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Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Howe, and the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Bolton, for tabling these amendments. Could the Minister say how successful the Government have been in their proposals that a social worker should visit privately fostered families to check on them every six weeks for the first year? Is he aware that in the consultation by the Children’s Rights Director, Dr Roger Morgan, based at the Commission for Social Care Inspection, children said that social services should definitely check to make sure that privately fostered children are safe, and that one of the best ways in which to do that was to have a social worker to visit? The majority of children said that they should visit once every month rather than every six weeks. Perhaps the Minister could write to me to let me know how successful and consistent these visits are, as far as he can find out. When will he report on the adequacy of current arrangements? This is in line with the questions the noble Earl, Lord Howe, asked. I look forward to the Minister’s response, but I suppose he will also recognise the relevance of concerns about social worker recruitment, particularly the fact that there is currently a 20 per cent vacancy rate in London. Our concerns about monitoring these placements must be reinforced, given the concerns about the workforce availability to keep an eye on these children in these vulnerable situations.