*Thread*

Well, it's finally here! https://www.gov.uk/government/news/education-secretary-launches-review-of-childrens-social-care

If it feels like a long time since we and many others were asking for an independent review of the care system in England... that’s because it is.

Some rambling personal reflections on the ToR and journey below.

As a reminder, the government committed to a review of the ‘care system’ back in the 2019 Conservative manifesto.

It promised to “review the care system to make sure that all care placements and settings are providing children and young adults with the support they need”.

By mid Feb, that commitment had morphed to something wider which would be “taking a fundamental look across children’s social care” and also focusing on those who had social worker support – not just those in care. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2020-02-12/HCWS110

As confirmed in the ToR released today, this isn't really a #CareReview in the way it has been articulated before.

There are:
80,000 children in care.
400,000 children in need.
1.6 million who’ve been supported by a social worker in the past six years.

It’s a massive undertaking to really get under the skin of what each of these different experiences looks like and what it means for the children and families involved – both at the time of intervention and well into the future.

I understand the reason behind the breadth and the limitations of reviews which only pick up on one aspect of a much larger experience - and a much larger 'system'.

It does mean an even more difficult job for @JoshMacAlister!

However, I'm hopeful this doesn't dilute the focus on *experiences* above all and the review gives each aspect of children’s social care the attention it deserves.

There’s something unique about ‘care’ – however defined – which I'm sure will come through hearing from lived exp.

That’s also why it’s crucial support for adults who have left the care system gets addressed properly too.

The legacy of the promise that the state makes to children and their families is *vital* to understanding what drives the statistics included in the launch press release.

The separate ongoing work to support care leavers across gov is welcome, but it can’t replace a thorough exploration of what ‘leaving care’ actually means and looks like, and how this lifelong journey relates to what’s happened in social care beforehand.

Otherwise, the recognition of the existing evidence base is really welcome. Not only does this need to look at the gov-commissioned reviews, but too the wealth of insight from the Care Inquiry, Care Crisis Review, @Careexpconf reports etc.

I remain a bit uneasy about the heavy focus in the ToR on assessing value for money, efficient use of resources and “inconsistencies in children’s social care practice”.

That narrative seems to have dominated existing government action in care to date.

Once again: *you can’t ‘innovate’ or ‘best practice’ yourself out of every problem*.

As we wrote last year, the review “must recognise that the outcomes for care-experienced young people cannot be disentangled from their lives before they entered care”. https://www.becomecharity.org.uk/for-professionals/resources/delivering-a-meaningful-review-of-the-care-system-2020/

Any review which doesn’t grapple head-on with the chronic underfunding of children’s services is doomed and will deliver little meaningful change.

Bad analogy: it’s a bit rich to examine efficient use of £3 if that’s the entire budget given for your weekly shop.

One quick glance at the evidence from @CWIP_Research and elsewhere will tell you that structural inequalities, deepened by cuts to public services, have an enormous impact on what’s happening in children’s social care.

(As a minor point, good to see use of the 13% HE progression figure quoted rather than the often-used 6% one. A sign the different parts of the DfE where these figures are taken from are talking to each other about what’s a better reflection etc.)

Good to see too the inclusion of informal kinship care which gets missed out when we think of ‘care’ in its many forms.

No doubt our friends at @GPlusinfo and @FamilyRightsGp will be pleased about that, and the inclusion is credit to their and many others' work.

Above all, the commitment to lived experience seems clear – not just listening to those impacted by children’s social care but importantly also embedding them within the review’s work. Lots still to come on how exactly this happens, but obvious lessons from @ThePromiseScot here.

I've shared the 'experts by experience' group application with loads of people who would be amazing, but interesting (and symbolic of the challenge ahead?) that a few have bumped on the 'When was your most recent care experience?' Q.

Not a straightforward answer for many!

Still so much to figure out, so the 'call for advice' seems a sensible place to start. Lots of Qs remaining around timeline, reporting process, funding and resource, gov commitment etc. All of this will determine the review's ultimate impact in the years to come.

I'm excited about the work we're planning this year with the APPG for Looked After Children and Care Leavers. More details to come, but this will be looking closer at the everyday experience of 'care' and practice/solutions as rooted in communities and local areas/regions.