Foster Care Fortnight, Day 3: England Day, Facts About Fostering In England
England Day
The number of looked after children across England continues to increase. As of the 31st March 2017 it was recorded that there were 72,670 looked after children in England. This is a 3% increase on the previous year. Previous year’s show, such as 2015 there were 69,500 looked after children, since this year there has been a 5% increase.
There have been little changes in proportion of children in each age group compared to the previous year. However, as you can see the largest age group of children who come into care are between the ages of 10 to 15. Therefore, there is an urge for foster carers to foster teenagers as well as children. Children come into care for a range of different reasons, the most common reason being down to abuse or neglect, 62% of children who come into care are for these reasons. 15% of children who come into care are because of different family dysfunctions, 8% are due to family acute stress followed by 7% absent parenting. 3% are due to parents’ illness or disability followed by another 3% due to a child’s disability. Lastly, 2% of this proportion is down to socially unacceptable behaviour.
This table shows the number of children looked after at 31st March placed in foster placements, England 2017.
| Placement Type | Number | Percentage |
| Total Foster Placements | 53,420 | 100% |
| Inside the council boundary | 33,270 | 62% |
| Outside the council boundary | 20,160 | 38% |
| With a relative or friend | 8,830 | 17% |
| With other foster carer | 44,600 | 83% |
There is an urgent appeal for foster carers across the country to help give children and young people to thrive in a happy loving home environment. We ask all our foster carers to have a spare bedroom. This is because the child or young person who comes into your care will need their own space which they can make their own, where they can re-adjust to their new surroundings. We also ask our foster carers to be flexible with age ranges and if they choose to work to also have flexible working hours. We encourage foster carers from all walks of life, to bring different real life experiences when caring for a child or young person.
We aim to ensure that each child’s needs are met and matched as closely as possible.
If you would like to know more about how you could become a foster carer, please contact us on 020 8799 0930 to speak to a member of our recruitment team.
