Thread by @samtrner

Thread time. 🧵

1/ New annual DfE stats are out on children in care and care leavers today from the SSDA903 collection.

…e-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistic…

You'll notice the new EES dashboard which makes exploring them at a glance much easier!

I wanted to share a few key things...

2/ As expected, there's been an increase in the number of children in care, up by 2% from 2019 to 80,080.

That's a little lower than the estimate (81,700) made in @ADCStweets's recent interim report: adcs.org.uk/safeguarding/a…

3/ Rate of growth has slowed a little - previous year-on-year increases were 4%, 4% and 3%.

But that's still continuing a consistent increase in numbers in a system at crisis point.

Since 2009, the number of children in care has increased by 31%.

4/ This increase has not been experienced evenly across England.

Between 2015 and 2020:

🌆In London, the number of children in care increased by 0.4%.

🏙️In the North East, the number of children in care increased by 34%.

5/ The profile of who's in care looks very different too.

🌆London:
About 25% are under 10.
37% are 16-17.
30% are Black/Black British.
18% live 20+ miles from home.

🏙️NE:
About 50% are under 10.
16% are 16-17.
2% are Black/Black British.
9% live 20+ miles from home.

6/ Once more for those at the back...

*There. Is. Not. One. Care. System*

Really crucial that the upcoming care review looks at the regional and local differences in who the care system supports.

7/ Anyway, back to national stats for this year.

Expected continued drop in numbers starting to be looked after (down another 3%) and a similar number ceasing to be looked after.

The difference between these two figures accounts for the 2% growth overall.

8/ The quite rapid change in legal status of children in care has also continued.

The proportion of those under a care order is now at 77% and those under a voluntary arrangement is 17%, following the 2015 family court appeal judgement marking the "misuse and abuse" of s20.

9/ Adoptions have fallen again - a 4% drop since last year. SGOs from care have also fallen by 4%. Expect we'll see a continued governmental focus on boosting adoption.

10/ Of those ceasing to be looked after for whatever reason (adoption, return to family, SGO etc), an increasing proportion are 'ageing out' of care at 18.

In 2015, 23% of those who left the care system did so at 18.

This year, that figure was 35%.

11/ Part of this is due to the increasing number of unaccompanied young people seeking asylum who have entered care in recent years and are now care leavers.

In 2018, 16% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 were UASC.

This year, that figure is 23%.

12/ That's a really big proportional change in a short space of time.

Again, this isn't evenly seen across the country (see Kent/Croydon), but this needs to be considered in how leaving care services (and orgs like us at @Become1992!) are supporting those aged 18+.

13/ We're worried about an increasing number of young people experiencing a #CareCliff when they turn 18 and leave care.

In good news, the numbers Staying Put are continuing to increase - although gradually. SP needs to live up to the promise it made to young people and carers.

14/14 Lots of other things have remained relatively steady year-to-year but are quite dramatic changes across multiple years (e.g. age profile of those in and entering care; type of first placement in care etc).

Just ask if you've got any Qs and do keep an eye on @Become1992.

15/14 (sorry...)

As ever, important to remember the individual people and experiences behind every one of these big faceless national-level statistics. It's easy to get drawn into these, but crucial to take our insight from those with lived experience primarily.