National Children's Bureau to continue its work on residential child care

Following the news earlier in the year that government funding for NCERCC (the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care) had been lost, the National Children's Bureau (NCB) has announced that it will continue its long-standing work supporting the residential child care sector with a new service called NCB Residential Child Care (NCBRCC).

The government announced in April that it was withdrawing its funding for NCERCC, sparking condemnation from children practitioners.

Jonathan Stanley, who will lead the new service, said: "With NCBRCC we have an opportunity to carry on supporting the whole residential child care sector in their work, including local authorities, voluntary and private, care, education and health organisations.

"With NCBRCC we will continue our work of translating policy into effective practice, making a real difference to children and practitioners and continue to advocate for the voices of children in residential child care to be heard and for their needs to be addressed," Mr Stanley added.

The new organisation will provide members of the Children's Residential Network with a quarterly bulletin of policy, research and practice, while seeking to secure additional funds to boost the range of activities, such as the regional meetings, for CRN members.

 The NCBRCC will hold its conference on 3 November in London.