Support services ‘failing children’

A leading judge has raised concerns about the way “vulnerable and disturbed” children are being cared for.

Sir James Munby, president of the Family Division of the High Court, says provision is inadequate.

He has aired his thoughts in a written ruling after overseeing a family court case in London involving a 16-year-old girl who had attempted suicide and repeatedly harmed herself.

Sir James explained how all professionals involved thought that the teenager should be placed in a specialist secure unit.

But council social services staff had not been able to find a suitable unit in the UK for six weeks.

A specialist guardian appointed to represent the teenager’s interests during litigation said she had been “failed by support services”.