Our Lives Our Care

The charity Coram Voice and the University of Bristol carried out a national study on 2,263 children and young people aged between 4 and 18 about their experiences of being in care.

3 surveys were created looking at:

RELATIONSHIPS - Contact with birth parents, siblings and pets, trusting relationships with social workers, carers, and friends, stability of placements and social workers.

RESILIENCE - Having a key trusted adult, opportunities to play, have activities/ hobbies and access to the natural world, getting second chances, enjoying school, support for learning, learning life skills.

RIGHTS -  feeling safe and free from bullying, knowing and being able to contact your social worker and the right to speak in private. Feeling included in social work decision-making, not being made to feel different because of being looked after.

RECOVERY -  Feeling settled, liking bedroom, having sensitive carers, being trusted, parity with peers, access to computers/ tablets, support services to help with difficulties, having an age appropriate account of personal history, happiness with appearance and feeling that life is getting better.

Key findings:

• The majority (83%) of children and young people who completed the survey were white, reflecting the care population in the sample local authorities.
• The majority (77%) of children and young people were living in foster care, 16% were in kinship care, 3% were in residential care and 4% were living elsewhere such as in mother and baby homes, semi-independent living, a hostel, or with a parent.
• 22% of young people (11-18yrs) and 12%(8-10yrs) had no contact with either parent.
• 97% of children aged 8-10 years said they had a trusted adult. Young people (11-18yrs) were less certain: 85% responded that they had such a person in their lives.
  • 28% of children aged 8-10yrs were afraid to go to school because of bullying.
  • 83 % felt their life had improved.
  • 6% said they felt life had got worse.

The report calls for social workers and carers to do more to explain to children why they are in care and ensure every looked-after child has a trusted adult in their life. Social workers and carers should also ask children in care about their sibling relationships and intervene if sibling bullying is a problem, it adds.

 This is a great report. Click here to see the full report