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(In)Sufficient?: ethnicity and foster care in E nglish local authorities
Author(s) -
Kirton Derek
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1111/cfs.12166
Subject(s) - ethnic group , context (archaeology) , welfare , local authority , diversity (politics) , foster care , duty , psychology , sociology , political science , medicine , public administration , nursing , geography , law , archaeology
Abstract This paper examines the place of ethnicity in local authority foster care in the context of the sufficiency duty to secure adequate local placements for looked after children. The analysis draws on two main sources, namely O ffice for S tandards in E ducation, C hildren's S ervices and S kills ( OFSTED's ) annual survey of fostering agencies and inspection reports for around half the local authority fostering services in E ngland. Sufficiency is gauged in two main ways, comparing numbers of black and minority ethnic ( BME ) foster carers first with numbers of BME looked after children and second, with local adult (age 25–64) populations. Statistical analysis shows very wide variation on both measures and a significant minority of authorities that perform poorly in terms of the ethnic diversity of their foster carers. Inspection reports also vary widely in the degree and nature of attention given to issues of ethnicity with many offering limited (and sometimes no) challenge to poor performance. These findings are discussed within the broader context of recent trends towards de‐emphasizing the significance of ethnicity in child welfare.