Jacob experienced more horrors in his life than most of us could comprehend. He was reported missing more than 20 times. Jacob owned three mobile phones, was selling drugs and was a suspect or offender in 26 police reports. Found intoxicated and distressed, Jacob died in 2019 after being sucked into a dangerous criminal world. He fell through gaps in the school, care and youth justice systems. His death could have been prevented.
He was 16-years-old.
With exclusion and absence from school a key driver of risk for the exploitation of young people, we need urgent action to keep vulnerable teenagers at their local school and in communities they know.
The Commission on Young Lives has published a devastating report shining a light on how the care system is failing vulnerable teenagers, especially Black young people and those with SEN, often moving them far away from their communities and into the hands of criminal gangs and county lines exploitation.
The report – Out of harm’s way – is brutal in its analysis, accusing the social care system of putting some vulnerable teenagers in greater danger, often placing them out of area in “dangerous unregulated accommodation”, sometimes alongside adults and those involved with drugs and crime.
It states: “These are the children who too often end up lost to gangs or sexually exploited, caught up in the criminal justice system in their teens, in care for their own protection and leaving school without qualifications or many options.
“Absence from school is a key driver of risk, acting for many as both a catalyst to further problems and an indicator of things going wrong.”
It adds: “There are critical moments in children’s lives when a decisive response is necessary to make a difference to their long-term outcomes, including when they are excluded from school, when they are physically injured and when arrested.”
The report includes harrowing case studies of young people who the system has been unable to help effectively, such as Jacob.
A growing problem
The Commission is being led by former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield and is to present and seek backing for a “new and affordable national system of support, focused on preventing crisis and improving life chances”.
In March 2021, there were 80,850 children in care in England, a one per cent rise on the year before and the highest on record. Furthermore, 10 to 15-year-olds are now the fastest growing group of children entering care, while 16 and 17-year-olds with acute needs now make up almost a quarter (23 per cent) of children in care.
The report argues that a care system that was largely designed for small children is struggling to adapt to the needs of older children. For these teenagers, there is an over-reliance on a limited number of residential places where demand significantly outstrips supply, leading to many being moved out of area.
An on-going problem is inadequate early identification of those at risk of exploitation and the frequent criminalisation of children in care. Social services’ caseloads are increasing, the report warns, as are the costs of care (an estimated £200,000 per year for many of these children). It means funds available for early intervention and prevention are reducing year-on-year.
Exclusion and absence
For schools, the message is clear. Absence and exclusion are too often a key waypoint on the “conveyor belt” of vulnerability that so often precedes sexual or criminal exploitation.
The report says there has been a 55 per cent rise in the number of permanent exclusions between 2010 and 2018, reaching almost 8,000.
Other factors include poverty or the late diagnosis of SEN such as dyslexia or ADHD.
The report states: “Before they entered care, around two-thirds (of young people) were eligible for free school meals and just over two-thirds had SEN. They were more likely to face instability in school: in the year before entering care, one in 10 was out of school for a term, one in six moved school in the middle of the year, one in three was persistently absent, and more than one in three had a fixed-term exclusion.”
The report calls on the government for “coordinated action with regard to school inclusion”, but it says that where exclusion is unavoidable, we need to see better information-sharing between agencies.
It quotes the 2021 annual review of the Child Safeguarding National Review Panel, which warned that “weak information-sharing, and communication and risk assessment ... has for decades impeded our ability to project children and help families”.
The panel concluded: “If it is unavoidable then there needs to be immediate wrap-around support to compensate for the lack of structure, sense of belonging and rejection that exclusion from mainstream school can cause.”
Systemic bias
The report finds “systemic racial bias”. Black children are already more likely to be in care compared to their peers and Black boys in care are more likely to enter the youth justice system and are already disproportionately affected by gang criminal exploitation. The report says they often receive different services, including different police responses – bluntly, Black teenage boys are less likely to be seen as victims and more likely to be viewed as offenders.
And young people with SEN are also more likely to be excluded from school and to find themselves in care. In the 12 months to March 2020, 56 per cent of children who were in care had an SEN, compared to 15 per cent of all children (and 48 per cent of children in need).
Recommendations
Among reforms that the Commission intends to consult on in due course, the report sets out a “new offer” to protect and support vulnerable teens. It wants to see new duties and protections for support for teenagers at risk and their families with better information-sharing and co-ordination between local authorities, schools, GPs and the police.
The report calls for: “A system of early identification of teenagers on the edge of care or in care who are at risk, supported by professionals, including teachers, parents, police and teenagers themselves, which knows how to identify risk and how to trigger help.”
It wants Family Hubs and Supporting Families funding to be targeted at vulnerable teenagers and for the Department for Education to lead a new “Teenager in Care” package of “appropriate and high-quality modes of care for teenagers”, increasing the capacity of residential care for teenagers and financing new local community children’s homes.
It recommends that teenagers and their parents be given a Teenager at Risk helpline service: “The helpline should have a direct line to local agencies for longer term help with a guarantee of a named person assigned to help and respond.”
Other recommendations include a new Vulnerable Teenagers at Risk ministerial taskforce which among other areas would look at improving inclusion in schools.
The Commission says that national programmes to deliver mental health support and reduce exclusion from school should prioritise teenagers at risk and intends to focus on this area in its forthcoming reports this year.
It wants to see a ban on the use of unregulated accommodation and long-term funding for things like Violence Reduction Units.
Ms Longfield said that the social care system was “unfit for purpose” and “stretched to its absolute limit”. She added: “We know the number of vulnerable teenagers at risk of exploitation entering the care system is growing, and they are becoming older and with more complex and expensive needs. We also know this is putting an enormous strain on the whole children’s social care system.
“Resetting children’s social care in this new offer for teenagers will require determined action and some funding, but it is clear there are huge benefits not only to those vulnerable young people who need protection, but also to the public purse. We need a new offer for vulnerable teenagers in care and on the edge of care, and this report provides one.”
Further information & resources
- Commission on Young Lives: Out of harm’s way, December 2021: https://bit.ly/3ttqyzf