The findings of a survey of more than 600 young people in care has found that a significant proportion of looked after children are uncertain about the reasons for being in care. The Your Life Your Care project, carried out by Coram Voice and the University of Bristol, involved surveying looked-after children in six councils. It found that half of young children (4-7 years) did not feel the reasons why they were in care had been fully explained and, although understanding increased with age, more than a quarter of teenagers did not fully understand why they were looked after. The report, Our Lives, Our Care: Looked after children’s views on their well-being, recommends that all children and young people are provided with age-appropriate accounts of why they are in care the reason for their contact plans with relatives.
High proportion of looked after children don’t understand why they are in care
