Two in five Dorset children in care being moved far from home, study reveals
Campaigners have been calling on the government to implement reform
Last updated 19th Nov 2023
Children's charities in Dorset have been calling for the government to implement reform for social care as new figures have revealed children are being moved further from their home.
A study from the Department of Education has revealed that in the county itself, some 43% of children in Dorset are being moved more than twenty miles from their local area.
Despite this, the figures show that this has been the lowest number of affected children in Dorset in four years.
Across the country, these statistics vary from region to region; however, campaigners believe that moving children from areas they know can break vital relationships with close friends and siblings.
According to charity Become, the children have little to no warning on where they are going, leading to the children becoming more and more isolated.
Chief Executive of Become, Katharine Sacks-Jones said that many children disrupts their everyday lives, and makes it harder to readjust to life in the care system.
"What young people tell us is that it's hugely problematic for them," Katharine told us on how they deal with children in care.
"It causes disruption to their education, it breaks those vital relationships with friends, as well as brothers and sisters. It can leave them feeling very lonely and isolated."
Katharine said that it was a "huge problem" that children were being moved far away from areas they know, where relationships could be severed.
She acknowledged that there were differences in different regions of the country, where this issue is not as prevalent. But she said that for children being in a completely different area
"The country varies so much in terms of population and what different areas are like," she said.
"So if you're being from an area that you're familiar with - somewhere you feel a sense of community - and your moved to a different part of the country that's completely different, it's tough for children. And then you could be moved again."
The government has said it will bring in reform to children's social care so that issues like this are reduced.