MP fears for children sent away for care
RISING NUMBERS of vulnerable young people are being “farmed out” to far-away children’s homes, a parliamentary debate is to be told today, as Ministers are accused of breaking promises to clamp down on the practice.
MP Ann Coffey, who has previously warned there was a scandal in England around children missing from care, says a “sent-away generation” is in danger of falling prey to paedophiles and gangs. The MP, who chairs an All-Party Parliamentary Group for runaways and missing children, says there has been a 64 per cent rise in out-of-borough placements in the past five years, despite a Government pledge to clamp down on it. Alongside rising numbers of children being sent to distant homes, there has also been a huge increase in the number who go missing, with incidents more than doubling to almost 10,000 a year.
“The Government promised to curb the growing practice of farming out children to homes that are sometimes 100 miles from where they live,” said Ms Coffey. “Shockingly, the rise has not stopped at all, but has got worse. Despite the pledge, record numbers of children are being sent away to places where they are more vulnerable to exploitation.”
It comes after an investigation by The Yorkshire Post, published in October last year, revealed a child is reported missing somewhere in the region every 96 minutes. Furthermore, it found, one in five of those children were in care and, in some areas, accounted for almost half of all those reported missing. Freedom of
Information requests had revealed that a total of 7,344 children had been reported missing in Yorkshire since March 2016.
The link between children going missing and sexual exploitation, as seen in the sex scandals that rocked Rotherham and Rochdale, is to be highlighted by Ms Coffey in today’s Westminster Hall debate.
“These children are running away at a faster rate and are being targeted and preyed upon by paedophiles and criminals who know they are vulnerable,” said Ms Coffey.
“The farming-out of children to areas where they have no friends or family circles or local social workers has created a perfect storm where it is increasingly difficult to protect children.”
Figures obtained by Ms Coffey from the Department for Education show the number of children in out-of-borough placements has risen from 2,250 in 2012 to 3,680 in March 2017.
There were 9,910 incidents of children going from missing from these placements last year, compared to 4,380 in 2015, according to figures from the department.
A DfE spokesman said: “Children in care are some of the most vulnerable people in society and it’s essential that their best interests are at the centre of all decisionmaking. Local authorities have a statutory duty to make sure that placements meet the needs of children in their care and this includes the location of the placement.
“We are updating our Missing Children and Adults Strategy which for the first time will include a strategy to improve the current response to missing people.
“We have also strengthened care planning and children’s homes regulations requiring all homes to have a clear policy for preventing children from going missing.”