SEND: ‘Let’s strive for progress, not perfection’
We recently hosted a virtual shared learning event for 10 Directors of Children’s Services and Education, to take stock of…
November 11, 2020
Alastair Thompson
Valuing Care should be the sector norm
Over the past few weeks, I’ve hosted three sessions for directors, practitioners and commissioners from five councils to share with each other how they are making the most of the Valuing Care approach. Here are three of my reflections.
April 26, 2019
DfE’s response to the fostering stocktake
We’re delighted that Nadhim Zahawi has accepted all the recommendations made in the independent report 'Foster Care in England'.
July 20, 2018
Children’s placements: switching from lottery to logic
I am pleased that the debate on funding for children’s services is getting more traction at a national level,…
April 25, 2018
Fostering Stocktake: valuing foster carers
Our national fostering system has been neglected for too long. Despite being the mainstay of our statutory parenting capacity, and…
February 7, 2018
Let’s change the conversation on children in care
As the recent Guardian article illustrates (‘Greedy Financiers profiting from the Pain of Children’), the debate about the market for…
January 31, 2018
Regional adoption agencies – necessity can be the mother of invention
In mulling over the quandaries facing our clients on regional adoption agencies (RAAs) I was considering how to clarify some…
March 3, 2017
DfE’s fostering ‘stocktake’
This month Children and Families Minister Edward Timpson committed to a “national stocktake of fostering”. In response to the national…
August 17, 2016
Children’s Services Funding is Too Important For This Guessing Game
The NAO report on Children in Care laid some heavy gauntlets at the door of DfE and the wider sector last…
December 3, 2014
