Who cares? The real problem with social services

After a tumultuous childhood and breakdown in family relationships, I ended up in the hands of social services. I remember my social worker dropping me off at the door of my emergency accommodation with a bag of clothes and little else. On my first day, while filling out my induction paperwork in the office, a staff member asked me: ‘What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?’. I was far too ‘nice’, he said, to be trapped in their prison-like environment. His comment perfectly summarises a common attitude within the social care system to the young people it was set up to help.

This week, the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care released its final report, outlining the need for an urgent overhaul of the care system in England. Having spent the ‘better’ part of four years under social services, I am wearily familiar with the system’s pitfalls. I have seen the impact of social services’ mismanagement on children’s wellbeing and future prospects.