With the Care Review the social construction of the situation by the national and local state is absented

The experiences of children in care reflect the state’s responsibilities to them.

It is remarkable that this is not the centre of the Care Review. The first act of the lead reviewer was to place the focus on private providers and outside of the DfE through involvement of the CMA.

The activity and responsibility of the national and local state have to be placed at the core of the Care Review activities and conclusions. If this does not happen then there will have been an enormous diversion from analysing the primary task, what is going on here and what is to be done.

Steadily since the 1989 Children Act the national and local state have been removed from view

It is of no use solely looking at providers and absenting first the local state, who are acting on behalf and implementing directions of the national state, then absenting the originators, the national state. How the allocated funding is to be spent is determined by the national state in that it can determine if there is to be anything other than LA services. It also determines the actions of caring and contracting. It is a centrally determining position.

The Care Review is not neutral, its ToR demonstrably show this to be the case.

There is a lack of trust and of accountability apportioned towards providers projected from the national and local state who by doing so absent themselves from the picture.

The Care Review can only be understood in the light of wider socio-economic and political-ideological context.

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