What happens when more children need care — but there are fewer homes to support them?

In this episode of Care Visions Professional Talk, Professor Claudia Bernard (Goldsmiths, University of London) joins Humphrey Hawksley to explore the growing pressure on the UK care system.

Drawing on decades of experience in social work and research, Professor Bernard explains why the system is under strain — and what’s changed over the past 30 years.

This conversation covers:

• Why more children are entering care — often later, with more complex needs
• The shortage of foster carers and residential homes
• How trauma, poverty, race, gender and class shape outcomes
• Why relationship-based social work is becoming harder
• The rise in complexity facing practitioners
• The reality behind “county lines” and exploitation
• Whether children are always best placed in family settings
• The role of private providers in children’s care

This is an honest, grounded discussion about the realities behind the system — and the difficult questions that don’t have easy answers.

Final thought:
If children don’t have hope, what do they have?

Care Visions Talks is a UK podcast sharing conversations on parenting, fostering, care experience and supporting families.

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