Parents meeting with Children’s Minister described as ‘pivotal moment’ in children’s social care reform

Family Rights Group, a specialist national child welfare charity, hosted a meeting with parents with lived experience of children’s social care and Minister for Children and Families, Janet Daby MP. 

It was the first time a sitting Government Minister has met the charity’s parents’ panel, in its 12-year history of providing a platform for parents to influence attitudes, policy and practice. 

There are over 400,000 children involved in the children’s social care system at any one time, according to Ofsted data. The parents of those children are one of the largest groups with a stake in the system. Yet too often their experiences are not engaged in efforts to reform it for the better.  

Parents shared with the Minister their reflections. That included care experienced mother, Azariah, whose two eldest children were adopted, who spoke about the assumptions made about and lack of support for care experienced young parents. Kate, whose son was in the care system and abruptly returned home without the recommended therapy, spoke about the need for careful planning and support to help children safely return home. Andy and Kristy, who both have children who have been adopted and others living at home, spoke about the desire of their children to know their brothers and sisters and how the system prevents this. Lorna, an adopter and kinship carer, spoke about families who have navigated the system being experts in how to improve it.   

During the meeting, the Minister shared her former experience as a children and families social worker, and what she had learned about the difference that preventative help and bringing families together to support themselves can transform outcomes for children and families.  

The Government is currently implementing reforms to provide more help to keep families safely together where possible. That includes over £500 million for Family Help and child protection services and a new duty, in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to offer family group decision making to engage a child’s family in finding solutions to support their wellbeing.  

Family Rights Group’s trailblazing panels for family members with lived experience of the child welfare system, were established in 2013. This includes parents whose children have been involved with children’s services, and kinship carers raising children who are unable to live with their parents. They work alongside the charity’s legal, social work and policy teams to inform policymakers, practitioners and the public.