© British Association of Social Workers
The Background of Children who enter Local Authority Care
Andrew Bebbington is a Senior Research Fellow and Assistant Director of the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent at Canterbury.
John Miles is a Research Associate at the PSSRU.
Andrew Bebbington, PSSRU, Cornwallis Building, The University, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF.
Summary
The family backgrounds of 2500 children admitted to care in England were investigated, to quantify the association between indicators of material and social deprivation and entry to care. These indicators are more closely associated than in Packman's national survey of 1962. Broken family is the most significant factor, though there are several alternative explanations for this, which have quite different policy implications. When allowance is made for other social factors, children from particular ethnic minorities do not seem specially vulnerable, though children of mixed race are. The study confirms that many children who come into care after an offence have experienced similar deprivations to non-offenders. There remain great variations between authorities in children's routes into care, but less so in the circumstances of the children themselves.
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