A charity campaigning for children in care is calling on the Government to address the instability faced by many children in the care system.
A report from the charity Become collated figures from local authorities in England which revealed that an average of 79 looked-after children moved between different foster carers or children's homes each day between December 2021 and January 2022.
This was a total of 1,257 children, some of whom were moved more than once.
Chief executive Katharine Sacks-Jones said: ‘The findings are as shocking as they are upsetting.
We are calling on the government to take urgent and ambitious action to ensure children and young people in care have the same opportunities as other children to thrive.’
One young person Become supports said: ‘Christmas often reminds me that I don’t have a ‘normal’ family.’
The report calls on the government to provide additional funding to boost the number of children’s homes in areas that need them and to invest in recruiting more foster carers.
The charity sent Freedom of Information requests to all 151 local authorities in England.
Responses were received from 144 (96%) of councils. The number of children moved during Christmas ranged from zero in one local authority to 5 4 in another.
