Research and analysis

Family Routes: children who returned to care

Report exploring the stability of permanence arrangements, factors that predict disruption and what happened after children returned to care.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 25 September 2025

Applies to England

Documents

Family Routes: children who returned to care after leaving for adoption or to live with a special guardian

Ref: ISBN 978-1-83870-686-9 , RR1560

PDF, 779 KB, 69 pages

Details

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

The data analysis strand examines Department for Education administrative data from 2002 to 2023 to examine long-term outcomes for children in permanence placements.

This report focuses on the stability of permanence placements and children who return to care after an adoption or special guardianship order was made.

Family Routes: data analysis – methodology and core sample is also available.

Published 25 September 2025