Outsourced care means more children being moved further away – study

Nearly 65% of all children placed in private provision were placed outside their local authority area. Photograph: Mixmike/Getty Images

The corporate takeover of children’s care has led to more children moving between short-term, unstable placements far away from their families, according to research.

The Oxford University study – which drew on more than 600,000 care records – revealed 17,000 out-of-area placements in England can be attributed to the outsourcing of care to for-profit providers between 2011 and 2022.