Crisis-driven services

Families often have to wait until a crisis erupts before the services will respond. Children and Families teams are not resourced to provide intensive services nor are they organised to provide support to parents over the longer term. The principle of permanency planning has also tilted the balance against long-term preventative family support. And the new Adoption and Children Bill, which aims to free up the adoption process and increase the rate of adoptions, further stacks the odds against families who are always likely to need some sort of support in order to succeed. Leaving families to sink into crisis before doing anything to help them makes it more likely that they will lose their children.