Does the social care legal framework do enough to protect the rights of disabled children?
There are approximately 1.8 million disabled children in the UK. An estimated 76,500 are in care, around 11% of the total, and 55,000 are care leavers – those transitioning out of the care system to independent living.
Meeting details
A report published by the Law Commission in September highlighted the complexity of the legal framework governing the treatment of disabled children in care. While the Children Act 1989 sets out key roles and responsibilities, a number of other laws are also applicable including the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act (CSDPA) 1970, Care Act 2014, Children and Families Act 2014 and Equality Act 2010.
The September report called for legislation to be updated to include a series of provisions specific to disabled children and the creation of comprehensive statutory guidance on disabled children’s social care law. It further called for the definition of disability to be updated.
In this session, the Joint Committee on Human Rights will examine if the current legal framework is adequate for protecting the human rights of disabled children in the social care system. It will examine whether current laws ensure that disabled children are receiving adequate care and their needs are properly assessed. It will also consider if enough is being done to include children in the decisions affecting them and what complaints mechanisms are in place to respond to substandard care.