Children in care wait 10 years for permanent home - study

A major study has tracked the progress of all children in Scotland's care system from 2012/13

More than one in 10 children in care were still in temporary placements a decade after entering the care system in Scotland, a major study has revealed.

The University of Stirling looked at the care experiences of more than 1,800 children in Scotland - many of whom had experienced neglect or abuse - and found that on average it took more than two years to find them a permanent home.

Researchers also raised concerns that too many "looked after" children had no contact with their siblings.

A Scottish government spokeswoman said it was committed to ensuring that permanent homes are secured for children and young people in timescales that are right for them.

The 'Permanently Progressing?' study followed the lives of all 1,836 children who entered Scotland's care system aged five or under in 2012/13.

It is the largest longitudinal study of care-experienced children in the UK and has tracked their progress at key life stages.

The first phase looked at their experiences before entering care and their progress up until age eight.

The second phase revisited the cohort in "middle childhood" between 2020 and 2024.

About 79% of the children were living in permanent homes by the end of July 2022.

But overall the average time it took to find a permanent home was 32 months.

'Not what we want'

The study investigated how long it took to secure permanence for children, which included making sure they felt secure as well as being legally secure in a safe, permanent home.

Dr Helen Whincup, senior lecturer in social work at the University of Stirling, led the study which tracked the children's progress over time.

She said: "While it is heartening that permanence has been achieved for most of the children, it is worrying that for many this took over two years - a long time in a child's life.

"It is also concerning that one in 10 of children had five or more placements and, 10 years after becoming looked after, more than one in 10 children were still, or again, in impermanent placements.

"This is not what we would want for any child."

The study found that nearly two thirds of children who had ever been looked after away from home had been in two or more placements - and one in 10 children had five or more.

While the Scottish government is the corporate parent for care-experienced children, crucial information about some children was missing from administrative data.

For 9% of children, there was not enough detail in Children Looked After Statistics (CLAS) to say where they were living - and ethnicity was recorded as unknown for 8% of children.

Information on their early lives was available from social workers for 727 children from the overall cohort.

This showed that, before entering the care system, most had experienced "significant neglect and abuse" and family life was challenging.

The survey also looked at contact with siblings using information from caregivers for 79 children.

It found that about half of the children with a sibling living elsewhere had no contact with them.

More than one third of the 98 children whose caregivers completed a questionnaire have a long-standing illness, disability or health problem that affected their day-to-day activities.

Deliver good practice

Dr Paula Jacobs, research fellow at the University of Stirling, was involved in interviewing children and caregivers for the study.

She said: "We heard about the complexity of renewing or maintaining connections across different families, where children may have different needs.

"While not underestimating the sensitivity needed to maintain or renew connections, the fact that so many children do not currently have any form of contact with their brothers and sisters is stark."

The research is led by the University of Stirling in collaboration with Lancaster University, and the Association for Fostering, Kinship and Adoption Scotland (AFKA).

The study was funded by a philanthropic donor and the Nuffield Foundation.

Minister for Children and Young People Natalie Don-Innes said the Scottish government was committed to Keeping The Promise by ensuring that all care-experienced children and young people grow up feeling "safe, loved and respected".

She said: “We are committed to ensuring that permanent homes are secured for children and young people in timescales that are right for them.

"We are funding AFKA to deliver good practice guides helping social workers as they support children, young people and their families.

“We continue to work closely with The Promise Scotland, Cosla and other delivery partners to ensure we can deliver on these aims.”