Publication of ‘Children’s Social Care Statistics for Northern Ireland 2024/25’

Date published: 16 October 2025

Children in Need

• At 31 March 2025, 22,243 children in Northern Ireland were known to Social Services as a child in need;

Child Protection Register

• At 31 March 2025, 2,283 children were listed on the Child Protection Register;
• Neglect and physical abuse were the main reasons for a child being on the Child Protection Register and accounted for 84% of all on the Register;
• A total of 1,549 child protection referrals were received by HSC Trusts[1];
• There were 2,044 new registrations to the Child Protection Register and 2,105 de-registrations during the year.

Children in care

• At 31 March 2025, 4,188 children and young people were in care in Northern Ireland. This was the highest number recorded since the introduction of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;
• Over a fifth (23%) of looked after children at 31 March 2025 had come into care within the last year and just under a third (32%) had been in care for five years or longer.;
• Some five in six children in care were in foster care placements (84%), 6% placed with parents, 5% in residential care and 5% in other placements. This was similar to previous years;
• During 2024/25 there were 1,110 admissions to care and 934 discharges.

Children’s residential homes

• At 30 June 2025, there were 58 Children’s Residential Homes in Northern Ireland, 48 homes were statutory and 10 were independent.
• Statutory homes provided 275 places at an average of six places per home; independent homes provided 26 places at an average of three per home.

Children’s day care

• At 31 March 2025 there were 3,196 individuals/facilities registered as day care provision for children aged 12 and under in Northern Ireland. This was a 2% decrease on the previous year;
• Similar to the previous year, childminders made up the largest number of day care providers;
• At 31 March 2025 there were 57,358 registered places for day care in Northern Ireland representing an increase of 2% on the previous year.

Foster Carers

• At 31 March 2025, there were 2,868 HSC Trust recruited foster carers and a further 261 Independent sector foster carers;
• During 2024/25, 947 initial home visits were carried out by HSC Trusts and 422 fostering assessments were completed;
• During 2024/25, some 336 foster carers recruited by the HSC Trusts de-registered as carers.

Young people subject to Leaving Care Act

• At 31 March 2025 there were 1,963 young people subject to the Leaving Care Act;
• Relevant and former relevant young people accounted for the largest proportion of care leavers (1,225; 62%), while qualifying young people represented for the smallest group with 44 care leavers (2%).