Care child parents 'frustrated'

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Most parents with children in care think they are looked after well by the council but feel left out of their offspring's lives, a report suggests.

Some 74% of respondents to the report by Children's Rights Director for England Dr Roger Morgan were positive about the care received by their child.

But 65% said the council should say more about how their child was doing.

Some 184 parents gave their views about the care of 190 different children looked after by 58 councils in England.

Dr Morgan said the report "highlights the sense of despair, guilt, anger and failure that many parents feel".

"Parents on Council Care" is the first report by the Office of the Children's Rights Director to solely examine the views of parents as opposed to children.

Some of the parents described having a child in care as being "a living nightmare, hell on earth" and "a never-ending battle".

Meanwhile, the report also showed that 44% of respondents did not have a say in their child's care plan and 38% did not agree with it.

The research suggested that the biggest concern for parents revolved around constant changes to plans.

And a quarter said that they simply wanted to know how their child was doing generally - from their health to progress at school.

'Useful insights'

The issue of support from local authorities was also explored.

Some 76% said that they were getting no or not enough council support including help towards the child being returned to them.

And, where support was given, it was sometimes the wrong kind, or came too late once a crisis had arrived.

Dr Morgan said: "Although we know what professionals think about care, there's been very little about what parents think about it.

"Given that the majority feel very strongly about having their child taken away from them, this report provided useful insights into understanding what parents go through."

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) has the responsibility for the inspection of children's social care.

And the Children's Rights Director for England, who is based in Ofsted, has a personal statutory duty to ascertain the views of children living away from home or receiving social care services and, where appropriate, of parents.