TORN APART

Some facts and figures
about sibling separation and children in care
10
OUT OF
EVERY
CHILDREN
7 40,000
placed in care, who have brothers
and sisters, will be separated from
them simply because they have
been placed in care.
There are approximately
children in care separated from a sibling,
and a further 4,000 children entering
care each year are separated
from siblings.
The emotional cost of this separation is considerable.
Over a third (34%) of children separated will rarely
if ever see their siblings again.
The cost to the UK economy of
failing children in this way is huge.
It is an unfortunate and undeniable
fact that once a child is placed in care,
their life chances can be
drastically reduced. Statistically they
are far more likely to become
dependent on the state in some way
in adulthood because of educational
under achievement and become
classified as a NEET.
(Not in education, employment or training)
If just over a third of children in care
separated from their siblings fall into the
NEET category, which is in line with the
national average, then Siblings Together
estimates the cost to the UK economy
of this separation could be in excess of
£800
MILLION 1
1 Based on the average individual life-time public finance cost of NEET estimated at £56,300 in the University
of York report on ‘Estimating the life-time cost of NEET’ commissioned by the Department of Social Policy
and Social Work and the Department of Health Sciences published 2010.