The potential of secondary data sources to explore the life chances of looked‐after children in the care system in the UK
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17466660200700015 |
| Date | 01 August 2007 |
| Published date | 01 August 2007 |
| Pages | 39-47 |
| Author | Shalhevet Attar,Gillian Parker,Jim Wade |
39
Journal of Children’s Services
Volume 2 Issue 2 August 2007
© Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd
Abstract
Several studies have used secondary data sources in order to learn about outcomes for adults who have
been in contact with the care system in childhood. This article discusses two of the large-scale
longitudinal datasets in the UK that are available to researchers and which include information on adults
who were looked after in childhood: The National Child Developmental Study (NCDS) and The British
Cohort Study (BCS70). These databases are considered to be among the best sources available to
investigate long-term outcomes for looked-after children in the UK. This article describes these databases
and the use made of them by researchers exploring the life chances of looked-after children. It also
identifies the advantages as well as the limitations of these datasets and presents implications for this
field of research.
Key words
looked-after children; existing data sources; life chances; adult outcomes
1Postdoctoral Fellow,
Social Work
Research and
Development Unit,
University of York,
UK
2Director of Social
Policy Research
Unit, University of
York, UK
3Senior Fellow and
an Acting Co-
Director, Social
Work Research and
Development Unit,
University of York,
UK
Introduction
In recent years there has been increasing concern
regarding the needs of young adults who were
formerly looked after. In the UK, in 2005–2006, a total
of 80,015 children and youth were looked after (60,300
in England; 12,750 in Scotland; 4,529 in Wales; and
2,436 in Northern Ireland; Mooney et al, 2006). Around
10,075 young people aged 16–18 years and over left
care in the UK in 2005–2006 (DfES, 2006).
The investigation of care leavers’ outcomes is of
great importance as it may assist in identifying poor
outcome risk groups among care leavers and provide
an evidence base to support developments in policy
and practice. This article considers two large-scale
longitudinal datasets in the UK that are available to
researchers and which include information on adults
who were looked after in childhood: The National
Child Developmental Study (NCDS) and The British
Cohort Study (BCS70). The article describes these
databases and the use made of them by researchers
exploring the life chances of looked-after children. It
also identifies the advantages and the limitations of
these datasets and presents implications for this
field of research.
There is a growing body of research regarding
outcomes of children transitioning from out-of-home
care in the UK as well as in other Western countries.
International and national research has revealed
that young people and adults who were formerly
placed in public care are more likely than young
people who have not been in care to have poorer
educational and occupational qualifications, and
poorer housing, emotional, mental health and social
condition outcomes (eg. Courtney & Dworsky, 2006;
Gibbs, Sinclair & Stein, 2005; Hobcraft, 1998; Pecora
The potential of secondary data
sources to explore the life
chances of looked-after children
in the care system in the UK
Shalhevet Attar1, Gillian Parker2and Jim Wade3
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