A warm welcome to the incoming NAFP CEO Mark Owers.
The providers of Residential Child Care need a champion standing alongside.
Together they can make the difference needed in this fast Family First shaping world.
Together they can be the conscience of children’s services, at a time when this is a vital role to be actively present in policy and practice. Too much unthought through happening too quickly is an often-stated evaluation of the government’s children in care policy today, but rarely said publicly for fear of recrimination.
Ordinary life for children in care requires extraordinary people doing extraordinary things in ordinary ways. This complex task needs explaining to outsiders who often just see the ordinariness and do not appreciate the extraordinary work that makes it appear so like everyday life.
Just last week at the Residential Therapeutic Child Care Academy graduation we heard case studies showcasing the attentiveness and attunement necessary for small everyday activities. It was a pleasure to see Residential Child Care workers confidently sharing with an audience how they apply theory and experience to their daily work. They explained what Mark observes in his incoming message, “extraordinary commitment, skill and care, often in complex circumstances, helping children experience stability, belonging and progress in their lives”.
Mark’s next sentence in his incoming message is key to the next period for children in care, “That reality is not always reflected in how the sector is understood”.
A reality that is uninformed and inexperienced is applied to children in care, to fostering, to Residential Child Care, and as a result NCERCC agrees, “Too often the debate has become polarised and has not fully captured the day to day brilliance of carers and staff, or the achievements of children and young people in care”.
As Mark observes the task is to change that, “Not by being defensive, but by being more open, more transparent and more confident in explaining what we do and the difference it makes”.
That is the difference fostering makes for the children matching to these settings, and Residential Child Care for those matching to these. It is vital that the two champions make it explicit that these are not the same children. Fostering and Residential Child Care are equal, and distinct specialisms. Fostering cannot function properly without the further opportunity residential settings can provide. Residential settings are what make children’s services possible. We see that understanding now in the anxiety expressed by people, we do not have the homes we need to meet the children’s needs.
Mark’s focus over the coming months is clear, and one that needs Residential Child Care alongside, distinct and together:
- Make sure the voices and experiences of children and young people, foster carers and staff are at the centre of how fostering is understood and shaped.
- Move the conversation beyond polarised debate and help explain more clearly how fostering works in practice.
- Strengthen transparency and evidence, including being more open about costs, pricing and value, and more confident in demonstrating the contribution and impact of independent fostering.
- Develop a clearer, shared understanding of children’s needs, so that we can better articulate how different types of provision meet different needs, and evidence outcomes more effectively.
- Engage constructively with reform, including Regional Care Cooperatives and fostering hubs, ensuring the independent sector is fully part of how the system develops.
The most important bullet point
- Develop a clearer, shared understanding of children’s needs, so that we can better articulate how different types of provision meet different needs, and evidence outcomes more effectively.
The needs of children in care are currently woefully misunderstood by government.
We must not despair but join with Mark in articulating reality with knowledge and experience.
Mark states that, “This is a significant moment for fostering”.
NCERCC goes further – This is a significant moment for fostering, Residential Child Care and all of children’s services. The future is at stake. It needs expert knowledge and experience to be at the core not called upon in consultation.
Mark sees, “There is a real opportunity to shape a system that works better for children, foster carers and staff. But that will only happen if we are confident, open and actively engaged in how these changes take shape.”
Together fostering and Residential Child Care can “play a strong and constructive role”, representing the full range of the sector, strengthening the united collective voice of care and carers, and ensure knowledge, experience and expertise is being properly reflected.
