Latest news with #careSystem
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Funding cuts had ‘devastating' effect on adopted children, UK charities say
A growing number of adopted children are at risk of returning to the care system as funding cuts and lack of support pushes England's families into crisis, charities have warned. Adoption UK said cuts to funding were already having a 'devastating' effect on children who have been adopted, describing them as 'morally and economically nonsensical'. 'We've had hundreds and hundreds of families call our helpline or come along to events to express their concerns. I've worked in adoption now for nearly 10 years, I've never seen anything like this,' said Alison Woodhead, the director of public affairs and communications at the charity. 'People have been saying they're worried their children will commit suicide – families are at breaking point, and without support they're worried that the family might not be able to stay together, that children will end up back in the care system.' In April, the government announced a 40% cut in the amount available for each child from the annual £50m adoption and special guardianship support fund – money sent to local authorities and regional adoption agencies to provide therapy for adopted children. Woodhead said it was a 'crucial pot of money that has been transformational in lots of children's lives' and the cuts would have a huge impact. 'It is both morally and economically nonsensical because these children who desperately need the support will cost more further down the track if they don't get it,' Woodhead said. 'Adopted children are already massively overrepresented in criminal justice statistics, in not in education, employment or training statistics, do worse in school than their peers. It's just setting the children up to fail further and symbolic of a general sense that adopted children are being let down.' She also said the cuts could worsen the decline in adoptive parents in the country – from 2013 to 2023, the number of families approved to adopt in England decreased by almost 60%. 'The government is spending quite a lot of money on a recruitment campaign to try to get prospective adopters. But if the bigger picture is that you adopt a child, you don't get support, and then your child ends up back in the care system, that's not a very enticing prospect. So they're also shooting themselves in the foot.' The charity's annual adoption barometer showed 38% of adoptive families were facing severe challenges or reaching crisis point in 2023, a rise from 22% in 2022. The number of children who left their family prematurely (for example, to return to the care system or to live in assisted accommodation) was 7% that year, up from 3% in 2021, and the charity is expecting numbers to rise. Tracy Beaumont, from Ridley & Hall solicitors' adoption legal centre, said they are being inundated by calls from families across the country in 'absolute crisis', and seeking legal advice on returning their child to the care of their local authority. 'Many of the parents, unfortunately, they've tried everything. They've tried to get the support and the help, they've done absolutely everything, and they're just at a point of crisis as a family,' she said. She advises people on how to apply, through section 20 of the Children Act 1989, for the local authority to accommodate a child in need, a process which she says is 'extremely traumatic' for those involved and a 'last resort'. It can then lead to court proceedings for a care order. 'A lot of my clients think that it could have been prevented but obviously local authorities have limited resources anyway, and then the government have just cut the adoption support fund. They need the right support at the right time,' she said. 'The parents are really traumatised by the whole experience, and then the poor children at the heart of this end up back in care.' A Department for Education spokesperson said: 'We know how important this support is to families – and through our plan for change, we're committed to ensuring adopted and kinship families continue to receive the help they need to thrive. 'We are investing £50m for the adoption and special guardianship support fund to continue for another year with children still being able to access £3,000 in therapy support each year. 'The decisions we have taken will ensure the fund is financially sustainable to allow more vulnerable children to access targeted support.'
News.com.au
19-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
‘Broken' $1b child safety system sparks inquiry
The Queensland government has announced a commission of inquiry into the state's care system which it says is failing children and leading them to fall into crime, abuse and despair. The Crisafulli government on Sunday announced a commission of inquiry, to be headed by Paul Anastassiou KC, to examine the state's 'broken' child safety system which it says has ballooned to cost taxpayers over a billion dollars a year. It cited 2024 census findings that of children entering out of home care, 11 per cent had been sexually abused, 46 per cent had been physically abused and 88 per cent had been neglected. The government said that children who enter the care system before their tenth birthday have much poorer outcomes including mental health issues, self harm, are more likely to develop a disability and have higher rates of limited intellectual functioning. The government said that 61 per cent of children in residential care had been expelled or suspended from school. In Queensland there are more than 12,500 children living in out-of-home care and the government says it will cost $1.12b this financial year to run the system. It claimed that one teen's care costs $2.6m a year while another cost $2.3m, putting the blame at the feet of previous Labor governments. The government says more than 100 of the state's serious youth offenders were living in out-of-home care. The commission of inquiry will examine whether the care system is equipped to deal with serious youth offenders and high-risk children, and whether their care has contributed to their offending. 'We often hear of the crime vortex caused by young offenders living in residential care, where they cause others they live with to follow them into criminal behaviours and it is important to investigate and further understand how the system has played a part in that,' child safety minister Amanda Camm said. 'The Crisafulli Government is committed to keeping the community safe and this is a crucial moment in time to make serious generational changes to a system that has been left to languish under Labor. 'In the past decade thousands of children have been let down by the former government who did not care enough to investigate how children in care were becoming entrenched in the youth justice system.'
Telegraph
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Scotland's care sector ‘will suffer' from Labour's immigration plans
Scotland's care system will suffer from UK Government plans to tighten immigration rules, SNP ministers have warned. Sir Keir Starmer said the new proposals would 'take back control' of UK borders but Kate Forbes, the Deputy First Minister, said she was in 'no doubt' that they would have a negative impact on the care sector. Care home bosses in Scotland claimed the immigration plans could lead to closures and longer NHS waiting lists. The Prime Minister announced changes to the system on Monday in a Downing Street address, including making migrants wait 10 years rather than five to apply for settlement or citizenship, increasing required standards of English for those entering the UK and tightening tests on colleges and universities offering places to foreign students. He said the UK risked becoming an 'island of strangers'. Responding to his comments and the associated publication of a White Paper, Ms Forbes told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: 'I am in no doubt whatsoever that our care system is going to suffer from the changes that reportedly are going to be made.' John Swinney, the First Minister, accused the Prime Minister of being 'terrified' of Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader and a frequent critic of immigration policy. 'I think Keir Starmer walked right into the arms of Nigel Farage,' Mr Swinney said. 'Nigel Farage could have delivered that speech this morning. I can't believe that Keir Starmer found himself able to deliver that speech which just totally contradicts everything he's ever said in the past. He's obviously terrified of Nigel Farage.' The SNP has put the perceived threat of Reform UK in Scotland – where the party is forecast to return up to a dozen MSPs in next year's Holyrood elections – front and centre of its campaign. Mr Swinney said he would 'confront' Mr Farage, not 'cosy up' to him. Sir Keir said the new system would be 'controlled, selective and fair' but Mr Swinney claimed it would be 'deeply damaging' for the Scottish economy. He added: 'There will be a huge impact on employment in the National Health Service and on social care.' Scotland's working age population has been declining in recent years as people get older and it is projected to fall further, with the SNP pushing for looser immigration rules north of the border. Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has also suggested a need for at least partially different rules, similar to the Fresh Talent scheme put in place by the last Labour administration in Scotland. Robert Kilgour, chairman of Scottish care home group Renaissance Care, said limiting overseas visas would be a 'killer blow' for the industry. Mr Kilgour, who said he had previously donated to the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and Labour, said a third of the 1,500 workers his company employs across 19 care homes come from overseas. He told Good Morning Scotland: 'We couldn't run our homes without these amazing staff. 'More care homes are going to close because of this. It'll lead to more bed-blocking, more cancellations of operations and longer waiting lists, so they are shooting themselves in both feet.' Campbell Mair, managing director of Highland Home Carers, said 'retention and recruitment' of UK workers was already difficult, and called on both the UK and Scottish governments to invest more in the sector. He said: 'A workforce capacity reduction, which inevitably will arise and will occur as a result of this, will directly impact on vulnerable adults lives, those of their families and loved ones and the health economic impact will be very significant.'
