CHILDREN'S SERVICES

What does it mean to be a corporate parent?

As part of iMPOWER's children's services essay collection, Emma Bennett explains why it's so important to invest in care leavers.

For too long, services responding to the needs of young people leaving care have not been a big enough focus for children's services, or wider councils as their corporate parent. This is starting to change, but I believe there is a need nationally to transform how we support these people.

In Wolverhampton, our role as a corporate parent doesn't end when a child reaches 18. It could be argued that when a child reaches young adulthood, or leaves the stability of a placement at 18, there is no greater time to have a ‘parent' to fall back on.

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