Children’s care system undergoing a ‘silent crisis’

A new report has claimed that nearly 50,000 vulnerable children are being cared for in areas where local council services are failing them.

Looked-after Children - The silent crisis, published by the Social Market Foundation, analysed inspection data from Ofsted and found that 63 per cent of local authorities in England are providing services for children in need of care which either ‘require improvement’ or are simply ‘inadequate’.

Based on those calculations, the report argues that 47,085 children, representing 65 per cent of all looked-after children, are looked after in local authorities that are deemed to be falling short of a good standard.

The importance of good care is being specifically highlighted in exam result season, with reports finding that only 14 per cent of looked after children achieve five good GCSEs, whilst almost 25 per cent of the adult prison population has previously been in care. Further to this, nearly half of all children in care had a diagnosable mental health issue in 2015.