During the 1980s the number of children in public care decreased by one-third from 95 297 on 31 March 1980 to 60 469 on 31 March 1990. The numbers in foster care remained relatively constant while those in community homes and institutional placements (residential care) dramatically decreased during this time . This trend has continued throughout the present decade. At the end of March 1999 53 000 children were looked after in public care (0.05% of the child population). Two-thirds of the children were placed in foster homes, the rest were in residential homes, secure accommodation or at home with their parents. In 1998/9 a total of 36 100 were placed in foster care and 6300 were living in children's homes. Twenty-one percent of those 'looked after' were under 5 years of age and 16% over 16 years (Department of Health, 1999a).
There are a number of adverse experiences that lead children to enter public care, such as physical, sexual and severe emotional abuse, neglect and abandonment, alcohol and drug problems of parents, family disorganisation and loss of control, poverty and deprivation, self harm, juvenile delinquency and criminal behaviour. Under the Children Act (1989), any child who suffers 'significant harm' through maltreatment, impairment of health and/or development compared to a similar child in a given locality is likely to be investigated. This investigation, jointly carried out by social and police services, considers whether the child in question is beyond parental control or subject to a lack of care and/or maltreatment. For those children placed on Child Protection Registers at 31 March 1999 25% of them were 'looked after' (Department of Health, 1999b).
The problems, strengths and weaknesses of children who join new families and how these families cope has recently been described for 61 children between 5 and 9 years old (Quinton, Rushton, Dance and Mayes, 1999). For example, children going into public care already have high rates of mental health problems (Dimigan et al., 1999) and are much more likely to show delinquent and criminal behaviour in comparison to other children (Falshaw, Browne and Hollin,