National overview report in relation to care experienced children and young people in Wales

What we looked at 

Our report confirms CIW’s commitment to raising standards for vulnerable children in Wales. We gathered evidence from the inspections of six local authority children and fostering services, and twenty two Local Authority self evaluations reports. We also spoke to over one hundred care experienced children and young people, and seventy-seven foster carers.  

Some of our key findings

• Children and young people attributed positive relationships as a significant factor in achieving their personal well-being outcomes.
• We did not find evidence of children becoming  looked after who should not have done so.
• We found the needs and risks factors of care experienced children have increased in complexity.
• The rise in the number of children being looked after includes an increasing number of children being supported to remain with their family or with their parents under legal arrangements.

Areas for possible improvement

• We found most local authorities were struggling to meet their sufficiency duties and find suitable placements to meet the needs of children and young people, particularly children with complex needs.
• There needs to be more urgency given to commissioning a greater range of services and choice of placements to meet these complex needs by local authorities and their partners.
• We discovered the significant pressures upon the social work workforce and sufficiency of foster carers, make it difficult for children and young people to secure the positive and stable relationships that mean so much to them.

Next steps

We will share our findings through a learning event being planned in partnership with Social Care Wales.