Scottish Government

MAIN FINDINGS

Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Children Looked After Statistics 2008-09. This publication contains statistics on children who were looked after by or eligible for aftercare services from local authorities between 1 ^st April 2008 and 31 ^st March 2009.

The main findings are:

• At 31 ^st March 2009 there were 15,288 children looked after by local authorities, an increase of 3 per cent since 2008. The number of children looked after has increased every year since 2001, and is at its highest since 1983. ( Table 2.9, Chart 1).
• At 31 ^st March 2009, 39 per cent of children looked after were placed at home with parents, and 20 per cent were looked after by friends or relatives. Twenty nine per cent were looked after by foster carers. Ten per cent were in residential accommodation. ( Table 1.8).
• There were 5,194 children who started to be looked after in 2008-09, an increase of 1 per cent on 2007-08. The number ceasing to be looked after decreased by 3 per cent from 2007-08, to 4,386 in 2008-09. (Tables 2.1, 2.6)
• Forty per cent of young people ceasing to be looked after above school leaving age during 2008-09 had a pathway plan on the date they were discharged, and 42 per cent had a pathway coordinator. ( Table 1.20).
• There were 3,452 young people reported to be eligible for aftercare services on 31st March 2009. Thirty five per cent of those with known economic activity were in education, training or employment, a decrease of 7 percentage points on 2008. ( Table 1.24)
• At 31st March 2009 there were 2,123 children being looked after on a current planned series of short term placements. Just under half of all these were looked after in residential establishments. ( Table 1.30).