ChildLine gets third more calls for help

One in 26 of these “looked after” children contact the service about failings in the care system, a ChildLine report revealed.

There were over 83,000 children in foster, residential or other forms of care in 2009.

In all, 3,196 looked-after children – some as young as five – contacted ChildLine over 2009-10 with problems about being in care. The ChildLine base in Yorkshire received 178 calls from children in care.

Many reported suffering physical and sexual abuse and neglect and feeling lost and helpless.

The report calls on local authorities to make sure looked-after children always have an adult to speak up for them when they need help. Presently they have a right to an “advocate” if they want to make a formal complaint about their care.

Some children were deeply unsettled and traumatised after being moved several times a year, some as many as 15 times while in care. Others complained of emotionally abusive or uncaring carers and being bullied by other children.

Christine Mellor, assistant director for ChildLine in Yorkshire, said: “Most children in care are well looked after by dedicated carers and professionals. But a minority continue to be failed by the care system.

“After the trauma they’ve been through, children need a special quality of care – at least as good as a good parent can offer.

“Instead, we hear from children who have been beaten or sexually assaulted while in care. Others feel abandoned in care or unloved by their new carers.”