03 June 2020
Catch22 worked with the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum (NLCBF) and The Young People’s Benchmarking Forum (YPBMF) to collect the views of frontline local authority leaving care teams as well as young care leavers to inform the response.
Catch22 believes that good public services are built around three principles: being more human (building relationships), unlocking social and financial capacity, and developing alternative or local governance models. In the main, the system continues to disadvantage young people as they make their transition from care to adulthood. The evidence shows that outcomes can remain poor for many young people who have experience of the care system. Such outcomes (poor health, employment and housing) cost the taxpayer significant resource as well as detrimentally impacting on communities and individuals.
Nearly 10 years ago, Eileen Munro undertook her review of child protection. She called for a more child-centred system then, but a decade on we are still working with overly transactional services and children who are passed from professional to professional, with boxes ticked and paperwork filed. Now is an important opportunity to take stock and refocus priorities on what really makes a difference to children’s lives: relationships. Experience teaches us that strong and meaningful relationships – built around trust and empathy, which are honest and provide boundaries where necessary – are the most important factor in transforming the lives of children and young people.
This consultation could go some way to addressing this. However, we strongly believe that it will not have the depth of impact that it might without a wider cross-government review of the care system.
Read our consultation response in full here
- Find out more about NLCBF and YPBMF
- Learn more about Lighthouse Charity and their work in children’s homes.
- For more information on Catch22’s work to reform public services read Beyond Delivery: Reforming Public Services