Foster care is usually assumed to be the best place for children in care. This means that when decisions are made about where to place a child, foster care tends to be given priority by social workers over residential care, which is often viewed as a ‘last resort’.
Certainly, the residential care homes of the past were not the ideal places for children to grow up in, but things are getting better. These days children’s homes are usually small and have a family atmosphere. New models of care are being introduced in some places, often based on successful schemes in Germany and Denmark.
For some children, especially those with the most complex needs, these homes – with properly trained staff and good facilities - might be the best option. Children sometimes actively prefer to be in a home rather than a new ‘family’ as they consider feel they already have a family and just need somewhere safe to live. Other young people say they've had such a bad experience of families that they would prefer to live in a different setting that doesn't try to replicate the conventional family model.
Sadly, we do still hear troubling stories of things which go on in children’s homes, including bullying by other children and poorly trained staff. But holding the best up as examples and encouraging the introduction of the most up to date thinking is one way of reducing the burden on our straining-at-the-seams foster care system.
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