Health boards have a statutory responsibility to promote the welfare of children in their area.
In order to acheive this objective, they may provide substitute care for those children who are not receiving adequate care and protection at home. The Survey is primarily a census of all children in the care of health boards on the the night of 31 December 1996. Children who were at home temporarily on that night are also included in the survey. The survey is based on a questionnaire in respect of children in care completed in the 32 Community Care Areas throughout the country. Details of individual cases were not collected in the questionnaire.