Illegal children's homes.....wtf!!
Discussion
Article I read with mixed emotions, as within my extended family we have a case of this.
10 year old, who requires specialist education in a children's boarding school type home... c£135k per year. Not an extreme case compared to some in the article ie he generally doesn't need 1:1 care.
His dad was a violent career criminal, mother alcoholic through pregnancy. He was adopted at birth by the family due to social services intervening alwirh original mothe. They are teacher/pastor, very stable family and brilliant extended network, and deep integration with their church. The model environment for children to be supported in. Just a brilliant kind, loving and fun family.
Despite this, and despite adopting him very young, by 9 years old things were unworkable. His levels of aggression, anger, emotions were uncontrollable. The family were on their knees, their other children desperately suffering. Police regularly called to intervene.
Seeing it at family events first hand had me feeling genuinely intimidated by the level of anger from him. He was an overweight age mini Wayne Rooney lookalike but even "play" tackling in family football, tag etc.. I'd have to brace as if he was an adult male coming at me. Any time he was around, everyone was permanently on edge for fear of what could happen in an instant.
The family were broken over either getting him into this specialist school, or declaring a failed adoption, knowing he will crash through foster homes until he is old enough to be imprisoned.
In this case, £135k seems obscene, and it will rise as he gets older... But it remains the cheapest and most effective option long term for him. He is stabalised to a degree, and without this route the alternative of broken foster, eventual abandonement, inevitable assault/crime, jail etc would ultimately cost society more. On top of that the likelihood of him having children on this journey, which would have a good chance of inheriting the sins of the father, means the cycle would continue....
It's an impossible situation, and witnessing so much first hand, and knowing he isn't even that extreme on the spectrum, is eye opening.
Edit:
The system is in an Impossible place... How do you deal with a young teenager, usually bigger/stronger for their age with absolutely no boundary conditions or respect. 24/7 coverage required, violence, aggression, damage etc being the norm. Then add council restricted budgets. A caravan seems shocking, but the alternative is genuinely a prison cell, or homelessness.
10 year old, who requires specialist education in a children's boarding school type home... c£135k per year. Not an extreme case compared to some in the article ie he generally doesn't need 1:1 care.
His dad was a violent career criminal, mother alcoholic through pregnancy. He was adopted at birth by the family due to social services intervening alwirh original mothe. They are teacher/pastor, very stable family and brilliant extended network, and deep integration with their church. The model environment for children to be supported in. Just a brilliant kind, loving and fun family.
Despite this, and despite adopting him very young, by 9 years old things were unworkable. His levels of aggression, anger, emotions were uncontrollable. The family were on their knees, their other children desperately suffering. Police regularly called to intervene.
Seeing it at family events first hand had me feeling genuinely intimidated by the level of anger from him. He was an overweight age mini Wayne Rooney lookalike but even "play" tackling in family football, tag etc.. I'd have to brace as if he was an adult male coming at me. Any time he was around, everyone was permanently on edge for fear of what could happen in an instant.
The family were broken over either getting him into this specialist school, or declaring a failed adoption, knowing he will crash through foster homes until he is old enough to be imprisoned.
In this case, £135k seems obscene, and it will rise as he gets older... But it remains the cheapest and most effective option long term for him. He is stabalised to a degree, and without this route the alternative of broken foster, eventual abandonement, inevitable assault/crime, jail etc would ultimately cost society more. On top of that the likelihood of him having children on this journey, which would have a good chance of inheriting the sins of the father, means the cycle would continue....
It's an impossible situation, and witnessing so much first hand, and knowing he isn't even that extreme on the spectrum, is eye opening.
Edit:
The system is in an Impossible place... How do you deal with a young teenager, usually bigger/stronger for their age with absolutely no boundary conditions or respect. 24/7 coverage required, violence, aggression, damage etc being the norm. Then add council restricted budgets. A caravan seems shocking, but the alternative is genuinely a prison cell, or homelessness.
Edited by Andeh1 on Thursday 21st May 07:21
I work at a council, but not in children's social care.
They are under a legal duty to act when children are at risk. Foster placements / adoptions don't exist in anywhere near enough volume, regulated placement capacity isn't there, so what do you do?
Just leave the kid in a dangerous situation?
No. The sort of placements in the article are a "least worst" choice. (This is my opinion rather than any official view.)
Like housing homeless families in b&bs.
It would be nice is parents just looked after their kids properly. But if people are starting from that position, they have a lot of catching up to do with reality.
Ironically a huge amount of preventative work being done to supoort famiies was cut in the name of austerity - who knew it would have a long term cost?
(Well, apart from everyone involved)
They are under a legal duty to act when children are at risk. Foster placements / adoptions don't exist in anywhere near enough volume, regulated placement capacity isn't there, so what do you do?
Just leave the kid in a dangerous situation?
No. The sort of placements in the article are a "least worst" choice. (This is my opinion rather than any official view.)
Like housing homeless families in b&bs.
It would be nice is parents just looked after their kids properly. But if people are starting from that position, they have a lot of catching up to do with reality.
Ironically a huge amount of preventative work being done to supoort famiies was cut in the name of austerity - who knew it would have a long term cost?
(Well, apart from everyone involved)
My mother worked in a council children's home. She was hired as a cleaner but ended up doing a lot of additional work, and for no pay, as did another person. It was intended to be temporary shelter; kids taken from problem homes until they could return, if that was felt better, or put into foster homes.
She didn't talk much about her job, but we knew it upset her. She said that one time she assisted with taking a couple of younger kids, around 8, to 'the park', a little play area an easy walk away from the home. One of the kids had never been on swings before, and didn't know what to do. The accommodation was made up of two three-bed semi-detached houses converted into one, with a room for each child and the live-in manager. There was a large living/dining area where all the kids could sit, and a TV room. It was expensive I suppose, with two staff on duty all the time plus additional non-trained staff. It was well-run, with decent homemade cooking on premises. There were regular supervisory council visits.
The slashing, continual slashing, of council budgets doesn't result in 'cutting out the waste', it has consequences and kids are the victims of this heartless action. The kids in my mother's home had been brought up in circumstances that were horrific. Some didn't know how to use cutlery, or to live in family groups.
Judge a country on how it treats those in need. Nowadays, we fail our kids.
She didn't talk much about her job, but we knew it upset her. She said that one time she assisted with taking a couple of younger kids, around 8, to 'the park', a little play area an easy walk away from the home. One of the kids had never been on swings before, and didn't know what to do. The accommodation was made up of two three-bed semi-detached houses converted into one, with a room for each child and the live-in manager. There was a large living/dining area where all the kids could sit, and a TV room. It was expensive I suppose, with two staff on duty all the time plus additional non-trained staff. It was well-run, with decent homemade cooking on premises. There were regular supervisory council visits.
The slashing, continual slashing, of council budgets doesn't result in 'cutting out the waste', it has consequences and kids are the victims of this heartless action. The kids in my mother's home had been brought up in circumstances that were horrific. Some didn't know how to use cutlery, or to live in family groups.
Judge a country on how it treats those in need. Nowadays, we fail our kids.
I knew someone who worked doing this who told me about it 15 or more years ago.
The sheer quantity of these places is incredible. They had 2 or 3 of them in towns and villages with populations of 1000. They were in hamlets too.
No idea if they were illegal, but they are everywhere and you never hear about them.
The sheer quantity of these places is incredible. They had 2 or 3 of them in towns and villages with populations of 1000. They were in hamlets too.
No idea if they were illegal, but they are everywhere and you never hear about them.
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