Vulnerable girls 'sent to unregulated care homes'

Barking and Dagenham Council wants to improve care for children with complex needs

Teenage girls in the care of an east London council are being placed in unregistered and inappropriate homes due to a lack of suitable places, it has been revealed.

Barking and Dagenham Council is spending about £1.9m a year on housing just 20 children deemed to be at high risk of harm to themselves or others.

The council said it was reliant on "placements in unregistered/inappropriate registered provisions", according to a new report.

Councillors have now approved plans to build three new specialist children's homes in the borough for up to 16 children at a time.

'Psychologically informed care'

Jane Jones, the councillor in charge of children's social care, said: "Our aim is to improve care for our children with complex needs, especially girls under 16 who are, or are at risk of, being subject to a deprivation of liberty order due to their multiple complex needs - and whose needs are not being met by the private market."

A deprivation of liberty order authorises the restriction of a child's liberty when a court judges them to be at high risk of harm - it can include 24/7 supervision, limitations on movement, and restraint.

Ms Jones said the borough wanted to reduce its reliance on "unregulated and expensive out-of-borough placements and improve outcomes and stability by providing local, regulated, psychologically informed care".

The council says building the three homes, on council-owned land, will cost more than £10m.

Ms Jones said the Department for Education had offered to fund half of that sum with a grant, although a formal agreement has not yet been signed.