A herd of SHEEP

I'm a foster carer. I work for a local authority not a private agency.....Not that, thats a problem for me...Children need to be looked after in a variety of places and situations.
There is no boot that fits all needs!

I work 110 miles away from the authority who kindly support me in my work. I know in America and in Africa this is less of a probl;em, where people travel many miles a day.
For me and the children i look after, however, it can seem a million miles or just down the road.

Our government, in Britain, have quite rightly identified that children should be looked after closer to their roots. This helps with continuity of friendships, schooling and contact with family. It helps build resilience, an ability to cope with lifes struggles and strife and to have better outcomes in life.

Like sheep, the authority follow their leaders, baahing and bleating to their callers dance.
Children, settled for many years, schooled well, with many friends and contacts locally are being pulled back, drawn by the buzz of the city, if they are older, and if younger by diverse and devious means.

A tick in the box for the inspectors, for each child brought back in. A tick in the box for the government and the local authority.

It wasn't right, perhaps to move some of these children so far away from their home grown environments. I wonder after so much time if it is right to move them back.

Do two wrongs make a right?

But....they almost certainly make a tick in the box!


Baaa Baaa Bleat Bleat

Perhaps we are so locked into evidencing our practice that we've lost sight of the values that underpin it.