SSRG - Using information to improve performance REDUCING NUMBERS OF LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN

1. SSRG - Using information to improve performanceREDUCING NUMBERS OF LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN Research has shown that looked after children are significantly disadvantaged compared with their peers who remain living with their birth families : • Children who are looked after by local authorities are more vulnerable to losing contact with their family’s. • “….a third of those [children] who remain in care will have lost contact with mother or father, siblings or the wider family at the end of two years and will be likely to stay in care for the foreseeable future.” (Millham et al, (Dartington Social Research Unit) 1986 Lost in Care)

2. SSRG - Using information to improve performanceReducing Numbers of Looked After Children • Between one half and three quarters of care leavers complete schooling with no qualifications (Biehal et al, 1995) • Unemployment rates for care leavers aged 16-19 years are more than twice the national average - some 50% were unemployed (Dept of Health, 1996) • Packman and Hall (1995) found that 1 in 10 [LAC] suffered from varying forms of ill health, and 1 in 5 had non acute medical needs (hearing loss, poor sight or impaired mobility) • Young [care leavers] people exposed to continual change were found to be wary of investing in new relationships and as a result became increasingly isolated (Biehal et al, 1995)

3. SSRG - Using information to improve performanceReducing Numbers of Looked After Children • 30% of young single homeless people have been in care (MacLaglin, 1993). • 23% of adult prisoners and 38% of young prisoners have been in care (Carey and Stein, 1996) • 10% of 16-17 year old claimants of DSS severe hardship payments have been in care (Garnet, 1992)