Supporting a review of the care system
Our engagement with the Independent Review of Children's Social Care
At Become, we have always viewed the Review as an opportunity for radical reform.
That’s why we called for the review since before its inclusion in the 2019 Conservative manifesto, campaigning and collaborating across the sector to encourage recommendations that are bold, ambitious, and bravely tackle the root issues of England’s failing care system.
Read our press release responding to the final report of the Review.
Find out more about how Become has been involved, projects Become coordinated, FAQS, timeline and more…
How has Become been involved with the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care so far?
We have worked hard to ensure the experiences and expertise of young people were heard by the Review team by:
- Responding to the Review’s publications and championing the voices of care-experienced young people
- Delivering our own engagement events with young people at the heart
- Supporting young people with lived experience to influence and shape the debate on particular issues, including rights and entitlements, stigma and prejudice and leaving care support
- Coordinating bigger projects, like the #APPGCare Spotlight Inquiry and our Sky’s the Limit project, which have fed into the Review itself.
We successfully lobbied for care leavers to be included in the scope of the review and have pushed for ambitious reform to #EndTheCareCliff – where support and relationships disappear overnight as a young person turns 18, 21, and 25.
What projects did Become coordinate?
Alongside our responses and engagement with the Care Review, we coordinated two bigger pieces of work to feed into the Review itself. These were:
The Spotlight Inquiry
As Secretariat to the APPG for Looked After Children and Care Leavers, we coordinated the Spotlight Inquiry, hearing from hundreds of people with different personal and professional experiences with care about how to strengthen community links for care-experienced young people and boost wider society’s understanding of and respect for the care-experienced members within our communities.
How did this feed into the Review?
In total, we made 15 practical recommendations and posed five wider challenges that called on the upcoming Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, and subsequent reform, to address.
Sky’s The Limit
During National Care Leavers’ Week 2021, we launched a new group project with care-experienced young people to redesign ‘leaving care’ and offer a fresh and aspirational vision for how the care system should be supporting care-experienced young adults.
We decided to think BIG and ask: What if the whole concept of ‘leaving care’ didn’t even exist? What would be there instead?
How did this feed into the Review?
The Sky’s The Limit team produced a design brief, which covered the key things they wanted the Review to consider when designing the detail of what reforms to the care system might look like. This was shared with the Review Team in December 2021.
More Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. We are an independent charity and are not funded by the government. Our positions and messages are always 100% Become.
Timeline of our responses and engagement
A timeline of what we have done to influence the Review so far:
2019
After Become and others campaigned for a comprehensive review of the care system, the government committed to a review of care in its 2019 manifesto.
2020
In February, we coordinated a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Education which outlined what the aims, scope and principles of a meaningful Review should be – one which is genuinely independent, evidence-based, and puts care-experienced people at the heart.
2021
In January, the government launched its Review of children’s social care. We welcomed the Review’s focus on the experiences of children but warned against a scope that narrowed the emphasis on ‘care’ and overlooked young people leaving care, lobbying successfully for the Review to include this group.
In February, our Interim CEO, Victoria Langer, met with Review chair Josh MacAlister and emphasised that the Review:
“Really must hear and respond to those with care experience, and reflect what it hears in the DNA of what it reports to Government.”
In March, we responded to the Review’s ‘Call for Evidence’, highlighting messages from our previous Review work and key evidence gaps.
In June, after consulting with care-experienced young people via our new Care Review Policy Group, we published our full response to ‘The Case for Change’.
In August, we held a rights and entitlements engagement session with the Review team and our Care Review Policy Group.
During National Care Leaver’s Week in October, we co-hosted a panel with the Review Team. Josh MacAlister, chair of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care was joined by an expert panel to consider the question: Does the stigma of care prevent care experienced people from having a fair chance to flourish?
In December, we published our Submission to Independent Review of Children’s Social Care ‘Call for Ideas’ outlining our ideas on how the care system needs to change for the better.
Responses to the Care Review
Submission to Independent Review of Children’s Social Care ‘Call for Ideas’ (2021)
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Rights and entitlements engagement session with Independent Review of Children’s Social Care (2021)
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Response to Independent Review of Children’s Social Care: The Case for Change (2021)
Become's response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care's The Case for Change report.
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Submission to Independent Review of Children’s Social Care: call for evidence (2021)
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