The Children, Young People and Education Committee in Wales held an Inquiry to scrutinise the Welsh Government’s progress in delivering its commitment to ‘explore radical reform of current services for children looked after and care leavers’. The final report (May 2023) and Government’s response (July 2023) have been published and the plenary debate has been held.
If not now, when?
The aim of the Inquiry was to set out top line priorities for policy areas where change is needed. This is to ultimately make the biggest difference to the lives of children and young people.
They considered priorities for radical reform in the following three stages of the care system:
- Before care: Safely reducing the number of children in the care system
- In care: Quality services and support children in care
- After care: On-going support when young people leave care
The Fostering Network responded to the Committee’s consultation in February 2023, outlining our top priorities for radical reform.
Read the Committee’s final report
Read the Government’s response
We were pleased to see that our recommendation to introduce a national register of foster carers in Wales and to review When I am Ready (the scheme that allows young people to remain living with their foster family until age 21) have been accepted by Government.
We have long been calling for this and as these plans develop, we will be working closely with Government and Social Care Wales to ensure the views of our members are heard.
The remainder of the Government’s response was disappointing and insufficiently ambitious – read our initial thoughts.
On 12 July 2023 we took members of our young person’s and foster carer’s advisory boards to the Senedd to hear the plenary debate about the changes.
We will continue to campaign for long-term, sustainable change for care experienced children, young people and families in Wales.
