Recruitment and retention of foster carers remains challenging
Recruiting and retaining sufficient foster carers with the right skillset to support vulnerable children continues to pose a problem for local authorities, trusts and independent fostering agencies, the State of the Nation’s Foster Care 2021 has said.
The pressures within the system, and the lack of availability of foster families, results in poorer outcomes for [...]
Ofsted: Vulnerable children ‘disappeared from sight’ in lockdown
There were significantly lower levels of referrals to children’s social care this year as vulnerable children at risk of harm or neglect “disappeared from teachers’ line of sight”, Ofsted’s annual report has said.
While the long-term effects of school closures are not yet known, the Ofsted report says that nearly all children in England have [...]
Government launches review into death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes
The government has launched a major review into the circumstances leading up to murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes to determine what improvements are needed by the agencies that came into contact with him in the months before he died.
Arthur Labinjo-HughesIn addition, four inspectorates, covering social care, health, police and probation have been commissioned to undertake [...]
UASC three years behind educationally by GCSE level
Unaccompanied asylum seeking children are up to three years behind with their education by the time they sit their GCSE exams, a new study has shown.
Little has been known about the outcomes of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, resettled refugees or asylum support children who enter the English school system, as the government does not record [...]
Rainsbrook contract ends ‘by mutual agreement’
The contract between the government and MTC to run Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre has ended after a ‘mutual agreement’ was reached.
Children were removed from the privately run secure training centre in June after concerns were raised several times about the care provided to children and young people held there, including concerns from Ofsted over [...]
Drastic action required to tackle high rates of private law cases coming before courts
The justice secretary has urged “drastic” action to tackle the number of private law cases coming before the courts.
Giving evidence to the justice committee, Dominic Raab said that he was concerned about the backlog of cases in private law, given many should be dealt with out of court.
“In the private law courts, broadly the [...]
