Abstract
Educational outcomes for looked‐after children on the autism spectrum are significantly poorer than for autistic children not being looked‐after by their local authority (those ‘in care’), and poorer than for most other groups of children with special educational needs who are looked‐after in England. Such poor outcomes have led to calls for specific attention to be paid to the needs of autistic looked‐after children within the care of local authorities. There is also evidence that the numbers of autistic children being looked‐after by local authorities could be under‐represented in official figures. This study sought to find the current numbers of autistic looked‐after children formally recorded across local authorities in England, and whether their needs are given special attention via strategic planning and oversight, using freedom of information (FoI) requests sent to all local authorities in England. From the 147 (97%) local authorities who responded, approximately 3% of looked‐after children in England are recorded as having an autism spectrum diagnosis, although this is still very likely to be an underestimation. The majority of local authorities do not routinely monitor or report on the diagnostic status of autistic looked‐after children at a strategic level. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Highlights
According to the Department for Education (2017a), there were 72,670 children being looked-after by local authorities in England as of 31 March 2017
Our study found that there are approximately 3% of looked-after children formally recorded as having an autism spectrum diagnosis in England: nearly 1,800 children
This is more than the number reported by the Department for Education (2017a), likely due to categorisation differences, but is still an underestimation of the true picture, as some local authorities did not respond to our freedom of information (FoI) request or refused to supply relevant data
Summary
According to the Department for Education (2017a), there were 72,670 children being looked-after by local authorities in England as of 31 March 2017. The same statistical release showed that looked-after children in England underachieve relative to their non-looked-after peers at all key stages of education. At Key Stage 4 (age 14–16 years), only 17.5% of looked-after children achieved five GCSEs at grades A*–C, compared to 58.8% of their non-looked-after peers (Department for Education, 2017a). In England, under the Children Act 1989, a child is legally defined as looked-after by a local authority if he or she: (a) is provided with accommodation for a continuous period of more than 24 hours; (b) is subject to a care order; or (c) is subject to a placement order. A looked-after child ceases to be looked-after when he or she turns 18 years old
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