Learn about the experience of children in care
There are a record number of children in the care system – around 100,000 across the UK.
On this page: Why might a child be in care? | What's life like for children in care? | What challenges can children in care face? | Where might a child in care live? | When might a child be in care? | What backgrounds are children in care from? | Ways to get involved
There are many reasons a child can go into care. In most cases, children will have faced big challenges - such as trauma, instability or grief before going into care. In all cases, leaving their family and moving into care is a huge disruption, which can be traumatic in itself.
A local authority might decide to take a child into care because they have been abused or neglected, or there is a strong risk they will be.
Around 65% of children are in care because of neglect or abuse
A child may go into care if they don’t have a parent who can take care of them – for example if a parent is seriously unwell, is in prison, or has died.
Sometimes disabled children may go into care if their family are unable to provide the level of care they need. Or they may live at home, but have regular short-breaks in residential care settings.
A child may be in care because they've arrived in the UK on their own, to seek safety. They will have travelled far to escape from conflict or unrest, often through highly dangerous journeys. This group of children are called unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Sometimes children are taken into care when they’re at risk of harm from outside the family home, such as criminal or sexual exploitation. Parents may need extra support to protect their children from abusive adults or other young people. This might mean moving a child away from their local area in order to keep them safe.
For some children, moving into care will feel like a hopeful step. They may get their own room, their own toys, or clean clothes for the first time in their life. Having a bedtime, a dinnertime, and being able to go to school regularly might be new and welcome experiences. But many children will struggle with the sudden change of situation and not understand why they've had to leave their family.
What do children in care need?
A child in care needs the same things that every other child needs. Someone to listen to them at the end of a tough school day. Someone to teach them – how to tie their shoelaces, how to ride a bike, how to cook a meal. Someone to make a fuss of their birthday, and celebrate their achievements, big and small.
Quality care
All over the country, many foster carers and residential care staff are giving children the love and security they need to thrive. This quality care is essential to help children recover from the challenges that brought them into the care system, so they can build a positive future for themselves.
Where the care a child receives is not good quality, it can compound the difficulties they will have already faced.
Children often have to move home several times as circumstances change, and this instability can have a huge impact on building relationships with carers, making friends, or settling into school.
Many children are even split up from brothers and sisters – around 37% are split up when they first enter care.
Challenges for children in care:
- They may be placed with carers from different ethnic, cultural, or religious backgrounds, which can complicate feelings of identity and belonging.
- They will have to interact with lots of professionals – and they can change often. This means children are always having to explain themselves to new people – going over their history, their needs, and their thoughts and feelings.
- They often have to deal with a lot of paperwork; for example, a social worker’s permission for a school trip. They might need a risk assessment for a day out to the seaside, or a DBS check for a friend’s parent before they can stay overnight with them. These things can make a child feel like they’re different to everyone else.
Where might a child in care live?
Many children who can’t live with their parents are looked after by family members. This kinship care may be an official placement, arranged by the local authority, or agreed with the child’s parent.
The majority of children in care live in foster homes, looked after in the carer’s family home. These are often close to the child’s home community, but a shortage of foster homes across the country means that children may have to move far away.
Other children in care live in residential homes, where they are cared for by a team of staff. These homes can vary from solo placements for a single child, to larger homes of three or four children, though some can be larger still. Older children and children with higher needs are more likely to live in residential homes. A lack of residential homes in the right places can mean children are placed in homes far away, or homes that are not well-suited to them.
Some children in care are placed in secure accommodation, or homes where there are restrictions on their freedom, if a decision is made that this is the only way to keep them safe.
Older children aged 16-17 are often moved into supported accommodation, where they're expected to be semi-independent; for example, managing their own meals and finances. While this can be a positive choice for some young people, many feel that they aren’t yet ready to exchange care for light-touch ‘support’.
When might a child be in care?
A child can be taken into care at any time from birth until they turn 18. They may only be in care for a short time – for example if a parent recovers from a health crisis.
They may move in and out of care more than once. A family in crisis may receive support to help them create a home their child can return to safely.
Sometimes, a child may still be considered to be ‘in care’ if they're living with a parent under supervision of the local authority.
A young person who has turned 18 may be able to stay with their foster carer if that’s what they both want, or they may move out into independent accommodation or supported housing. A care-leaver should still be able to go to their local authority for support until they turn 25.
What backgrounds are children in care from?
Children in care can be from any background, but some backgrounds are more represented than others. Existing research has shown that children in the poorest 10% of neighbourhoods are more than 10 times more likely to be in care or on child protection plans than children in the wealthiest 10% of neighbourhoods.
Deprivation can be closely linked with addiction, mental health issues, homelessness, and domestic abuse. All these factors make it harder to parent and can be part of family crisis or breakdown. This can result in children entering care.
A significant number of children in care are not British nationals, so need support to sort out their immigration or refugee status, or they can find themselves unable to stay in the UK, study or work, once they turn 18.
Different ethnicities are represented to greater or lesser levels in different forms of care. It can be hard to work out a clear picture as there are many ways that children can interact with social care, and not all record ethnicity consistently.
Every child deserves a place to call home
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