Time to show we care for children

THE First Minister’s admission that too many children in Wales are being taken from their families is a sobering one.

A glance at the stark statistics – more than one in 100 children are now living in care – will be shocking to most.

And of course, behind each of those cases is a child, a family, whose lives could be blighted by being torn apart.

That’s not to say that being taken in to care cannot, in many cases, be the point where a young person’s life takes a long-lasting turn for the better.

But, as has been highlighted to a Senedd scrutiny committee, not only are care rates in Wales significantly higher than in England, but the experience of children in care is often not good.

This issue is of such major importance for all of us.

First, the reasons why Wales seems to be such an outlier regarding number of children going into care need to be determined.

Also what one MS described as the “massive, unexplained variation” in numbers within Wales needs to be examined.

And, most importantly, we need to ensure we provide the very best possible care for those in the system, now and in the future.

The reality is, social workers face unmanageable workloads and councils are managing budgets that are effectively shrinking.

The First Minister is right, of course, to counsel there is no switch that can be flicked to solve the problem. It takes time, of course.

It goes without saying that with so many calls on funding, every penny spent must be spent well.

But having been in power in Wales for so many years, how much more time does Welsh Labour need?

This unglamorous issue is far too important to be pushed aside.

But we now have a new First Minister. So Mr Gething’s plans to remove profit from the the care of looked-after children deserve thorough examination. Such a move could be part of the solution to improving the whole issue of children in care.

Further, Mr Gething has pledged to double down on tackling poverty and investing in families and the early days of a child’s life.

Dawn Bowden, the newlyappointed social care minister, will bring forward a bill next month.

There is no time to waste.

Picture sent in by Paul Tarrant, Rumney, Cardiff

English middle-class Tories.

No-one is allowed to rock the boat or question party policy. Anyone who does is frowned upon or, as in the case of Beth Winter, removed.

Any person espousing the tradition values of the Labour Party or who calls themselves a socialist seems to be swiftly silenced.

Starmer has now positioned the party to the right of the MacMillan government of the 1950s with his acceptance of much of the credo of the current Tory Party.

The public eulogising of Margret Thatcher is really unconscionable for anyone who remembers the critical damage done to the Welsh economy, and indeed Welsh society, during her bleak reign.

Labour’s increasing control freakery is now doing a lot of damage to the perception of the Welsh Government and to the whole concept of devolution itself as seen with the imposition of the “Party List” voting system.

This is profoundly undemocratic but is very much of a piece with the party’s increasing desire to centrally control everything.

Why Plaid went along with this is beyond comprehension.

Plaid should now remove itself from any association with Labour.

The idea that a Starmer government would have a much different relationship with Wales from the current shambolically corrupt Westminster administration is absurd.

Wales does not figure on any English politician’s radar. The begging bowls deferentially proffered by the Labour Government in Cardiff will be regarded as an unwanted nuisance. The ruthless exploitation of Wales’ natural resources is not a feature of the industrial past. It continues with the Crown Estate revenues and the destruction of swathes of rural Wales with the construction of ineffective on-shore wind farms for the profit of outside interests such as Bute Energy. This suits London now and there will be no change in this colonialist attitude from an incoming UK Labour Government.

The relentless, blind Unionism of Labour in Wales is a disgrace. There are certainly Labour dissenters, some of whom I’ve seen speaking at the AOUB/Yes Cymru Independence rallies. They should continue to speak out and shout louder. My lifelong but diminishing electoral support for Labour is now at an end. The virtual imposition of an inept party hack as First Minister of Cymru was the last straw. I will not vote Labour again unless the party in Wales becomes independent of the UK party with independence as one of its main goals.

I Seaton Mumbles