Childishly Simple

A Government-sponsored survey of children in care has found that a demented ideological adherence to "family values" is not always the best solution for an unprofitably maltreated infant resource. The survey found that, mirabile dictu, children who were abused or maltreated by people other than the immigration authorities, and who remained in state care, tended to do better than those who were returned to the tender mercies of their non-GCSE-qualified blood relatives. There does not seem to have been any mention of the actual purpose behind hustling out of care as many as possible of those who cannot be deported; which may be why the National Children's Bureau missed the point so spectacularly with talk of endorsing the value of the care system and warnings against premature returns to the hard-working home. When a child is in care, it is a burden on the taxpayer; when a child is in an abusive family, it is a reason to put somebody in prison. Very few governments, even Conservative governments, are faced very often with so beautifully simple a choice.