A report has claimed that local authorities are “routinely failing” in their legal duties to children aged between 16-17 years old who become homeless. But that doesn’t happen in Bedford Borough, councillors were told.
During Monday night’s Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (6 January,) Green councillor Paul Edmonds (Castle and Newnham) sought assurance that this wasn’t something the borough council did.
“Because [this] seems like a fairly dark practice to keep children in a potentially vulnerable situation until they reach 18,” he said.
Jonathan Churchill, interim chief officer for children’s services, said he had seen an article in The Guardian on this report.
“It’s shocking, but it doesn’t happen here,” he said, “The vast majority of children that are 16 or 17 that present themselves [as homeless] will become accommodated.
“We give them that option to become accommodated or to be looked after under what’s called section 17 – support for them to live semi-independently elsewhere.
“But the numbers that are not accommodated are very small, a tiny amount, and they stand out in your mind because it is such a rare thing that a 16 or 17 year old can be deemed to be able to live pretty much independently.
“I won’t get into details of where that has happened, but there are times when it does work, and young people do very well.”
Mr Churchill added that in these cases there is support offered by key workers.
“We also give them opportunities to engage with external agencies and also they will have a child in need plan as well, so they will have a statutory involvement from us as well,” he said.
“The majority of them end up becoming looked after or we help them to go back home so they can be supported either with their parents or in their wider family.
“Because that’s ultimately a better outcome for them, that they’re not living independently or semi-independently at such a young age.
“We can’t force them to become looked after but they are able to live with the support around them and still be able to go to school and achieve very well. But what [councillor Edmonds] read is not what is happening [here].”
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
Update: This article was updated on 8 January 2025 at 4:37pm. We replaced the headline with one that more closely reflected the full story.
