Contact CEO gives evidence on not-fit-for-purpose social care system

4 mins read

Thursday 11 December 2025

Contact’s Chief Executive, Anna Bird, has given evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry about the experiences of families with disabled children of the social care system.

The Committee is carrying out an inquiry into the human rights of children in the social care system in England.

Regular harm caused to families

During the session, Anna talked about what Contact hears through our support services. These include our helpline, listening ear appointments and at our workshops.

Discrimination is an everyday reality for families with disabled children. Through our work with families, we regularly witness harms caused to disabled children and their families by the current social care framework. These harms include: 

  • Parent blame and intrusive assessments undermining family unity. 
  • Postcode lotteries and disproportionate safeguarding responses that breach equality. 
  • Disabled children disproportionately subject to Deprivation of Liberty orders due to lack of community provision and adequate support at home.
  • Weak social care undermining disabled children’s right to learn and participate.
  • Complaints processes that fail families, leaving rights unenforceable. 

Anna said: “Social care is consistently the third most common inquiry dealt with by Contact’s helpline. We frequently hear from parents investigated instead of supported when they reach out for help from the social care system. And support, if it arrives at all, only arrives once a family hits crisis point.”

“We are calling on the government to implement the Law Commission’s proposed reforms to disabled children’s social care law in full. This is a real opportunity for a simpler and fairer system for disabled children and their families. The government has invested money in Family Help. While welcome, it is unlikely to make the social care system work for disabled children and their families.”

Low expectations of the system

We have heard from a grandmother who took on caring for her autistic grandson after the death of his mother. He had to wait 16 months for social care support. At that point, they told her she would be getting half the hours they first promised and that she couldn’t save up the support to have a proper break.

One mum told us: “I had a half an hour call with the disability needs assessment team. It was awful. She did everything to stop me moving forward with an assessment. Meanwhile my son was screaming in the background. She said, ‘we only deal with the most serious cases- children with very complex needs.’  

“My son is a very complex boy and it’s hard to keep him safe. But she just said it was normal for parents to supervise five-year-olds at all times. That one really got to me. I am never going to be a ‘normal’ parent, and no ‘normal parenting’ can keep my son safe.” 

Another mum told us: “I completed the online self-referral form to see if we could get a direct payment to fund a PA to support my adopted disabled daughter. The form was so long. All the questions related to safeguarding, abuse and neglect. There were only two mentions of disability way down the form. They turned her down twice and we were told ‘yes’ on the third assessment. That took six months to assess and six months to get a PA. I have low expectations of the system.”

Crucial to grasp the opportunity for reform

Research from the Disabled Children’s Partnership shows that half of families with disabled children have faced delays in assessments for support for care, equipment or adaptations. And Cerebra has found that practices in the social care system create unintended harms, trauma and distress.

Anna added: “Social care and health are key parts of the puzzle ensuring the Government’s SEND reforms are successful. If a disabled child’s needs are unsupported at home, life is much harder for their family, caring 24/7, and it has a knock-on effect in the classroom too.

“It’s clear to us day-to-day working with thousands of families with disabled children that their rights are not well protected under current legal framework for social care. It’s crucial that we grasp the opportunity of the Law Commission reforms.”