In this release, of the 10,437 children in care during January 2024 or children who left care since April 2018, 81% (or 8,435) were successfully linked to other pseudonymised administrative data sources (using a Protected Identifier Key or PIK allocated by the CSO, see Background Notes). The main body of this release presents a statistical educational thematic overview of the linked children in care only, while this section presents supplementary analysis and data to compare the demographic profile of the linked and unlinked cohorts of children in care by age, sex and nationality.
Note that the total number of children in care published elsewhere may differ as overall figures depend on the date of the extract and definitions used. Note also that the data presented throughout the release excludes children falling under the Social Work Team for Separated Children Seeking International Protection as these are not included in the administrative Tusla data available to the CSO. At year end 2023 there were 330 children in this category in care/accommodated (see Tusla 2023 Annual Report).
There were 5,686 children in care in January 2024, of whom 5,257 were included in the main analysis sections of this report (as they were linkable to other administrative data). While the age and sex distribution were reasonably similar, linked records were more likely to have nationality recorded than unlinked records (see Table 6.1).
The total number of children who left care since April 2018 was 4,751, of whom 3,178 could be linked to other pseudonymised administrative data sources and so were included in the main analysis sections of this release (see Table 6.2). Of the 3,178 children who left care since April 2018 and whose records were included in the analysis, 2,441 were 18 and over in January 2024.
Table 6.3 provides information on the combined totals of children in care in January 2024 and children who left care since April 2024 by linked and unlinked records. Records of those aged 21-23 years were less likely to be linked (53%) among the age groups shown.
Table 6.4 and Figures 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4 show children in care and all children by age. In particular Figures 6.3 and 6.4 show that a lower proportion of children in care are aged under 5 compared to all children, while slightly higher proportions are aged 18 years and over.
| X-axis label | Children in care in January 2024 |
|---|---|
| Age 1 and under | 4 |
| Age 2 | 2 |
| Age 3 | 3 |
| Age 4 | 3 |
| Age 5 | 4 |
| Age 6 | 5 |
| Age 7 | 5 |
| Age 8 | 5 |
| Age 9 | 6 |
| Age 10 | 7 |
| Age 11 | 7 |
| Age 12 | 7 |
| Age 13 | 8 |
| Age 14 | 8 |
| Age 15 | 9 |
| Age 16 | 8 |
| Age 17 | 8 |
| X-axis label | Children who left care since April 2018 |
|---|---|
| Age 1 and under | 1 |
| Age 2 | 1 |
| Age 3 | 1 |
| Age 4 | 1 |
| Age 5 | 1 |
| Age 6 | 2 |
| Age 7 | 2 |
| Age 8 | 2 |
| Age 9 | 1 |
| Age 10 | 1 |
| Age 11 | 2 |
| Age 12 | 2 |
| Age 13 | 2 |
| Age 14 | 2 |
| Age 15 | 2 |
| Age 16 | 3 |
| Age 17 | 2 |
| Age 18 | 13 |
| Age 19 | 13 |
| Age 20 | 13 |
| Age 21 | 13 |
| Age 22 | 12 |
| Age 23 | 9 |
| X-axis label | Children in care |
|---|---|
| Age 1 and under | 2 |
| Age 2 | 2 |
| Age 3 | 2 |
| Age 4 | 2 |
| Age 5 | 3 |
| Age 6 | 4 |
| Age 7 | 3 |
| Age 8 | 4 |
| Age 9 | 4 |
| Age 10 | 4 |
| Age 11 | 5 |
| Age 12 | 5 |
| Age 13 | 5 |
| Age 14 | 5 |
| Age 15 | 6 |
| Age 16 | 6 |
| Age 17 | 6 |
| Age 18 | 6 |
| Age 19 | 6 |
| Age 20 | 6 |
| Age 21 | 6 |
| Age 22 | 5 |
| Age 23 | 4 |
| X-axis label | All children |
|---|---|
| Age 1 and under | 6 |
| Age 2 | 4 |
| Age 3 | 4 |
| Age 4 | 4 |
| Age 5 | 4 |
| Age 6 | 4 |
| Age 7 | 4 |
| Age 8 | 4 |
| Age 9 | 5 |
| Age 10 | 5 |
| Age 11 | 5 |
| Age 12 | 5 |
| Age 13 | 5 |
| Age 14 | 5 |
| Age 15 | 5 |
| Age 16 | 5 |
| Age 17 | 4 |
| Age 18 | 4 |
| Age 19 | 4 |
| Age 20 | 4 |
| Age 21 | 4 |
| Age 22 | 4 |
| Age 23 | 4 |
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