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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

I added my name to the amendment in the hope that the Minister will grasp this opportunity to get rid of one of the anomalies regarding disabled children and looked-after status, because it seems a bit daft that a child who is away from home for the whole year does not have looked-after status while sometimes a child on a short break does. These are the most vulnerable children and giving them that status might bring with it rights, such as they are, to advocacy, and would perhaps strengthen the right to have a communication aid, if necessary, because then a duty would be imposed on the local authority to gain the child’s views and feelings. In many cases they cannot do that unless they have a communication aid. For all those reasons, and the many reasons eloquently outlined by the noble Lord, Lord Rix, I support the amendment.