Keeping in touch: Looked after children and young people’s views on their contact arrangements

Abstract

Research reviews of the contact arrangements for children in care have highlighted gaps in evidence. Using data from 9,316 looked after children in England and Wales aged four to 18 years, the analysis aimed to gain an understanding of children’s views of their contact arrangements. Data came from the Your Life, Your Care wellbeing surveys distributed by 42 English and Welsh local authorities between 2016 and 2020. The analysis confirmed some previous findings but challenged others. While previous UK research has emphasised that the quality of contact is more important than frequency, from the young people’s perspective frequency was equally important. Most children wanted more contact with specific individuals (and their pets) to understand why decisions had been made and wanted contact to be normalised and in the community at times to suit their and their family’s circumstances. Children in kinship placements more frequently had contact, but a quarter of the sample had no parental contact. Being in residential care, male and of an ethnic minority background were associated with dissatisfaction. Life satisfaction was not associated with whether parental contact was or was not occurring but was statistically associated with whether young people felt their contact arrangements were ‘Just right’. Recommendations for improving practice and a tool to help agencies audit their services have been developed. Plain language summary Professionals and the courts determine how often children and young people in care see or speak to members of their family. This study used a survey to ask over 9,000 children in care (aged between four and 18 years old) whether they were happy with their contact arrangements. Most children wanted to see their family, including brothers and sisters, more often. They also wanted to see other people who were important to them and their pets. Many children felt they did not understand why decisions had been made and wanted to see their family in the community and not in contact centres. Children who lived with a foster carer who was also a relative more frequently had contact with their families. Those who lived in residential care, were male or were from an ethnic minority background more frequently reported that they saw their families too little. However, satisfaction with contact was not linked to whether it was or was not occurring but whether children felt the frequency was ‘Just right’. For some children this meant no contact at all. Ways to improve practice are described.