Looked after children

There are about 1,000 children and young people placed in secure settings at any one time on justice or welfare grounds. This cohort of children often have complex needs that span mental health, neurodevelopmental need, substance misuse, and physical health, which can be hard to reach through tradit...

Local authorities and partner agencies have a duty to be corporate parents to children in care, but research tells us that children in care have, on average, poorer health outcomes, increased mental health problems, poorer educational attainment, increased risk-taking behaviour, and an increased ris...

The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) has published the latest in a series of reports on the impact of the pandemic on children. The reports are based on their observations made during inspections of schools, early years settings and children's services durin...

There are many reasons why a child or young person might need to be looked after by the state, including abuse and neglect, family dysfunction, and a family in acute stress—all social disadvantages that arise more often in economically challenging times.

In February 2018 the RCPCH responded to this green paper by the Department for Health and the Department for Education. While we support the paper's ambition, we do not believe it is sufficiently ambitious to achieve the goals we outlined in our State of Child Health report. The green paper also mis...