CHILDREN IN CARE BILL

The purpose of the bill is to:

• Reform the statutory framework around the care system to enable children and young people to receive high quality care and support and drive improvements in the delivery of services focused on the needs of the child.

The main benefits of the bill are:

• Enabling those who enter the care system to achieve the aspirations we have for our own children and reducing the gap in outcomes between children in care and their peers
• Improving placement stability and ensuring more consistency for children in care;
• Improving the experience children in care have at school and increasing their educational attainment;

The main elements of the bill are:

• Giving pilot local authorities the power to test a different model of organising social care by commissioning services from 'Social Work Practices' and enabling regulation of these practices;
• Increasing the focus on the transparency and quality of care planning  and ensuring that the child's voice is heard when important decisions that affect their future are taken;
• Increasing schools' capacity to address the needs of children in care including placing the role of the designated teacher on a statutory footing and ensuring that children in care do not move schools in Year 10 and 11  except in exceptional circumstances;
• Ensuring that young people are not forced out of care before they are ready by giving them a greater say over moves to independent living and ensuring they retain support and guidance as long as they need it;
• Improving the quality and stability of placements for children in care, securing higher placement standards and better value for money and ensuring children in care and custody are visited regularly.

The Bill would apply to:

• England and Wales

Related Documents:

• Care Matters: Time for Change (White Paper)
  http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/timeforchange/
• Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care (Green Paper) http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/carematters/index.shtml

Existing Legislation in this area is:

• Children Act 1989
• Care Standards Act 2000
• Children Leaving Care Act 2002 (amended Children Act 1989)

Comments:

If you have any comments on the draft programme or individual bill being proposed, you can email them to:

legislation@commonsleader.x.gsi.gov.uk