New research from Scotland has found that the care system is not doing enough to keep kids out of the criminal justice system. The research, published as part of the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime, a long-term project which has been collecting data since 1998, found that, out of all looked-after children who ended up in residential care by the age of 16, more than three-quarters had a criminal conviction by the age of 22 - with researchers even suggesting residential care should be avoided if necessary.

Whilst many experts agree that giving children in care stability, rather than moving them around from placement to placement, is key to ensuring their wellbeing and keeping them out of trouble, the research found that some vulnerable children had been moved up to 18 times.

The figures mirror the picture in England and Wales, where a recent survey of kids in prison found that a quarter of the boys and nearly half of the girls, had been in care at some point in their lives.