England

Overview

• There are 82,170 children in the care system in England, an increase of 2% from 2021.⁹
• 31,010 children entered the care system in 2022, a 9% increase from 2021.¹⁰
• 30,070 children left the care system in 2022.¹¹
• 13% of children who left care in 2021 left under a special guardianship order and 10% left through adoption.¹²
• Children in care are predominantly older with 39% aged 10-15 years and 25% aged 16 years and over.¹³
• During 2021/22, 69% of children in care had one placement in the year, while 10% experienced high instability (3 or more placements).¹⁴

Fostering

• 70% of children in care live with a foster family (n=57,540).¹⁵
• There are 43,905 fostering households and 61,360 foster carers in England.¹⁶

Adoption

• In 2022, 2,950 children were adopted, a 2% increase from 2021.¹⁷
• The average age of a child at adoption is 3 years and 3 months.¹⁸
• In 2022, the average time between a child entering care and being placed for adoption was 1 year and 6 months, up from 1 year 4 months last year. It then takes a further 9 months (on average) for an adoption order to be granted and the adoption to be completed.¹⁹
• As of October 2022, there were 1,990 children waiting for adoption. 52% of these children have been waiting 18 months or more.²⁰
• In 2022, Children aged over 5, male, from an Ethnic Minority (excludes White minorities) background, with a disability and in a sibling group were more likely to be waiting with a PO and less likely to be adopted.²¹

Care leavers and care-experienced young people

• Over 10,000 young people in England age out of the care system every year on their 18^th birthday.²²
• Care leavers make up 25% of the homeless population.²³
• Almost 25% of the adult prison population have previously been in care,²⁴ and nearly 50% of under 21-year-olds in contact with the criminal justice system have spent time in care.²⁵
• 7% of care leavers aged 17 years; 4% of care leavers aged 18 years and 6% of care leavers aged 19-21 are in accommodation considered to be unsuitable.²⁶
• 41% of care leavers aged 19-21 years are not in education, employment, or training (NEET), compared to 12% of all 19- to 21-year-olds.²⁷
• Just 13% of care leavers enter HE by their 19th birthday, compared to 45% of the wider population.²⁸ Care-experienced applicants are 179% more likely to apply for health and social care than non-care-experienced students, and 50% more likely to apply for nursing and midwifery.²⁹

Scotland

Overview

Please note: A child who is ‘looked after’ in Scotland includes all children looked after by a local authority, including some who remain living at home with their parents. Scotland is unique in this compared to the other UK nations.
For the purposes of comparison with other UK nations, ‘children in care’ in this section refers to children who are looked after away from their home or parents, unless otherwise specified.

• There are 10,396 children in care in Scotland, a 5% decrease from 2020.³⁰
• 2,738 children entered the care system in 2021, a decrease of 22% from 2020.³¹
• 3,856 children left the care system in 2021, an increase of 16% from 2020.³²
• Just 4% of children ceasing to be looked after had been looked after for under 6 weeks – the lowest this figure has been (since 2003).³³
• 12% of children in care live in residential settings (n=1,286).³⁴

Fostering

• Approximately 43% of children in care live with a foster family (n=4,467).³⁵
• There are approximately 3,540 approved foster care households in Scotland.³⁶
• 42% of children in care live with kinship carers (n=4,399).³⁷

Adoption

• Of children who left care in 2021, 6% went on to be adopted (n=224), a figure which has remained stable since 2011 (6%).³⁸
• 66% of children adopted were under the age of five.³⁹

Care leavers and care experienced young people

• 29% of school leavers who were in care during 2020/21 were not in further or higher education, employment, or training 9 months after leaving school, compared to 7% of all school leavers.⁴⁰
• 25% of prisoners self-identified as care experienced, with 16% of care experienced prisoners having had more than six different placements whilst in care.⁴¹
• It is estimated that 17% of young people leaving care who are eligible for aftercare go on to make a homeless application.⁴²

Wales

Overview

• There are 7,080 children in care in Wales, a decrease of 2% (n=167) 2021.⁴³
• 1,691 children entered the care system in 2021/22, a decrease of 4% (n=71) from the previous year.⁴⁴
• 1,839 children left the care system during 2021/22, an increase of 9% from the previous year.⁴⁵
• 23% of children in care are aged 5-9 years, 39% are aged 10-15 years, and 17% are aged 16 and over.⁴⁶
• There has been a gradual decline in the percentage of children looked after in foster care placements, from a high of 79% on 31 March 2011 to 69% on 31 March 2022.⁴⁷
• 9% of children in care had three or more placements during 2021/22.⁴⁸
• For the first time since 2014-15, more children left care than started to be looked after during 2021/22.⁴⁹

Fostering

• 69% of children in care live with a foster family (n=4,915).⁵⁰
• There has been a gradual decline in the percentage of children looked after in foster care from a high of 79% on 31 March 2011.⁵¹
• There are approximately, 3,800 foster families in Wales. ⁵²

Adoption

• 283 children were adopted from care in 2021/22, an increase of 4% from the previous year.⁵³
• The number of children adopted from care had been decreasing in recent years from a high of 385 children adopted during 2014-15.⁵⁴
• The average age of a child at adoption is 3 years and 4 months. ⁵⁵
• In 2022, the average length of time for children from entry into care to adoption was 2 years and 6 months.⁵⁶

Care leavers and care experienced young people

• In 2019, 54% of care leavers were in education, training, or employment 12 months after leaving care.⁵⁷
• Around 20% of homeless people in Wales are care leavers.⁵⁸
• 25% of adult prisoners are care experienced.⁵⁹

Northern Ireland

Overview

• There are 3,624 children in the care system in Northern Ireland, the highest number on record since the introduction of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.⁶⁰
• The number of children in care in Northern Ireland has risen by 37% in the last ten years and by 56% since 1999.⁶¹
• 899 children entered the care system in 2021/22, a similar number to the previous year (893).⁶²
• 777 children left the care system in 2021/22, a 7% increase from the previous year.⁶³
• In general, there has been a trend of children staying longer in care before being discharged. In 2007/08, 44% of children were discharged from care after less than three months of becoming looked after, compared with 13% in 2021/22.⁶⁴
• 41% of children in care are aged 12 years and over, compared to 33% of the general child population.⁶⁵

Fostering

• There are approximately 3,009 foster families in Northern Ireland.⁶⁶
• 83% of children in care live with a foster family (n=3,008).⁶⁷
• 54% of children in foster care are cared for by kinship carers (n=1,626).⁶⁸

Adoption

• 89 children were adopted from care during 2021/22, an increase of 56% from last year. The significant increase in the number of adoptions is likely to be linked to the impact of COVID-19 on services during 2020/21.⁶⁹
• In 2021/22, 57% (n=51) of the children were adopted as a single child adoption whereas 43% (n=38) were adopted as part of a sibling group.⁷⁰
• The average age of a child at adoption is 4 years and 6 months, eight months older than the previous year.⁷¹
• Children wait on average 3 years and 4 months to be adopted.⁷²

Care leavers and care experienced young people

• In 2020/21, there were 570 care leavers aged 16-19 years.⁷³
• Of care leavers aged 19 years, 70%* are in education, training, or employment, a slight decrease from the previous year (*for whom information was available).⁷⁴
• 20% of care leavers aged 16-18 years have a Statement of Educational Need compared with the general school population at 5%.⁷⁵

Global

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC)

• In 2020, worldwide, 21,000 children applied for asylum having arrived in the country of refuge alone, with no parent or guardian. ⁸²
• In the year ending June 2022, the UK received 4,896 applications for asylum from unaccompanied children. ⁸³
• As of 31 March 2022, there are 5,570 UASC in care, an increase of 10% on the number on 31 March 2020 (prior to the pandemic).⁸⁴
• UASC make up 7% of children in care in England.⁸⁵
• 95% of UASC are male⁸⁶ and 87% are aged 16 years and over.⁸⁷

Orphanages

• There are an estimated 5.4 million children living in orphanages around the world.⁷⁶
• On average, 80% of children living in orphanages have at least one living parent.⁷⁷
• Research shows that poverty, rather than abuse or neglect, is the main driver causing parents to relinquish their children to orphanages.⁷⁸
• Over 80 years of research shows that institutional care has detrimental effects on children’s physical, cognitive, social, and psychological development.⁷⁹
• In 2018, regular churchgoers were 7 times more likely than British adults overall to say that they were actively involved with visiting or volunteering in overseas orphanages (7% vs. 1%).⁸⁰
• In 2019, 44% of practicing Christians said that they had financially supported an overseas residential care facility in the past 12 months.⁸¹

For more information on how to support vulnerable children overseas, please visit our Homecoming project website.