Children in care – numbers, complaints and suicides – 2011-2021

1. How many children were taken into care in your County each year for the past 10 years? 

This information is published by the Department for Education.

2. How many children in care in your county attempted or succeeded in committing suicide each year for the past 10 years?

Devon County Council does not hold a central record of this information. To obtain this information would therefore require a review of each file concerning every child in care over a ten year period.

From our preliminary assessment we estimate that compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of information Act 2000 which is currently £450 or 18 hours of officer time.

3. How many children in your county in care were diagnosed with mental health issues each year for the past 10 years?

Although we do record, monitor and report on the emotional and mental health of all children in the care of Devon County Council, there is no central record of this information.

4. How many parents committed suicide in your county during or after social services involvement each year for the past 10 years

From our preliminary assessment, we estimate that compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. This is because answering this question would involve manually examining individual records over a ten year period.

5. How many parents who had their children removed from them by social services in your county have been diagnosed with mental health issues each year in the past 10 years?

Please refer to our response to question 4.

6. How many complaints have been filed against social services in your county each year for the past 10 years.