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

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