children in care Archives - Unforced Rhythms

The latest issue of Child Abuse Review is now available online, with an editorial by my co-editor, Jane Appleton in which she explores some of the complex issues of working with these children and young people, and the huge challenges they may face:

The papers in this issue revisit the very important subject of children in public

care, which Child Abuse Review most recently examined in a themed issue in

2014 (Appleton and Sidebotham, 2014). Signiﬁcantly, the latest statistics on

children looked after in England show a steady rise in the numbers of children

in care since 2009, with 69 540 children being ‘looked after’ at 31 March 2015,

‘an increase of 6% compared to 31 March 2011’ (Department for Education,

2015, p. 1). While this trend is not mirrored in Scotland or Wales, children

in the public care system are recognised as being some of the most vulnerable

in society with high levels of need, particularly around emotional wellbeing

and mental health (Bentley et al., 2016). In the UK, most children are placed

with foster families, with other placements including children’s homes, secure

units, hostels and with their parents under social care supervision. Children and

young people enter the care system for different reasons, but for many it is as a

result of abuse and neglect. The experience of being in care, as DEMOS (2010,

p. 11) has noted, ‘clearly serves some g roups of children better than others’ and

there is considerable interest in the outcomes of young people’s care

experiences.

Children in the public care system are recognised as being some of the most vulnerable

in society with high levels of need, particularly around emotional wellbeing

and mental health