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The Department for Education (DfE) has published disability data on children in care and care leavers for the first time, providing new evidence about the experiences and outcomes of disabled children and young people in the care system.
The publication follows a recommendation made in Disability, Disparity and Demand by Dr Claire Baker and Linda Briheim-Crookall, which called for disability data collected through the Child in Need Census to be included in the annual statistics on children looked after and care leavers.
The report argued that the absence of such data meant disabled children in care and care leavers risked being overlooked in policy, planning and service design.
The newly published figures show that 11% of children in care have a recorded disability. Among care leavers, disability was recorded for 13% of those aged 17 to 21 and 14% of those aged 22 to 25. The figures are broadly consistent with findings from Disability, Disparity and Demand.
The data also indicate differences in the care experiences of children with recorded disabilities. A lower proportion were living in foster care, while higher numbers were living in children’s homes. They were also less likely to have been adopted or placed under a special guardianship order.
Disabled children in care were more likely to be living outside their local authority area and further from home. They were also more likely to be male and to enter care at older ages.
The most commonly recorded disabilities were learning disabilities, autism and “behavioural conditions”. Among care leavers, those recorded as having a disability were more likely to be not in education, employment or training.
The publication is intended to provide evidence to support planning, commissioning and service provision. However, concerns have been raised about the quality and consistency of disability recording across local authorities.
The Disability, Disparity and Demand research found substantial variation in how local authorities record disability, as well as a gap between administrative data and young people’s own accounts. While local authority data recorded disability among 13% of care leavers, more than a quarter (27%) of care leavers who took part in the Bright Spots Programme self-reported having a disability or long-term health condition.
The research said current recording systems do not align fully with the social model of disability or the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010. It also highlighted the absence of disabled children and young people’s own views from the data collected about them.
The publication has been welcomed as an important step towards making disabled children in care and care leavers more visible in official statistics. However, the organisations behind the research have called for further improvements to how disability is defined and recorded, greater use of children and young people’s own accounts, and more detailed analysis of the data.
The findings are intended to inform policy and practice, with the research emphasising the need for greater visibility to lead to improved understanding of the experiences and support needs of disabled children in care and care leavers.
To read the 'Children in need: A focus on disability' report in full, click here.
To read the 'Statistics: children in need and child protection' report in full, click here.
