Abstract
Over the past fifty years, public care for children in England has undergone a significant transformation moving almost exclusively towards foster care as the preferred mode of delivery. The most recent data from the Department for Education for the year ending 31 March 2018, reported that 73% of all Looked After Children (LAC) were placed in foster care with just 8% in residential placements. Compared to an almost even split of 45% of children in Foster Care (or ‘boarded out’) and 42% of children in residential care in 1966, the scale of this shift becomes apparent. This transformation has taken place in the context of a social policy discourse promoted by successive governments, which has privileged foster care as the most suitable place for children needing out-of-home public care. The main argument in this article is that the rationale for the state’s growing interest in children (in particular those children who are considered a social problem) and the emerging social policy solutions, i.e., foster care, are driven by particular political and economic agendas which have historically paid little attention to the needs of these children and young people. This article explores the relationship between the state, the child and their family and the drivers for this transformation in children’s public care making use of a genealogical approach to identify the key social, political and historical factors, which have provided the context for this change. It examines the increasing interest of the state in the lives of children and families and the associated motivation for the emerging objectification of children. The role of the state in locating the family as the ideal place for children’s socialisation and moral guidance will be explored, with a focus on the political and economic motivations for privileging foster care. Consideration will also be paid to the potential implications of this transformation for children and young people who require public care.
Highlights
Over the past fifty years, public care for children in England has undergone a significant transformation moving almost exclusively towards foster care as the preferred mode of delivery
73% of all Looked After Children (LAC) were placed in foster care with just 8% in residential placements (DfE 2018)
‘boarded out’) and 42% of children in residential care in 1966 (Bebbington and Miles 1990), the scale of this shift becomes apparent. This transformation has been driven by a social policy discourse promoted by successive governments, which has privileged foster care as the most suitable place for children needing out-ofhome public care
Summary
Over the past fifty years, public care for children in England has undergone a significant transformation moving almost exclusively towards foster care as the preferred mode of delivery. (Utting 1991, 1997; Waterhouse 2000) which had a serious and long-term impact on the reputation of residential care in England and Wales This foster care privilege discourse is present in the Care Matters green paper, which states that ‘a residential setting will best meet the needs of some children but for the majority of children in care a placement in a family environment will be most suitable’ The privilege afforded to foster care can be witnessed in the ‘staying put’ initiative introduced as part of the provisions of the Children and Families Act 2014 by the Coalition government (2010–2015), which places a legal duty on Local Authorities to provide financial support for every young person in England who wants to stay with their foster carers until they are 21. It will consider the implications of privileging foster care in terms of meeting the care needs of these children and young people
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
