Children’s Social Care

Referrals and Assessments

Referrals

A referral is defined as a request for services to be provided by Childrens Social Care and is in respect of a child who is not currently in need.

Assessments

Local authorities undertake assessments of the needs of individual children to determine what services to provide and actions to take. An assessment should be completed within 45 working days of a referral.

In 2021/22:

there were 3620 referrals in the year¹
32% of referrals came from the police, 18% came from health services, 17% came from local authority services and 14% came from schools²
3231 children had a referral¹
20.8% of children had a referral within 12 months of a previous referral¹
39.3% of referrals which resulted in an assessment and the child was assessed not to be in need at completion¹
3694 assessments were completed by Children’s Social Care in the year³
95% assessments were completed within the statutory time of 45 days (the duration of an assessment is calculated as the time in working days between the assessment start date and the assessment end date)³

Learn more about reporting concerns for a child.

Children in need

A child in need is a child who is unlikely to reach or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or their health or development will be significantly impaired without the provision of children's social care services, or the child is disabled (Children Act 1989).

In 2021/22:

1861 children started an episode of need in the year⁴
1512 children ended their episode of need in the year⁴
3312 children had an episode of need at any point during the year⁴
at 31 March 2022, there were 1938 children in need⁴
15.3% of children in need at 31 March 2022 had a recorded disability - the most prevalent disabilities were Learning (82%), Communication (76%) and Personal care (71%)⁵
the most prevalent causes of need for children were Abuse or neglect (42%), Family in acute stress (16%) and Family dysfunction (15%)⁶

Child protection plans

A child becomes the subject of a child protection plan if they are assessed as being at risk of harm, at an initial child protection conference.

In 2021/22:

485 children were on a child protection plan at any point in the year (if a child is the subject of more than one child protection plan during the year, each plan is counted)
302 children started a child protection plan
272 children ended their child protection plan
as of 31 March 2022, there were 215 child protection plans⁷

Children in our care

Children in public care, who are placed with foster carers, in residential homes or with other relatives. Children come into our care when their parents are unable to provide ongoing care in either a temporary or permanent capacity.

At March 31 2022:

there were 234 children who were in our care
56% of children were male, 44% were female
5% of children were aged under 1 year, 12% were aged 1 to 4 years, 14% were aged 5 to 9 years, 37% were aged 10 to 15 years, 32% were aged 16 years or over
65% of children were White, 15% were Black or Black British, 12% were Mixed, 5% were Asian or Asian British
9% of children were unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
the most prevalent categories of need for looked after children were Abuse or neglect (55%), Family dysfunction (20%) and Absent parenting (10%)
71% children were placed in foster care, 12% were placed in other placements in the community, 11% were placed in children’s homes and semi-independent living accommodation, and the remaining 6% placed with parents or other person with parental responsibility, placed for adoption, or in other residential settings (such as Mother & baby centres or NHS health centres)
46% children were placed inside Bexley, 54% were placed outside the Borough⁸

In 2021/22:

116 children left our care⁹
the most prevalent reasons that children left care were 'aged 18 (or over) and remained with current carers' (28%), ‘Returned home to live with parents or other person with parental responsibility’ (13%) and ‘moved into independent living (with supportive accommodation)’ (12%)⁹
116 children moved to our care¹⁰
53% children who moved to our care were male, 47% were female¹⁰
16% children who were looked after by us had a missing incident during the year¹¹

Learn more about Looked after children and how Children’s Social Care helps them.

Read our Looked After children’s Strategy (PDF).

Young adults leaving our care

When a young person turns 18, they are no longer in our care, but rather move to being a young adult who has left our care. However, they can decide to continue living with their former foster carer until the age of 21 - this is called ‘Staying Put’.

Learn more about the Local Offer for young adults leaving our care (PDF).

Aged 17 to 18

In 2021/22:

there were 57 young adults who left our care aged 17 to 18¹²
93% were in suitable accommodation¹³
65% were in education, employment or training¹⁴

Aged 19 to 21

In 2021/22:

there were 183 young adults who left our care aged 19 to 21¹²
92% were in suitable accommodation¹³
62% were in education, employment or training, 34% were not¹⁴
95% were still in contact with the local authority¹⁵

Continuing to live with former foster carers

In 2021/22:

12 young people aged 18 left our care and were eligible for support, 92% of these young people continued living with former foster carers
44 young people aged 19 to 20 left our care and were eligible for support, 36% of these young people continued living with former foster carers¹⁶

Fostering

Foster care involves providing care and support for a child by an individual family who have been approved by Bexley Council for either a short-term or long-term period when they cannot live with their parents or previous care arrangement.

In 2020:

there were 115 approved households for fostering
there were 90 households with two carers and 25 households with one carer
there were 230 approved foster places
15 groups were placed, and 40 siblings were placed¹⁷

Learn more about fostering a child.

Adoption 2017 to 2020
(3-year average)¹⁸

There were 29 adoptions in Bexley

There were 233 days on average between a child entering care and moving in with an adoptive family, compared to the national average of 367 days

This made Bexley the 2nd lowest borough in average waiting time out of 152 authorities

Learn more about adopting a child.

Education for Children in Need and Children Looked After

In 2020/21 (academic year):

Children in need:

194 children were in special schools¹⁹
149 children were in secondary schools¹⁹
63% children were identified as having Special Educational Needs (SEN)²⁰
14% children were receiving SEN support 20
50% children had a statement of SEN or an Educational Health Care plan (EHCP)²⁰
46% children were eligible for free school meals²¹

Children subject to a protection plan:

35 children were in primary schools¹⁹
16 children were in secondary schools¹⁹
36% children were identified as having SEN²⁰
22% children had SEN support²⁰
14% children had a SEN statement or ECHP²⁰
74% children were eligible for free school meals²¹

Children in our care:

27 children were in primary schools¹⁹
44 children were in secondary schools¹⁹
63% children were identified as having SEN²⁰
30% children had SEN support²⁰
33% children had a SEN statement or ECHP²⁰