What are the Profiles and Pathways of Children in Long-Term Foster Care in England? An Analysis of Newly Available Administrative Data

22 Pages Posted: 13 Jun 2024

See all articles by Birgit Larsson

Birgit Larsson

University of East Anglia

Gillian Schofield

Centre for Research on the Child and Family, University of East Anglia

Elsbeth Neil

University of East Anglia (UEA)

Marcello Morciano

The University of Manchester - Health Organisation, Policy and Economics (HOPE) Research Group

Yiu-Shing Lau

The University of Manchester

Abstract

Long-term foster care has been a legitimate permanence option in policy in England since the 1980s. However, it was only in 2015 that it was officially defined by the government in new regulations and guidance. A further development was the requirement for local authorities to record long-term foster care placements and submit that information annually to the Department for Education as part of their 'looked after children' administrative data returns. The analysis of this national data was part of a multi-method study of the implementation of the long-term foster care regulations and guidance. For the first time it was possible to track the profile and pathways of children recorded as being in long-term foster care. The study used descriptive statistics for the characteristics of children and regression analysis to determine the likelihood of an outcome of a long-term foster care placement. A key finding was that long-term foster care was the plan for a significant proportion (40%) of fostered children and included a wide-range of children. However, there was great variation between local authorities in terms of the percentage of children in long term foster care, from less than 10% to more than 80%. The study provides important insights into long-term foster care, but also has wider implications for recording and administrative data in policy, research and practice.

Keywords: Long-term family foster care, administrative data, care planning, permanence, profiles, pathways

Suggested Citation

Larsson, Birgit and Schofield, Gillian and Neil, Elsbeth and Morciano, Marcello and Lau, Yiu-Shing, What are the Profiles and Pathways of Children in Long-Term Foster Care in England? An Analysis of Newly Available Administrative Data. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4862273 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4862273

Birgit Larsson (Contact Author)

University of East Anglia ( email )

Earlham Rd
Norwich, NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom

Gillian Schofield

Centre for Research on the Child and Family, University of East Anglia ( email )

Norwich Research Park
Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom

Elsbeth Neil

University of East Anglia (UEA)

Norwich Research Park
Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom

Marcello Morciano

The University of Manchester - Health Organisation, Policy and Economics (HOPE) Research Group ( email )

Manchester, M13 9PL
United Kingdom

Yiu-Shing Lau

The University of Manchester ( email )

United Kingdom

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