Children in care 'should get right to sue failing councils'

Children in care should be able to sue their local council if it fails to provide them with a decent upbringing and education, a think-tank chaired by the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith will argue today.

The care system responsible for 60,000 children is a "source of national shame", the report from the Centre for Social Justice says.

"Ironically," says Mr Duncan Smith, "the plight of children in care is so dreadful that if they were living with their natural parents, the state would insist on taking them into care."

Children in care achieve GCSE results which are five times worse than other children. Only 11 per cent gain five A*-C GCSEs, compared with 56 per cent of all children. Just 29 per cent of care leavers are in education, training or employment at age 19; almost a third of young people misuse drugs and alcohol within a year of leaving care; and about a third of homeless people were in care as children.

Four out of 10 foster parents think the care system has deteriorated over the past decade, according to the report, entitled Couldn't Care Less. The study warns that cash-strapped local councils are failing to fulfil their legal duty to look after children from disturbed backgrounds.

Unless the system is radically reformed, it will be necessary to take the "draconian step" of giving children in care the right to sue. The report says that should be a "last resort" but one that will be necessary if councils continue to ignore their statutory responsibilities.

Rising levels of family breakdown and social problems such as drug and alcohol addiction are driving up the number of children taken into care, up 20 per cent in the past decade. But at the same time, the supply of foster parents, who already look after nearly three quarters of the 60,000 children in care, is drying up.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Children Schools and Families said: "Children in care already have the opportunity to resolve issues immediately, and they are given an independent advocate to help them. If they feel their issue is not resolved they have the right to challenge decisions affecting them in court."