Foster and kinship care: How do outcomes differ between formal (‘looked after’) and informal kinship care arrangements, and what explains these differences?
Background
The Independent Care Review made clear that stability and relationships must sit at the heart of children’s care. It highlighted that children should be “actively supported to develop relationships with people in the workforce and wider community” who are able to provide consistency, listen and act with compassion. It also emphasised that unnecessary moves, disruptions in care, and changes in social workers can damage trust, wellbeing, and long‑term outcomes. Ensuring stability is therefore about both where children live and who they interact with.
Despite this, we still do not fully understand how instability such as moves between homes whilst in the care system, changes in caregivers, or frequent turnover in social workers affects outcomes for children at different ages, nor what local factors help prevent disruption. More evidence is needed to understand the implications of instability for babies, children and young people, and what kinds of support, investment, or system changes can promote secure and lasting relationships.
Helping support a child’s pathway to permanence is central to ensuring they experience stable, loving relationships and a secure sense of home, and avoid prolonged uncertainty. This requires timely, well‑informed decisions about the right long‑term care arrangement for each child. Drift and delay can both prolong a child’s pathway to permanence, and more evidence is needed around the related causes, outcomes, and successful mitigations.
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