and putting the pieces together. the story doesn t quite add up. what s described as a once in a generation review of england s children s social care system is under way, with a debate about when to work with families and when to take children into care. resources have been stretched further and further, as more children are coming onto the radar. there are more children in care in england, over80,000 now,| the number for some time. so, although funding has gone up, i the demand for that funding has gone up disproportionately. a serious case review will look at the missed opportunities to save arthur. four calls made by worried relatives to the council, his school, social services and the police, a visit to his home finding no safeguarding concerns. questions too about the impact of covid restrictions. the appalling details of little arthur s life and death are too much for many to listen to, but we must listen, and learn. mark easton, bbc news. an independent review has des
am i qualified enough to be a foster carer? and it s, at the end of the day, it s about your personality, it s about your character, it s about your heart. foster carers, children s homes, local authorities, the police. society wrestling with helping the next generation s most in need take their first steps. chris mason, bbc news. joining me now is anna bacchoo, the director of practice at what works for children s social care an organisation which aims to improve the lives of children and families through research. into what is best for children s social care. what do you think the answer is? answer is? there isn t one single answer is? there isn t one single answer to answer is? there isn t one single answer to how answer is? there isn t one single answer to how we answer is? there isn t one single answer to how we can answer is? there isn t one single answer to how we can safely - answer is? there isn t one single i answer to how we can safely reduce the number of childre
into care. we need a much better understanding of what works to support children and young people facing these types of challenges. that is completely understandable, of course, to really be able to work out what the factors are in order to fix the system, but what about the immediacy of the problems? we were hearing in a report that in one situation a quote from a private providerfor a place in a care home for a child was £22,000 a week. and the person receiving that quote knows very well that they have a child that needs a bid that night. absolutely. there is lots of concerning local authorities and across the sector about the cost, quality and availability of care for children and that is something the independent review of children s social care has asked the competition and markets authority to look at specifically and we await the outcome of their report next year. in the meantime in terms of
medicine and psychology research and trials are used as standard and we would like to see the pic on the case in children s social care so we can have a much stronger sense of how we can improve children s lives. what are the missing pieces that need to be understood in terms of research? . need to be understood in terms of research? , ., ., research? there is not one single clear reason research? there is not one single clear reason why research? there is not one single clear reason why the research? there is not one single clear reason why the numbers - research? there is not one single clear reason why the numbers of| clear reason why the numbers of children entering care continues to rise. it is likely to be down to a range of complicated factors so we worked closely with local authorities and social workers tell us that the families they are working with are facing increasingly complex difficulties and that those difficulties well have been exacerbated by the covid 19 pandem
than doubled since 2010, rising to 201,000 investigations in a year. but the report said 135,000 that s 67% of investigations led to no child protection plan. 0ur social affairs correspondent alison holt reports. it s young people like jade who need us to get the children s care system right. she s lived many of the failings outlined in today s report. she was taken into care at two, but before she found foster parents who took her into their hearts, she moved 11 times in 16 years. and i started to get really settled down and get to know the family and the children that they had as well, and we were told we were moving again. and i was, like, really overwhelmed with it and i have autism, so obviously i don t like changes. the independent review found