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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:34 pm
Time: 11:34 pm
Results for youth accommodation
1 results foundAuthor: Great Britain. HM Inspectorate of Probation Title: Accommodation of Homeless: 16 and 17 Year Old Children Working with Youth Offending Teams Summary: In 2009, the House of Lords gave a landmark judgment clarifying the responsibilities of children's social care services for the provision of accommodation and support to homeless 16 and 17 year olds. With the impetus of the Southwark judgment , local authorities reviewed their procedures and (alongside others) produced new protocols, guidance and pathways. The prospects for homeless 16 and 17 year olds were improved as it paved the way for better access to accommodation and support services because of the judgment and the commitments that flowed from it. Six years on, this inspection revealed a mixed picture on the ground. Most distressingly, one in three 16 and 17 years olds in our inspection were housed in accommodation we considered unsuitable or unsafe. We were particularly concerned about the risks those sharing hostel or bed and breakfast accommodation with adult strangers were exposed to. No one local authority suggested to us that these shortcomings were because of a lack of funding. They appeared to stem more immediately from poor or incomplete assessment, a lack of joined-up working and recognition of children's wider needs, and a tendency to place children as though they were adults. Our inspection found that the range of suitable accommodation provision was limited and this resulted in some children being placed in accommodation that did not meet their needs. The children whose cases were reviewed had all suffered some form of trauma in their lives. Most had been previously known to children's social care services and some were subject to care orders. . They often exhibited difficult behaviour. All of those whom inspectors saw were not yet capable of successful independence and still needed some form of parenting and support. Again, we found a mixed picture on the ground. A minority received excellent support, whereas too many had been given a roof over their heads with little other than a few hours a week support from visiting professionals. An important factor in the successful transition of children to independent adulthood was the continued provision of support when they reached 18 years old. This was not available to all children, the deciding factor being whether they had become Looked After under the Children Act 1989, giving them rights as care leavers to support beyond the age of 18 years. It is not known how many 16 and 17 year olds find themselves alone and relying on their local authority for accommodation to avoid homelessness. The data and information collected locally and collated nationally3 is not sufficiently comprehensive or joined-up. In our inspection of six local authorities we saw no evidence of Local Safeguarding Children Boards exercising any scrutiny of the local situation. What is more, in areas where there were shortfalls, senior managers seemed tolerant and accepting of the state of affairs. Refreshingly, we found examples of excellent practice, and we set out specific examples in this report. In summary, two in three children were in suitable accommodation; one in three was not. The wider support they received was of variable quality - sometimes excellent, in other cases woefully inadequate. These differences are hard to comprehend, given the clear intentions of the Southwark judgment. Details: London: The Inspectorate, 2016. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 14, 2016 at: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/09/Thematic-Report-Accommodation-of-Homeless-16-and-17-Year-Old-Children.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/09/Thematic-Report-Accommodation-of-Homeless-16-and-17-Year-Old-Children.pdf Shelf Number: 147846 Keywords: Homeless YouthHomelessnessJuvenile OffendersJuvenile ProbationSocial ServicesYouth Accommodation |