family Division, it was between 40 and 50 weeks, so I am sad to hear that.

Quick, permanent placements are difficult to achieve, since there is a real tension between the need to place the child quickly, for all the reasons emerging in this debate, and the rights of parents, who can be not only adversarial but very contentious. Other factors include delays in the court process, to which I have referred, the different responsibilities of agencies that have to work together—social workers, CAFCASS and medical experts—and the need for sufficient evidence to move a child permanently. Local authorities are not referring children to Coram and into a potentially final placement until the care plan is finalised. That is perfectly understandable, but it is another delaying factor. Another problem is the contact between the mother and a baby in short-term foster care, which is often extensive and sometimes lasts for several hours every day. That can only be very bewildering for the child, although necessary, and it undoubtedly raises the question of whom the baby forms an attachment with.

We also have to bear in mind that there are inflammatory articles from journalists, such as Camilla Cavendish in the Times, if, in their opinion, children are taken away too quickly. However, I remember one case, when I was a judge, in which the mother of a baby had already had six or seven children taken into care. One might think that her track record gave little cause for hope. I am told that at least one judge has recently dealt with a mother whose previous 14 children had been taken into care.

I am encouraged by the obviously genuine desire of this Government to try to break the deadlock and to get more children adopted. If these babies are to have any real chance of success at school, and consequently in life, it is crucial that they are settled as early as possible. Coram and Barnardo’s are hoping to work together on promoting more successful permanency planning for adoption. There is a Harrow model that, working with Coram, has managed to place some children within six months. That is admirable and, I believe, quite the best that could be done, but it needs a lot of work with parents, local authorities and other agencies.

Other good projects are run by Coram, one of which involves referring children under the age of four with problems. Work is done with these children, including music therapy. Coram does excellent work in helping people through its young parents scheme. That is exactly what should be going on with parents who do not know how to look after their children. The example that we heard from the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, of the mother who was waiting for her child to talk is exactly the sort of work that is being done by Coram, and long may it continue. These are all important efforts in helping young children to have a reasonable future. This work must be supported and I hope that the Government will give it proper attention.