Children and Social Work Bill [HL]

Baroness Young of Hornsey Excerpts

Tuesday 14th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Young of Hornsey (CB)]

I direct noble Lords to the register of interests for my activities in this area but draw attention to my support for the Access to Care Records Campaign Group, an alliance comprising the Care Leavers’ Association, CoramBAAF, the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, Post Care Forum and Barnardo’s.

Like other noble Lords who have spoken this afternoon, I believe that any measures that will have a positive impact on the lives of the 69,000 looked-after children—and here I want to say that there is a really big, unarticulated question to address about why we still have such huge numbers and why we do not seem to have made very much impact on reducing these numbers—will be a step in the right direction. Of course we support that. There are a number of admirable intentions embodied in the Bill, but admirable intentions on their own are not enough. We will thoroughly analyse, debate and scrutinise the Bill during its passage, as we have already begun to do.

Along with the members of the Access to Care Records Campaign Group, I believe that it is crucial that the needs of adult care leavers over the age of 25 years are not overlooked when it comes to their family connections, their life in care and the decisions made about them. I realise this is a difficult area because once people reach the age of 25 years they are adults, not children. This group does not fit neatly into any particular category. However, although people are not defined by their status as care leavers, it is true that their lives are shaped by that experience. Not fitting into established categories is no reason for ignoring a particular group.

Too often, the dominant assumption is that, for people brought up in care, the need for services is confined to the time they are in care or for a few years afterwards. There is very little recognition that being in care has lifelong implications. The reality for many people who have spent all or part of their childhood in care is that the repercussions of their experience reverberate throughout their lifespan. They want to know about their family connections and why they grew up in care. This moment when the desire to know is overwhelming may not come until the person concerned is in their 30s, 40s, 50s or even older. There is an urgent need for the Government to ensure that the lifelong needs of adult care leavers are put on the same footing as those of adopted people, particularly in terms of access to information about their birth family and support and intermediary services. To achieve this effectively, we argue that specific legislation is required.

Whatever the age of the care leaver, at some point it is possible that they will want or need to see their care records. Requests from care leavers for access to information from social care records come under the Data Protection Act 1998. The DPA, however, is not an effective way to meet their information needs: it does not take into account the particular predicament of care leavers, who mainly want to obtain a family history and details of their parents and siblings. The requirements of the DPA are such that it can mean that care leavers may be given very little or disjointed information because of the restrictions on the data controller’s ability to provide personal information about a third party without consent. As a result, the adult care leaver may not receive a coherent narrative about the reasons why they came into care, their family circumstances at that time, and decisions and actions taken while they were in care. As one care leaver has described:

“I had been in care for 15 years and found out I could apply for my records, but all I got was 10 sheets of paper with lots of information blanked out—I wondered why I bothered to access the information as what I got did not make a lot of sense”.

Under adoption legislation, the adoption agency has greater and more flexible discretion to provide information about the adopted person’s birth family than is currently possible for older care leavers. Not everyone is aware of this disparity because there seems to be an unfounded assumption that what applies to those who have been adopted applies to care leavers. It does not. A survey of local authorities published in 2005 found that they had struggled with the release of information about third parties because of the fear of breaching the Act’s requirement to maintain confidentiality of personal information. The study also showed that practices and policies for accessing information under the DPA varied enormously from one local authority to another.

When we raised these issues two years ago, during the passage of the Children and Families Bill, the noble Lord, Lord Nash—who is not currently in his place—and his officials made significant progress towards embedding the rights and needs of older care leavers with regard to access to care records by issuing revised guidance, for which we are grateful. Sadly, however, the system has not moved far enough or fast enough. We therefore hope to continue this dialogue with the department.

We have explored this area in some detail through a series of round-table discussions held across England last year, organised by campaign members. Data controllers, social workers, adult care leavers, legal representatives et cetera gathered together to discuss what was then the new guidance. We encountered similar results to the research to which I referred earlier: in spite of good intentions, inconsistencies and deficiencies in service delivery and support persist.

Helping adult care leavers with unresolved issues about their pasts, and/or a lack of information about their families and personal histories, can be of substantial value for them as individuals and for their families. It can provide a fuller, more rounded sense of identity and a greater sense of security. The importance and benefit of establishing a statutory framework to secure the right of adult care leavers to receive a full account of their care and family history is evidenced over and over again when talking to these care leavers. A change in the law to establish that right would be consistent with the recognition in the current Bill that the state is the corporate parent for people who have grown up in care, regardless of when. That framework would recognise that parenting is a lifetime responsibility and secure rights on a par with adopted people for all care leavers.

Can the Minister confirm that the letter from him and the Minister for Children, Edward Timpson, dated today, which states that the corporate parenting principles apply to the local authority as a whole and not just to children’s services, really does mean that those responsible for administering the DPA will be more sensitive to the needs of care leavers when advising on what to redact in care records?

Clause 1 of the Bill introduces a set of corporate parenting principles for all local authorities, as so many noble Lords have noted. Like others who have referred to briefings from various organisations, I believe that those parental responsibilities should include a principle for aiding recovery, especially given the trauma and abuse so often endured by children when taken into care. Clause 2 outlines a duty for local authorities to provide information to care leavers about the services that they are entitled to access. This is to be welcomed, but surely there should be a similar offer of information for foster parents, especially with regard to support services for those who seek information on their care records?

Finally, according to ONS statistics quoted in a House of Commons Library note of October last year, mixed heritage groups and black or black British groups make up approximately 9% and 7% of the looked-after population respectively. This means that these minority ethnic groups are overrepresented in the care system. Again, we might ask why, but it is perhaps more pressing to ask what we are going to do about it. Although the absolute numbers may be relatively small, the impact on these children and young people in the care system may be exacerbated by issues relating to race, ethnicity, faith and culture. In addition, given that we know that young black men, in particular, experience disproportionately negative outcomes in the criminal justice system, and that children and young people in care are overrepresented in the criminal justice system and are prone to mental health problems, we have an established, damaging cycle of institutionalisation for these young people and their communities.

Will the Minister tell the House what the Government’s strategy is on the issue of black and mixed heritage children in care, and how his department might contribute to the review on racial bias in the criminal justice system which is being carried out by the MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, at the request of the Prime Minister? We know that many children and young people manage to thrive and go on to have very positive experiences during and after care, so we should not convey to them that they are somehow doomed to failure and that there is no way out. However, we all know and recognise that there is no doubt that too many are utterly crushed by their circumstances and experiences.

I look forward to the debates to come as I am sure that, with our combined efforts, we can make a significant contribution to improving the lives of children and young people in care and of care leavers of every age.