Warwickshire team making progress on spike in teens being kicked out of home

A specialist team is said to be making steady inroads in tackling a spike in teenagers placed into the care of Warwickshire County Council (WCC).

Data reported to the county’s corporate parenting panel last month showed that only 57.7 per cent of the long-term placements for Warwickshire’s children are deemed stable, much lower than the national rate of 71 per cent.

Performance on short-term placements was also worse than national standards.

A lack of council-run children’s homes was cited as part of highlighting issues with the wider availability of placements as greater strain comes from an increase in need for places for older children.

The matter was discussed again this week by the county’s children and young people overview and scrutiny committee, a panel of councillors that oversees WCC’s work in this area.

Councillor Clare Golby (Con, Arbury, who is also deputy leader and portfolio holder for housing and communities at Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council, requested further information on any geographic hotspots and causes.

“Locally, we are doing a lot with other partners, including partners in the criminal justice system,” she said.

“It would be interesting to know how that potentially feeds into prevention of teenagers going into care in the long-term, if there is a link to the causes.”

John Coleman, assistant director for children’s services at WCC, said there had been an increase over the past two financial years but that the work of a new team of professionals had started to make an impact.

On causation, he cited “an array” of reasons that vary by age group, adding that much of it, particularly in the older cohort, was down to teens being kicked out of family homes.

Mr Coleman said: “With 16 and 17-year-olds, it tends to be that the relationship has broken down with their family members and parents are effectively asking them to leave home.

“We have a new adolescent team that is very much about trying to support those adolescents to stay with their families where it is safe for them to do so because it is the better place for them to be rather than in other accommodation or care.

“For younger children – 12-plus – we have seen a rise and the reasons for that are really varied. There is no particular hotspot across the county, it is across the board.

“Some of the issues we have seen around that are about an increase in mental health issues, you won’t be surprised to hear. We are seeing a rise in self harm and mental health issues in the post-pandemic world.

“Generally, it is around family relationships.

"Some children do come into care because there are issues about exploitation but in the main, that is because the exploitation is outside of the home and the parents are sometimes struggling and missing episodes.

“We try to wrap around support, keep them at home with parents being that safe person to trust and go back to if that’s possible.”