Spiralling costs of relocating at-risk children revealed in new study
Teenagers at risk from gangs or grooming are being relocated away from their families and communities at costs of up to £170,000 for six months, a new study has found.
Austerity measures have resulted in an increased shift in spending on "late intervention services" with relocation is being used despite "no consistent evidence" about its effectiveness, or whether it offers "value for money,” according to the research published in the British Journal of Social Work.
Approximately one in ten young people known to children's services teams in England and Wales are being relocated "due to risk beyond their families."
Extra-familial harm typically involves sexual and/or criminal exploitation, peer-on-peer violence, and abuse.
But there is considerable variation in the use of relocation across local authorities, with little national oversight.
Teenagers entering care tend to have the worst outcomes and most costly care pathways, the joint research from Oxford, Durham and Sussex universities found.
In ‘Relocating Adolescents’: The Costs of Out-of-Area Placements as a Response to Extra-Familial Risk/Harm’ researchers assessed the costs of out-of-area placements.
Unit costs were estimated according to the time take to carry out social work processes, and the costs associated with each step of the relocation, including placement fees and allowances, and salaries of associated social care professionals.
Placement fees alone amounted to £151,000 for six months at one authority. Relocations are often in for-profit settings, paid for by children's services.
One local authority estimated relocation fees to be £6,300 a week, nearly double the England average placement cost of £3,682 a week.
Other costs were estimated on the time taken in preparation for panel meetings, the meetings themselves, and post-placement visits and arrangement of services, as well as legal fees for care orders and deprivation of liberty (DoL) orders.
Costs ranged in total from £22,000 to £170,000 for six months, with “the unit costs… likely to be weighted towards the top end of this range”.
The most time-intensive stage of the relocation process was found to be trying to place adolescents out of area - typically taking 38 hours.
Teenagers needed ongoing support once they had been relocated. Social workers pointed to the reduction of in-person meetings once a teenager had been moved, and the long waiting lists for mental health services in the new area.
Social workers typically visited once a month for an hour, and travel time was disproportionate to the length of the visit, sometimes taking four hours each way.
Setting up additional services post-relocation took between 33 and 42 hours.
Three quarters of children in out-of-home care in England are under a care order, DoL order or mental health section, costing an average £4,864 for care orders and £1,277 for DoL orders.
Post-placement support was estimated at up to £1,659 a month per adolescent.
Researchers point to the fact that there is no national strategy for safeguarding adolescents. They argue that relocation placements typically have high costs and involve moving teenagers far from their communities.
The authors note: "Relocations, while increasing perceived physical safety, significantly impacted young people's relationships and emotional wellbeing and posed some physical safety risks associated with going 'missing' from placements and self-harm."
Relocation is often a "last resort", raising questions about their suitability, and the legal and ethical concerns around teenagers entering the care system. The researchers said: "Adolescents are being moved away from harmful contexts with significant consequences for their holistic safety needs. Many have cautioned the ways in which child welfare involvement... has shifted to monitoring, assessment and disruptive interventions at the expense of preventative or restorative support."
The study recommends social services working with adolescents at risk of extra-familial harm should be more tailored and involve earlier intervention to minimise the need to move young people away from their communities.