Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I, too, have put my name to the amendment. I continue to support it as I did in Grand Committee. I wish to draw the attention of noble Lords to one example of where there is already a duty to ascertain the child’s wishes and feelings. It must surely be on the record that that is when a review is taking place—although, in fact, that is not happening. I refer to the report from the Children’s Commissioner, to which I referred in an earlier amendment, about the way that the London Borough of Hillingdon deals with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. On page 7 of that report the commissioner pointed out: "““Interviews with independent reviewing officers and examination of the files showed that necessary documents were not always available at the child’s review when significant decisions were being made about the care of the child””." That included the child’s wishes and feelings. One of the Children’s Commissioner’s recommendations, as a result of his findings, is that, "““a full record of any discussion is placed on the child’s file. A summary decision letter is not adequate””." That means there should be a full record of the child’s views from the IRO’s interviews with the child. This should take place at the point where the child’s placement arrangements are being reviewed. That is an important staging post in the child’s history of care. These are the most vulnerable children. I do not have anything against the London Borough of Hillingdon. I very much accept that it is doing its very best, but it has an enormous burden, particularly with respect to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. That issue is not being properly funded by the Government, so the council has my greatest sympathy. I point this example out to noble Lords because it is one where the wishes and feelings of the most vulnerable children, at a very important stage of the care process, are not being recorded and taken into account at the review. If it is not happening at those times, it is clearly not happening at somewhat less important stages for less vulnerable children, when it should be happening. It is not just a question of best practice, it is the only acceptable practice, whereby social workers should take account of children’s wishes and feelings at every stage, and make sure that those wishes and feelings are recorded, so that they can be taken into account by other people who have some part in the decision making about the child’s placement.