Readers have reacted with outrage to George Monbiot's investigation into companies profiting from unregulated children's homes in England. The article, published on 5 June, highlighted how private firms are cashing in while vulnerable children suffer.
Councillor's shock at high costs
Richard Long, a former councillor from Solihull, West Midlands, expressed disbelief at the exorbitant costs of placing children in private residential care. He noted that this reflects a 'robber baron' mentality disguised as private sector efficiency, where profit is extracted from essential public services. Long called for urgent policy reform but acknowledged that some local authorities are beginning to re-establish their own children's homes, though financial pressures hinder widespread adoption.
Foster parent's lament
Michael McLoughlin, a long-term foster parent from Wallington, London, praised Monbiot for exposing the scandal. He contrasted the current system with the past, when local authorities ran children's homes at lower cost and without profit motive. Children could maintain family ties and stay in familiar areas. McLoughlin condemned the 'destructive neoliberal austerity' that discarded the hard-won expertise from the 1960s and 1970s on helping children cope with loss of primary carers. He criticised both the Tories for initiating the policy and Labour for failing to reverse it.
Adoptive parent's trauma
Tess Lloyd Meletē from Gillingham, Kent, shared her painful experience of abandoning plans to foster and adopt after agencies prioritised revenue over children's welfare. She recalled an agency insisting that children ageing out of care be immediately placed on the street to free up beds for paying customers. When she raised concerns, she was warned about 'future monsters'—a term used to describe abused children. She remains haunted by the family she could have had.
The letters collectively underscore a systemic failure where profit is placed above the welfare of society's most vulnerable children, demanding immediate government action.
