Milieu or packages of care – culture eats strategy for breakfast
At a recent event NCERCC was supporting there was a discussion on a table that turned out to be multilayered (Of course! This is residential child care!) about needs of…
Critical Thinking – For a new role and function of Care rooted in citizenship
To know the role and function of Residential Child Care you need to know the role and function of children’s services and you need to have a definition of Care…
Unintended consequences of the misalignment of the registration of fostering and children’s homes?
There is increasingly glaring misalignment of the regulatory framework regarding registration of fostering and children’s homes. The recently closed consultation Fostering for the future: improving the foster care system -…
Starting the necessary critical thinking about children’s social care
Both demand and supply in children's social care are gravitating towards larger entities; large providers, regional care cooperatives. Both are features that have arisen without prior theorisation as to the…
Decapitalising Residential Child Care – really radical reset strategies
This analysis applies the lens of Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism to the English residential child care sector, a landscape where the privatisation of stress and the commodification and marketisation of care have…
Hidden Children An investigation into Unregistered Children’s Homes Public First /Commonweal April 2026
Interesting to read a report from an organisation outside of the sector repeating things known for decades, and not addressing things unaddressed for decades. The report states the current predicament…
Before Behind Beneath Beyond: Residential Child Care: giving the public what it didn’t know it wanted
Recognising the reality of the value and contribution of Residential Child Care offers society While the public often "wants" visible order, strict discipline, or immediate compliance (often viewed as "good…
OFSTED SCCIF Refresh + Working Together Guidance 2026 Update
Vital reading for leaders and disseminating to others (With thanks and full acknowledgement to CHQ for this practical and valuable summary) Ofsted has released the 2026 update to the Social Care…
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…
Applying Habermas’ Communicative Action and the Public Sphere to Residential Child Care
Introduction For some years NCERCC has been interested in writing a piece on Habermas and Residential Child Care believing these ideas provided at least an opportunity for reflection, and maybe…