Thousands of children in care being ‘failed by the state’, finds Children’s Commissioner

Stability, quality and capacity of residential care homes must be improved, report urges

Many children are forced to move several times a year (Getty)

Thousands of children in care are being moved between several homes a year or living in unregulated accomodation, with some reporting “disgusting” conditions, a report by Children's Commissioner has found.

Some children in England's care system feel “dumped” in homes in unfamiliar surroundings, while hundreds cannot get a place in a secure home anywhere in the country, the report found.

Anne Longfield, Children's Commissioner for England, said children are being “systematically let down” by the care system and argued that the government's failure to respond to several previous critical reports suggested a “deep-rooted institutional ambivalence” to the plight of children in residential care.  

Ms Longfield also pointed to the failings of private care providers, “some of whom are making millions” while children's needs are being neglected.

A series of reports published on Wednesday by Children's Commissioner detail how the residential care system is failing the most vulnerable children, particularly those at risk of falling victim to criminal or sexual exploitation.  

The first report, Crisis in residential care: how children are being betrayed by the state, explores the issues faced by children for whom the system is not working.

It found there were some 8,000 children who were placed in three different homes within a year and 13,000 who ended up in unregulated homes at some point within a year.

One teenager told of being sent 8 hours from her hometown and not seeing her mother for months.

“Being moved from placement to placement not only makes it more likely children will feel lonely, confused and isolated, it will also leave them increasingly vulnerable to sexual and criminal exploitation, especially if they are placed out of their home area,“ Iryna Pona, policy manager at the Children's Society, said in response to the report.

“We have repeatedly heard evidence that criminal networks may identify children’s homes that are receiving young people from out of area and exploit this extra vulnerability to coerce and recruit them,” she added.

“The Children’s Society is also concerned about the number of children ending up in unregulated accommodation. These homes are not inspected by Ofsted and often not suitable to provide the care and support that children with complex needs so desperately need. This once again means they are at high risk of criminal and sexual exploitation."  

The second report focused on the growth of private companies providing foster placements and children's homes.

It warns there is a clear lack of planning and oversight for the children's residential care market, leading to an increasingly fragmented, uncoordinated and irrational system.  

Certain large private providers are making profits over £200m a year, on a profit margin of around 17 per cent on fees from local authorities, the report found.

The difference in quality of care was found to differ very little between local authorities and large private providers, though smaller providers were more likely to have worse Ofted ratings than larger ones.

“The growing reliance on private providers, some of whom are making millions, is another symptom of a system failing to prioritise the needs of children,“ Ms Longfield said. ”Both the government and councils have failed in their responsibilities by leaving it to the market.  

“Many homes run by the private sector are excellent, but there are not enough of them, and they are not always in the right places.”

The Children's Commissioner also published the 2020 Stability Index, the result of a study of instability faced by children in care.

One in 10 children in care were found to have moved home at least twice in 2018/19, while one in four moved at least twice in two years.

Just over 11 per cent of children in care who were in school had moved schools within a year, research showed.    

Alongside the reports, Children's Commissioner laid out a number of recommendations to improve the children's social care system.

The recommendations included the launching of the government's promised Care Review, prioritising council budgets to increase capacity of residential care spaces and handing responsibility for assessing required levels of residential care to a central body such as the Department for Education of Ofsted.

Children's commissioner also called on government to quickly lay out a strategy to improve capacity, stability, quality and costs in residential care.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: “The Education Secretary has been clear that no child should be denied the opportunity for a loving, stable family life, or be ‘bounced around’ the care system in accommodation that does not meet their needs. We have also set out that children under the age of 16 should not be living in unregulated homes.

“Our bold, broad and independently-led Care Review will launch as soon as possible, and will support improvements in the children’s social care system. This will build on the millions we have invested in secure children’s homes and in projects designed to increase capacity and improve how places for these children are commissioned.”

Dr John Simmonds, from adoption and fostering academy CoramBAAF, said the government review work to ensure the needs and welfare of all children in care are met.

“Minsters must be held to account in ensuring that strategically and operationally the findings of this review are rapidly actioned and that residential care no longer operates as it did in the 1950’s and 60’s and now in 2020,” Dr Simmonds said.