Abused children ‘better off in care’

Trying to reunite maltreated children with families runs a high risk of failure, report shows

Children who are taken into care because they have suffered abuse or neglect are usually better off staying in care rather than being returned to their families, research for the government has found.

Decisions to try to reunite maltreated children with their families should be taken only “with considerable caution” because of the high risk of failure, according to the study of almost 4,000 cases across seven local authorities.

The team behind the research is stressing that it should not be interpreted to mean that abused children should never return home. But the findings will inevitably spark controversy among critics who think social workers are too ready to take children into care and keep them there.

The research report concludes: “Although the care system is rightly criticised for its weaknesses, this study has shown that for many maltreated children, it can provide an opportunity for children to feel safe, reshape their lives and take advantage of opportunities that had previously been closed to them.”

At least six in 10 of the 63,000 children “looked after” by local councils in England are taken into care for reasons of abuse or neglect. The study, by the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York, was commissioned by the former Department for Children, Schools and Families, now renamed the Department for Education, to get a better picture of how they fare.

Researchers tracked what had happened over a three-year period to 3,872 children who had been looked after by seven unidentified councils at some point in 2003-04.

In addition, the team carried out an in-depth survey of 149 of the children, analysing their case records and reviewing what became of them up to four years later. Eleven of the children and nine birth parents were interviewed.

The study found that as many as 89% of the children had suffered maltreatment, most commonly a combination of physical and emotional abuse, and they were less likely than others to have been returned home.

In the cases of maltreated children who were returned, however, there had been “significantly higher” levels of concerns than among those who stayed in care. More than a third had gone back into care within six months and 59% had done so at least once by the time of the final follow-up.

Children who were returned to their families required more social work support and other services than did those who remained in care, whether fostered or living in children’s homes.

On a broad measure of wellbeing, including behavioural development and adjustment to school, children who stayed in care throughout the period were found to have done best. Not only did they fare better than those who were returned home unsuccessfully, but they fared better also than those who did make “successful” returns to the family home.

The researchers conclude: “There was no evidence that this finding could be explained by greater difficulties among children who went home and this suggests, overall, that remaining looked-after is likely to enhance the wellbeing of maltreated children.”

The findings were welcomed by children’s charity NCB as a rare endorsement of the value of the care system and a timely warning against returning children prematurely to formerly abusive households.

Sheryl Burton, NCB’s director of social inclusion, said the study also highlighted the importance of proper planning for a child to return home. Successful returns were characterised by a slower process, full involvement of the child in the arrangements and taking a complete picture of the family history.

“What we have found is that sometimes practitioners place too much emphasis on a small change in the family situation rather than looking at the whole history, which is incredibly important,” Burton said.