The research led by Kingston University and the National Children’s Bureau examines the relationship between assessed risk factors, collected by social workers as part of child and family assessments, subsequent interventions, and educational outcomes. This gives a unique picture of demand for children’s social care services in England and how these have changed over time.
The report gives insight into the combinations of risk factors which are most prevalent to different cohorts of young people and the effectiveness of interventions. The study looked at 3.6 million social care assessments and linked these to a range of social care and education outcomes, including child protection and care interventions, re-referrals and re-entries to care, school exclusions, and educational attainment.
Key highlights of the research were that domestic abuse and violence were prevalent in 20% of assessments followed by concerns over drug or alcohol misuse.
Re-referral rates were highest amongst the cohort of children identified as having complex needs and older male children were more at risk from ‘risks outside the home’ and likely to be in local authority care.
The full report can be viewed at: