Your editorial, quoting Sir James Munby’s denunciations of the lack of proper provision of care services for young people, was interesting (The Guardian view on care failures: vulnerable children need homes, not court orders, 13 June). But failures in specialist care provision don’t just affect those young people subjected to deprivation of liberty orders and sent to poorly regulated private residential care, isolated from families and friends.
Children’s services are largely unregulated, confidentiality is highly regarded, and scrutiny avoided. A recent report by Health Equity North, published on behalf of the child of the north all-party parliamentary group, highlighted regional variations in the number of children taken into care in England. One in every 88 children in the north-east – where I live – is in care, compared with one in 140 across England, and children in care homes generally require high levels of support from public agencies.
