News

The Times published a ruling on its inaccurate coverage of a young girl’s fostering arrangement with Muslim foster carers in Tower Hamlets, after the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) upheld a complaint from Tower Hamlets Council about the article from August 2017.

IPSO found that the Times article incorrectly implied that a judge made a decision to remove the girl from the carers’ home because the placement was failing. However, in fact, the local authority had applied to the court for the child to be moved so she could live with her grandmother.

On Saturday there was a detailed article in The Times about kinship carers (behind a paywall) - relatives who care for children that are not their own, usually because their parents aren’t able to care for them. The article highlighted the incredible role that kinship carers play in the lives of tens of thousands of children and young people, as well as some of the major issues facing this group of carers, especially regarding woeful under-resourcing.

Today’s report by the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme highlights the increase in the number of sibling groups being separated in care. The last year has seen a significant rise of almost 50 per cent in the number of brothers and sisters in England (where figures are available) who are not living together even though their plan says they should be. That's almost 2,000 children in England alone who are not experiencing the shared childhood with their siblings that they ought to be.

Responding to the news of a significant rise in the number of fostering-related data breaches in London, Jackie Sanders, communications and public affairs director at The Fostering Network, said: 'It is extremely disappointing to hear about this increase in data breaches. Living with a foster family ought to provide safety and stability to children who so desperately need it. Anything that puts that stability at risk must be challenged.