The placing of vulnerable young people in a caravan and an Airbnb has been labelled a ‘stark failure.’
Many children who are subject to court orders from the High Court depriving them of their liberty are living in ‘highly unsuitable’ accommodation, the Children’s Commissioner has warned.
While most children who are under deprivation of liberty orders (DoLs) are in appropriate housing, many could be falling through the cracks.
Now Dame Rachel de Souza, England’s Children’s Commissioner, has raised the alarm after publishing a report on children’s rights and wellbeing.
She said her research suggests that some children’s basic rights to safety and happiness are ‘too often being ignored in a system that puts profit-making above protection and allows decisions to be dictated by local resources.’
Dame Rachel highlighted the experiences of some of the children subject to DoLs.
The number of applications for DoLs has raised from 359 in 2020/21 to 1,368 in 2023, according to the commission.
Girl placed in a caravan after ‘pressure’ to discharge her from hospital
Her report, published today, told of an autistic teenager who was placed by her local authority in an Airbnb under supervision for nine months following pressure to discharge her from hospital as she did not meet the criteria to be held under the Mental Health Act.
Another teenage girl who had suffered parental domestic violence and neglect was given a supervised crisis placement in a caravan after a stay in foster care and a children’s home.
Later, she was housed in a children’s home 120 miles from her grandparents.
Illegal children’s homes
Dame Rachel said such children ‘exist within a health and social care system which is in urgent need of investment and reform, and addressing their needs should form an integral part of the wider plans for children’s social care going forwards.’
She said: ‘The vast majority of children subject to deprivation of liberty orders are in the care system.
‘Some are living in specialist therapeutic children’s homes or settings that have been created specifically for them.
‘However, many children live with these restrictions in places that are highly unsuitable, including illegal children’s homes, Airbnbs or on hospital wards while awaiting discharge.
‘Far from providing the environment they need to help them with the behaviours that have caused concern, this leads to children feeling unsafe and uncared for, further adding to their trauma.’
Her report recommended that ‘far fewer’ children should be subject to DoLs.
And those who are should never be placed in an illegal children’s home, she said.
The commissioner called for a strengthening of the law in this area to give clarity and transparency on decision-making; for children to have a stronger voice in the process; and oversight from a judge to ensure local authority decisions are reviewed every three months.
Dame Rachel also called for ‘radical investment in creating new and safe places for children to live” and an end to ‘profiteering in children’s social care.’
She said: ‘As Children’s Commissioner I want every child to grow up safe, happy, healthy and engaged in their communities and in their education.
‘For children under deprivation of liberty orders, these basic rights are too often being ignored in a system that puts profit-making above protection and allows decisions to be dictated by local resources.
‘Depriving a child of their liberty is one of the most significant interventions the state can make in a child’s life.
‘My new report tells these children’s stories, revealing a stark failure of the children’s social care system.
‘They are enduring things no child should ever have to: contained, often in isolation, in illegal children’s homes without the opportunity for their voices to be heard.
‘The children living in the care system today need urgent and bold change – no more strategies, no more debates.
‘We need to strengthen the law so that children have a say in the decisions affecting their lives, and radical investment in new and safe places for them to live.’
How has the government responded?
The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson responded to the commissioner’s criticism.
She said: ‘Children who have been deprived of their liberty are facing the most heartbreaking experiences, with many being retraumatised by a system that can’t meet their needs.
‘That is why today I will confirm plans to break down the barriers to opportunity that they are facing, including by developing new community-based provision to meet their needs to give children the best life chances.
‘Our reforms will go even further to give vulnerable children the best life chances by lifting the curtain on care providers profiteering off of vulnerable children, tackling unregistered placements and shifting the focus back to earlier intervention to help children achieve and thrive.’
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