Year Traditional Professional Foster parents (not particular or special) Particular Special Total Of which: foster parents looking after
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 or more
foster parents children being in child protection
1990 5,017 356 5,373 3,488 1,136 334 154
261a
..
1991 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
1992 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
1993 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
1994 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
1995 4,471 419 4,890 3,068 1,020 387 157 161 97
1996 4,421 384 4,805 2,904 1,070 404 187 139 101
1997 4,436 373 4,809 2,941 978 426 196 145 123
1998 4,408 417 4,825 2,806 1,030 475 208 148 158
1999 4,399 390 4,789 2,663 1,039 533 227 162 165
2000 4,452 406 4,858 2,544 1,096 583 249 201 185
2001 4,543 410 4,953 134 2,378 1,098 634 316 201 192
2002 4,600 420 5,020 138 2,252 1,176 702 323 209 220
2003 4,560 400 4,960 201 2,039 1,153 749 367 222 229
2004 4,726 400 5,126 440 1,926 1,174 718 387 255 226
2005 4,923 400 5,323 476 1,883 1,220 823 441 251 229
2006 4,896 384 5,280 615 1,772 1,208 786 425 248 226
2007 5,173 381 5,554 733 1,726 1,245 859 483 263 245
2008 5,331 370 5,701 854 1,614 1,244 874 557 270 288
2009 5,242 360 5,602 693 1,568 1,202 971 596 274 298
2010 5,072 344 5,416 648 1,439 1,223 975 593 269 269
2011 5,203 323 5,526 718 1,389 1,256 1,024 595 256 288
2012 5,233 313 5,546 753 1,175 1,343 1,049 668 286 272
2013 5,460 293 5,753 702 1,218 1,397 1,121 729 281 305
2014b 4,562 959 10 5,531 425 1,182 1,359 1,132 766 356 311
2015 4,310 1,142 8 5,460 404 1,081 1,366 1,096 774 415 324
2016 4,492 882 15 5,389 281 1,065 1,320 1,140 777 478 328
2017 4,541 1,055 15 5,611 523 1,006 1,300 1,145 749 526 362
2018 4,535 1,224 14 5,773 393 1,070 1,329 1,207 885 509 380
2019 4,365 1,135 15 5,515 334 1,024 1,309 1,171 769 571 337
2020 4,279 1,413 14 5,706 406 1,043 1,330 1,201 804 566 356
2021 3,438 2,384 41 5,863 484 1,118 1,280 1,161 799 594 427
2022 3,489 2,409 11 5,909 543 1,114 1,265 1,238 792 595 362
2023 3,403 2,397 11 5,811 500 1,093 1,275 1,216 794 571 362

Footnotes

aFoster parents looking after 5 or more children.
bIn accordance with changes in the Child Protection Act, foster parents, particular foster parents and special foster parents perform foster parent duties instead of traditional or professional foster parents from 1 January 2014.
.