Last week I wrote a blog about looked after children. Today I met a former colleague for lunch and listened open-mouthed and with growing anger as she told me what happened to a family of four children taken into care at the start of last term.
First, of course, they were split up. Few placements will take four siblings together. Then they were sent, separately, to foster carers in distant counties. The eldest boy ran away several times, and each time attempted to reach his home. After six weeks the parents regained custody and the children came home. None of the four had spent a single day in school in the entire six weeks.
I know these children. The three youngest are hard-working, quiet, sensible and keen to please, the eldest is confused, unhappy and sometimes needs coaxing. None of them has any special needs; they would not disrupt a classroom, or hold back anyone else’s learning. In short, there is no reason why any school should hesitate before offering them a place.
At the worst time in their young lives, when their family life was ripped apart, their friends and comfortable routines were torn from them and left far behind, our system decided to hammer these children further by damaging their education and harming their life chances.
In my blog I urged school leaders to open their hearts and the doors of their schools to vulnerable children like these. Please. Let’s do it.
John Cosgrove 
As much sensitivity and common sense as we have come to expect from you John. Well written and hopefully taken note of by those at the top! Things must change.
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