What children and young people told us about their experiences of children’s homes and foster carers.

1. Children’s social care
questionnaires 2016: what children
told us
This slide deck sets out what children and young
people told us about their experiences of children’s
homes and foster carers

2. Background
 Each year, we use online questionnaires to gather views about children’s
homes, secure children’s homes, adoption services, fostering services and
residential family centres.1
 The questionnaires are for children and young people, parents, staff, social
workers and other professionals, such as independent reviewing officers.
 The questionnaires ran from 11 January to 3 April 2016 and we received
responses from 23,575 individuals.
 Our main purpose is to use the responses, along with other information
we have, such as previous inspection findings or any concerns, to decide
when to inspect and what to focus on when we do.
(You can find the footnotes at the end of the presentation.)
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 2

3. Who are the children we are talking about?
 There are 11.5 million children aged 0−17 years in England.
 70,440 are children looked after.
 74% of children looked after live with foster carers (51,850).
 8% of children looked after are in children’s homes (around 5,940).2
 2,859 children placed by 150 local authorities told us about their children’s
home or foster carers in our 2016 questionnaires.3
You can view the accompanying data here:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-care-questionnaires-2016-
what-children-and-young-people-told-ofsted
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 3

4. Key messages from 2016
Last year, we looked at what children and young people told us was good
about their children’s home or foster carers and what could be better.4
This year, we heard some important messages from children:
 children need to understand why they came into care
 children can find moving into a new home a difficult experience
 children need to be able to build relationships with adults they can trust
 children rely on the adults caring for them to help keep them safe.
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 4

5. Children need to understand why
they came into care
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 5

6. Most children told us they understand why they
came into care
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us
84
children’s homes (1091 total responses) fostering (1293 total responses)
4%90%
90% 4%
Yes NoYes No
84% 7%
I have been helped to understand why I am in care
Slide 6

7. Helping children to understand why they
came into care is important work
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 7
My foster mum explained in
great detail about why I am
in care. She did life story
work, which helped me
understand about my past. It
helped me a lot and I felt a
lot better once I understood
(age 10, fostering)
The field social worker
and staff have explained why
I'm in care. I understand the
situation and control my
emotions better now (age 16,
children’s home)
My social worker has
explained fully things to me,
also, my foster carers
always talk to me about
things going on if I am ever
confused about anything to
do with me being in care
(age 16, fostering)
They make sure I
understand and encourage
me to talk about it and if I
don't understand why then
they will always find out the
answers to my questions
(age 15, children’s home)

8. Not all children have been helped and
some need better support to understand
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 8
I don't really
understand why my
parents couldn't keep
me (age 10,
fostering)
No one has gone
through all of the
reasons with me (age
15, children’s home)
I have been
explained to but I still
don't understand
(age 13, children’s
home)
People just tell me I
can't go back to my
mum's (age 16,
children’s home)

9. Children can find moving into a
new home a difficult experience
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 9

10. Children don’t always get to find things out
about their new home
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 10
Around one in three children told us they didn’t
receive useful information before they moved
in or had a short break with their foster family
(1402 total responses)
Around one in four children told us they didn’t
receive useful information before they moved
in or had a short break at their children’s home
(1367 total responses)

11. Even fewer children get to visit their new
home
Some children already knew their foster carers because they
were family members or people they had visited for short
breaks; this may be why the figures are lower when compared
to children’s homes.
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 11
Around one in three children told us they weren’t able to
visit their children’s home before they moved in or had a
short break
(1366 total responses)
Around half of children told us they weren’t able to visit
their foster family before they moved in or had a short break
(1399 total responses)

12. Finding things out beforehand can help
children
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 12
I got a booklet about
the foster family with pictures of them,
my room, what the home looked like
and the birth children. I got it before
my first visit so I could ask questions if
I wanted to with my social worker. It
made me feel much better about where
I was going, less worried too
(age 15, fostering)
They let me have a
sleep over and had a
meal so I felt
comfortable before
moving (age 17,
children’s home)
My previous carers informed
me of my new family. My new
family made a DVD about
themselves and where I was
going to live. I watched this
with my then carers and on
my own (age 15, fostering)
They make sure I
understand and encourage
me to talk about it and if I
don't understand why then
they will always find out the
answers to my questions
(age 15, children’s home)

13. Some children didn’t know anything about their new
home or who they would be living with before they
moved in. Some told us they didn’t find anything out
because their move was unplanned or they couldn’t
visit because their new home was too far away.
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 13
All that was done the social
worker I had at the time
turned up and took me away.
I didn't have a single clue I
was being moved into
another foster home (age
13, fostering)
I wasn’t given any information
and was informed it was far
away and when I was brought
it was with strangers (age 14,
children’s home)
I was moved from a
previous placement without
having any knowledge of
who they were, where they
lived, nothing (age 16,
fostering)
I was not told
anything about it at all
and neither was my
family (age 14,
children’s home)

14. Children need to be able to build
relationships with adults they can
trust
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 14

15. Children told us that when other people have
picked on them or upset them, staff or foster
carers have helped and supported them by
getting involved and:
 helping children to deal with difficult situations and offering
support and reassurance
 talking to those involved
 contacting the school (where necessary) to get the situation
resolved
 taking action to stop it from happening again.
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 15

16. When children get the right help
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 16
We talk through things that have
upset me and they help me to put
things into perspective. Things do
not bother me as much now as they
would have done before I moved to
this family (age 15, fostering)
Staff talk to me and
give me good ideas how to deal
with it. Also staff speak to the
school teachers and let them
know if I have any problems with
other kids at school (age 14,
children’s home)
I have talked to my
carers about issues that have
worried me and they gave me
good advice and ways to be
confident to say 'no' if I feel
pressured to do things (age 17,
fostering)
Staff would talk
to me first then talk to the
[other] young person and
help me to rebuild my
friendship with the young
person (age 12, children’s
home)

17. But not all children get the help they need
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 17
It doesn't feel like it
but they tell me they
are doing it (age 11,
fostering)
The staff are rarely in
the room at the time that I was
upset however when I tell them what
happened they don't do anything about it
however some staff members
hear/see it and do something about
it however this is very rare
(age 15, children’s home)You get picked on…
most of the time
staff say ‘grow up’
(age 15, children’s
home)
They say they
can’t do nothing
most of the time
(age 15, children’s
home)

18. Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 18
Children told us that staff still don’t
always get it right when deciding who
comes to live in their home
But they did answer this question more positively than last year
Staff make good decisions about who comes to live in this home
80% 52%
2016 (1070 total responses)
57%
80%
5%
All the time NeverAll/most
the time
52%
74%
8%
2015 (1114 total responses)

19. Involving children when someone new
moves in can make a difference
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 19
One young person has moved
here whilst I have been here, I
was spoken to before she
moved and asked my views and
opinions and I met her before
she moved in and we get on
well (age 15, children’s home)
Staff tell us when they are
thinking of another kid
coming, and we can give our
thoughts and feelings on it
(age 17, children’s home)
We are always consulted
about a new person moving
in. We get to meet them
and show them round (age
17, children’s home)

20. It can make it difficult for children when
staff don’t get it right
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 20
Some of the young
people who have moved
here since I have arrived
disturb me while I am
settled (age 14, children’s
home)
I feel we are put here
and it doesn’t matter if
we don't get on (age 15,
children’s home)
The new kids usually
disrupt the site and
everyone falls out and
it's not nice (age
unknown, children’s
home)
They often make
mistakes about who will
get on well together (age
15, children’s home)

21. Children want to feel part of their foster family
Although most children feel like they fit in with their foster family, those who don’t told
us that some of the reasons why were because:
 their foster family is too different from their own family and they don’t feel like they
belong
 their foster family isn’t their ‘real’ family
 they blame their own behaviour.
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 21
I feel like I fit in with my foster family
(1292 total responses)
80% 94% 1%
All the time All/most
the time
Never

22. When children don’t feel like part of the
foster family
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 22
There are a lot of people that come to
the house whom all share the same culture.
I am the only person in this house who shares
my culture. At my original home for example, we
don't use a knife to eat (but here they use a fork
and knife to eat everything) because home is a
place where you're supposed to feel the most
comfortable. It felt very odd and robotic
(age 17, fostering)
Sometimes I don’t
always feel like
they like me (age
17, fostering)
Because I was bad
sometimes my brothers
don't want to talk to me
so I feel I have let them
down (age 12, fostering)
I sometimes feel angry
towards my foster mum because
she is not my birth mum and
towards my foster sister
because she lives with her birth
mum and I do not (age seven or
younger, fostering)

23. Children rely on the adults caring
for them to help keep them safe
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 23

24. Children living in foster homes told us they
feel safer than those living in children’s
homes
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 24
These figures were similar to last year.
I feel safe inside my foster home
(1407 total responses)
I feel safe inside the children’s home
(1365 total responses)
93% 99% <1%
All the time NeverAll/most
the time
All the time NeverAll/most
the time
70% 92% <1%

25. Children told us they still feel less safe
outside their home
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 25
I feel safe outside my foster home
(1406 responses in total)
65% 92% 1%
All the time NeverAll/most
the time
66% 91% <1%
I feel safe outside the children’s home
(1356 responses)
All the time NeverAll/most
the time

26. This year, we asked children to tell us more
about why they don’t feel safe outside their
home
Some of the reasons they gave were:
 because of the location of their home and the surrounding area
 they were worried about strangers
 they might come into contact with members of their birth family
 they don’t feel safe in school, for example because of bullying
 because of certain places, for example areas they aren’t familiar
with or busy places.
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 26

27. When children don’t feel safe outside
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 27
Because I don’t
know who’s outside
on the street or who
might bully me (age
unknown, fostering)
Sometimes I feel
unsafe at school because
sometimes the other children
are not very nice to me (age
12, fostering)
I sometimes get
anxious when I'm out. I
feel uncomfortable with
people I don’t know
(age 15, children’s
home)
Because the area
surrounding the care
home is a rough area
(age 15, children’s
home)
Worried my
mum might find
me here (age
13, fostering)

28. Children need adults to teach them how to
be safe
Children told us that staff or foster carers help them to stay safe by:
 spending time with them, always being around and doing activities with them
 keeping in contact with them when they are out and checking who they are with
 having rules in place, for example curfews
 asking about their day and if they have any worries or concerns
 providing helpful advice, for example about making good decisions, being aware of
strangers and staying safe online
 making sure they are physically safe such as helping them with road safety or ensuring
that any equipment they rely on, for example wheelchairs or safety harnesses, is used
properly.
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 28

29. How children are helped to stay safe
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 29
They give me reassurance.
I have lots of foster family
members that I know I can ring
who will come to collect me if I
needed them to (age 15,
fostering)
The staff always
make me aware of either who I
talk to or who I hang around with
and the dangers of the internet
and social media (age 16,
children’s home)
Boundaries, which I
didn’t have before. Explain
things to me so that I can
understand (age 16,
fostering)
They consider my needs
and how I may react to certain
places or conditions i.e I don't like dark
or crowded spaces, I also hate waiting
for anything. They hold my hand and
talk to me when I feel scared or
nervous as I try to run (age 12,
children’s home)

30. Children staying with foster carers told us
they have less chance to talk to someone
independent about being missing
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 30
When children had the opportunity, they talked to independent organisations such as
Barnardos or Catch-22, or their social worker or the police.
Did you have the chance to talk to someone
independent about being missing
(fostering 170 total responses)
66% 29%
Yes No
81% 13%
Did you have the chance to talk to someone
independent about being missing
(children’s homes 454 total responses)
Yes No

31. Children who go missing can be helped
when staff and foster carers try to
understand the reasons why
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 31
My foster carers had
an idea why I went missing but
on my return my foster carers did not
pressurise me to talk about it until I
was ready to speak to them (age
unknown, fostering)
Staff from the home
were really worried about me,
afterwards they discussed with me the
reasons why I went missing and what
they could do as a staff team to help
me feel more settled
(age 14, children’s home)
I used to go missing
a lot but each time I came
back they would talk to me
about why I had done
what I did (age 13,
fostering)
Staff have always sat down with
me when I have come back and spoken
to me about when I have gone to understand
why, staff have tried to come up with alternative
things for me to try when I have been upset to
stop me going missing and this has helped a lot
(age 15, children’s home)

32. Not all children felt that staff or foster
carers tried to understand why they went
missing and even when they did, children
didn’t want to talk to them
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 32
I would tell her stuff
and she wouldn't listen to
me and wouldn't care about
what I was saying so I ran
away (age unknown,
fostering)
They just got mad
and shout (age 12,
fostering)
I always get lectured
and in trouble when it happens.
This is annoying because they
don't really know why it happens
(age 17, children’s home)
Some of their comments provided an insight into why this might be
Get the cops
after me and that
was it (age 16,
children’s home)
Coz they wanna
be nosy (age unknown,
children’s home)
They say that it is my
choice to go missing and
therefore the consequences are
my fault even though when I
do go missing I always have a
reason behind it (age 14,
children’s home)

33. Footnotes
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 33

34. Footnote 1
 Due to a low number of responses to the questionnaires for secure
children’s homes and adoption services, these have not been included in
this presentation. We do not have a questionnaire for children staying at
residential family centres because of their young age.
 Adoption services include voluntary adoption agencies and local authority
adoption services.
 Fostering services include independent fostering agencies and local
authority fostering services.
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 34

35. Footnote 2
 Data about the number of children looked after, living with foster carers or
living in children’s homes refers to the position as at 31 March 2016 and is
taken from ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2015 to
2016’, Department for Education, published 29 September 2016,
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-
including-adoption-2015-to-2016.
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 35

36. Footnote 3
 1,410 children and young people told us about their children’s home and 1,449 children
and young people told us about their foster carers.
 We do not inspect individual foster carers. We inspect the local authorities and agencies
that recruit them.
 In relation to children’s homes and fostering services, the responses from children do not
solely relate to children looked after. A number of children who are not looked after
receive services. For example, children who receive short breaks or are placed under
other arrangements. Most users of short breaks are children who have special educational
needs and/or disabilities but other children in need may also receive short breaks. The
breaks usually have two aims to enable the child to participate in fun, interesting and safe
activities and to provide a break for parents.
 The percentages for all questions don’t include the ‘this question isn’t for me’ responses.
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 36

37. Footnote 4
What children and young people living in children’s homes or with
foster carers told us was most important to them in 2015
www.slideshare.net/Ofstednews/what-children-and-young-
people-living-in-childrens-homes-or-with-foster-carers-told-us-
was-most-important-to-them
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 37

38. Ofsted on the web and on social media
www.gov.uk/ofsted
http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk
www.linkedin.com/company/ofsted
www.youtube.com/ofstednews
www.slideshare.net/ofstednews
www.twitter.com/ofstednews
Children’s social care questionnaires 2016: what children told us Slide 38