The Department for Education explained that the care system was originally set up to address issues that originate from within the home and was not designed to address ‘extra- familial’ harms that take place outside the home.37 It said that to help address this, it has produced guidance on risks from outside the home, and in 2021 it invested £1.5 million in 20 local authorities to help them strengthen their approaches to safeguarding adolescents at risk of extra-familial harms. It claimed that the growth in the number of adolescents in care is a “good sign” as it shows the system is getting better at placing adolescents into the care system where there has been extra-familial harm. However, it acknowledged that its response to these harms and its support to older children through the care system is less mature and still being developed. It also recognised that despite efforts to share good practice, local approaches are still variable.38 It also said it could set clearer expectations and a national framework for safeguarding older children.39