1168 Do I LAC anything? – Looking at reasons why a child is placed into care – a single centre study. (17th August 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Banerjee, Tapomay; Khan, Amjad; Ajmal, Samira; Arora, Rishi; Przyborek, Dominika; Fernando, Callum
• Is Part Of: Archives of disease in childhood. Volume 107(2022)Supplement 2
• Page Start: A84
• Page End: A84
• Publication Date: 2022-08-17
• Subjects: Children -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Infants -- Diseases -- Periodicals; 618.920005
• DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2022-rcpch.134
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-9888

Abstract

Abstract : Aims: Children and young people (CYP) who are looked after (LAC) by local authorities are seen by community paediatricians for their initial health assessments (IHA). They come into the care of local authorities because of various reasons and according to the latest Government statistics (1), 80850 children and young people are in care in England which is an all-time high (up by 1% from 2020 data). The objective of our current project was to look at the primary reasons for CYPs coming into care in our locality (Bedford borough and part of Central Bedfordshire). Methods: We looked at the SystmOne records for all LAC CYPs who were seen between 01/11/2020 to 31/10/2021 by community paediatricians in our department for their IHA. After obtaining necessary permissions from the trust, a list of these CYPs were prepared and authors looked at their records to access referral letter and IHA reports. Reasons for being looked after were documented in Microsoft Excel and data analysis was also done in Microsoft Excel. Results: We have completed the IHA of 199 children and young people during this one year. Out of them, we could not access the necessary information in 6 of them. 30(15.5%) of them were unaccompanied asylum seeker children and young people who were placed locally by authorities and they were not included in this study. In most of the cases, multiple reasons were documented in the referral letter and report. Out of 163 CYPs Domestic violence (80- 49.07%) and neglectful parenting (79- 48.46%) was recorded in majority of cases followed by parental mental health problems (56-34.35%), parental substance abuse (42-25.7%), physical abuse (36-22.08%), sexual abuse/at risk of sexual abuse/child sexual exploitation( 20-12.26%), learning difficulty in parents (9-5.69%) and others (21-12.89%) (Series 1). Educational neglect(1), teenage mother(1), drug use in young person(3), criminal activity by the young person(3), unable to keep the young person safe from gangs and violence (4), honour-based crime against the young person( 1) and parents unable to cope with child's behaviour (4) were noted among other reasons. Conclusion: The authors conclude that the majority of looked after children and young people in our area, end up in care for reasons beyond their control. Domestic violence, neglectful parenting, mental health problems in parents and parental substance abuse are the predominant reasons in our area. A small proportion of them had to be taken into care because of their behavioural difficulties, involvement with gangs and violence or substance use. Local authorities and other agencies working with children and vulnerable families should implement appropriate strategies to reduce these factors. We have also noted that 15.5% of looked after children in our area were unaccompanied asylum seeker children. Reference: Children looked after in England including adoptions, reporting year 2021 published on 18/11/2022. Children looked after in England including adoptions, Reporting Year 2021 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK (explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk) accessed 15 th February 2022.