Participation Works

The Children’s Rights Director for England has published a report on the experiences of looked after children and young people in England. The report is based on a survey of 362 children and young people invited to take part randomly from children’s homes and foster care across the country.

Key findings include that children in care saw the best things about being in care as meeting new people, having good staff and carers to look after them and having their own possessions. The survey found that children in foster care were more likely than those in children’s homes to say that having good carers or staff was a best thing about being in care.

The survey asked children and young people what were the worst things about being in care. The main things were being away from your family with 47% of children saying this, 19% said rules and 12% said nothing. The amount of time children had spent in care made some big differences to what they had experienced as the worst things about being in care. Children who had spent less than two years in care were most likely to say that the worst things included missing being with their family, having to move placements and keeping up with new rules when placed somewhere new. Those that had spent over six years in care were least likely to say that missing being with their family was one of the worst things about being in care.

Children responding to the survey were also asked did they feel they were treated better or worse than children and young people who were not in care. The majority of children who responded to the survey did not report ever being treated better or worse than others because they were in care. The survey also found that children that had spent a longer time in  care were more likely to have experiences of being treated worse rather than better compared to children and young people not in care.  The main ways that children and young people said they had been treated worse for being in care was being bullied with 16% of children surveyed saying this, 7% said people making assumptions about you and 3% said being treated worse at school. The survey also found that teachers can often treat children in care differently from other children. From a discussion group children said “people automatically think it’s a bad thing if you’re in care, especially your teachers at school.”

The survey also asked children what they thought the general public thinks of children in care. Almost half, 48%, thought the public saw them as bad and uncontrollable and 23% that they are troublemakers. Children and young people were also asked if they worry about people knowing they are in care. Almost half are worried about other children and young people, employers or landlords finding out they have been in care. For those concerned about employers finding out this was because they thought it could affect their chances of finding a job.

Speaking about the report, Roger Morgan, Children’s Rights Director for England said, “ Children  in care face a lot do challenges and unfortunately this can also include prejudices they encounter from other children, the general public, teachers and some professionals. Their concerns are understandable because not living with your birth family makes a big difference to your life experience.

Wed, 05/08/2009 - 13:55