A ‘dramatic whole system reset’ has been recommended as part of a review into children’s social care in the UK.

The independent report compiled by Josh McAlister, founder of the Frontline charity, has now been submitted to Government for their consideration. The report is critical of the current system, stating it is ‘increasingly skewed to crisis intervention with outcomes for children that continue to be unacceptably poor’.

Instead, it states, the system should provide ‘intensive help’ to families in crisis, act ‘decisively in response to abuse’ and put ‘lifelong loving relationships at the heart of the care system’.

A £2billion investment over the next five years (with a ring-fenced annual grant after that) is recommended in order to introduce a Family Help system (to replace targeted early help and child in need work). This service would comprise of teams including family support workers, domestic abuse workers and mental health practitioners as well as social workers. One of the benefits, according to the review team, would be to reduce the number of referrals to different services.

Other recommendations include:

·       The introduction of Expert Child Protection Practitioners to oversee decisions where there’s potential for significant harm to the child.

·       Better representation for parents going through the child protection process.

·       Bringing wider family members and friends into the decision making before a child is placed in care.

·       A statutory financial allowance, legal aid and kinship leave for special guardians and kinship carers with a Child Arrangement Order.

·       Regional Care Cooperatives to oversee fostering, residential and secure care arrangements in their area.

·       Launching a recruitment programme for foster carers.

·       Remove barriers which reduce the time social workers can spend with families.

You can read the executive summary of the report here – and the review website contains more information and the full report, as well as background information used to compile the recommendations.