Children in care treated badly: MPs

The Children, Schools and Families Select Committee said looked-after youngsters were given inadequate support with health services and housing.

It also blamed their "poor" experiences on the high turnover rates of social workers and inconsistent support for foster carers.

Children's charity Barnardo's said it "strongly urged" the Government to take action on the report.

The cross-party committee declared: "Despite the dedication and perseverance of social workers and carers, the outcomes and experiences of young people who have been looked after remain poor.

"Far from compensating for their often extremely difficult pre-care experiences, certain features of the care system itself in fact make it much harder for young people to succeed; they are moved frequently and often suddenly, miss too much schooling and are left to fend for themselves at too early an age."

The Government must do more to ensure children in care receive adequate support in spheres beyond education, where steps have been taken to ensure they have priority in schools, it said.

"The Government's willingness to act as a 'pushy parent' in ensuring that looked-after children have priority access to schools is welcome, but should not be restricted to the sphere of education," the committee said. "Health services and housing are just as important, as are adult services when the young person is moving towards independence."

In a report entitled Looked After Children, the committee said children "rarely" had the relationship with their social worker that they wanted. "High staff turnover, heavy workloads and an administrative burden all militate against relationships flourishing," it said. "Vacancy rates remain high and new recruits lack support."

The committee added: "An effective care system can only be achieved by recruiting enough of the right people, giving them access to the right training, paying them enough, backing them up with practical support and placing them in structures that allow them to build relationships with children and influence things on the child's behalf."