What forms of 'care' are there?

'Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.'

Robert Frost, poet   

Most children in care will be placed in foster care, but around 28% are placed in children's homes, special homes for disabled children and - in a few cases - secure facilities for young offenders who would otherwise be in the criminal justice system. Some children are adopted, but the average age for adoption is four - older children are much more likely to stay in some form of care.  Then there's kinship care where the child is cared for by other relatives.

Generally, the system is under some strain - there aren't enough foster carers or social workers and money is tight.  This may lead to decisions being made that are in the interest of the system rather than the child.  Some children are moved multiple times during their life in care.  This isn't just educationally inconvenient, it also means that children can't point to any single person who has consistently loved and supported them.  A series of temporary homes means no home at all.

We believe that when placing a child in care, the aim should first be to find somewhere where they can be happy and productive, and then to make sure they stay there - unless the child's birth family's circumstances improve to the point where they can provide good enough care.    

What we're doing

In 2009, we're working on a new CD-ROM which will help foster carers to support the aspirations of children in care.  We also look at how to avoid children yo-yo-ing in and out of the system in our publication The Journey Home, which explores how to create the best chances of making reunification with the child's birth family work.

Children write to us all the time through our magazines, telling us what their life is like in a variety of care settings.  This means that when we talk to government and local authorities about life in care, it's informed by the perspective of the recipients of that care.