The ‘Privatisation’ of Child Protection

On 17^th April 2014 the Government produced a consultation paper on outsourcing certain aspects of the child protection functions, most of which are currently carried out by Local Authorities. This is a five page document available at httpss://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/delegating-childrens-social-care-functions . Responses to the consultation are to be submitted by 30^th May 2014.

The worry of those involved in this area of work is that child protection is too important to be outsourced to private companies whose ultimate aim is to achieve profit for shareholders. The type of enterprises it is envisaged would bid for such contracts are those who are currently managing private prisons, security services, tagging offenders, back to work programmes  etc. There has been much negative press about bungling of these contracts; a notable example being the failure of one firm to fulfil its obligations to provide adequate security for the Olympic Games.

On 16^th May a group of 37 prominent academics voiced their concerns about the proposal in a letter to the Guardian newspaper. For the full article see:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/16/privatise-child-protection-services-department-for-education-proposes

For lawyers and social workers the prospect of certain elements of  child protection work being taken over by private companies is certainly a huge concern and raises many questions.

The removal of a child from its parent is the most drastic power the state possesses in a democracy such as ours. Anything that erodes the checks and balances currently in place has to be scrutinised extremely carefully to ensure that such decisions are taken for the right reasons. It is highly questionable whether companies who are ultimately accountable to shareholders are likely to be best placed to make these decisions.