Social services are placing growing numbers of vulnerable children in unregulated accommodation such as caravans and holiday lets, new figures suggest.
Even children with ‘complex needs’ are having to live in such places.
The children have become the subject of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).
These are made when people lack the capacity to consent to their care.
New court handles Deprivation of Liberty applications
In July, a new court started to handle applications by social services for DoLS.
The new National Deprivation of Liberty Court received 237 DoLS applications in July and August.
Figures collected by research group the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory show that in 2020/21 DoLS applications averaged 48 per month.
The latest figures represent a rise of more than 145 per cent.
Children not appearing in published records
The Observatory has collected figures, but children who are subject to DoLS do not appear in published records.
The Observatory believes there is a “relatively high prevalence of children with autism and other neurodevelopmental needs” among those subject to DoLS.
Lisa Harker, of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, says children who are subject to DoLS orders are disappearing from view
Lisa Harker is the director of the Observatory. She said those being housed in unregulated accommodation “simply disappear from view, with no data recording what happens”.
Children can be subject to DoLS for safety, youth justice or mental health reasons.
High Court can use unregulated placements
The children can be placed in secure children’s homes, young offender institutions, secure training centres or mental health wards.
When no place is available in any of these settings, the High Court can use an unregulated placement.
In April, the then-education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said there was a shortage of secure placements that amounted to a “national crisis”.
His comments came after an autistic girl spent at least five months alone in the locked annexe of a children’s home.
Budget cuts undermine efforts
A Local Government Association spokesperson said budget cuts have undermined councils’ ability to invest in “regulated, appropriate homes”.
Meanwhile, the NHS has scaled back mental health facilities for children.
The UK government and the NHS should work with councils to provide more “of the homes that children need”, added the spokesperson.
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Published: 14 October 2022
