More adoption could save in the long term

Two reports this week examine both ends of the care system, one from Dilnott on adult care and the other from ex-Barnado's chief Martin Narey on adoption.
The former has received inevitably huge coverage. It has at least provoked politicians into an all-party approach to the intractable issue of how to deal with adult care. The worst fears of the elderly is that they will lose all they have on being looked after in the last few years of their lives. At least Dilnot places a figure on the maximum cost the infirm elderly can expect to pay, thereby ensuring they can plan for it, as well as making the costs of finding insurance for it more feasible. The whole point of the welfare state is to act as a safety blanket so that citizens do not find themselved impoverished through no fault of their own. And nor should this just apply to the poor. If the middle classes are somehow removed from the benefits of the welfare system then they will refuse to fund it. Dilnot at last offers practical solutions. Now it's down to the politicians...
The second report, from Narey for The Times on July 5, follows the newspaper's campaign to improve the ramshackle adoption system. It criticises councils - among others - for inconsistent performance in placing children into adoption and calls for league tables to name and shame the council laggards. In particular it attacks bureaucratic and politically correct barriers to adoption and slates some social services departments for insisting against evidence on returning children in care to their problem families.
Considering that the local authority bill for looked-after children has soared since the Baby P case one would have assumed councils would be far more pro-active in placing such children into adoption. The record on educational achievement and crime among looked-after children is so abysmal that care has to be a last resort. More adoption will in the long-term save money - it could even help fund the extra costs of adult care outlined in the Dilnot report!