Thousands of the most damaged children in care being failed

Report criticises treatment of children in care outside their home areas and under supervision of youth offending teams

Up to 3,000 of the most damaged and difficult-to-place children in care are being failed by the state, according to a damning report by the chief inspector of probation and other watchdogs.

In one children’s home they found a 16-year-old who has had 31 different placements since he was taken into care at the age of three. The independent inspectors also found victims of sexual abuse had been placed in units with those who had committed sexually harmful behaviour.

Liz Calderbank, the chief inspector of probation, says that despite hard work and efforts by many social workers, police and probation officers, the outcome for this highly vulnerable group of children in care who have offended and been placed away from their home area was extremely poor.

«In the overwhelming majority of cases that we inspected, the outcomes for the children and young people were poor. They were not always protected. Some had been assaulted or sexually exploited; some had themselves assaulted or exploited other children,» says the inspectors’ report published on Tuesday.

«They had often been criminalised while in care for offences that would probably not have gone to court if they had been living at home. A significant number had gone missing at some point, some a substantial number of times … Few were well prepared or supported for the transition to adulthood.»

The bleak thematic report by the probation inspectorate and the education watchdogs, Ofsted and Estyn, says the fact that the children are in care often in itself leads to them being dealt with by the criminal justice system and exacerbates their criminal behaviour.

The inspectors say that precise numbers do not exist for the number of children and young people who are in care outside their home area and under the supervision of a local youth offending team. But it is estimated that this particular group, who are among the most damaged in the system, are numbered between 1,000 and 3,000.

The inspectors looked in detail at 30 such children across six areas and found many of them had been placed in a succession of children’s homes: «It was difficult to track them precisely, but we saw one young person with 31 placements and one placement that lasted less than 24 hours,» says the report adding that two-thirds were living more than 50 miles away from home, and a quarter more than 100 miles away. This is despite regulations that they should be placed as near to their home as possible.

«All had experienced considerable family difficulties, and they continued to struggle with the consequences. We found a significant number had been subjected to abuse – sexual, physical and emotional and/or neglect. Many had witnessed, or been the victims of, domestic violence. A high number had emotional or mental health problems.»

The inspectors say it was not apparent in many cases how the needs of the child were being promoted by being so far away from home, and a significant number still in contact with their families drifted back to them.

«In many of the cases that we inspected crucial information was not passed on, promises to children and young people not kept, requests not carried out, and decisions continually delayed,» they say in their damning report.

«Very often, we found children and young people drifting towards their sixteenth birthday, having had poor and patchy education, no work on their emotional wellbeing, no work on family relationships and little or no planning for successful transition to independence,» say the inspectors.

Calderbank said this specific group of children needed protection and work to help them stop offending and others needed to be protected from them.

«While there is much commitment and hard work accorded them by [Youth Offending Team] staff and others, agencies do not always work effectively together in the best interests of the child or young person,» she said.