SusanGaszczak

As a corporate parent, a role some people forget when they are elected to a social services authority, I feel I should know which are my looked after children in my division are. I should be able to ask when the social worker last had contact with the child. I should be given their school reports. I am their corporate parent, why should I treat them any differently to my own child.

I do not need to know where they are placed; all the data can be anonymous, but let me fight on their behalf!

The details about Baby P's death have shocked all of us but are they really the only council failing children?

Councils face the most stupid targets set by central government. They have a target of how many children are in care and how many children are on the ‘at risk' register.

The problem arises when say your target for looked after children is 173, you are already 3 over your target and a family of 6 children are referred, and probably need to be in care, what do you do? Put them in care and not reach your target? Look at the most likely children in care to be reunited with parents and rush the process of reuniting a family? Or do you as a council say stuff the targets lets take them into our care and keep them safe?!

I have come across several bizarre cases in my time of children who should be in care and others where referrals have been incorrectly carried out on children who are safe but the system has failed to even engage.

There still is no real joined up thinking, and the Contact Point database is not going to solve this.

The only place for targets in children's social care, in my opinion, is in how quickly referrals are carried out, how quickly support is given, how happy the child is and how much contact the authority has with a child.