If a child’s birth parents can no longer care for them, the ‘corporate parent’ takes over. It’s a rather unpromising term – correctly suggesting a large number of players with a collective responsibility.
For example, when we carried out research about planning a child's return to their parents we interviewed all the types of people who might be involved. They include foster carers, social workers, parents, designated teachers, education welfare officers, family placement managers as well as many more senior staff. The phrase 'corporate parenting' means the formal and local partnerships needed between all local authority departments and services, and other organisations the council works with, who are responsible for working together to meet the needs of looked after children and young people, and care leavers. In theory, it's great that so many people are involved in the welfare of a child. But the important thing is to make sure that there are one or two people who feel a really deep sense of responsibility.
Sometimes this complex machine of rules and people performs flawlessly. At other times, a child may get a very small slice of time from a very large number of people and therefore 'fall between the cracks' of the system. The outcome can be abrupt changes in their care - a return home at very short notice because a placement has fallen through, yo-yo moves in and out of care, loss of contact with siblings - and most frequently, a lack of support once a child has returned to his or her parents.
Children who do well in the care system often point to a particular person - a foster carer, social or youth worker who kept a parental eye on them over a long period. But finding a person to bond with can be a matter of luck.
New legislation gives Independent Reviewing Officers greater power to monitor local authority decisions and make sure that children get heard in the planning of their care. This is good news. But ultimately to grow into a healthy adult, a child needs to form bonds not with the mechanised 'corporate parent' but with a small number of trusted adults. This could be a foster carer in a long term placement. With time and appropriate help, it could be their own parents.
As they are conveyed from file to file within the corporate parent, children also need the love and care of flesh-and-blood individuals.