Here you can browse the report together with the Proceedings of the Committee. The published report was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 9 March 2009.
Terms of Reference
Conclusions and recommendations
Summary
1 Introduction
2 The care system in England
Historical development of the care system
Current issues and Care Matters
3 Building a care system founded on good relationships
Relationships between children's services and families
Relationships between social workers and looked-after children
Recruitment and retention
Characteristics of and barriers to good relationships
Possible solutions: remodelling and restructuring
Social work practices
Relationships between the child and their carer
Preventing placement breakdowns
Family and friends / kinship care
Delegating decisions to foster carers
4 Ensuring a sufficient supply of good quality placements
The importance of placement supply
Foster care
Residential care
The residential care workforce
Local authority commissioning
5 Consistency and compliance in local authority practice
Size of the care population, and decisions about entry to care
Family support services
Local authorities' accountability to children in care
Children in Care Councils and Pledges
Independent Reviewing Officers and advocacy
6 Extending the scope and rigour of corporate parenting
Health and wellbeing of children in care
Health bodies as strategic partners in corporate parenting
Variation in health services for looked-after children
Specifying services and structures
Mental health services for looked-after children
A holistic understanding of wellbeing
Leaving care
Age of leaving care
Leaving care preparation and services
Accommodation for care-leavers
Preventing involvement in the criminal justice system
Looked-after children in custody
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
7 The performance framework for the care system
Ensuring that the most important things are measured
The annual 'stocktake'
Annex: Record of informal meetings with foster carers and young people
Formal Minutes
Witnesses
List of written evidence
List of unprinted evidence
List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament Oral and Written Evidence 19 March 2008 26 March 2008 21 April 2008 28 April 2008 12 May 2008 2 June 2008 23 June 2008 30 June 2008 27 October 2008 29 October 2008 17 December 2008 Written Evidence