A man who grew up in care says there is "a long way to go" after it was revealed Nottingham City Council's children's services received an inadequate rating from Ofsted. Children in care in the city continue to be let down by serious failures, according to a report, with some children who are at risk of harm slipping through the net.
Ofsted's most serious 'inadequate' rating follows an inspection that took place between July 4 and July 22. It is lower than that of the previous inspection of the council's children's services in 2019.
The report, which highlights a number of systemic and acute failures, prompted an apology from councillor Cheryl Barnard, the portfolio holder for children, young people and schools who also represents Bulwell Forest. And the Labour-run council must now have a host of monitoring visits, followed by a full re-inspection, over the next 18 months.
Councillor Barnard said: “I am sorry that some children are not getting the right help at the right time and I accept that our overall performance is not where it should be. Please be assured that everyone in our Children’s Services team is committed to providing the best possible care in our city – and will do whatever it takes to improve. Our children and young people deserve nothing less."
'We have a long way to go'
Some of the key areas highlighted by Ofsted included the authority needing a quicker response when children are first identified as being at-risk, while there needs to be greater support for people aged over 21 who leave care, more help for young people aged 16 and 17 who are homeless as well as better monitoring of children who are absent from school.
There were positives, however, with Ofsted noting that children are well-supported once they are allocated a social worker, while the emotional and mental health needs of children are being met. As such, Terry Galloway, who grew up in care and now campaigns for change for care leavers, believes that while much needs to be done, there remains hope.
He said: "The report talks about the need to give young people in care voice, to develop leaving care services and the local offer for care leavers, and to better help 16-17 year olds that are presenting as homeless. If these were your children, you would be devastated that they are circling inside a broken system vulnerable to predators, gangs and domestic violence. But this is very much the case in a lot of parts of the country.
"However here in Nottingham we have an opportunity to really improve things if we work together, there is an experienced leadership team that are committed to change and we have already begun to talk about change. I have not met anyone in the city council that does not care about our children. The politicians are listening. We have a long way to go, but I’m confident we can do this quite quickly."
'It breaks my heart that children are being let down'
Growing up in care in Manchester, Mr Galloway lived in more than 100 places before he was 16, and during this time he was separated from his siblings. Years later he was reunited with his family but his sister, Hazel, was murdered by her boyfriend Andrew Grundy in Devon in 2008.
This "lonely and isolated" period of his life was only compounded by the death of his sister, who was just 33, because she too had been let down by the care systems which were supposed to have been there to protect her. Today, Mr Galloway, now based in St Ann's in Nottingham, is using his experiences to drive change in children's services across the country.
Mr Galloway has so far established a housing association for young people leaving care, as well as spearheading a jobs scheme in Nottinghamshire to help those who are struggling to gain stable footing in employment get a job. His latest pursuit could now perhaps entirely change the systems which, even to this day and despite damning findings from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, continue to fail children and young people.
This pursuit aims to make being a care leaver a protected characteristic. Providing an example as to what exactly this would mean, Mr Galloway says: "The reason why a protected characteristic is so important is because children in care are stigmatised and face indirect discrimination.
"Not letting out a flat to someone because they are a care leaver is called direct discrimination and is stigmatising, but the main issues care leavers face is the indirect discrimination in policies and decisions.
"Colleges and universities offer term-time halls of residence, but what do care leavers do at Christmas? They have no home to return to. This would make sure colleges and universities are required by law to make sure these needs are met.
"There are nine protected characteristics, being a care leaver would be the tenth."
Mr Galloway has so far worked with Haringey Council which became the first local authority to back a motion to make care leaver a protected characteristic, calling upon the Government to put it into law. And he has since worked with Emma Williamson, the deputy leader of Cumberland Council who is care experienced, and the local authority has now passed a motion to voluntarily adopt it, as to enact change sooner.
Mr Galloway is working with Nottingham City Council to do the same. He added: "It breaks my heart that children are being let down in Nottingham but I can take comfort that things will get better and quite quickly if we get protected characteristics and an extension of corporate parenting to all public bodies."
Mr Galloway continues to work with the chair of the Care Review, Josh MacAlister, in the hope the protected characteristic will soon become written in law.
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