Who cares?

Hessel Willemsen
Wednesday, November 7, 2001

On the eve of Government moves to increase the number of children who find permanent adoptive families, psychologist Hessel Willemsen describes the trauma facing those forced to live in temporary care settings There has been concern for some time about the plight of children in local authority care. Separated from their families because of neglect or emotional, physical or sexual abuse, only a tiny few have been lucky enough to find the security of an adopted family. The rest - and there are nearly 60,000 children in the care of local authorities at any one time in England, with more than 10,000 under four years old - are placed in temporary foster homes or residential homes and schools.