My Lords, I am afraid that my Amendment 24 in this group would add further corporate parenting principles to Clause 1. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Hodgson of Abinger, I want to add the principle that siblings should be kept together as far as possible. If they cannot be fostered or even adopted together, at least they should be located as close as possible to each other and arrangements made for them to have contact if they want it. That last point, made by the noble Baroness, Lady Hodgson, is absolutely right: we have to take account of what the child wants in relation to his or her siblings.
Many children who suffer the trauma of the break-up of their family and being taken into care rely very much for their emotional well-being on the support of their siblings. I know that most local authorities do their very best to ensure that they can be together as much as possible, but it is not easy to find foster parents who will take more than one child, or a group of two or three. If we are laying down corporate parenting principles, it is vital that sibling issues are in there. Emotional well-being is important for educational attainment and success in life, and we let children
down if we ignore it. Although it is mentioned in Clause 1(1)(a) of the Bill, we need to be more specific about how that well-being should be achieved on a matter is important as siblings.
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My second point is that children’s backgrounds, personalities and interests should be valued in decisions about their care. Children are people and should be treated as such, not just as a number or a cost. When decisions are made about where to place them, they should be treated as unique human beings.
Thirdly, I want children’s rights and entitlements to be recognised in the corporate parenting principles so that they can play their full part in society. I will come on to other amendments about rights later in our debates, but they should be up-front in Clause 1.
Finally, my amendment supports the move of my noble friend Lady Tyler to ensure that children have a proper physical and mental health assessment from a properly qualified professional, and that their needs are promoted. They must have appropriate treatment or therapy to help them to recover from whatever trauma has contributed to them coming into care. Of course, we know that around 20% to 35% of sexually exploited children have been in care. My noble friend will say more about that issue later.
As I said at Second Reading, this assessment and treatment should include any speech and language needs because, if not detected and addressed, this lack of ability to communicate freely can not only hold the child back in their education but cause such alienation that they may find themselves in trouble with the law. That would be a terrible disaster, as we heard when discussing the previous group. It can also prevent children engaging fully with their own care and expressing their views. It is so important that those views are heard when decisions are made about their care, so we must ensure that children are equipped with the skills and abilities to make their views known. So I hope that the Minister will look kindly on these additional principles and agree to their incorporation.