While research has consistently shown that children in out-of-home care tend to face poorer health and educational outcomes than their peers, less is known about the children who receive social services support but remain with their families. These children, who often experience significant adversity and deprivation, encounter challenges that may be overlooked.
Research led by DECIPHer, with Dr. Sara Long as the Principal Investigator, has revealed new insights into the educational and health challenges faced by children involved with social care services. While many studies focus on care-experienced children, this research shines a light on a largely overlooked group: children in need or children on the child protection register. These children remain with their families but still encounter significant adversity, which has often gone unaddressed in research and policy.
We spoke with Dr. Emily Lowthian to learn more about the research and how the team used SAIL Data to uncover these findings.
This research was a collaborative effort from academics across multiple universities and institutions.
Why is this research needed?
When this research was initially funded in 2018, this was the first linkage study to use data on children’s social service intervention and their health and educational outcomes funded by the Economic Social Research Council.
Current research focuses on health and educational outcomes of care-experienced children but there is a hidden population of children who are identified as a ‘child in need’, and within that, being placed on the child protection register. These are important distinctions as while these children are not removed from their parents, they still face considerable adversity. In addition to this, many research papers do not adjust for adversity experienced such as having a parent with a common mental health disorder, alcohol problems, and so on. This research addresses these gaps by exploring education and health outcomes of children in need, children on the protection register, and care-experienced children adjusting for an array of adverse experiences in childhood.
What are the aims of this research?
The study focuses on three main aims:
- To understand if the type of social services intervention – children in need, children on the protection register, and care-experienced children – is associated with worse education and health outcomes compared who children who did not receive social care intervention in Wales, UK.
- To explore the extent to which the association between social service intervention and outcomes is explained by prior adverse childhood experiences including living with someone with mental illness, alcohol abuse, or the child experienced physical abuse.
- To estimate whether social service intervention has a protective effect when accounting for the association between ACEs and outcomes.
How was SAIL Databank used in this research?
The team used the Welsh Electronic Cohort of Children (WECC) from the SAIL Databank, which provides demographic data on Welsh children born between 1998–2000. They linked this data with routine records on health, education, and social services to accurately assess the children’s exposures and outcomes over time.
‘There is a hidden population of children who are identified as a ‘child in need’, and within that, being placed on the child protection register. These are important distinctions as while these children are not removed from their parents, they still face considerable adversity.’ Dr Emily Lowthian
What is the anticipated impact of this research?
This research highlights that children who have any social service intervention warrant equal attention compared to children who enter the care system. Specifically, children who only had intervention without removal were at specific risk for lower educational attainment, evidencing that all children with social care intervention warrant further attention and support to reach their potential at school.
The team intend to use this research to inform Government policy and practice when opportunities arise including calls for evidence, consultations, committee informants, and delivering presentations for Policy Forum Wales. As a research collective, they are continuing to build a body of evidence to better understand children’s risks, experiences and identify areas for support and intervention. Having access to population-level data on these issues makes for a strong evidence base to begin informing policymakers and improving children’s lives.
Funding and Collaborators
This study was funded by the Economic Social Research Council (ES/R005478/1) as part of the Secondary Data Analysis Initiative, with support from various institutions and research centers, including:
- Cardiff University: SPARK, Wolfson Centre, DECIPHer, CASCADE, Division of Population Medicine
- University of Aberdeen
- Cardiff Metropolitan University
- Population Data Science, Swansea University
- Public Health Wales
Read the full paper: Hidden Children: Uncovering Educational and Health Disparities Linked to Social Care Involvement
This article was originally published by SAIL Databank: https://saildatabank.com/hidden-children-uncovering-educational-and-health-disparities-linked-to-social-care-involvement/.