Permanently progressing? Phase two: middle childhood

This project will examine the journeys of looked-after children through the Scottish care system. It will explore whether and how permanent placements are achieved; the children’s emotional, educational, social and health outcomes; and the support they and their caregivers access and find useful.

In 2018, 14,738 children were looked after in Scotland. Until recently, little was known about children’s experiences and pathways through the Scottish care system. The Permanently Progressing? study is addressing these gaps by gathering information on all 1,836 children who became looked after in Scotland when aged five or younger in 2012-13. The first phase of the project conducted between 2014-18 analysed children’s pre-care experiences, pathways and early outcomes. This second phase will revisit the cohort children in middle childhood (now aged between 7 and 13 years). It is being jointly funded by the Nuffield Foundation and a philanthropic donor.

The researchers will obtain administrative data on the 1,836 children from 2016 to 2022 from the Children Looked After Statistics (CLAS) database. This will be linked to education data from: the national Pupil Census (including on additional support needs); Attendance, Absences and Exclusion data; and the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (CfE) data. Descriptive analysis, multivariate linear and logistic regression, sequence analysis and survival analysis will be used to explore the factors associated with achieving permanence, and the extent to which a child’s route to permanence and legal status appear to influence their outcomes.

The project will also seek updates on the status of 643 children in the original sub-sample via a caregivers survey. The caregiver survey will focus on the child’s well-being and will be distributed via local authorities to kinship carers, foster carers and adoptive parents.

This survey will be followed by face-to-face qualitative interviews with 20 caregivers (kinship carers, foster carers and adoptive parents). These will explore children’s development and progress, family and relationships, and the sources of support that have helped, would have helped, or might help in future.

In Phase 1 the researchers were able to ‘play and talk’ with 10 children aged three to eight years. In this phase, ‘snack and chat’ interview sessions will be held with 20 children to explore their perspectives on being part of a kinship, foster or adoptive family, their connections with other important people, school and friendships, and experiences of support services.

Ten birth parents with direct or indirect contact with a child living permanently away from them will be interviewed to explore patterns of contact and support, relationships with the child and the family looking after them, and how these have changed over time. The findings from this project will provide important information for families, practitioners and policymakers in Scotland and internationally, to influence more effective services and better outcomes for children and families.