Rich and Tim probe Community Care Editor, Mithran for the latest social work headlines-from foster care shortages to the future of kinship

Josh MacAlister has said he’d like children to have a choice of where and with whom they live:

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2025/10/02/children-in-care-should-have-choice-of-where-and-with-whom-they-live-says-macalister/

 Applications to register children’s homes are rocketing, such that Ofsted is having to prioritise applications, leaving others having to wait up to 18 months.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2025/10/13/some-childrens-homes-face-waits-of-up-to-18-months-to-register-under-new-ofsted-policy/

 Also, spending on looked-after children ate up all of the increase in spending in children’s services in 2024-25, with such spending pressures generally attributed to significant rises in residential care costs.

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2025/09/24/childrens-services-spending-increase-absorbed-entirely-by-care-system-last-year-figures-show/

Community Care Live from Jahnine Davis, on her findings from a year as the kinship ambassador.