Sport in Care: Using Freedom of Information Requests to Elicit Data about Looked After Children's Involvement in Physical Activity

Cathy Murray

32 citations0/0 files storedThe British Journal of Social Work

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Child Welfare and Adoption Physical Education and Sports Studies Children's Rights and Participation

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of looked after children (LAC)'s involvement in physical activities including sport. The 2007 White Paper Care Matters: Time for Change suggested, inter alia, that councils provide free access to leisure centres for children in care. The study employed an emerging social science research approach, the use of requests under the 2000 Freedom of Information Act, to investigate the topic. Requests were made in writing in 2011 to all 152 Directors in England listed on the Association of Directors of Children's Services website and replies were received from 128. The findings indicate that there is differential provision in England according to where LAC live, with fewer than half of councils (48 per cent) currently providing free leisure passes. Most councils (73 per cent) do not collate aggregate data on LAC's involvement in physical activity, so are not able to judge whether the levels are comparable with that of the general child population. Recommendations are made for policy and practice and it is concluded that, as the use of Freedom of Information requests offers more advantages than limitations, it be considered suitable for use across a range of social work research.

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References

2013Inequality: A New Zealand Crisis 2007Psychiatric disorder among British children looked after by local authorities: Comparison with children living in private households 2000Adversity, resilience and young people: the protective value of positive school and spare time experiences 2003Sport and Social Exclusion 2009Developing through sport: evidencing sport impacts on young people 1999Enhancing the resilience of children and young people in public care by mentoring their talents and interests 1997Children's homes revisited 2008Young people leaving care: health, well‐being and outcomes

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