Looked after children (LAC) are those children and young people aged between 0 to 18 years who cannot safely remain with their family and are cared for by the local authority. The majority of children and young people looked after by Newcastle City Council are placed in foster care, with only a small proportion of young people placed in residential care, usually due to their more complex needs.
Reasons for children becoming looked after or subject to child protection plans relate to child protection, physical and emotional abuse and neglect.
Local and good residential placements reduce the need for young people with more complex needs to be placed in residential care.
Newcasle has a much higher number of looked after children than national or statistical neighbour averages. Figures have reduced only slightly since 2007
Following a series of successful regional workshops exploring how best to improve looked-after children's educational attainment, their emotional and behavioural health and how to increase the number of care leavers in settled, safe accommodation, presentations are now available on the C4EO website. See Vulnerable (Looked After) Children Workshop presentations
Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board
Newcastle City Council
Joint Strategic Needs Assessment - shared online information resource for everyone who commissions, provides or uses health, social and children's services in the city
Corporate parenting
Safeguarding Children Plan 2009/10
Domestic violence strategy
Hidden Harm
Think Families
ASPIRE (Support services for looked after children in Newcastle)
Fostering, adoption and looked after children
Looked after children - education support
Sahara
Residential care for children
Mick McCraken
Head of Safeguarding and Children's Social Care
Phone:0191 211 6307
Email: mick.mccraken@newcastle.gov.uk