Databank. Children looked after by local authorities

Citation

(1999), "Databank. Children looked after by local authorities", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 99 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.1999.01799baf.006

Databank. Children looked after by local authorities

Databank

Children looked after by local authorities

Figures showing the number of children looked after by local authorities in England were published recently. For the year ending 31 March 1997 the total number of children looked after at any time during the year was 88,700 or 79 for every 10,000 children under 18 resident in England. The number of children being looked after at 31 March 1997 was 51,600. This is 2 per cent higher than a year earlier and 5 per cent higher than in 1994. A total of 65 per cent of children looked after at 31 March 1997 were placed with foster parents and 40 per cent of children looked after at 31 March 1997 were aged under ten. Of the children starting to be looked after during 1996/7, 23 per cent had been, or were, at risk of being abused or neglected. This compared with 14 per cent in 1992/3.

Figures have also been released showing the numbers of children and young people on child protection registers in England for the year ending 31 March 1998. There were 31,600 of them, 2 per cent fewer than a year earlier. This figure represents 28 children per 10,000 population aged under 18. There were more boys than girls on the register at the end of the year, a reversal of the position a decade ago. Younger children were more likely than older ones to be on the registers. Of the children on the registers at 31 March 1998, 9per cent were aged under one, 30 per cent aged one to four and 31 per cent were aged five to nine.