British and EU Children in Care

The request was successful.

Dear Department for Education,

Can you provide me with the following information.

How many EU children are in Care within the UK

How many none British children are in care? (within the EU and UK)

How many of those children have been repatriated?( EU and none EU children)

What is the government current and New policy on none British Children in care and British children in Care within the EU?

What work is the government doing with their EU counterparts and other government bodies (embassy ) regarding none British and British children in care?

Yours faithfully,

Ann Brown

Department for Education

Dear Ms Brown

Thank you for your recent enquiry. A reply will be sent to you as soon as possible. For information; the departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses should be sent within 20 working days as you are requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2013/0063693

Thank you

Department for Education
Ministerial and Public Communications Division
Tel: 0370 000 2288

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Department for Education

Dear Ms Brown,
Thank you for your email dated 13 October 2013 about Children Looked
After.
Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2013/0063693. If
you need to respond to us, please visit:
[1]www.education.gov.uk/contactus, and quote your reference number. 
You asked:

1.    “How many EU children are in Care within the UK?

2.    How many none British children are in care? (within the EU and UK)

3.    How many of those children have been repatriated?( EU and none EU
children)

4.    What is the government current and New policy on none British
Children in care and British children in Care within the EU?

 5.    What work is the government doing with their EU counterparts and
other government bodies (embassy ) regarding none British and British 
children in care?”

I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The department does not collect any information on the nationality of
children in care and therefore the information you requested under (1) to
(3) above is not available.

In relation to your last 2 questions, the DfE is not routinely informed
when foreign national children are subject to child protection or taken
into care by local authorities, however these children are covered by the
provisions in the Children Act 1989 (the 1989 Act) and regulations under
that Act.

The general key principle of the Act 1989 – which sets the legal framework
by which a local authority in England can intervene in family life – is
that the best place for children to be brought up is with their families.
Only when threshold criteria are met and a child is suffering, or is at
risk of suffering, significant harm will removal of children be
considered.  

Local authorities should provide support in partnership with parents and
in a way which is sensitive to the child’s race, religion, culture and
language.

In situations where a child is identified as suffering, or at risk of
suffering, significant harm, the local authority has a duty to intervene
to undertake child protection enquiries and take action to safeguard and
promote the child’s welfare.

The ultimate responsibility for removing a child from his or her family
rests with the courts. The welfare of the children is the paramount
consideration in any decision.

Where the court makes an order placing a child in the care of a local
authority, the authority will continue to work with the family with a view
to the child returning home.  However, a stage may be reached when it is
apparent that the child cannot return home.  It is at this stage that the
local authority must make alternative plans to provide the child with a
permanent family home. 

Volume 1 of the revised Children Act 1989 statutory guidance requires
local authorities to demonstrate that they have considered family members
and friends as potential carers at each stage of the decision making
process both pre and during proceedings. This includes placing children
with family or friends who live abroad if it is consistent with
safeguarding and promoting the child’s welfare.

Our statutory guidance is clear that social workers must look at the
unique needs of every child in need or at risk of significant harm, and
take the action that is in that child’s best interests.

Keeping the child at the centre of decision making is the key thing – we
must ensure social workers look at the child and the family in the round
so as to make assessments which allow decisions to be made in the best
interests of the child.  This should include considering the option of
placing children with family abroad where appropriate to an individual
child’s unique circumstances.

For information on British children placed in care within the EU, please
contact the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should
make a complaint to the Department by writing to me within two calendar
months of the date of this letter.  Your complaint will be considered by
an independent review panel, who were not involved in the original
consideration of your request. 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the
Department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Yours sincerely,

Louise Feebrey
Children and Early Years Data Unit  
[2][email address]
[3]www.education.gov.uk

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References

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1. http://www.education.gov.uk/contactus
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.education.gov.uk/