Looked-after children and their birth families: using sociology to explore changing relationships, hidden histories and nomadic childhoods Sally Holland* and Anne Crowley† *Reader, †Honorary Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK Correspondence: Sally Holland, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF103WT, UK E-mail: Hollands1@cf.ac.uk Keywords: care experiences, foster care, looked-after children, loss and separation, theoretical issues Accepted for publication: September 2012 ABSTRACT This paper draws on a series of life-history interviews with 16 young adults who were all formerly looked-after children. Eight young men and eight young women aged 17 to 25 took part in the study in Wales, UK.They had experienced a wide range of circumstances at home, in care and after care. They were contacted through a self-advocacy organization and other care leavers’ groups. The paper explores how insights from the sociology of the family can serve to enhance under- standings of these young people’s life stories and, additionally, how their lived experiences can contribute to this sociological field. Key themes explored in the paper include the emotional co-presence of the birth family for children living in substitute care, the dynamic nature of experiences and perceptions of family relationships through the life course, the importance of siblings and the insightful reflec- tions of participants on the challenges of learning to ‘do’ family across childhoods marked by nomadism. The paper concludes that a holistic theoretical approach that embraces ‘psy’ and sociological under- standings of families and relationships will be most productive for researchers, practitioners and families. INTRODUCTION Families and relationships are central to social work practice. This paper explores the strengths and limita- tions of engaging with theoretical and empirical writing from the field of sociology of the family, and related fields of sociologies of intimacy, personal life and childhoods, in order to enhance our understand- ings of families in adversity. Specifically, the paper presents data from a study of care leavers’ accounts of critical moments in their life histories. We present analysis relating to relationships with birth family members and placement moves as particularly impor- tant exemplars of the role of ‘family’ in these young people’s lives. The study took place inWales, UK. In March 2011, there were 5145 looked-after children inWales, a rate of 87 per 10 000 population aged under 18 (Welsh Government 2011). The rates are significantly higher than in England, where 59 per 10 000 are looked after (Harker 2012). The number of looked-after children in Wales has increased by 20% over the last 5 years and 59% came to be looked after for reasons of abuse or neglect. Of relevance to the findings in this paper, 9% of looked-after children had three or more place- ment moves in the last year, 9% were placed with their parents or another with parental responsibility and 80% were in foster care (Welsh Government 2011). Looked-after children represent a significant policy concern in Wales and one of the key aims of the recently introduced statutory Integrated Family Support Services is to keep families together (Welsh Assembly Government 2010). Nonetheless, Forrester et al. (2009) have argued that, in view of consistent research findings showing that children often enter public care with serious problems but tend to improve while in care, English andWelsh policy-makers should aim to provide more care as a positive family support doi:10.1111/cfs.12032 57 Child and Family Social Work 2013, 18, pp 57–66 © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd