Information on the numbers and percentages of children looked after placed in foster care with (a) relatives or friends, (b) local authority-provided foster carers and (c) agency-arranged foster carers and (i) inside and (ii) outside the local authority area, is shown in the following table. The information is taken from table A3 of the Statistical First Release (SFR 27/2007) entitled ‘Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2007’. The SFR is located at
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000741/index.shtml
and table A3 can be found within the first set of Excel tables on the website.
Numbers Percentages Placement at 31 March 20034 20045 20055 20065 20075 20034 20045 20055 20065 20075 All children looked after at 31 March1,2 61,200 61,200 61,000 60,300 60,000 100 100 100 100 100 Foster placements 41,000 41,200 41,300 41,700 42,300 67 67 68 69 71 Foster placement inside Council boundary: With relative or friend 5,800 5,800 5,600 5,300 5,100 9 9 9 9 8 With other foster carer: provided by Council 21,900 21,000 20,400 20,000 20,200 36 34 33 33 34 arranged through agency 1,100 1,400 1,600 2,000 2,400 2 2 3 3 4 Foster placement outside Council boundary: With relative or friend 1,900 2,000 2,000 2,000 1,900 3 3 3 3 3 With other foster carer: provided by Council 4,900 5,100 5,200 5,400 5,300 8 8 9 9 9 arranged through agency 5,300 6,100 6,500 7,000 7,400 9 10 11 12 12 Placed for adoption6 3,800 3,600 3,400 3,000 2,500 6 6 6 5 4 Placed for adoption with consent with current foster carer (under S19AA 2002) 83,800 93,600 9360 10330 10130 126 126 121 131 0 Placed for adoption with placement order with current foster carer (under S21AA 2002) 8— 9— 10150 0 Placed for adoption with consent not with current foster care (under S19AA 2002) 8— 9— 93,100 112,700 11640 125 144 1 Placed for adoption with placement order not with current foster carer (under S21 AA 2002) 8— 9— 111,600 3 Placement with parents 6,300 5,900 5,800 5,400 5,100 10 10 9 9 9 Other placement in the community 1,300 1,500 1,500 1,600 1,600 2 2 3 3 3 Living independently 1,200 1,500 1,500 1,600 1,600 2 2 2 3 3 Residential employment — 10 10 — — — 0 0 — — Secure units, children’s homes and hostels 6,800 7,000 7,000 6,600 6,500 11 11 11 11 11 Secure unit inside Council boundary 40 30 30 20 30 0 0 0 0 0 Secure unit outside Council boundary7 210 210 220 170 170 0 0 0 0 0 Homes and hostels subject to Children's Homes regulations: inside Council boundary 3,300 3,200 3,000 3,000 2,900 5 5 5 5 5 outside Council boundary 2,700 2,600 2,600 2,300 2,300 4 4 4 4 4 Homes and hostels not subject to Children's Homes regulations 530 910 1,100 1,100 1,100 1 1 2 2 2 Other residential settings 600 560 560 570 610 1 1 1 1 1 Residential care homes 220 200 210 230 230 0 0 0 0 0 NHS Trust providing medical/nursing care 90 80 90 80 70 0 0 0 0 0 Family centre or mother and baby unit 170 130 150 120 150 0 0 0 0 0 Young offenders institution or prison 110 140 110 140 160 0 0 0 0 0 Residential schools 1,300 1,200 1,100 1,100 1,100 2 2 2 2 2 Missing -Absent for more than 24 hours from agreed placement 120 120 140 140 160 0 0 0 0 0 In refuge (section 51 of Children Act, 1989) —0 0 0 — — — 0 0 — — Whereabouts known (not in refuge) 40 40 20 20 30 0 0 0 0 0 Whereabouts unknown 80 90 120 120 120 0 0 0 0 0 Other placement 100 110 100 120 120 0 0 0 0 0 1 Source: SSDA903 return on children looked after. 2 Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short term placements. 3 Historical data may differ from older publications. This is mainly due to the implementation of amendments and corrections sent by some local authorities after the publication date of previous materials. 4 Figures are derived from the SSDA903 one third sample survey. 5 Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return which, since 2003-04 has covered all children looked after. 6 Since 2004-05 placed for adoption has been disaggregated by whether the placement is or is not with current foster carer. In 2006-07 placement also disaggregated according to whether consent was given or a placement order sought. 7 There are currently only 19 secure units operating in England therefore most placements will inevitably be outside the council boundary. 8-14 These figures are braced.