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Amanda Sacker, UCL, Emily Murray, University of Essex and Rebecca Lacey, St Georges, University of London
(Project no. 1008925)
This study will explore the long-term consequences of being cared for in institutional or family settings using data from ONS LS. Study members who were children at the time of each decennial census and living in i) residential care; ii) as an unrelated member of an individual household; iii) as a biological or adopted child in a parental household; and iv) as a child in a relative household. These subgroups allow comparison of outcomes (health, qualifications, work status and occupation, partnership and fertility history, and living arrangements) for children in residential and foster care family with children living with relatives. Groups from the 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001 census years will be pooled, creating a harmonised dataset. Regression models appropriate to the outcome measure will be estimated.
This project will deliver new information on the early- and mid-life outcomes of children in care, and contribute to expanding knowledge of outcomes of care in differing contexts. The findings will help to refine and make more specific our understanding of developmental patterns associated with being looked after in childhood. Current practice in advice and counselling with formerly looked-after adults tends to follow general guidelines, but lacks access to the scientific foundation provided by long term follow-up studies such as this. The study will provide much needed data on the long-term outcomes for looked-after children in differing placement settings, especially those placed with relatives.