An open letter to Parliamentarians: Is no one to speak on behalf of Residential Child Care?

Dear Parliamentarians

We are writing following spending some time reading the Commons and Lords debates regarding the Children’s Wellbeing Bill and Placements at distance bills.

We are very concerned with the negativity shared regarding Residential Child Care to the degree that we feel that Parliament may be coming to vote on matters without balanced information being made available.

We are truly dismayed that there has been little or no discussion in either house about Residential Child Care.

A NCERCC colleague said ‘despairing’ which we helped them reframe using this letter as a vehicle.

We wish to note that we felt some recognition in the words of Rebecca Paul, “Some children need specialist provision that simply does not exist locally”.

This aligns with an explanation NCERCC provided over 2 decades ago that no local authority is ever able to meet all of its children’s needs within its boundaries. NCERCC termed the policy focus needed to be ‘as local as possible as specialist as necessary’. There is some recognition in the placements bill, but it is not strong or voluminous enough to be heard

NCERCC takes the view it is Specificity, about needs, that is needed, not Sufficiency, about numbers. Granular needs analysis is required. No local authority has this practice currently.

Parliament has only had presented the arguments for Sufficiency to the degree it may be that Parliament is currently uninformed or ill informed. In our view neither is a suitable state from which to make policy judgements.

The current parlous state of the Residential Child Care sector is unknown to Parliament, or indeed to anyone. The issues concerned are deeper and wider than presented in recent reviews, reports, or research. The Residential Child Care sector reading them does recognise itself in what is presented.

It is having needs recognised in attuned care that creates belonging and relationships. For this we have to create needs-led provision in both family and group-based care. We need the conditions in which to create and deliver such care. Positive children’s homes are found in positive children’s services. Children’s homes act as a bell weather to the climate of children’s services. Given the current concerns there is more to be understood about children’s services before progressing with the legislation.

We ask that we be able to provide you with information and evidence you may not have had presented regarding Residential Child Care.

Please find links to 2 documents

A distillation of evidence and knowledge base addressing the reasons why RCC is not displaced demand for fostering.

In this we have tried to provide an understanding of Residential Child Care, its current use and context, and also what might facilitate a positive use of Residential Child Care along with how to achieve it. N.B. These are matters unaddressed by the Care review.

There are, at least, 2 important sections.

Appreciation of when residential care could be helpful
An understanding of the characteristics of the children who come to Residential Child Care (in which the helpful concept of co-occurring needs of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory is included).