Search results

The purpose of this paper is to consider some possible reasons for the relatively high rate in Wales of children looked after by local authorities.

Selected potential explanations for Wales having higher rates were tested against aggregate data from published 2021 Government statistics. Wales was compared with England and English regions for area deprivation, local authority spending, placements at home and kinship foster care. Descriptive statistics were produced, and linear regression was used where appropriate.

Wales has higher overall children looked-after rates and a bigger recent increase in these than any English region. Deprivation in Wales was higher than in most English regions. However, a smaller percentage of Welsh variation in local authority looked-after rates was explained by deprivation than was the case for England. Spending on preventative services has increased in recent years in Wales whilst decreasing in England, and there was not a clear relationship between spending on preventative services and the looked-after rate. Wales had a higher rate of care orders placed at home and more children per head of population in kinship foster care than any English region. Some of the explanations that have been suggested for Wales’s particularly high looked-after rates seem to be supported by the evidence from aggregate data and others do not. Practice variation is likely to also be an important part of the picture.

This is an original comparison of Wales, England and English regions using aggregate data. More fine-grained analysis is needed using individual-level data, multivariate analysis and qualitative methods.

Several studies have used secondary data sources in order to learn about outcomes for adults who have been in contact with the care system in childhood. This article discusses two of the large‐scale longitudinal datasets in the UK that are available to researchers and which include information on adults who were looked after in childhood: The National Child Developmental Study (NCDS) and The British Cohort Study (BCS70). These databases are considered to be among the best sources available to investigate long‐term outcomes for looked‐after children in the UK. This article describes these databases and the use made of them by researchers exploring the life chances of looked‐after children. It also identifies the advantages as well as the limitations of these datasets and presents implications for this field of research.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a response to a recent government-commissioned review of residential care (Narey, 2016), and the subsequent government response (Department of Education (DfE), 2016), which minimises the correlation between the experience of being looked after and becoming involved in the youth justice system. The Narey review emphasises on the role of early adversity in looked after children’s offending behaviour but minimises the significance of experiences during and after care, and downplays the effect of policies and practices that may exacerbate looked after children’s involvement in the youth justice system.

The paper builds upon a systematic literature review conducted for the Prison Reform Trust (Staines, 2016) to demonstrate the extent of current knowledge about how risk factors, adverse experiences during and after care and the criminalisation of looked after children combine to increase the likelihood of involvement in criminal proceedings. The paper also highlights gaps in the research evidence, particularly in relation to gender and ethnicity.

The findings suggest that the Narey review (2016) and the government response (DfE, 2016), are misguided in their attempts to minimise the role of care in looked after children’s disproportionate representation within the youth justice system. The paper cautions against the over-simplification of a complex relationship and emphasises on the importance of recognising the intersection between different factors.

The paper uses secondary sources to develop an original argument to rebut claims within a recently published review.

There has been little research on the education of looked after children over the current school leaving age of 16, although the underperformance of this cohort at Key Stage 4 (age 14‐16) has been the subject of considerable academic commentary. This paper aims to contribute to understanding of the ways in which looked after young people nearing the end of compulsory education can be supported and encouraged to continue in education and training.

Interviews were undertaken with 12 designated teachers for looked after children and four virtual school heads, as part of the first stage of a three‐year longitudinal study following 20 looked after children in England from years 11‐13 (ages 15‐18).

Participants identified particular challenges in ensuring a successful educational transition for looked after young people in year 11 and expressed concern at the cumulative effect of multiple transitions at this stage on young people's lives. There appears, however, to be an increasing focus on and commitment to giving young people a “second chance” to acquire qualifications commensurate with their potential post‐16. The comparative advantages and disadvantages of school and further education colleges for this cohort at Key Stage 5 are considered.

The implications of the forthcoming extension of the school leaving age for professionals supporting looked after young people post‐16 are discussed.

The designated teacher for looked after children became a statutory role in 2009, and to date there has been little research on the role of these professionals, or the work of virtual schools.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the current policy context for work aimed at reducing the criminalisation of looked after children in England and Wales, and to consider the potential that now exists for a sustained reduction in the numbers and proportion of looked after children and young people becoming unnecessarily criminalised.

The author of this paper worked on the Prison Reform Trust’s independent review of looked after children in the criminal justice system, “In Care, Out of Trouble”, chaired by Lord Laming. The paper describes the context for the review and outlines its findings alongside those of concurrent government-commissioned reviews, detailing the government response. The paper describes the action now being taken to reduce the criminalisation of looked after children and argues that, while the UK and Welsh governments appear willing to lead in pursuing reforms, continued pressure will be needed to ensure that this translates into sustained change.

The paper notes that looked after children and young people remain significantly over represented in the criminal justice system despite a number of studies and statutory guidance aimed at preventing this. This is being successfully tackled in places where children’s social care services are working closely with criminal justice agencies, with common goals. The paper reports on the responses from the Welsh and UK governments and lead agencies to Lord Laming’s review and concurrent government-commissioned reviews, which confirm their willingness to show national leadership in raising expectations for effective local joint working.

The paper offers an insight into the current policy context for protecting looked after children and young people from unnecessary criminalisation and sets out the commitments that have been made by the UK and Welsh governments and national agencies to take action to this end. It notes the need for ongoing outside pressure to ensure these commitments translate into action.

This paper aims to support policy makers and practitioners in pursuing improvements in practice to protect looked after children from unnecessary criminalisation. As such, it is hoped that it may play a part in improving the life chances of looked after children and young people who might otherwise face the damaging consequences of involvement in the criminal justice system.

Lord Laming’s review was a timely, independent examination of the unnecessary criminalisation of looked after children. There is now a renewed focus in key government departments and agencies on the need to protect looked after children and young people from unnecessary criminalisation, including through the development of a concordat. Success will require ongoing dialogue with independent bodies, and a stronger focus by the relevant inspectorates. This paper summarises the context and findings of the review and subsequent policy developments, and may be useful for policy makers, practitioners in children’s social care and youth justice, and the police.

The purpose of this article is to explore whether the concept of social capital is helpful in explaining the educational underachievement of looked after children.

Analysis of data on educational achievement and social care in a cohort of 1,407 children over the age of 15 who left care in two Scottish local authorities between 2000 and 2005.

The educational attainments of children do reflect key factors in their backgrounds before entry to care but their characteristics also lead them to be placed in specific placements that have differing abilities for promoting social capital. An examination of evidence on bonding social capital, bridging social capital, and linking social capital and trust, shows that social capital theory helps to theoretically interpret the low educational achievements of looked after children.

The large and comprehensive data set permits a factor analysis of background and care variables, thus clarifying the significance of each in explaining children's educational attainments and assessing the value of a social capital perspective.

Many children who are looked after by the state have experienced adverse and traumatic life circumstances prior to being removed from their biological parents. Previous research has highlighted that many of them experience barriers to accessing psychological therapies. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of assessing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms using a screening tool, and through this to determine the prevalence of PTSD-like symptoms in looked after children presenting with emotional and/or behavioural problems.

The Child Revised Impact of Events Scale (CRIES-8) was identified as a suitable screening tool for PTSD-like symptoms. This measure was piloted for three months, and the prevalence of PTSD-like symptoms amongst respondents (n=27) was recorded.

Prevalence of PTSD-like symptoms was found to be high 75 per cent amongst respondents. The psychometric properties of the CRIES-8 were similar to those found in a previous study assessing PTSD following a single-incident trauma. Health care professionals reported finding the CRIES-8 to be a clinically useful measure.

Prevalence of PTSD-like symptoms may be high amongst looked after children, and the CRIES-8 appears to have good psychometric properties when used with this population. It is likely that this highly treatable condition is under-detected: thus, recommendations are made for clinical practice and further research.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development process of building an assessment model to assess the emotional and behavioural needs of “looked after children”.

The paper is a technical paper developing and evaluating a process for comprehensively assessing children ' s needs using a combination of three existing tools.

The paper identifies a model to assess “looked after” children and highlights some of the early benefits and challenges which have been encountered using this model.

This paper suggests a model and timeframe to ensure that detailed assessments of the mental health of “looked after” children are effectively carried out.

There is a potential for an improvement in assessment of looked after children that will lead to the identification of appropriate interventions and services.

The paper is new in identifying a combination of assessment measures and a timeline to complete these.