A major investigation claims to have discovered a number of commercial fostering agencies made more than £40 million in profits over a year, often with the support of the UK’s ‘ghost’ family courts and shadowy social workers.
Coun Anntoinette Bramble, chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said: “A recent government review highlighted this.
“The profits were too often made at the expense of local councils, who can be charged twice the usual cost of an in-house placement due to a lack of available options elsewhere.”
The UK’s £1.7billion foster industry has seen a growth of firms backed by huge private equity funds cashing in on the grief of parents whose children are taken away by social services.
Last year – at the height of Coronavirus – the investigation by a leading newspaper claims thousands of parents across the country are being dragged into the secretive courts each year.
This is where social services get the chance to remove children in what are described as record numbers.
Last month The Sun revealed that latest figures show children taken into care jumped by 34 per cent to more than 10,000 in a single year for the first time.
This rise in child care removals by councils – which last year apparently overspent by £800million on child social care – means they are increasingly forced to pay harsh fees to place children.
Charities and parents have branded private equity funds as “disgusting”.
And Andy Elvin, CEO of charity TACT which provides lower-cost foster care for 760 children in the UK, is quoted as saying: “It’s obscene. These companies are set up for one reason only and that’s to make profit.”
On the website for one privately owned foster firm potential carers are told they could receive £18,980-a-year for a 14-year-old boy but £36,216 if he was “exhibiting problematic sexual behaviour”.
#fostercare #privateequity #councils #social workers #familycourts #parentschildren #leave our kids alone
SC Bryson
A thought-provoking read. My mind wants to come up with solutions. I was an educator, in public schools, for over a decade. This is surreal that someone concocted this diabolical plot.
This is much more than catastrophic!! Innocent flesh is being peddled, maybe, non-sexually, but the children’s formative years are being disrupted and family units are being destroyed.
There should be a less vile way of making money.
JP Brady
How the hell are these facts not been seen by the general public, I’m disgusted and heartbroken to read this about foster children,how are they going to trust good people who foster for the right reasons?it’s an abomination, I’m still reeling 😡😡
Corruption in the Family courts must be highlighted…. That feeds this profit for child system..