Children’s early care experiences and their educational attainment: a population data-linkage study in Wales

Care-experienced children are at risk of lower educational attainment. Duration of care is related to attainment, as is the type of placement(s) (e.g. foster care). To determine ‘what works’ for care-experienced children, our research examined: i) profiles of children on their care experiences, and ii) how these relate to educational attainment at age seven. Using anonymised, linked records in Wales, United Kingdom, we constructed an e-cohort of children born between September 2000 and August 2003. Data sources included births, children’s social care, primary health care, demographics and education. We conducted latent class analysis using a three-step approach, summarising social care experiences with attainment at age seven in English/Welsh and mathematics as a distal outcome. Seven profiles best fitted the data, using data on placement types, duration and age on entry. For the first six years of life, those who experienced foster care which progressed to adoption showed the highest attainment (~1.00 masked), whereas those children who entered foster care from their fourth birthday had the lowest attainment intercept (0.40, 0.13–0.68). From this, we argue that stakeholders should develop additional support for children whose placement is largely foster care, as this group was most at risk of low attainment.