Children’s
social care
I want all children in care to be supported to reach their aspirations in the same way as any other children – a loving, stable home, a brilliant education, and grown-ups who love them into adulthood.
In The Big Ask, children in care and those receiving support from children’s social care told me they share the same hopes and dreams as their peers. Some told me how grateful they were for the care they received from foster carers, social workers, adoptive parents and other professionals. But many also told me about some of the bureaucratic processes they found frustrating or alienating.
Among children in care aged 9 to 17, the majority (63%) said they are happy with their life.
They took me into their family home and were like ‘we’re going to treat you as a normal kid, so you don’t need to kick off’. It’s a normal family home, I don’t see it as my foster home. I see it as my home, my parents.
Girl, age not given,
The Big Ask.
Latest Reports
The Children’s Plan: The Children’s Commissioner’s School Census
8 September 2025
Read The Children’s Plan: The Children’s Commissioner’s School Census in full. Read the Summary version. For the first time as Children’s Commissioner, I have used my statutory powers to ask all schools, and colleges, a set of questions. A census in response to what children told me they wanted and needed to attend, engage, attain, […]
Report
Growing up in a low-income family: Children’s experiences
8 July 2025
This report should not have to exist. Shining a light on children’s experiences of poverty in 2025, in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, should not be necessary. And yet, the findings in this work highlight real hardship; an almost-Dickensian level of poverty facing some children in England today. After four years as […]
Report
Business Plan, 2025-26
3 April 2025
The year ahead – 2025-26 – will be my penultimate year as Children’s Commissioner for England. It will also mark 20 years since the establishment of this office – a milestone that offers an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made and a reminder about the many urgent challenges that remain. More than […]
Report
My Plan for the year, 2025-26
I’ve designed a version of my Business Plan aimed specifically for children and young people, sharing the projects and themes that my office will be working on. As Children’s Commissioner for England, it is my job to listen to you and take your voices to decision makers. In my survey, The Big Ambition, only one […]
Report
The impact of housing instability on children’s GCSE grades
28 March 2025
Every child should have a loving, secure home, but when it comes to housing, children get a raw deal. Thousands of children are living in temporary accommodation, including many in emergency ‘B&B’ style accommodation for longer than the statutory six-week limit1 – and they are paying the price of this disruption and instability in their […]
Report
Illegal Children’s Homes
16 December 2024
Every night across England hundreds of children are going to sleep in illegal homes where they are often isolated and left without appropriate care. Most of these are run by private organisations which have the least amount of oversight and scrutiny, leaving children at an increased risk of harm. There is no process for checking […]
Report
Deaths of children in need
12 December 2024
This report contains new findings on the deaths of children in need. ‘Child in need’ is an umbrella term including looked after children, children on a child protection plan, and children on a child in need plan. This report examines the characteristics of children and young people who die having had social care involvement, and […]
Report
Hierarchy of needs for care experienced young people
10 December 2024
The Children’s Commissioner’s Care Experienced Advisory Board have created a hierarchy of needs based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It is a visual guide to help professionals working with care experienced young people understand their needs and support them. The different levels of the pyramid consider the basic requirements that care experienced young people need […]
Report
Children with complex needs who are deprived of liberty: Interviews with children to understand their experiences of being deprived of their liberty
18 November 2024
Thousands of children in the United Kingdom are currently deprived of their liberty. They are confined in young offender institutions, mental health wards, or secure children’s homes, but a growing proportion are being deprived of their liberty outside a secure setting, through the use of High Court deprivation of liberty orders. These orders, which are […]
Report
My work so far…
Social care reform
I’ve shared my vision paper for the children’s social care system. This shares how to better support families to stay together safely, a strong focus on improving stability for those children who are taken in care, more high-quality foster care and children’s homes, and no child growing up in an institution.
I have laid out a policy plan of action for reforming children’s homes which highlights the seven core expectations that we as professionals and leaders should meet for every child in a children’s homes.
Help at Hand
My advice and assistance service for children who are in or leaving care – conducted a review from the views of almost 70 children and families who use it. It has led to a significant rise in cases since September.
IMO
Is a site dedicated to providing a meeting point for children in the care system or leaving care, and continues to provide career advice, training opportunities and competitions, as well as an award-winning podcast series set up at the end of 2021.
Care leavers
In Care Leavers Week (October 2022) I set out my vision for care leavers to ensure they have access to loving relationships, a stable home and safe community, high quality education, and are supported to take care of their mental and physical health.
I published a practical guide on support available for care leavers, a call to action for business and organisations to pledge support to care leavers and a summary of the care leavers my Help at Hand team has supported.
Kinship care
I published a resource in Kinship Care Week (October 2022) developed with Kinship Carers Liverpool to help raise awareness about kinship care.
I also published a blog post highlighting some of the reflections we heard from kinship carers at a support group that my team attended for the Family Review.
In November I presented to the Kinship Care All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) about the findings from the Family Review on the important role that kinship care can play in children’s lives.
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
As Children’s Commissioner, I have a statutory duty to promote and protect the rights of all children, with particular responsibility for children living away from home, which extends to those arriving in the UK seeking asylum.
I have previously expressed my concerns about the Government’s Illegal Migration Bill, and have written to the Home Secretary on several occasions – including most recently to request data under my statutory powers from the Home Office about all children aged 17 of younger seeking asylum in the UK who have been housed in hotels at least for one night.
I have also published two briefings for MPs, setting out my priorities for amendments.
Speeches and advisory boards
I spoke at a roundtable on the findings from phase 1 of the review released by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel into abuse and neglect to children living in three private residential settings located in Doncaster, published in October 2022.
I am a panellist at a roundtable organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for children focused on the implementation of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and specifically on the theme of strengthening families and re-balancing the system towards early intervention.
I gave a speech to the National Children and Adult Services Conferences about the findings from my Family Review and the protective nature of family on 2 November 2022, and at the County Council Network conference later that same month.
I have written on multiple occasions to the Home Secretary regarding accommodation and support for migrant children, seeking assurances about their welfare in Marston Migrant Centre, Kent and in hotels run by the Home Office all over the country.
I sit on the John Lewis Partnership’s advisory group to support care experienced people and the challenges they face in their communities.
I am setting up two new advisory boards: Care experienced and Children’s advisory boards to involve children even more closely in our work, ensuring it reflects their views.
