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Press release: Private foster care children say things have improved - but not enough

Children in private foster care are more likely to have a say in choosing their carers and receive regular visits from their social workers than they were two years ago, but worrying variations remain in children’s experiences, according to a new report published today by the Children’s Rights Director for England, Dr Roger Morgan.

‘Children’s experience of private fostering’ is the follow up to an earlier report which looked at what some privately fostered children thought of the Government’s proposals at the time for new rules and regulations about private fostering. This report asks privately fostered children how those rules are working out for them.

Dr Roger Morgan, Children’s Rights Director said:

“Our last report of views from the children themselves helped to shape and influence the kind of care that their successors would receive - namely those children in private foster care today.

“There have been improvements, but there are two “buts”. First, there are still too many variations in young people’s experiences and we would like to see consistent standards across all private foster placements. Second, we still don’t know the views and experiences of children who are privately fostered but are not known to social care services.”

Children surveyed reported that they were generally happy with their care and said their private fostering placement was right for them. Most had a say in choosing their private foster parents, with over three quarters having either some say or a lot of say.

However, children also said they should have a say about leaving a private placement if they felt they couldn’t safely stay there any more, or it was not working out. They also said that children should have trial stays with prospective private foster carers, to see how things work out and find out what they are like.

While government has changed some of the rules about private fostering since the last report, not all children are benefiting from the changes. For example, visits from social workers should now be taking place, in line with the children’s advice, but not all children are visited regularly.

A fifth of those surveyed said they are visited less often by their social workers than the law says. Notably, children who had gone into a private fostering placement less than two years ago were more likely to be visited at least every 12 weeks than the children who had been placed more than two years ago.

There is also greater need for more information about private fostering, to make members of the public more aware that if you look after a child who is not your own and to whom you are not closely related, you must by law inform social care services. This has not changed since the last report and the notification process needs to be improved.

Significantly, most of the children in the report thought that parents and carers do not really know enough about having to tell social care services that they are going to look after someone else’s child.

Inconsistencies continue around whether a social worker is required to see the child alone if the child has not requested it, even though this is now a legal requirement. Around three quarters of all children surveyed said that their social worker always speaks to them in private.

As one child summed up, “Professionals thought I was happy, but a few months later when things went sour they weren’t there anymore.” In contrast, another child said: “I feel that being fostered benefits me. I get more opportunities to do things.”

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Notes For Editors

1. The report, Children’s experience of private fostering’ is published on the Ofsted website, www.ofsted.gov.uk and the Office of the Children’s Rights Director website www.rights4me.org

2. 59 privately fostered children gave their views for the report. 34 of these sent in their views through a survey and 25 took part in one of four discussion groups in different places round the country.

3. Of the privately fostered children, 23 (two thirds) were girls and one third were boys. The youngest was aged 8, the eldest 17.

4. Survey answers were sent in from children in 13 different council areas in England (out of 49 councils who informed the Children’s Rights Directorate they had privately fostered children in their areas)

5. The law says that every child should be visited at least every six weeks for the first year that they are privately fostered, and at least every 12 weeks after that first year.

6. In 2005, the Children’s Rights Director published a report about the views of children who were living with private foster parents about what they thought of the proposals the government had at the time for new rules and regulations about private fostering.

7. The Children’s Rights Director for England, Dr Roger Morgan, has personal statutory duties to ascertain the views of children in care, children living away from home, and children receiving social care services, to advise Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector on children’s rights and welfare, and to raise any rights or welfare issue he considers significant. His post is hosted by Ofsted

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