ArticleBMJ public health2026
Unplanned placement changes in children's homes: an observational study of national administrative data on children in care and providers in England.
Article in BMJ public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Unplanned placement changes often indicate disruption and breakdown in children's care arrangements while they are looked after by the state. Children in children's homes in England are known to have high rates of placement instability, but little is known about unplanned moves and the role that provider characteristics play. This study aimed to identify the factors associated with higher and lower rates of unplanned placement change for children placed in a children's home in England. Methods: Secondary analysis was undertaken of national administrative data of all children placed in a children's home in England between 2019 and 2023, who were continuously in care for at least 1 year during that period. The outcome was an unplanned placement change within the first 12 months. Regression analysis was used to calculate the effects of child-level and provider-level variables. Results: 11 730 children had a total of 16 520 placements during the observation period. An association with higher rates of unplanned placement change was observed for children aged 15-16, children from mixed heritage backgrounds, children assessed in relation to risks outside the home, and children who had already experienced multiple moves. Placements in local authority owned 'in-house' children's homes had lower rates of unplanned change than those in outsourced provision. Higher levels of staff turnover and use of agency staff, lack of a registered manager and a shorter period of operation were all associated with higher rates of unplanned placement change. Conclusion: Our results shed light on the relevance of provider factors when it comes to placement breakdowns and raise concerns that some of the most vulnerable children in care are being placed in unsuitable forms of provision. However, these findings should be considered in the context of wider systemic problems with sufficiency in the English care system.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.