Hundreds of children who are taken into care in Hertfordshire are being sent to live in placements outside the county – some as far away as rural Scotland, the county of Durham and the North West.

Data obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service shows that at the end of March (2026), there were 393 "looked after" children placed outside Hertfordshire.

Of those, 276 children had been placed in foster care or in residential placements in neighbouring authorities – such as Essex, Bedfordshire or Luton.

But the remaining 117 children were placed in authorities that were further away from home, with some more than 280 miles away.

The five Hertfordshire children living in placements furthest away at the end of March were in rural Scotland, the county of Durham, Devon and Lancashire.

Four of those children were in specialist placements to meet their specific needs – and one was living with a long-term Hertfordshire foster carer.

Officials from the county council say children can be placed out of county because of a lack of suitable placements in Hertfordshire.

Alternatively, they say they may be moved out of the area deliberately to ensure their safety or well-being, or because they have been placed with family friends or relatives elsewhere in the country.

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"Wherever possible, we try to make sure that the children we look after are placed close to their family and friends," said a spokesperson for the county council.

"And most are placed within Hertfordshire, or close to our borders in neighbouring counties, which may sometimes be closer to home than a placement on the other side of Hertfordshire.

"There are several reasons why children may be placed a more significant distance away from Hertfordshire, including kinship fostering, being placed with friends or family who live in another part of the country.

"A child may require highly specialist residential, therapeutic or disability provision that is not available locally, meaning an out-of-county placement is the only way to ensure their needs are met.

"There are times when it is in the best interest of the child to be placed at a distance from their old lives for their own safety and well-being.

"As part of our placement process, we always look at what is best for the child, and in some cases, being placed outside of the county, or some distance away from Hertfordshire, is beneficial to the safeguarding and well-being of a child."

According to the county council, all children – regardless of where they are placed – are visited by their own social worker at least once every four weeks.

"Social workers visit children looked after regardless of where they are placed every four weeks as a minimum and more frequently if needed," said the spokesperson.

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"We will ask other local authorities to make visits on our behalf in emergency situations when children need to be seen quickly."

In addition, officials say they are undertaking a "significant" amount of work to increase places within the county, including the investment of £21m to deliver 70 new residential places by September 2027.

They point to the NEST fostering scheme – which pays foster carers around £80,000 a year per child – to provide homes to those who would otherwise require residential care.

And they highlight the county's emergency foster care scheme, as well as increases in allowances to those who foster.

The LDRS did ask the council for a breakdown of placements by county. But this request was refused.

"The council is not prepared to disclose the exact locations of these children, as doing so could risk identifying individual children who are looked after by Hertfordshire County Council," they said.

In total, the county council is responsible for 1,045 children.