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IICSA published its final Report in October 2022. This website was last updated in January 2023.

IICSA Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

Children in the care of the Nottinghamshire Councils Investigation Report

D.3: Background

5. Since the 1950s and until at least 1990 the County had a consistently higher percentage of children in foster care than comparable local authorities.[1] In 1975, 40 percent of the 2,082 children in the care of the County were in foster care[2] and by 1999 this had risen to 64 percent of children in care.[3] This rose further to 86 percent in 2003[4] but reduced to 63 percent in 2018.[5] In the City, 69 percent of children in care were placed in foster care in 2004,[6] rising to 73 percent in 2018.[7] The same proportion (73 percent) are in foster care across England.[8]

6. Both Councils have used independent fostering agencies (IFAs, ie private and voluntary providers of foster care)[9] since the 1990s to supplement local authority foster carers. By 2018, 43 percent of children in foster care in the County and 52 percent in the City were placed with IFAs.[10] Foster carers working with IFAs are subject to the same levels of assessment, supervision and training as local authority foster carers.[11]

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