While 27% of care leavers and looked-after children say they have a disability or long-term health condition, less than half of this proportion have their disability recorded by their council.
Inconsistent definitions across councils is a major factor, with a wide regional variation in the proportion of children in care and care leavers recorded as having a disability.
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One council that responded revealed that just 3% of care-experienced young people in its area are recorded as having a disability. Meanwhile in another area the proportion is just under a third.
Among care leavers regional differences are starker, ranging from 1% to just over a third.
Many neurodiverse care-experienced young people’s needs are being ignored, due to council failings, found the research.
Local authorities are too often focused on physical disabilities and learning impairments, while ignoring ‘invisible’ disabilities such as autism and ADHD.
Mental health challenges, including depression anxiety and PTSD are also not being recorded as a disability by councils.
Professionals spoken to by researchers said a lack of resources is a problem. One said children were being viewed as “not disabled enough”.
The findings have been revealed by children’s care charity Coram Voice and is based on data from Freedom of Information requests to 153 councils.
Today we're proud to publish groundbreaking research into the experience of children in and leaving care with a disability or long-term health condition in England. We've found that too many young people risk missing out on the help they need. https://t.co/t9Wrat2FWI pic.twitter.com/6UpKSpGlqa
— Coram Voice (@CoramVoice) October 2, 2024
Coram Voice is calling on councils and central government to improve the way they record disabilities among care-experienced young people. This should more often include hearing directly from young people.
Councils need to focus on creating services locally that support “the range of needs of disabled children in care and care leavers”. This should ensure staff are confident and skilled in delivering personalised care plans.
“To be sure the rights of disabled children in care and care leavers are upheld, we must know who they are and how they are doing,” said Coram Voice senior practice advisor and report author Claire Baker.
“Our work has revealed significant disparity in the numbers recorded by local authorities. It has highlighted that young people’s voices are missing.
“It's clear that whatever way disability is measured we are talking about a significant group of children in care and care leavers affected, it’s shocking that we know very little about how they are doing.
“Improving data and all of us being more curious about disability in our work with care-experienced young people are changes we need to see.”
