Attainment and Behaviour of Children in Care and at Home

Abstract

This paper reports findings from a longitudinal study on the educational progress and behaviour of children in long‐term foster care and a ‘comparison’ group of children receiving social work support while remaining with their birth families. The study reinforces earlier research showing low attainment and high levels of behaviour problems among children ‘looked after’ in local authority care and children in need living in the community. It was found that children with substantial behavioural problems (that is, who showed indications of behavioural disorder) had significantly lower educational attainment than did those without major problems. But even the foster‐children who did not show indications of behavioural disorder scored below the national average in standardised tests of educational attainment, and showed no sign of relative improvement over the course of the study.