New Data resource profile: Children Looked After administrative records in Wales

New Data resource profile: children looked after administrative records in Wales

Children who are ‘looked after’ by the State are considered one of the most vulnerable groups in society. Being in State care is associated with poor social, educational and health outcomes. Exploring how to improve the system and better support children in care is key to improving these outcomes. When children and young people come to the attention of children’s social services a significant amount of information about their care experience is routinely collected by local authorities. In Wales, routine data are captured in the ‘Children Looked After’ Census which is submitted annually to the Welsh Government and has recently been shared with the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank.

A paper has now been published to provide an overview of the main ‘Children Looked After’ Census dataset
and its subsets. These datasets contain rich, situational and individual level data on children looked after, such as information on placement types, education and leaving care. The paper outlines the strengths and limitations of the available information and how to access the data.

Data resource profile: Children Looked After administrative records in Wales

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For further details, please contact Karen Broadhurst (k.broadhurst@lancaster.ac.uk).