UK policy has increasingly promoted early intervention and permanence planning for children who experience, or are at risk of experiencing, abuse or neglect, raising the question of whether these practices have actually increased ‘on the ground.’ There is already evidence of growing early intervention in the form of out of home care, in England as well as Australia and Canada. However, we do not yet know whether this trend also exists in Scotland. Furthermore, there is no research investigating whether rates of permanence planning have changed anywhere in the UK or globally. The current study addressed these gaps through a comparison of two samples of children in Scotland: 110 children born in 2003 and 117 born in 2013, all of whom were placed under compulsory measures of supervision prior to three years of age. The 2013 cohort was significantly more likely than the 2003 cohort to be removed from their parents at birth, to reside away from parents throughout the first three years of life and to live apart from parents at three years of age. Significantly more of the 2013 cohort than the 2003 cohort had a plan for permanence by three years. These findings are consistent with the view that policy changes in the UK are affecting practice (although practice changes may have resulted from other sources as well/instead). The fall in parental care was largely compensated by an increase in the use of foster care, which has resource implications. Children removed from their parents at birth were usually not returned in the first three years of life, not raised by extended family members, and were separated from one or more siblings. This typically reduced instability for young children, but also entailed substantial birth family fragmentation. The impact on children and families of early removal into foster care must therefore be carefully assessed in light of the increasing prevalence of this practice in Scotland and elsewhere.

中文翻译：

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2003 年至 2017 年苏格兰幼儿在家外护理和永久性计划的变化

英国的政策越来越多地促进对经历或有可能经历虐待或忽视的儿童的早期干预和永久性规划，提出了这些做法是否真的在“实地”增加的问题。已经有证据表明，在英国、澳大利亚和加拿大，越来越多的早期干预以家庭外护理的形式出现。但是，我们尚不清楚苏格兰是否也存在这种趋势。此外，没有研究调查永久性计划的比率是否在英国或全球任何地方发生了变化。目前的研究通过比较苏格兰的两个儿童样本来解决这些差距：2003 年出生的 110 名儿童和 2013 年出生的 117 名儿童，他们都在三岁之前接受了强制监管措施。2013 年的队列比 2003 年的队列更有可能在出生时与父母分离，在生命的前三年远离父母居住，并在三岁时与父母分开居住。与 2003 年相比，2013 年的队列中有更多的人制定了三年的永久性计划。这些发现与英国的政策变化正在影响实践的观点是一致的（尽管实践变化也可能来自其他来源/相反）。父母照料的减少在很大程度上被寄养使用的增加所弥补，这对资源产生了影响。出生时与父母分离的儿童通常不会在出生后的头三年返回，也不是由大家庭成员抚养，并且与一个或多个兄弟姐妹分开。这通常会减少幼儿的不稳定，但也导致出生家庭的严重分裂。因此，鉴于这种做法在苏格兰和其他地方越来越普遍，必须仔细评估过早转移到寄养机构对儿童和家庭的影响。