FOI Request - Care Experienced Children
Request 101003664249
Update received for question 5 31-10-2024
1. Exclusions from School
a) Please confirm if your authority currently practices the formal or informal exclusion of care-experienced pupils.
b)If so, please specify how many pupils have been excluded since 5 February 2020 and the nature of these exclusions (formal vs. informal).
Formal Exclusion: The official removal of a pupil from school through a documented disciplinary procedure.
Informal Exclusion: The removal of a pupil from school without formal documentation or disciplinary procedures, such as being sent home.
2. Use of Restraint
a) Please provide the number of incidents where restraint was used on care experienced children and young people since 5 February 2020.
b) If restraint data is not recorded centrally, please confirm this.
Restraint refers to the physical intervention used to control or limit a young person’s movements to ensure safety.
3. Independent Advocacy Services
a) Please confirm whether your local authority provides independent advocacy services for care-experienced people across all stages of their lives.
b) If such services are limited or not provided, specify the age ranges and/or stages where advocacy services are accessible.
Independent Advocacy Services support care-experienced individuals by helping them express their views and make informed decisions independently from local authority services.
4. Breakdown of Adoption
Please provide the number of adoption breakdowns for care-experienced young people recorded since The Promise was published. If data on adoption breakdowns is not collected, please indicate so.
Adoption Breakdown refers to a disruption in the adoption arrangement, resulting in the child or young person being removed from the adoptive family.
5. Since 5 February 2020, please provide the number of groups of siblings in care who were separated for reasons other than safety in your local authority. If this data is not recorded, please confirm this.
Separation for reasons other than safety refers to the placement of siblings in separate care arrangements where the primary reason is not related to safety or the protection of one or more siblings.
Please provide any available data on requests made by care experienced young people (or their advocates) to maintain contact or relationships with their siblings since 5 February 2020. This may include formal requests, advocacy support cases, or any other record of such requests.
Clarification sought 04-11-2024