Factors associated with re-entry to out-of-home care among children in England

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• 作者：Louise Mc Grath-Lone^a ; ^b ; ^{louise.mc-grath-lone.13@ucl.ac.uk} ; Lorraine Dearden^a ; ^c ; Katie Harron^d ; Bilal Nasim^a ; ^c ; Ruth Gilbert^a ; ^b
• 关键词：Looked after children ; Out-of-home care ; Re-entry ; Permanence
• 刊名：Child Abuse & Neglect
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：63
• 期：Complete
• 页码：73-83
• 全文大小：815 K
• 卷排序：63

文摘

Exiting and re-entering out-of-home care (OHC) is considered a disruption to permanence which may have long-lasting, negative consequences for children due to a lack of stability and continuity. Each year approximately one-third of children in OHC in England exit, but information is lacking on rates of re-entries and associated factors. Using national administrative data, we calculated rates of re-entry among children exiting OHC from 2007 to 2012, identified key child and care factors associated with re-entry using Cox proportional hazards modelling, and developed a simple probability calculator to estimate which groups of children are most likely to re-enter OHC within three months. Between 2007 and 2012 re-entries to OHC in England decreased (from 23.3% to 14.4% within one year of exit, p < 0.001), possibly due to concurrent changes in the way children exited OHC. Overall, more than one-third of children exiting OHC in 2008 re-entered within five years (35.3%, N = 4076), but rates of re-entry varied by child and care characteristics including age, ethnicity, mode of exit, and placement stability. Based on these associated factors, we developed a calculator that can estimate the likelihood of rapid re-entry to OHC for a group of children and could be used by social care practitioners or service planners. Our findings provide insight into which groups of children are most likely to re-enter OHC, who may benefit from additional support or ongoing monitoring.