THE long and dangerous journey is over. The star has settled over the house and the Magi enter in. These venerable, highly educated men kneel and do homage. They lay down their costly gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. But to whom? To a tiny little child.
Yes, they do so primarily because that child is unique as God’s ultimate revelation of himself. But St Matthew, in his Gospel, has form for placing a tiny child at the very centre of things. It is in Matthew that Jesus tells the adults to change and become like the child whom he is holding up. He sternly rebukes those who would prevent his blessing a child. He tells the parable of the lost sheep to emphasise the call on the Christian to care for the little ones, that they be not lost.
All of which points to an important conclusion. A healthy society places the vulnerable child at the centre.
IF ONLY we listened. A few months ago, I was struck to hear news of a burgeoning industry in Lancashire. In Blackpool, in just five years, the number of care homes for children has risen from seven to 26. In Burnley, that figure has gone from four to 13. This is not because there is a disproportionate increase in demand for children’s care places in Lancashire. It is because these are towns where housing is cheap and where labour costs are low.
Almost unseen, the children’s care sector has been taken over by private suppliers. Now, of course, there is nothing wrong with profit in and of itself, and I have no doubt that many individual staff members are skilled and dedicated. But I, for one, feel deeply uncomfortable about the rapacious way many of these companies are operating.
Their profits are eye watering, averaging at around £45,000 per child. According to The Guardian, the sector made £300 million in 2022: an operating margin of 22.6 per cent. The Competition and Markets Authority has described the sector as “dysfunctional” and profits as “excessive”. When I met with chief executives of some of Lancashire’s councils last month, their biggest problem was budgetary pressures caused by a massively inflated care bill.
And the impact on the young person is often devastating, as I have learnt from the charity Become, which gives a voice to these often invisible children. Instead of being placed into the setting that is best for their well-being, children can be sent wherever their placement generates the highest margins. This means that disempowered children are moved around the country, far from their schools and the people they love, often into very alien cultures, to maximise profit.
So, instead of putting the vulnerable child in the place of honour, in the UK that child has been monetised. It is hard to imagine a greater trauma than the collapse of one’s home life and being taken into care. Yet that misery is being exploited. Desperate children have become a tradable commodity.
Sadly, this is just one symptom of a care system that is close to breakdown. In 2022, the MacAlister Report described a system that is crisis-driven and reactive, riven by spiralling costs and a shrinking workforce (News, 27 May 2022). As a result, it is unresponsive to children’s needs and removes them from the loving networks that they need to thrive.
Josh MacAlister called for a “radical reset” of the whole system, especially early intervention, to reduce the number of children forced into care. He called for investment of £2.6 billion: a vast sum, but one that would soon be saved by reducing the care bill. The Government’s response was to offer £200 million. According to the Children’s Society, this decision could cost an extra £1 billion, and result in more than 10,000 children being unnecessarily placed into care by 2027-28.
MR MacAlister’s “radical reset” is critical, and it is to be hoped that the Government will reconsider its inadequate response to an important report. But in any situation where one feels angry or powerless, it is good to ask, “What can we do?”
I have been profoundly inspired in recent years by a number of new congregations that have been planted on social-housing estates in Lancashire; for example, Sundays at 4, as it is called, in Blackpool, and Fun Church, in Burnley.
These churches create a safe, supportive, and loving environment, and are changing the lives of some of the most challenged families in the country. By placing the vulnerable child at the centre, they are, in effect, providing the early interventions that Mr MacAlister is calling for. And, of course, they are doing more than that, for they offer also relationship with that Child whose birth sets us free.
Perhaps this time of crisis in the care system is a moment when Churches are being called to model something different. If we can change and place the vulnerable child right at the centre of our own communal lives, we may both honour Christ and demonstrate what a healthy community looks like.
The Rt Revd Philip North is the Bishop of Blackburn.
becomecharity.org.uk
Listen to an interview with Bishop North on the Church Times Podcast.