Vulnerable children are let down by care home system

Basic rights too often being ignored’, damning report finds

- AINE FOX

Vulnerable young people have been placed in a caravan and an Airbnb in a “stark failure of the children’s social care system” in England, according to a new report.

Most children who are subject to High Court rulings that deprive them of their liberty are placed in appropriate settings, such as children’s homes. However, many are in “highly unsuitable” accommodation, according to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

Government guidance states that children under deprivation of liberty orders (DoLs) generally require high levels of care and supervision and should therefore be placed in settings such as children’s homes or care home services.

Dame Rachel de Souza, England’s children’s commissioner, said her research indicated 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.”

The number of children subject to applications for DoLs has risen from 359 in 2020-21 to 1,368 in 2023, the commission said. Dame Rachel’s report, published today, tells 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.