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Factors associated with re-entry to out-of-home care among children in England

Mc Grath-Lone, L; Dearden, L; Harron, K; Nasim, B; Gilbert, R; (2017) Factors associated with re-entry to out-of-home care among children in England. Child Abuse & Neglect , 63 pp. 73-83. 10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.11.012. Green open access

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Abstract

Exiting and re-entering out-of-home care (OHC) is considered a disruption to permanence which may have long-lasting, negative consequences for children due to a lack of stability and continuity. Each year approximately one-third of children in OHC in England exit, but information is lacking on rates of re-entries and associated factors. Using national administrative data, we calculated rates of re-entry among children exiting OHC from 2007 to 2012, identified key child and care factors associated with re-entry using Cox proportional hazards modelling, and developed a simple probability calculator to estimate which groups of children are most likely to re-enter OHC within three months. Between 2007 and 2012 re-entries to OHC in England decreased (from 23.3% to 14.4% within one year of exit, p<0.001), possibly due to concurrent changes in the way children exited OHC. Overall, more than one-third of children exiting OHC in 2008 re-entered within five years (35.3%, N=4076), but rates of re-entry varied by child and care characteristics including age, ethnicity, mode of exit, and placement stability. Based on these associated factors, we developed a calculator that can estimate the likelihood of rapid re-entry to OHC for a group of children and could be used by social care practitioners or service planners. Our findings provide insight into which groups of children are most likely to re-enter OHC, who may benefit from additional support or ongoing monitoring.

Type: Article
Title: Factors associated with re-entry to out-of-home care among children in England
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.11.012
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.11.012
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Looked after children, Out-of-home care, Permanence, Re-entry
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Health Informatics
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1530814
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