Sir Martin Narey published his review of children's residential care on the same day as the Department for Education unveiled its vision for children's social care. Here is NCB's response to both:
Anna Feuchtwang, Chief Executive of the National Children's Bureau said:
"Sir Martin Narey's wide-ranging and refreshingly positive review of residential care should ensure that once and for all children's homes are given the status they deserve and never used as a last resort for children who have experienced numerous foster placements.
"Residential care is the best option for many children and if the government takes forward the review's recommendations it can even be even further improved. It is particularly vital that the proposals for 'Staying Close' are quickly followed through and that crime reporting procedures for children's homes are made the same as in schools so that children are no longer needlessly criminalised.
"The Department for Education now needs to give the same scrutiny it has applied to residential care and adoption, to fostering, which is long overdue. We remain concerned that the review did not report on the needs of disabled children who live away from home, who are amongst the most vulnerable children in residential care, and urge the government to conduct an independent assessment of current provision."
Commenting on DfE's vision for social care
"The Government has rightly recognised the importance of high quality relationships between children and the professionals that act in their interest, rather than simply ensuring the best process and procedures are in place for keeping children safe.
"It has set out a positive ambition for improving practice through new ways of working, professional development and more effective sharing of what works.
"However there is a risk that by focusing only on child and family social work the important role that all practitioners play in keeping children safe and well is lost.
"The next prime minister needs to ensure a more holistic approach is put in place that looks across social care, health and education to put children first throughout these sectors so that there is a shared vision for delivering the best outcomes for all children, which protects their rights and promotes their well-being."