The 2025 party conference season sent a clear signal from new ministers at the Department for Education that loving, trusted relationships for children and young people – and evidence about how to support them - will be centre stage as reforms to children's services ramp up.
For local councils, this will mean greater focus on relational support for children and young people in the care system, extra help for kinship carers and a drive for more foster carers, as well as an emphasis on robust evidence-based practice to deliver this.
