We can all help those children who are in care

Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, Michael Moriarty, actor, Jane Asher, actress/ writer, Agnetha Faltskog, singer

Stan Ridgway, singer, Pharrell Williams, singer, John Hartson, former footballer IN response to the Examiner article of April 3 relating to children in care I would like to make the following points.

Kirklees Council Care Service and Foster Carers do a great job in picking up shattered lives. However, the council can only do so much and cannot realistically provide the level of love, self-esteem, moral and financial support etc to the individual child that are the norms in a family environment.

Adoption is probably the most attractive solution to fulfil the needs of the child and of the desire of potential adopters to have a family. Sadly, there are more children in care than those wanting to adopt.

Sometimes people dismiss adopting as they are put off by the hurdles to becoming an adoptive parent which necessarily have to be sufficient to ensure the safety of the child.

I would urge people who want to make a difference to a child’s life to consider whether they could actually make the commitment to provide a loving stable home to someone in care.

The first step would be to visit the Kirklees Council website and see the ways in which you could help a child in care.

While Kirklees Council tries to help children leaving care, can you imagine what it’s like if you had been told ‘you’re 18 now, go and make your own way in life’ with extremely limited financial and other support.

I would encourage those who care to contact the council to see what you could do to help teenagers in the transition to adult life, even if only donating to some of the excellent charities which work in this field.

If elected, I as a councillor for Almondbury will fight for better provision and assistance for adopters and for children ONE in four adults will experience a mental health problem each year yet often mental health care falls below the standards we should expect.

Last week we revealed that some of our most vulnerable patients, many of whom have complex mental health conditions, are being badly let down by the NHS, causing them needless suffering and distress.

In our report Maintaining momentum: driving improvements in mental health care, we found that some patients are not being treated with dignity and respect of their human rights and this is further compounded by poor complaint handling.

Our investigations shine a light on severe failings but this is not done to attribute blame.

We aim to ensure that the organisations complained about make changes to prevent mistakes happening to others.

This is to ensure that mental health patients get access to the treatment and support they need. This is only possible due to patients and their families taking the important step of complaining when things go wrong. The vast majority of complaints are resolved locally.

However, if you are not satisfied you have the right to bring it to us – the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman - for an independent and impartial view.