19/11/2020: Lords’ debate ramps up calls for outright ban of unregulated placements

Campaigners have reiterated calls for unregulated placements for all under-18s in care to be banned following a debate in the House of Lords. The calls came folowing a debate over a report by the . . . Children’s Commissioner for England, Unregulated: children in care living in semi-independent accommodation, in which Baroness Berridge, parliamentary under-secretary of state for education, appeared to dismiss the need for an outright ban.
Children and Young People Now

11/11/2020: Children in care ‘failed’ while some providers ‘make millions’

The most vulnerable children are being “failed by the state” and a broken residential care system, the children’s commissioner for England has said. Greater use of private provision has led to a . . . fragmented, unco-ordinated and irrational system amid “significant profits”, said Anne Longfield. The system has been allowed to slip deeper into crisis, she said.
BBC

05/11/2020: Care leaver scheme praised in review of DfE innovation programme

A government-funded scheme aimed at supporting young people to keep links with their children’s homes is “encouraging secure, long-term social networks” for care leavers, according to an evaluation by . . . the Department for Education. An evaluation of the DfE Innovation Programme highlights children’s charity the St Christopher’s Fellowship’s Staying Close programme’s “genuine desire to allow young people to gain autonomy and its ability to actively engage young people in decision making”.
Children and Young People Now