Over the past few years the social care sector has seen an unprecedented focus on the cost of services provided to children in care. In NAFP’s view, this has resulted in too many children in care being placed in placements that fit with the priorities of the placing local authority, rather than the child’s own needs. The relationship between placement choice, outcomes and financial efficiencies has been recognised in a good deal of research3 over the past decade. Providing a wide choice of placements enables better placement matching, which consequently improves placement stability and ultimately delivers the best outcomes for a child.
Achieving the most appropriate placement for every child in care (April 2015)