Senior staff in Looked After Children Services commissioned a Project report on the available data on looked after children (LAC) from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities living in the Borough of Wandsworth. The project was partly in response to the general drive by the Council to:

• research the scale and nature of the problem; and

• improve services to children and families over-represented in the care system.

Some work on possible causes and actions resulted in a separate research project on Early Intervention/Support which was due to report in October 2013. This will provide a useful set of findings derived from case documentation, interviews with parents and practitioners and focus group data from practitioners.

The findings from this Project will complement the Early Intervention/Support Project by examining the data on children and young people already in the care system. This Project will be based on an analysis of existing information and did not involve the gathering of new empirical data through interviews or focus groups.

The research team sought to consider the disproportionate number of BME children in the care of Children’s Services, Wandsworth Council, through examination of the data for children and young people for the period 2010/2013.