Fostering and the importance of placement stability

As a brief follow up to the fostering blog about the recent publication of the Children’s Commissioner for England’s Stability Index; a closer look at some of the figures is enlightening. The headline statistic which is of most concern is that 71 per cent of Children in the care system in England experienced a change in their placement, School, or their social worker over a 12 month period. Placement moves and school moves were measured by analysing data sourced from the ‘Children Looked After Census’ and ‘School Census’ on children categorised as ‘looked after’ on March 31st 2016. Measurement of changes affecting social workers was produced from a pilot data collection exercise that involved the participation of twenty two Local Authorities representing nine regions.

The Information was drawn from three key stability measures: placements, social workers and children’s schools. This was was available for 7,269 children attending schools within the 22 pilot areas. Out of these children, 2 in 3 children (69%) experienced a change in at least one of the measures. Then 1 in 20 (5%) went on to experience a change in all three. If this was translated nationally, it would be the equivalent to roughly 2,000 children in care attending school experiencing a change in their placement, school – as well as social worker all occurring within the same year.

During the year 2015/16 the level of instability being experienced by children in care was scrutinised by focusing upon a group with particularly high levels of instability. This was defined as multiple placement moves in a year, multiple changes of social worker or a mid-year school change of school. It was found:

“1 in 3 children in care attending school (35%) had experienced at least one type of high instability over a 12 month period. This includes 1 in 16 children (6%) who experienced high instability across multiple measures. Finally, we estimate that across England as a whole around 220 children experienced high instability across all three measures in the same 12-month period. That means they experienced multiple placement moves and a mid-year school move and multiple social worker changes, all within in the same 12-month period.”

Fostering arrangements challenged by school moves.
Detailed work had been done finding results regarding instability around placement moves and then changes of social workers. These are concerning enough, but it is worth highlighting the picture emerging of school stability, as educational failure is the key determinant affecting the rest of a young person’s life. The information on school moves during the academic year 2015/16 for 40,068 children in school in England revealed that 14% (one in seven) changed schools over the summer. This was similar – 12% (one in eight) to the proportion of all children. It was then found that 10% (one in ten) changed school right during the middle of the academic school year. This was categorised as representing high school instability and was a far higher figure than for all children in school, which is 3% (one in thirty five).

It was also revealed that there were some regional differences that were significant in the numbers of children experiencing mid year school moves: this was after allowing for children’s characteristics. The picture that emerged was that overall this was higher amongst children living in the East of England and outer London, then lowest in the North West and North East. At this point, these differences cannot be explained: reasons put forward centred on variations in the quality of data as well as reporting and other characteristics of the local authorities that had not been allowed for.

Moving forward…
It is obviously a good thing that the Children’s Commissioner is intending to broaden these investigations, over time, to relate to work on the mental health of children in care. There has been much debate on this area in recent months with placement instability impacting directly upon the availability of mental health support services. Another fostering theme we shall be returning to…

Conclusion: fostering attention on a key conclusion.
Statistics paint a picture which can provide minute detail, the kind you would see – using the analogy of Pointillism in art – of the utmost and deliberate scrutiny of the subject matter. What is of prime importance is to address the issue of stability because of what the children themselves say: the report finds they identify that “stability is the most important aspect of their experience of care.”
Instability can prevent children forming relationships and developing a sense of security and identity as they move into adulthood. We are presented with an irony here: foster carers themselves are increasingly feeling insecure and affected by the issue of identity – as far as they are seen and valued by society. Each year that passes sees hundreds of foster carers giving up because they have become disillusioned. And this should not be happening as carers are one of the nations most valuable and under valued child care resources. In many ways they are unique within the social care system. They have a 24 hour a day responsibility for children who may be presenting with behavioural and/or emotional problems. Fourteen percent of foster carers are leaving the profession each year – a loss that cannot be afforded.

And the good news at the end of this fostering Rainbow…a great day out had by all this Easter – at the Young Mariners Base: organised by Richard our irrepressible Youth Participation Officer; our youngsters enjoyed a challenging experience.

Our fostering ‘Rewards’ bonus scheme explained.
We pay a bonus of £500 if you are fostering and are in a position to refer someone to become a foster carer with us. Once your referral has been approved – and the first placement has been made – you will receive the payment. If you already are an approved foster carer, and have a long term placement, it is easy to transfer to us. If you do this you will receive a bonus. Rainbow also provides information on a whole range of fostering issues such as foster carer pay: how long does it take to become a foster carer? Or even what is fostering? We are happy to give general information on how much do private fostering agencies pay? As well as the fostering allowance that you will be entitled to receive.

Read articles on our news section about fostering.
Take the time to look in on our special news section on the web site. There are many interesting articles to read if you have an interest in fostering children, or fostering babies. Just visit http://bit.ly/2e8PrIK

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