Government amendment to Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill hailed by charities as victory for 13-year campaign to “right historic wrong” of children in care losing touch with their siblings.
Children in care will have stronger rights to see their brothers and sisters under a government amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill passed this week.
The move has been hailed by charities as victory for a 13-year campaign to right a “historic wrong” that has seen sibling relationships broken up due to the care system.
As a result of the amendment, approved by the House of Lords this week, councils will be required, under section 34 of the Children Act 1989, to allow children in their care reasonable contact with their siblings, half-siblings or step-siblings.
New duty on sibling contact
This puts sibling contact on the same footing as contact with parents, guardians or those previously authorised to care for the child, who are already covered by the section 34 duty.
The duty applies unless disapplied by a court order or if the council is satisfied that refusing contact is necessary to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare and the refusal is decided upon as a matter of urgency and is for no more than seven days.
As stands, councils are required to “endeavour to promote contact” between a looked-after child and their parents, anyone with parental responsibility or any relative, friend or connected person unless this is not reasonably practicable or consistent with the child’s welfare (paragraph 15, schedule 2, Children Act 1989).
However, charities including Family Rights Group (FRG) and Become have long argued that children in care have not been supported to maintain relationships with their siblings.
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill debate
In January, opposition peers passed an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill that would have required councils to ensure that care plans contained arrangements to promote contact between children and any sibling with whom they were not living, so far as this was consistent with their welfare.
The law currently provides for plans to include arrangements promote contact between siblings who were in care but placed apart, but not between children in care and their siblings who were not looked after.
This was opposed by the government, on the grounds that it would not strengthen the duty on councils to promote sibling contact, and overturned by the House of Commons in March.
However, on the bill’s return to the Lords this week, ministers put forward their own amendment on sibling contact, which was agreed without a vote.
Children’s minister Josh Macalister said: “It’s a travesty that children in care can end up losing contact with their brothers and sisters when they go into care, and we want that contact be maintained wherever possible for the sake of their emotional stability and their futures.
“Every child’s circumstances are different, but this amendment is aimed at making life better for more vulnerable children and giving them the best possible start in life.”
Government ‘righting a historic wrong’
FRG said the change in the law was the culmination of a 13-year campaign it had carried out in relation to the issue.
“Growing up alongside brothers or sisters is a fundamental part of childhood that so many of us take for granted,” said FRG chief executive Cathy Ashley.
“Yet, for too long, our care system has overseen a quiet injustice that the wider public rarely sees: breaking the links between siblings, often when they need one another the most. By tabling this amendment, the government is finally righting this historic wrong.”
Become also strongly welcomed the shift, with chief executive Anela Anwar saying: “Too often, children are separated from their brothers and sisters, with too little done to maintain those relationships. This change will strengthen duties on local authorities to keep siblings connected and better protect these vital bonds.”
‘My brother has provided a safety net lasting a lifetime’
Chris Hoyle, who spent time in the care system and served on the expert by experience board of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, highlighted the importance of his relationship with hits brother, Jonny, in a comment for the Department for Education’s press release on the law change.
“After being initially separated, being reunited with my brother in the same foster placement changed my life,” he said. “He keeps me grounded in my identity and provides a safety net that has lasted a lifetime.”
Source: Community Care, Mithran Samuel
