Reforming care proceedings 3: Insights from data linkage

Summary report from the Outcomes for children before and after care proceedings reform study which provides key findings obtained through linking information on care proceedings to data on children in the Department for Education's Looked after children (SSDA903) and Children in Need (CiN) datasets. A substantial minority of the children involved in care proceedings never entered care; a substantial proportion left care at the end of the proceedings. In this sample, children only left care subsequently when they were adopted or reached age 18 years. Reform to care proceedings resulted in fewer but quicker adoptions.