Children and Social Work Bill [HL]

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger Excerpts

Tuesday 14th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Con)]

My Lords, it is an honour to follow that excellent contribution from the right reverend Prelate. I too welcome the Bill, as it seeks to improve services.

We all recognise that looked-after children have had a very difficult start in life and therefore need the best possible support and care. I recognise that there are many noble Lords who have much more experience in this area than I do, but as a parent I have enormous concern for those children who, through no fault of their own, have needed to be taken into care; I understand there are around 70,000 in the UK at present.

I pay enormous tribute to the foster carers who take in these children, who are often traumatised and therefore difficult, and try to give them help and stability. In spite of their best efforts, however, we have to acknowledge that outcomes for looked-after children are concerning. We have already heard a few of these, but educationally only 14% of such children achieve five or more GCSE grades at A* to C, compared with 53% of non-looked-after children, and only 6% go on to attend university, compared with 38% of the population as a whole. According to the Who Cares Trust, looked-after children are more likely to have problems with crime, drugs and mental health than their peers, while 23% of the adult prison population have been in care, and 40% of prisoners under 21.

I ask the question that my noble friend Lord Farmer and others have alluded to: is there more that we could do to help and support families that would avoid some of these children having to be taken into care? Does every parent know where they can go to get help with parenting? Some children—especially those with ADHD or other conditions—can be very challenging. To have access to a confidential, non-judgmental source of help could save a lot of anguish and expense further down the line. I have deep respect for social workers and the difficult job they do. However, because they are in some cases able to advise that children should be removed from their homes, does this not lead to a reluctance for parents to engage with them?

While a good health visitor is such a valuable asset in the early years, what is the coverage of children’s centres across the country now, and what is there for a parent with a difficult child over five years old? Can more be done to help parents where the family runs into difficulties, to give them the support, parent training and mentoring necessary so that fewer children need to be taken away into care?

For those children who are taken into care, what matters most is the quality of the care that they receive and what solution is right for each case, based on their own individual needs and circumstances. I therefore welcome the fact that the Bill encourages children and young people to express their views and that these views will need to be taken into account.

Where there are relatives who can step in and give the child a home, I hope that adoption will continue to be given priority. While the Government have done good work on improving the adoption sector, there is concern that adoption is seen as the “gold standard” above other options. Although it may be the best outcome for some of the children who end up in care, it is only one of a range of options which should be considered in the best interests of the child and what they want.

I understand that as many as one in five adoptions breaks down, so it is encouraging that the Bill places a focus on post-care support. However, for how long is this support in place? Anecdotally, I have heard of many adoptive families which run into difficulties when the children reach the teenage years. While adoptions of younger children are more likely to be successful, the longer children have been in care, the more difficult it is to find them a permanent home. Given that over a third of looked-after children are now aged between 10 and 15 years old, it is important that stability and consistency must be considered for these teenagers, and for them adoption may not be the answer.

Wherever possible, as has already been mentioned, the separation of siblings should be avoided, because for those who have already undergone the suffering of being separated from parents, to be separated from their siblings can be devastating. Sometimes leaving siblings together in state care may be preferable to splitting them up, as being together with a sibling can enhance a child’s sense of safety and well-being and provide natural, mutual support. Many describe knowing that they have a sibling they are separated from as feeling like a piece of themselves is missing, so if such separation is unavoidable, every effort should be made so that siblings can stay in touch.

Is the Minister certain that we have the right models of care for looked-after children? I remember some years ago visiting a home in Denmark for looked-after children. It was a house in a leafy suburb of Copenhagen and was run by rotas of highly trained youth workers. I gathered that the model in Denmark was not to adopt but to keep the children in contact with their birth families—with lots of support from those looking after them. Have we considered and evaluated other models like this?

Mental health has already been mentioned by several noble Lords. The NSPCC states that children in care are four times more likely to experience mental health difficulties than their peers. Indeed, children who have been through the system are five times more likely to take their own life. A study by the Centre for Child and Family Research at Loughborough University has even suggested that around half of all looked-after children in the UK have a diagnosable disorder, so surely it is crucial that mental health and well-being should be prioritised within the care system.

I congratulate the Government on their reform in 2013, introducing a legal right to funding for foster children to stay with their families until the age of 21, should they wish. However, we are still neglecting those in children’s residential homes, who have to leave when they turn 18. Giving local authorities greater flexibility and requiring greater transparency of their local offers for care leavers will, I hope, serve to improve services. It is excellent that provision for personal advisers is being extended to care leavers not in education. Often, as has already been mentioned, NEETs badly need a mentor to help them get their life on course. In 2014, a staggering 41% of 19 year-old care leavers were not in education, employment or training, compared with only 15% of all 19 year-olds. Even more disturbingly, this was the highest proportion for over a decade.

I welcome the fact that the Bill seeks to improve services for looked-after children, but I wonder whether we could do more to offer help and support to ensure that no child gets left behind.