Judging when it is safe for a child who has been taken into the care of the state to return home to their birth family is one of the toughest decisions children's social workers face. In most cases, the care plans of looked-after children will be working towards successful reunification of a family that has been split apart. But as the evidence shows (see box), around a third of children who return home end up re-entering care within a few years.
By their very nature, the home circumstances in which neglected and vulnerable children live are often chaotic and complex, so the failure of a family reunification may be down to the re-emergence of a parent's deep-rooted problems.
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