Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield has launched a podcast series which features children and care leavers being interviewed about their experiences in care.
In a press release offering more information on the series, which to date includes four podcasts, the Children’s Commissioner calls the interviews ‘open and honest conversations with care leavers’ and says care leavers are able to talk about any subject they like.
You can access the podcasts in the following ways:
- The Children’s Commissioner’s IMO website (scroll down to see the episodes)
- Apple Podcasts
- Google Podcasts
Researching Reform 
Well you don’t need insight when these care leavers are saying what was wrong loud & clear. Problem is, nobody listens & nothing changes. Their voices resonate with what families have experienced too.
Every problem these people encountered either in care or when they left, could have been managed in a different more sensitive & less institutionalised way that would have made that person react & feel differently to their experience. Those professionals making those decisions got it wrong & are are repeating the same mistakes with different people but they are never held accountable.
I’m aware nothing is perfect & problems arise but a lot of the issues experienced could with the minimum of thought have been avoided. A child should not come out of care with a criminal record unless the crime was really serious. A child should not arrive for contact with a sibling only to be told it’s the wrong day. An anxious child should be able to talk it out with someone, even if that listener is on minimum wage. Electricity shouldn’t go off at a certain time.
If a child has been taken from their family & incrementally denied contact with family members then the Care System must be a better environment for that child to grow up in. It should have high standards. No whinging about lack of resources or money or not enough of foster careers or social workers. Those problems will disappear if you only take those children whose parents are truly evil & have committed a serious crime. Use the rest of the budget & resources on supporting families.
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The Children’s Commissioner is seriously failing children inside the care system due to their ludicrous policy “we can make representations on behalf of children in care and living away from home when they contact our Help at Hand team”.
this means any child in need of their help will not get it if they have no way of contacting them. even when birth parents with shared PR ask them to speak to a child they refuse.
on their website they state
“The Commissioner has the power to enter any premises, other than a private dwelling, to interview a child (which may be conducted in private, if the child consents)”.
How ridiculous that they have the power to do this yet they do nothing if the child does not contact them first!
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“Under Part 6 of the Children’s Act (2014) the Commissioner is attributed a number of special powers which enable her to speak to children in care.
The Commissioner has the power to enter any premises, other than a private dwelling, to interview a child (which may be conducted in private, if the child consents)
The Commissioner can also provide advice and assistance to any child who is within section 8A of the Children Act (living away from home or receiving social care. Any child in care can contact Help at Hand by phone (0800 528 0731) or by email help.team@childrenscommissioner.gov.uk”
You can clearly see how children in care are being failed. they will do nothing unless the child contacts them which is ridiculous as they simply dont have a Voice!. why cant they see this.
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