Children’s Top Messages to Government on what makes a good care service
7 September 2006
Children and young people receiving care services have set out
50 key messages on what makes a good service and what they want, in
a report launched today by the Children’s Rights Director for
England.
These messages have been sent to the Government as a
contribution to the forthcoming Green Paper on looked after
children, and act as the official children’s input to the current
review of the National Minimum Standards (NMS) for children’s
services.
Children and young people say that they want to be treated as
individuals, to have a say, to be listened to, to have choices in
decisions affecting them, and to be offered services that do what
they think is important.
Other messages highlighting what is important to children
include:
- Social workers should not change so often
- Complaints procedures need to work better
- Contact should be maintained even if children and young people
are placed a long way from home
- Better care planning and reviews are needed
- Being expelled from school should not mean the end of their
education
The report is divided into two sections. The first contains key
messages from children and young people in all care services,
collated from discussions on a variety of subjects, with additional
messages taken from discussions specifically undertaken for this
report.
The second section contains specific messages from children and
young people representing each type of care service: children’s
homes, foster care, adoption placements, residential special
schools, boarding schools, residential further education colleges
or residential family centres.
Dr Roger Morgan, Children’s Rights Director, said: “Over the
years, I have received very consistent messages from children in
all settings that I believe add up to a charter of what is
important to children living away from home or receiving care
services.
The fact that the Government is carrying out two major policy
developments – reviewing National Minimum Standards and writing a
Green Paper - give the ideal opportunity to put these messages
forward on behalf of children and young people.
These messages deserve to be taken fully on board by those now
working on the future policy and national standards, to make ensure
they both reflect what children themselves say is important to
them.”
Dame Denise Platt, Chair of the Commission for Social Care
Inspection, said: “Children’s views on what makes a good service
should be central to the Government’s review of National Minimum
Standards.
Ministers should listen closely to what they say and ensure that
national standards are based on what matters most to children and
young people.”
For more information on the top 50 messages and additional
special messages, please visit www.rights4me.org
Ends
Notes to Editors
1. The messages in this report were collected from children and
young people in three different ways:
a) The top messages are from many discussions, visits and
surveys undertaken on different subjects, for other reports.
Irrespective of the topic their comments were recorded for future
use.
b) Discussion groups specifically on what they think the rules
should say for the type of service they are living in. 211
participants from 22 homes, schools, colleges and fostering
services took part. They were also met during 10 visits to their
establishments and services and children from different services to
were invited to four special consultation days in different parts
of the country.
c) The report contains some of the top views sent by text on
mobile phones by the “BeHeard” panel. This is a panel of young
people across the country that voluntarily receives a question from
the CRD team on their mobile phones each week. They text back or
e-mail their views when they have something they want taken into
account in reports.
2. The children and young people consulted with are those living
away from home in England;
a) children’s homes, boarding schools, residential special
schools, residential further education colleges, foster care,
adoption placements, or residential family centres;
b) those who are getting help of any sort from the children’s
social care services of their local council, and
c) care leavers.
3. The report is being sent to Government Ministers, key people
in Parliament, officials at the Department for Education and
Skills, to key people in the Commission for Social Care Inspection,
to each of the UK Children’s Commissioners, and to all children’s
social care authorities in England.
4. The Children’s Rights Director for England, Dr Roger Morgan
OBE, is based within CSCI. He has a statutory role to ascertain the
views of children in services the Commission inspects, about issues
concerning their welfare.
5. The CSCI is the single inspectorate for social care in
England, responsible for regulating and inspecting all social care
providers - whether in the public or independent sector, and for
assessing the performance of local councils in delivering their
personal social services functions.
6. The Commission’s primary aim is to improve social care by
putting the needs of people who use care services first.
7. The Commission is chaired by Dame Denise Platt DBE and has
five Commissioners. The Chief Inspector is Paul Snell. CSCI staff
work across nine regions in England – aligned with the government
offices of the regions.