The Foster care stock take conducted in the UK this year disappointed many. The leading foster care charity, The Fostering Network, labelled it a “missed opportunity.” And in many ways it was. But it could be said that was because expectations rode higher than they should have done. It was. after all, exactly what it said it was – a stocktake. So in simple terms, no more than a ‘snapshot’ of the contemporary foster care scene – with some interesting observations thrown in. Perhaps we were wrong to expect more than just the chronicling of contemporary foster care and the issues that relate to it. Especially as conducting such ‘snapshot reviews’ may well be how the government will be dealing with problematic issues of all kinds in the future: a stock take has a veneer of serious intent – an exercise giving the appearance of something being done. Something to placate the general public who will be left with the vague feeling that action is being taken. Conveniently for politicians, the news agenda can usually be relied upon to quickly move on. Perhaps the next government stocktake will be addressing the state of the nation’s roads. But, for now, many connected with foster care provision have been left disappointed as the leviathan that is the general public’s attention will have been redirected. This is, of course, much of the art of government these days and precisely why the Brexit phenomenon is so interesting. Here we have an example where politicians are unable to move on and escape the gaze of a general public that expects answers. It makes for a fascinating spectacle: watching government having to find an actual solution and one needed by a set date. New territory indeed – especially as the main protagonists have – in order to be credible – to remain in post. The option of being able to rely on a well-timed reshuffle or departmental move to escape the heat looks to be closed off. The usual manoeuvres that permit our politicos to avoid still being in post to take responsibility, look on this occasion to be unavailable. The norm is for the buck, far from stopping anywhere, to constantly move through the political ether like a skilfully thrown frisbee. Politicians of all stripes understand this: careers have been built on the phenomenon and gongs handed out left right and centre. It rather looks like Brexit is putting paid to this.
Foster care must be supported to focus on outcomes
How does this relate to foster care? Well, there is another phenomenon practised politicians here – again of all stripes – have to guard against. And this is where policymakers in another country have exactly the same problem to contend with and are looking to save it – which is rare. And the risk increases, if they are genuinely motivated to seek a solution instead of stage-managed obfuscation. This is what makes the current situation with regard to foster care in Australia compelling: the dynamics are extremely similar to those found here in the UK. Which means our closest cousins could, in the near future, give us a lesson in the kind of fostering provision that secures outstanding outcomes. Australians now share something very particular in common with the ‘Old Country’ – the problem of finding enough Foster Carers of the right type to look after rising numbers of Children with deep-seated behavioural problems. And it is clear from what is now being planned, that the intention is to adopt an approach that secures positive outcomes for these children over the long term.
The government of South Australia is about to trial a two-year scheme where people will be encouraged to give up existing careers and become foster carers. In return for this, they will be paid a salary of $75,000 dollars to care for some of the state’s most troubled and vulnerable youngsters. The situation is analogous to here – not enough of the right kind of people to take on the challenging job of providing foster care. But without the benefit of a stocktake, the Australians seemed to have realised that – in the words of their Child Protection Minister, Rachel Sanderson:
“We’ve had very, very poor results and we’re paying a lot of money to get very poor outcomes for our children.”
Sound familiar? So the actions now being considered in Australia are a bold attempt address the problem through a recruitment drive aimed –
“at professionals that might have the experience, whether they’re nurses of teachers or psychologists or social workers that may be retiring or near the end of their career.”
Somewhat perversely, in this country, we became mired in a fractious debate about whether foster carers should even be considered as professionals. An example, if ever there was one, of “fiddling whilst Rome burns.” The Australian Minister recently reiterated the point by adding such significant financial resources would enable them to –
“recruit highly skilled professionals – whether it’s social workers, occupational therapists perhaps, mental health nurses, psychologists – so people who actually have the skill level that’s matched to the needs of the children.”
Foster carers must be supported by the system to nurture talent
In this country, huge sums are spent – but this is at the wrong end of the process. Research from The Care Leavers’ Association found there to be a disproportionate number of care leavers caught up in the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Children in care and care leavers account for less than one per cent of the general population (Department for Education 2013), but they are hugely over-represented in the CJS. Figures then highlighted that over twenty-five per cent of the adult prison population had been in care (Berman, G. and Dar, A. 2013); forty-nine per cent of men under twenty-one in the CJS had spent time in acre (HMIP 2011) and sixty-one per cent of girls in the fifteen to eighteen age group in custody have spent some time in care.
It is a waste of talent and human potential that a mere six per cent of children in the care system progress on to higher education. This is a cost to the nation. The statistic is a damning one and the foster care stocktake could not ignore it, stating:
‘Fostering and the wider care system is particularly criticised because children in public care perform very poorly in education compared to the general population, with only about 6% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 attending university compared to half the non-looked after population. But this is not a useful comparison when you consider the extent of abuse and neglect many children in care have suffered before entering care. Furthermore, the proportion of children with special educational needs is four times higher in the care population than in the general population.’
It is worth mentioning that in this section of the stocktake, no more than twenty lines were devoted to this issue – which is disturbing. But, there is the caveat that –
“this is not to say that the educational attainment of children in care cannot be improved. It can be and should be. It has been demonstrated how things like poor academic attainment and genetic inheritance before care can be exacerbated by low teacher expectations and a failure to prioritise education in the life of the child in care. But the care system’s reputation as failing children educationally is not deserved.”
Strangely, there is no suggestion here as to how these improvements might be made giving the impression of willing the ends but not the means. It rather looks like the Australians might, in the near future, demonstrate exactly how educational attainment can be improved: allocating the financial resources to attract a range of “highly skilled” professionals – with direct experience of working with children – must surely provide the kind of foundation likely to encourage far better educational outcomes. To be fair, as this will be a two year trial in Australia, the jury is out. But there could be some awkward questions raised over our own foster care stocktake if our antipodean cousins prove to have come up with what could be a fairly obvious answer.
The National Audit Office in its ‘Children in Care’ report – 25th November 2104 – identified that then the nation was spending £2.5bn supporting children in foster and residential care (£1.5bn on foster care provision and £1bn on residential care). This broke down to £29,000 – £33,000 as the average annual spend on a foster place for a child with £131,000 – £135,000 as the average annual spend on a residential place for a child.) The Australians are proposing recruiting and paying a professional cadre of foster carers slightly over the equivalent of £40,000 to improve on the “very, very poor results they have been having” in terms of achieving good quality outcomes for their foster children. Given the prodigious sums we have been spending here in the UK, the views expressed in the stocktake seem distinctly unambitious.
Could you help a child or young person to succeed educationally? If yes, Team Rainbow definitely needs you!
Rainbow is now celebrating twenty-one years finding dedicated people to become foster carers: people who have gone on to make enormous differences to the lives of vulnerable children. Our success means we are expanding across London, Birmingham and Manchester. We now need people who really want to make a lasting difference to the lives of often quite desperate children and young people. This means giving them hope and the right to have ambition – so actively supporting them at school. Are you the kind of person who would enjoy making time for special trips to places to stimulate and inspire young minds. If you are, Rainbow will be there supporting you day and night all year round. We want our foster carers to succeed because when they do, our foster children achieve.
It’s easy to find out if you have what it takes to be a foster carer. Pick up the phone for a no-obligation chat with one of our recruitment team. They will be happy to devote the time to explain the ‘ins and outs’ of fostering and you will be in a position to make an informed choice about whether foster care is for you. Call Team Rainbow: 020 8427 3355/0330 311 2845 (our National Line). Be special. Be a foster carer. Be one of us! And for foster care news make sure you visit: https://bit.ly/2kJHpsO
The blog is written by Will Saunders: Rainbow Fostering – Content Management/Marketing
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