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Family Routes longitudinal study

Family Routes tracks the needs, experiences and outcomes of children leaving care on an adoption order or special guardianship order in England.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
25 September 2025
Last updated:
24 March 2026
Show all updates

  1. Added 'Family Routes: educational outcomes for children in long-term foster care'.

  2. Added ' Family Routes: exploring the needs and experiences of young people'.

  3. First published.

Family Routes is a longitudinal study intended to track the needs, experiences and outcomes of children leaving care on an adoption order or special guardianship order in England.

This series of reports draws on:

  • in-depth interviews with 74 families:
    • 40 adoptive families
    • 34 special guardianship families
  • data analysis of Department for Education administrative datasets

Research reports

Contents