CYP Now - Foster care: policy context (1)

Latest Department for Education data on looked-after children shows that 71 per cent of the 80,850 children in care in 2020/21 were in foster placements, down on the 75 per cent peak in 2015.

Research found most council staff considered long-term foster care a positive permanence option. Picture: NDABCreativity/Adobe Stock

Since 2014/15, the overall number of children in foster care has risen by 11 per cent from 52,000 to 57,380 living with 45,000 foster families.

The proportion of fostered children placed with an unrelated carer has declined from 60 per cent in 2018 to 56 per cent last year, with a corresponding rise from 13 to 15 per cent in the proportion living with a relative or friend over the same period.

Around 64 per cent of fostered children are placed with local authority foster carers and 36 per cent with IFA carers. There is a similar split between councils and independent providers when it comes to fostering households. Fostered children tend to be placed closer to home than children in other forms of care setting.

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