Study of children entering care in England finds rise is not due to asylum-seeking children
Growing numbers of children entering care since mid-2000s is mainly due to abuse and neglect
Dr Michelle Degli Esposti
The number of children entering care in England has been increasing since mid-2000s particularly due to abuse, neglect and acute/emergency reasons, according to the first longitudinal study to examine more than 50 years of care entry data.
Led by DSPI’s Dr Michelle Degli Esposti, the research analysed data on children entering care in nine regions of England between 1971 and 2024. The study, 'The epidemiology of violence against children in England, 1971-2024: A longitudinal ecological analysis of 1.7 million care entries' published in Social Science & Medicine, found substantial differences in care entry by age, sex and region, while challenging the assumption that recent increases are primarily driven by unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Co-authored by Dr Bridget Steele, Dr Anders Bach-Mortensen and Dr Ben Goodair, the study examined how children entering care have changed in the past five decades and explored the links between child poverty and children entering care for child protection reasons.
Children entering care in England
Although the overall rate of children entering care has fallen by 25% since 1971 – from 332.2 per 100,000 children to 250 per 100,000 in 2024 – the study shows that this decline masks a sustained increase since the mid-2000s.
Who is entering care?
The increase has not been evenly distributed across the population.
By sex:
- Boys enter care at a higher rate than girls, with an average difference of 2.6% each year between 1971 and 2024.
- For example, in 2024, 61% (19,716) of children entering care were boys, compared with 39% (12,599) who were girls.
By age:
- Between 2011 and 2024, the number of children entering care aged under 5 and those 5-15 years fell.
- In contrast, care entries among 16-18 year olds more than doubled, rising from 11.9% (3154) of new care entries in 2011 to 28.7% (9254) in 2024.
- Care entries rose most sharply among boys (an average increase of 1.6% each year) and adolescents (average increase of 7.6% each year) between 2011 and 2024.
Why are children entering care?
The study found that:
- Abuse and neglect are the main reasons for entering care, accounting for between 56.1% to 63.8% of new care entries from 2011 to 2024.
- Family-related stressors are the second most common reasons, including family dysfunction (9.6%-19.4%) and acute family stress (7.2%-10.6%) between 2011 and 2024.
- Between 2011 and 2024, emergency care entries (via emergency protection and interim care orders) increased by an average of 7.3% each year, reaching 3077 children in 2024.
'As children's care services are increasingly overburdened and with evidence of a ‘violence against children pandemic’ exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to better understand why this problem is growing and to develop evidence-based policies that focus on early intervention.'
Regional differences
The research also identified significant regional inequalities:
- Children living in deprived areas experienced higher rates of care entry for maltreatment, regardless of year.
- The North East saw an increase of 130.7 children per 100,000 entering care in 2024 compared to 2011, while London experienced a reduction of 59.5 per 100,000 over the same period.
- Regional differences were most evident in child protection-related care entries. For example, rates for children entering care for protection in the North East and South East increased substantially from 74.6% in 2011 to 114.1% in 2024. This is in contrast to London, which increased by only 4.3%, and East of England with an increase of 77%.
What is driving the increase?
There is a current perception that the changing profile of children entering care – particularly the growing proportion of older boys – is largely explained by increases in unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. However, the study found little evidence to support this explanation.
While asylum-seeking children may account for some of the increase among adolescents, they do not explain the full long-term rise. The increase in children entering care began before the recent growth in asylum-seeking children, and the scale of the increase is substantially larger than can be attributed to this group along.
Instead, the findings suggest that the upward trend since 2005 reflects an increase in actual, perceived, and/or reported number of children at risk of violence in England.
Policy implications
These finding have important implications for policymakers as the assumption, linking the rise in numbers to asylum-seeking children, risks overlooking wider structural factors affecting children’s safety and wellbeing.
The study also reinforces the strong link between child poverty and children entering care, where historically socially disadvantaged areas persistently have higher rates of children entering care for child protection reasons.
The researchers conclude that long-term preventive policies are needed, addressing structural disadvantage as well as supporting a responsive child protective service which can protect children during periods of economic and societal disruption.