Children in foster care are being bullied and missing out on ‘a full and proper childhood' because foster carers are not allowed to make day-to-day decisions on issues as simple as a haircut, a new survey claims.

The study of more than 1,000 foster carers across the UK by the Fostering Network - entitled Like Everyone Else - found around one in five (17 per cent) cannot decide if a child can get their haircut or allow a child to go on a school trip and a third cannot give permission for a child to stay over with a friend.